This conflict will engulf the Horn

All-out war is about to erupt in the Horn of Africa following Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia. Thousands of people are reported to have fled their homes to escape the fighting,

The IUC, who emerged in June to capture huge swathes of southern Somalia, are an assemblage of former warlords …But support for the IUC (also known as the Council of Islamic Courts) is not in short supply … Eritrea, which has some unfinished business with Ethiopia over a disputed border that climaxed with bruising battles between 1998 and 2000, have allied themselves with the IUC.

Then there are the Arab states that have expressed a wish to spread Islam in the Horn and beyond, and who have supported the IUC cause. But the lifting of the arms embargo on Somalia places the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the African Union and the United Nations in a precarious position as the Somali crisis threatens to escalate into a regional conflict.

Daily Nation,

Nairobi, Kenya