Somali Islamists reject U.S. warning, test rockets
03 Nov 2006 14:01:01 GMT

More (Recasts with Islamists reject U.S. warning)

By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Somali Islamists on Friday dismissed a U.S. warning that "extremist elements" were plotting suicide attacks in neighbouring countries, as Islamist fighters test-fired missiles and prepared for war with the government.

"We have no plans to attack Kenya and Ethiopia, neither are we known to blow ourselves up. Suicide bombing is not a Somali culture," Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad, the Islamists' defence chief, told Reuters.

"We are telling the American population we are not a threat to them. They should remove the administration of Bush, which resembles the Nazi government of Hitler in so many ways."

snip....

Residents of Buur Hakaba, a strategic hill town near the frontlines, said hundreds more Islamist fighters were deployed overnight, and fired heavy weapons early on Friday.

"The Islamic troops tested missiles this morning," one local, Yusuf Hassan, told Reuters. "It was really terrifying."

SUICIDE ATTACKS

Washington accuses the Islamists of harbouring al Qaeda militants and has asked for them to be handed over. On Thursday the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Ethiopia issued warnings for American citizens to be on guard for possible suicide attacks.

"These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia," the embassies said in a statement on Thursday.

It said the message was issued in response to reports of "terrorist threats emanating from extremist elements within Somalia" and urged American citizens to be vigilant and use extreme caution when going to well-known public places.

The U.S. warning came amid growing fears of a regional war.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called on all sides involved in Somalia not to escalate tensions. Ethiopia's enemy Eritrea has been accused of arming the Islamists.

"There are concerns that the situation, the current situation in Somalia, might lend itself to wider violence in the region. And we're doing everything we can to see that that does not happen," McCormack said.

But confrontation appeared increasingly likely in Somalia, where one Baidoa resident said hundreds more Ethiopian troops were seen heading for the frontlines by truck.

"The Ethiopians are waiting for the Islamists to make a move," he said. "If fighting starts, we will definitely suffer."

candi. i put this up at corrente. we appreciate your work.

Puntland Threatens to Either Kill Or Deport the New Islamic Courts Founders

Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
NEWS
November 3, 2006
Posted to the web November 3, 2006

By Aweys Osman Yusuf
Mogadishu

Semi-autonomous regional government of Puntland has threatened it would either incarcerate, kill or deport the religious leaders who formed an Islamic Court in north Galka'ayo under Puntland control.

Mohomood Muse, the commander of the military forces in Puntland, has told Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu that the administration would take measures against the religious persons who hail from the region if they did not give up their dreams of bolstering and enforcing the newly formed Islamic Court in north Galka'ayo.

"the religious men who formed an Islamic Court in Puntland administered environs are being persuaded to abandon the illegal activities they are involved in by their sub-clan men and if that fails, we will seize them and either deport them or kill them", Muse said.

The news comes as the fear of an imminent war between Ethiopia and Somalia's powerful Islamists was running high following the collapse of Khartoum peace negotiations.

Muse said Puntland administrators find Mogadishu based Islamic Courts as integrated tribes, which desperately want to capture Puntland lands.

He warned the new Islamists in Puntland, intending to enforce the Islamic Court in the region to halt their actions or will face horrible consequences

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611030771.html

Opinion

Somalia:Who can negotiate: Masters or Marionettes
3 Nov 3, 2006, 17:31

By Mohamed Mukhtar
Somalia is a theatre for a proxy war. Inside Somalia, according to a leaked UN report, there are up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia’s federal government and 2,000 armed men from Eritrea backing the Union of Islamic Courts. Ethiopia acknowledges that it has troops in Somalia but Eritrea rebuffs this claim vigorously. The report also suggests that the government enjoys the support of Yemen and Uganda while UIC receives help from Iran, Libya, and Gulf States. There are intermittent peace talks in Sudan between transitional government and the Islamic Courts. Since Somalia’s fate swings like hypnotist’s watch between Ethiopian camp and its opponents, the begging question is who can negotiate at these peace talks: masters or marionettes?

more
http://www.garoweonline.com/stories/publish/article_5811.shtml

Somali speaker to visit Islamists for talks
Sat 4 Nov 2006 12:44 PM ET

(Updates with cabinet statement, paragraphs 6-7)

By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The speaker of parliament in Somalia's interim government will meet the country's Islamists at their Mogadishu stronghold to try to rescue peace talks that collapsed last week, both sides said on Saturday.

Tension has grown in recent weeks and both sides appeared to be preparing for war after failing to meet face-to-face at the third round of Arab League-sponsored talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan would be the most senior government member to visit the teeming capital since it was seized by the Islamists from U.S.-backed warlords in June.

The government is confined to the provincial town of Baidoa.

"The speaker will meet the Islamists tomorrow in a bid to continue the stalled talks," said Somali MP Asha Abdallah.

Members of the interim government met later in Baidoa and urged Adan to consult them there first. Adan was in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Saturday.

"The cabinet requests the speaker and lawmakers expected to accompany him to Mogadishu...to come (to Baidoa) in order for the government to take a joint position in order to reach a long-lasting solution," they said in a statement.

An Islamist spokesman welcomed Adan's planned visit.

"The speaker is a peacemaker," Abdirahim Mudey said.

"The latest Khartoum talks failed because he did not take part. We have confidence in him because he is neutral," Mudey said. "We are very optimistic he can mediate between us."

Both sides' fighters are facing off just 30 km (19 miles) from the administration's outpost in Baidoa. The Islamists say they are also facing thousands of Ethiopian troops they say invaded to prop up the fragile Western-backed government.

Islamist sources said their lines were reinforced on Saturday by nearly 700 troops from Somalia's former military.

more