'We will fight foreign troops'
2006-09-06 21:19
Mogadishu - Hundreds of former Somali military men vowed on Wednesday to join powerful Islamists in fighting east African peacekeepers that regional leaders want to send to support Somalia's weak government.
More than 200 ex-officers and soldiers who served in the country's last formal armed force, the Somali National Army, protested against the proposed force in the capital, warning it would "bring more graves than hope".
The protest, the second of its kind in two days, follows a decision by the inter-governmental authority on development (Igad) to push ahead with the deployment of about 8 000 peacekeepers despite vehement opposition.
"We will fight any foreign troops, whether Igad or other forces," said Mohamed Nur Galal, who was the last chief of staff of the Somali armed forces before the ouster of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
Muslims demonstrate in Mogadishu
"This is time for military action," he told a crowd of his former colleagues in southern Mogadishu where they pledged to join the Islamists in fighting the planned peacekeeping mission.
On Tuesday, about 7 000 Muslims demonstrated in Mogadishu against the proposed force, vowing to turn the country into a "graveyard" for the peacekeepers.
Mohamed said: "Though we are weak, we will fight against them.
There will be more graves than hope.
"We tell Uganda, Ethiopia and other member states to know that if they come to Somalia nothing is ahead of them but resistance."
Igad members Uganda and Ethiopia are firm proponents of peacekeepers and Kampala has offered to supply part of the vanguard for the force, envisioned to be in place by the end of the month.
Interim peace deal
Ethiopia, meanwhile, is accused having already sent troops to Somalia to protect the largely powerless transitional government from feared Islamist attacks. Addis Ababa denies the charges.
On Tuesday, Igad renewed support for the force despite dissent in the bloc, opposition in Mogadishu and an interim peace deal between the government and the Islamists that appears to preclude foreign intervention.
Somalia has been without a functioning central authority since 1991 and the transitional government, the latest in more than a dozen internationally-backed attempts to restore stability, has been crippled by infighting.
The rise of the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June, poses a serious challenge to the government, which had actively supported the peacekeeping force plans.
Since taking the capital the Islamists have expanded their territory to include much of southern Somalia, fuelling fears of a Taliban-style takeover by imposing strict Sharia law in areas under their control.
- SAPA