The Bulgarian Post
2006-12-28 09:29:46

Triumphant Somali government forces marched into Mogadishu after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months before an Ethiopian-backed advance.

The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule.

Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid, Reuters news agency reported.

 

Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled its base early in the morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals.

The fall of Mogadishu came about 10 days after the Islamists sought to march on the government base of Baidoa. That prompted Ethiopia to come openly into the war, proving the decisive factor in saving the government and pushing back the Islamists.

The SICC had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu by using the courts, after chasing U.S.-backed warlords from the city in June. Islamists and residents said order had collapsed with their departure.

"Mogadishu is now in chaos," Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told Al Jazeera television.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi confirmed the advance to the outskirts of the capital and vowed to pursue the Islamist leaders. "We will not let Mogadishu burn," he added.

 

Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said government forces had secured the main routes into Mogadishu . "We are taking control of the city and I will confirm when we have established complete control," he said.

He said the Islamists had fled to the southern port city of Kismayu and the administration controlled 95 percent of the Horn of Africa country.

The government declared a state of emergency "to control security and stability".

SICC leader Ahmed said his side's hasty withdrawal was a tactical move in a war against Ethiopian troops defending Somalia's weak, Western-backed government.

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