Somali Islamists vow holy war on Ethiopia troops

By Guled Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamists vowed a "holy war" on Thursday against Ethiopian troops crossing into the Horn of Africa nation, while Addis Ababa threatened to "crush" any attack on the interim government it supports.
The aggressive rhetoric -- combined with this week's military moves on both sides -- have heightened fears of a new war in Somalia, plagued by violence and without central rule since the 1991 ouster of a military dictator.
"The risk of full scale war increases by the day," said John Prendergast, of the International Crisis Group think-tank.
Islamists took the capital Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords last month and are threatening the authority of a transitional administration formed in Kenya in 2004 and intended to steer the nation from anarchy to peace.
Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a senior Islamist in charge of defence, said around 20 military vehicles from anti-Islamist Ethiopia had crossed into Somalia at Dollow on Wednesday.
That added to previous Islamist accusations that Ethiopia was pouring in several thousand troops.
"God willing, we will remove the Ethiopians in our country and wage a jihadi war against them," he told reporters.
Independent analysts believe Addis Ababa has sent up to 5,000 troops into Somalia, and is massing many more on the border, as a deterrent to any more advances by the Islamists, who took Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords last month.
The regional power, Ethiopia backs the interim government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, based in the provincial town of Baidoa because it lacks the strength to move into Mogadishu.
Addis Ababa earlier said it would stop any move by the Islamists to attack Yusuf's government. "We will use all means at our disposal to crush the Islamist group if they attempt to attack Baidoa," Information Minister Berhan Hailu said.
"TIRED OF WAR"
Nominally Christian-led Ethiopia, which condemns the Islamist leaders as "terrorists", is fearful of having a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep.
It is also anxious at possible Islamist aspirations to establish a "Greater Somalia" which would incorporate areas inhabited by ethnic Somalis such as Ethiopia's Ogaden.
Ethiopia sounded the alarm after Islamist militia moved from Mogadishu to Buur Hakaba -- just 60 km (37 miles) from Baidoa -- on Wednesday. The Islamists returned in the evening, saying they went to collect 150 soldiers switching sides from Yusuf's force.
The commander of the 150 soldiers who went over to the Islamist side said they were disgruntled at lack of pay.
"We met him (Yusuf) on Sunday and told him we will be leaving since his government failed to honour its promises," Garad Fiidow Gabow told Reuters in Mogadishu at a former government building where his troops were resting.
The soldiers carried new AK-47 rifles.
Interim government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari, however, said soldiers had left due to indiscipline.
Talking to reporters in Mogadishu, Islamist defence chief Robow said he could have gone on to Baidoa: "I had weapons and militia yesterday but did not go to my house in Baidoa to avoid being an obstacle to the talks and also to prevent confrontations and gun-battles that could cause problems."
He was referring to stalled Arab League-brokered talks between the Islamists and government in Khartoum. The government pulled out of the last round, saying the Islamists broke an accord to stop military advances.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi)
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