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| From:  KiwiKidNed (Original Message) | Sent: 8/16/2006 9:00 PM |
Islamist militia take key Somali port, residents say Thursday August 17, 2006
MOGADISHU - Islamist militia took over a key port in central Somalia on Wednesday, expanding a territorial push from their base in Mogadishu that is denting the interim government's aspirations to national authority. Residents said heavily armed fighters on battlewagons rode into Hobyo at dawn to take control of the town without any fighting. A surrender had been negotiated the previous evening with forces there loyal to a warlord who is on the run. "First, the Islamist army technicals surrounded the town, then they sent an envoy to negotiate, before their entry was accepted," local leader Hussein Jimale said. The Islamists' latest move - consolidating their grip on a swathe of south-central Somalia since taking Mogadishu in June - is a further challenge to the virtually powerless interim government based in the provincial town of Baidoa. Residents said the Islamists' top leader, hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, personally led the entry into Hobyo at the head of 40 "technicals" or pickups converted into battlewagons with heavy weaponry welded on the back. With talks in Khartoum aimed at producing a power-sharing agreement between the two sides effectively stalled, the Islamists are taking advantage of the political impasse to increase their influence on the ground. "They are very smart, they are gradually consolidating their territory, while the government looks on helplessly," said one Western diplomat who tracks Somalia closely. This weekend, Islamist fighters seized another two strategic coastal towns - Harardheere and Eldher - vowing to rid the area of piracy that has made the country's Indian Ocean waters some of the most dangerous in the world. That has given them control of a large area of south-central Somalia from the coast to near the Ethiopian border. With Islamists strongholds effectively flanking Baidoa, President Abdullahi Yusuf's interim government, which meets in a converted grain warehouse, looks more vulnerable than ever. Although it is internationally recognised as Somalia's only legitimate national authority, it lacks any real power on the ground beyond Baidoa and commands only a small militia compared with the Islamists' large fighting force. Regional power Ethiopia has, however, bolstered the government's position by sending troops into Somalia to take up positions around Baidoa, according to witnesses. Addis Ababa, which regards Aweys as a terrorist, has also threatened to "crush" the Islamists if they try to expand into Ethiopia or attack Yusuf's government. Scores of militiamen have defected from the government to the Islamists in recent days. Locals said about 150 defectors were picked up on Tuesday by Islamist militia from Buur Hakaba - a town on the road between Mogadishu and Baidoa. - REUTERS
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