Residents of the town housing Somalia's interim government are stocking up provisions as troops test weaponry before a feared attack by the Council of Islamic Courts. Islamic Courts fighters have threatened to attack Baidoa if Ethiopian troops protecting the government do not leave by Tuesday. Hassan Aweys, the Islamic Courts leader, said on Friday his movement did not plan to attack the Horn of Africa's interim government but only "invading" Ethiopian troops. He said: "We do not intend to attack the government, but at the same time we are obliged to attack Ethiopians. "Our country has been invaded by Ethiopia ... we should have thrown them out a long time ago."
Abdullahi Yusuf, Somalia's president, reacted by saying that peace talks with the Islamic Courts, who took Mogadishu in June and expanded across most of south Somalia since, are no longer an option, warning that the group is "allowing al-Qaeda terrorists to set up shop in the Horn of Africa". He said: "This is a new chapter and part of the terror group's plan to wage war against the West."