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Somali govt asserts authority
13/01/2007 12:23 - (SA)
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| A heavily armed Ethiopian soldier stands in a street in Mogadishu as Somali and Ethiopian forces skirmished with Islamic Court gunmen in southern Somalia. (Mohamed Sheikh Nor, AP) |
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Mogadishu - Somalia's weak interim government sought to assert its authority on Saturday as its Council of Islamic Court enemies were forced from their last stronghold and a weapons round-up intensified in Mogadishu.
A government spokesperson said its forces and Ethiopian troops had captured Ras Kamboni, a coastal village near the southern border with Kenya, late on Friday after brief clashes with Islamic fighters who fled the capital last month.
"Our forces are fully in control of Ras Kamboni and surrounding areas. The Islamists and their foreign fighters are on the run," Abdirahman Dinari told AFP.
"The army is searching for them and they should be apprehended very soon. The Islamists pose no security threat, but the government will not rest until they are defeated."
In the capital, Ethiopian troops, backed by Somali government forces, searched for heavy artillery that might be used against aircraft arriving in the city's recently-reopened international airport.
"The Ethiopian troops are searching house-to-house for weapons and Islamist fighters," said Abdi Ibrahim, a shop owner in Bullohabey neighbourhood.
Many bury weapons
"They have arrested three members of (the Ethiopian tribe of) Oromo who were living here. The troops have also restricted our movements."
But residents in the neighbourhood, where the joint Ethiopian-Somali troops were located, said many had buried their weapons.
"Most people buried their weapons and it is difficult for them to get the arms. Also, heavy weapons have been dismantled and kept separately in small pieces," said Bullohabey resident Daud Hassan.
At least 10 people have been killed in the capital since the Islamic court fighters fled in December, including those killed in attacks targeting Ethiopian camps and convoys.
The government has blamed the attack on some Islamic court fighters still holed up in the capital.
Somalis sceptical about peace
The search comes a day after key Mogadishu warlords agreed to disarm their fighters and join the government. The committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire is due to meet for the first time on Saturday.
However, the agreement has been met with scepticism by the Somali, whose country has been without an effective central authority since the 1991 ousting of former president Mohamed Siad Barre.
Even as the accord between the government and seven warlords was being negotiated, forces loyal to one warlord engaged in a firefight with security forces outside the talks' venue. Five people died in the clashes.
The transitional government was formed in Kenya in 2004 and returned to Somalia the following year. Unable to go to Mogadishu, it set up in the provincial town of Baidoa.
It remained largely powerless until Ethiopia weighed in against the growing strength of the Islamic courts, that had been establishing order but were accused by the United States of having links with the al-Qaeda movement.
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