Wednesday - December 27, 2006

Somalia Update

The IslamoNazis are backpedaling as fast as they can and are beating a retreat back to Mogadishu. Some are melting into the jungle and are planning on waging a guerrilla war - provided the Ethiopian army doesn’t wipe them out first, like the vermin they are.

The US has pretty much given Ethiopia the diplomatic green light to go ahead and wipe out the Islamonazis but other than that is staying out of it. The United Nations is doing what they do best - absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopians are marching on Mogadishu. The civilian population of the former capitol have all packed up and left town, leaving the IslamoNazis to face the Ethiopians alone. For my money, I’d recommend Ethiopia just flatten Mogadishu to a pile of rubble with artillery and air bombardments. Sometimes you just have to burn the house down to get rid of all the cockroaches. To be continued ....

The Islamist forces once in control of much of Somalia are crumbling faster than anyone expected and beat a hasty retreat back to their stronghold in Mogadishu, Somalia’s battle-scarred capital, on Tuesday.

By dawn, Buurhakaba, a large inland town, had fallen to the Islamists’ rivals, along with nearby Dinsoor and Bulo Burti, where just a few weeks ago the clerics in charge were threatening to behead people who did not pray five times a day.

The Islamist fighters, who had seemed invincible after taking Mogadishu from the city’s warlords in June, now seem powerless to stop the steady advance of the internationally recognized transitional government and the Ethiopian forces that are backing it.

By nightfall, the transitional government’s troops were 50 miles from Mogadishu, calling for the Islamists to surrender. The Islamist leaders refused, saying they would take their fight “everywhere,” possibly a threat to unleash guerrilla tactics and suicide bombers, which they have already used.

The fast-moving developments seemed to confirm what United Nations officials and witnesses in Somalia have been saying since the fighting erupted a week ago: that the teenage troops of the Islamists, however religiously inspired, were no match for the better-trained Ethiopian-backed force, with its tanks and fighter jets.

Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, said Tuesday that his soldiers and their Somali allies had “broken the back” of the Islamists and killed more than 1,000 fighters, though United Nations officials have put the toll substantially below that.

-- NY TIMES

As the fighting continued, members of the U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting in New York to discuss the conflict and consider a joint statement put forward by Qatar.

Ambassadors from the 15 countries on the council were briefed first by Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, and then began debating the text of a statement calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia.

But U.S. diplomats said they would seek changes to the draft. “We don’t want to single out Ethiopia in that way and believe they have legitimate security concerns,” a U.S diplomat said. “Our position is that we need all parties to return to dialogue.”

The diplomat, who agreed to discuss aspects of the U.S. position in exchange for anonymity, said the United States would also push for a condemnation of the Islamic Courts’ use of child soldiers in the conflict.

It was unclear whether the Security Council would be able to reach consensus on the statement before Wednesday. Meanwhile, a Somali envoy to Ethiopia said Ethiopian troops could take over Mogadishu in 24 to 48 hours.

-- WASHINGTON POST

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/27/2006 at 05:52 AM   
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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