Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cbclark4]

"Ethiopian tanks have driven south from Mogadishu to attack fighters of the Islamic courts movement whose leader reportedly urged them to make a stand in Kismayu, a port city in Somalia.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys apparently made the call during Friday prayers at a mosque, a day after armed units of his Somalia Islamic Courts Council fled the capital in the face of government troops backed by Ethiopian armour.

Ali Mohamed Gedi, the Somali prime minister, entered Mogadishu on Friday after a 10-day land and air offensive by Ethiopia in support of his weak interim government."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C3B6C066-0AD2-4E66-BF20-AA0700714CE9.htm


cbc

[jajdude]

[cbclark4]

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somalia's prime minister said Sunday that the suspects in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in east Africa are sheltering in the stronghold of his country's militant Islamic movement.

"If we capture them alive we will hand them over to the United States," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told The Associated Press.

The three men - Comorian Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Taha al-Sudani, a Sudanese - are al-Qaida suspects and are under U.S. indictment for the 1998 bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed hundreds of people.

"We know they are in Kismayo," Gedi said. "We would like to capture or kill these guys at any cost. They are the root of the problem."

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061231/D8MBQR1O1.html


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[cbclark4]

"Islamic leaders vowed to make a stand against Ethiopia, which has one of the largest armies in Africa, or to begin an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

�Even if we are defeated we will start an insurgency,� said Sheik Ahmed Mohamed Islan, the head of the Islamic movement in the Kismayo region. �We will kill every Somali that supports the government and Ethiopians.�

Jilib resident Mohamed Suldan Ali said the Islamic forces had littered the approach to the town with remote-controlled land mines. Another resident said the fighters had destroyed three bridges on routes leading to the town. "

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16417386/


cbc

[cbclark4]

This may be a premature claim of victory.

"MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) � Somalia's prime minister said Tuesday that rival Islamic fighters have been scattered and that he does not expect any more major fighting for control of the country.

Government forces, backed by Ethiopian troops, were pursuing the remnants of an Islamic militia that until two weeks ago controlled most of southern Somalia and threatened to drive out the internationally backed government. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said some of the militiamen offered to surrender Tuesday.

"We asked our troops to collect them and bring them back home," he said, refusing to provide any details about how many fighters were involved or where they were.

The rest of the "Islamists are scattered in the bush," he said. "Maybe small fights can take place, but we are trying to destroy them.""

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-02-somalia-islamic-fighters_x.htm

cbc

[bucheon bum]

yeah, let's see how things stand a month from now.

[cbclark4]

"MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Somali government on Saturday said it was indefinitely postponing a mandatory disarmament program, while Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu said they will heed an al-Qaida call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops.

Abdirahman Dinari, spokesman for Somalia�s transitional government, told The Associated Press that the prime minister �has decided to postpone disarming people by force until an unspecified time.� Thursday had been the deadline for residents to voluntarily give up their arms."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16495477/

cbc

[Gopher]

[Woland]

Bucheon Bum has, in my view, the best read on this. This war is an extension of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

What is hard to fathom is why Eritrea would align itself with Islamic fundamentalists (except as a way to prod the Ethiopians). Eritrea is a country about evenly divided between Christians and Muslims (slight Christian majority, and the plurality tribal group is overwhelmingly Christian). The two populations were united during the thirty year war of independence by their rejection of Ethiopian rule. Since independence, the Christian leadership in government has devoted part of their energy to avoiding the return of Muslim refugees from Sudan, whom they fear to be more radical than the local Muslim population. Aligning themselves with fundamentalists in Somalia seems directly counter to their interest in keeping the local Muslim population at peace with their Christian neighbors.

I see only three possibilities:

1. The Eritrean gov't saw the Islamicists as not as radical as some other possibilities (and there have been news reports to this effect) and as controllable once in power (this is probably a foolish idea). Their support of this faction could then be seen as a sop to the local Mulim population, which has not been given power proportional to its numbers internally. This strikes me as the most likely line of thought.

2. Creating problems in Somalia may lead to troubles as well in Djibouti, which could effect port access there and lead Ethiopia to reconsider its boycott of the Eritrean ports Massawa and Assab. Ethiopia's refusal to trade through those ports since Eritrea created its own currency (which sparked the second war between the coutnries) has caused huge problems for the Eritrean economy. I think this line of thinking is unlikely because it would also cause problems for the Americans in Djibouti and the Eritreans can't afford to offend them as well.

3. As one poster noted, Eritrea could use Ethiopia's distraction as an opportunity to occupy the land granted them by the UN arbitrator in negotiations around the truce that currently holds in the second war. Again, I see this as highly unlikely because doing it would cause Eritrean troops to march against UN peacekeepers and Eritrea can afford to offend the UN even less than it can afford to offend the US.

None of these explanations is good, as none seems to work strongly in Eritrea's interest. A fourth possibility is that the personal rivlary between former friends Presidents Afewerki (of Eritrea) and Zenawi (of Ethiopia) has reached such a nadir that rational thought is no longer involved and anything that will bug the Ethiopians will be done.

A special note on Eritrea's Christian and Muslim populations. Both groups are historically more secular and moderate than their neighbors. This is a result of of the balance in numbers between them and their work together to oppose Ethiopian rule during the 30-year-long war of independence. Also, the Arabic-speaking Muslims of Eritrea come historically from the Red Sea coast areas of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which are the more liberal areas of those countries. Largely these were members of tribal groups that resisted the rise of the Saud family and went in exile when the Saud-Wahabbi alliance gained control. The Christians in government in Eritrea are also even more secular than the general Christian population. Both participation in the war and exposure to the West can account for this.

[cbclark4]

"(Al Jazeera) Armed men have attacked Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, residents said.

Hundreds of troops loyal to the Somali transitional government patrolled the streets on Sunday where a day earlier crowds had hurled stones and burnt tyres to demonstrate against the forces that ousted the Islamic courts.

In the second day of violence in Mogadishu directed at Ethiopian troops, Somali fighters opened fire on Ethiopian forces backing the interim government.

Witnesses said three people, including a young boy, were killed in these clashes. A government source said, however, that only one person died."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/80BE0F10-1AEE-4F3B-A3F4-D9D06902B15F.htm

"MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops supporting the Somali government Sunday, witnesses said, in the second straight day of violence in a city struggling to emerge from more than a decade of chaos.

Farah Abdi Hussein, who witnessed the attack, said gunmen launched grenades at Ethiopians about 2 1/2 miles from the airport. One Somali soldier was wounded, according to a Somali military official asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

The unrest comes at a precarious time for Somalia's transitional administration, which is trying to assert some control for the first time in a capital that has seen little more than chaos in the 15 years since clan warlords toppled a dictatorship and then turned on each other."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070107/D8MGL4T80.html

Insurgency?

cbc

[cbclark4]

"Somali forces capture jungle base" (al Jazeera)

"Government and Ethiopian forces have captured what they say was a jungle base used by Islamic courts fighters in southern Somalia.

A government military commander said on Monday that Ras Kamboni was taken after a two-day campaign using ground forces and air support.

Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Somalia, said: "Taking over Ras Kamboni denies Islamist fighters a base from which to launch their guerrilla attacks. It leaves them sandwiched between the US forces patrolling the coast and Kenyan forces stationed at the border.""

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/63C5E5C1-A39F-405E-B40D-DA7A651A4D44.htm

"WASHINGTON � The United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

A Christian-led nation in sub-Saharan Africa, surrounded almost entirely by Muslim states, Ethiopia has received nearly $20 million in U.S. military aid since late 2002. That's more than any country in the region except Djibouti.

Last month, thousands of Ethiopian troops invaded neighboring Somalia and helped overturn a fundamentalist Islamic government that the Bush administration said was supported by al-Qaeda."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-07-ethiopia_x.htm

cbc

[cbclark4]

"US launches air strikes in Somalia (Al Jazeera)
The US military has launched air strikes against fighters in Somalia, saying they are suspected members of al-Qaeda.

Abdirahman Dinari, a Somalia government spokesman, confirmed the offensive on Tuesday.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least one AC-130 gunship was used in the attack.

Dinari told AFP: "We know that a US gunship raided targets of al-Qaeda in southern Somalia sometime yesterday afternoon.

"The target was a small village called Badel where the terrorists were hiding. And the gunship did hit on the exact target.""

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/068C7A74-4D2A-4E6F-8546-B6E062C1AFC2.htm


"WASHINGTON - At least one U.S. airstrike in Somalia that targeted an al-Qaida cell wanted for two 1998 U.S. embassy bombings killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials said Tuesday.

The attack came after the terror suspects were spotted hiding on a remote island on the southern tip of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border, Somali officials said.

Eyewitnesses also said another attack was carried out Monday about 155 miles north of the original strike and more strikes were reported on Tuesday.

"Two helicopters have again attacked," said Ali Seed Yusuf, a resident of Afmadow, a southern Somalia town that was attacked by a U.S. Special Forces AC-130 gunship a day earlier. It was unclear whether they were Ethiopian or American helicopters.

The Washington Post reported that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, described by U.S. officials as the director al-Qaida operations in East Africa, was killed in the initial attack. The source was Abdirizak Hassan, chief of staff for Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who said he heard of Mohammed�s death from U.S. officials."

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/posting.php?mode=reply&t=74439

cbc

[cbclark4]

"Fighting erupts in Mogadishu
Men firing rockets and throwing grenades have attacked an Ethiopian military camp in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

A large explosion was also heard as the sound of gunfire echoed through the city on Tuesday night.

It was not immediately clear if anyone had been killed or injured in the attacks.

The attacks raised fears that the Council of Islamic Courts - ejected from the city by Ethiopian and Somali government troops on January 1 - may be preparing to counter attack.

The UN and EU have both registered concern at US air raids against what it said were members of al-Qaeda.

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, was said to be "concerned" about the US attacks in southern Somalia and fears they may lead to an escalation of hostilities.

The UN's chief spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said Ban was also "concerned the impact this could have on the civilian population in southern Somalia and regrets the reported loss of civilian life."

Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a spokesman for the European Commission - the EU's executive office - said: "Any incident of this kind is not helpful in the long term.""

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1F9B07A7-D60E-4838-828A-F40483FACC0A.htm

cbc

[cbclark4]

"US refuses to confirm Somalia raids (Al Jazeera)
The US has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out further air strikes on targets in Somalia.

On Wednesday, some Somali government officials said there had been more US air strikes since the US bombing operation of Monday.

But a US defence official said reports of additional US air strikes could not be substantiated.

He said: "There have been no additional attacks."

The official did not say how US and Ethiopian aircraft operating in the same area were to be distinguished.

The Pentagon confirmed that US forces carried out attacks on Monday, the first overt US military action in Somalia since 1994, as part of a wider offensive involving Ethiopian aircraft."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/64764921-4919-41E5-A168-8C596B9F555E.htm

"Bomb suspect killed in Somalia strike?
U.S. sources can�t back report; extent of military action also unclear

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Conflicting information on Wednesday made it unclear whether an al-Qaida militant was killed in a U.S. airstrike, and whether further airstrikes were carried out against suspected extremists.

A Somali official said that the al-Qaida militant who planned the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa was killed in a first airstrike in Somalia.

�I have received a report from the American side chronicling the targets and list of damage,� Abdirizak Hassan, the Somali president�s chief of staff, told The Associated Press. �One of the items they were claiming was that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is dead.�"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16557058/

cbc

[TheUrbanMyth]