Govt troops defect to Islamists

2006-12-18 09:57

Mogadishu - Nearly 200 government troops have defected to Somalia's powerful Islamic movement, says an Islamic official, as a tense standoff between the two sides threatened to erupt into a regional war.

Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, head of the Islamic court in the Al-Bayan region, said the troops defected late on Saturday. The region was about 80km from Baidoa, the only town the government controlled.

Bilal said: "They are ready to be incorporated into the Islamic courts forces." The government denied the allegations.

Deputy defence minister Salad Ali Jelle said: "No government troops defected to Islamic courts. The government has 6 000 strong soldiers who are well trained and well disciplined."

Islamists vow to launch holy war

Tension had been mounting in recent weeks between the government, which had international recognition, but little actual authority, and the Council of Islamic Courts, which controlled most of southern Somalia.

The United States had said the Islamic movement had links to al-Qaeda, an accusation Islamic leaders had repeatedly denied.

The Islamic Courts movement had vowed to launch a holy war starting on Tuesday unless Ethiopian troops supporting the government left Somalia.

Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation, feared the emergence of a neighbouring Islamic state and had acknowledged sending military advisers - though not a fighting force - to help the government.

The National Union of Somali Journalists said that on Sunday, two journalists were detained without charge by Islamic forces while trying to board a plane at Mogadishu's airport.

NUSJ official Abdirashid Deylka said the security forces seized on of the reporters' passport and computer before taking the men to an undisclosed location.

Jailed reporter freed

Islamic courts spokesperson Abdirahin Ali Mudey said he had no immediate details on the case.

Meanwhile, authorities in the semiautonomous region of Puntland released Abdi-Aziz Mohamud Guuleed, a reporter for a local radio station, after 16 days in jail when he was acquitted of reporting stories against Puntland's administration.

Puntland, which declared itself an autonomous state within Somalia in 1998, had generally been spared the violence that had wracked much of the rest of the country. But, radicals within the Islamic courts had vowed to take over.

Somalia had not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into chaos.

The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but it had struggled to assert its authority in the face of the increasingly powerful Islamic council.

Experts feared the conflict in Somalia could engulf the volatile Horn of Africa. A recent UN report said 10 nations had been sending weapons to the warring sides.

- AP