As shelling continued near the government's garrison town of Baidoa, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys called for all Somalis to join the fight against neighboring Ethiopia. "All Somalis should take part in this struggle against Ethiopia," he said. "If you cannot fight you can contribute in other ways to the effort," Aweys said by telephone.| It's pledge week for the Islamist Courts Council! |
| "You can feed five holy warriors for less than the price of a cup of coffee a day! Operators are standing by." |
| "Don't make the widow Fatima beg for her ammunition! ..." |
On Wednesday, Aweys told an EU envoy that he was willing to return to peace talks with the Somali transitional government. But on Thursday, he said "the country is in a state of war."
In Ethiopia, the government said in a statement released late Wednesday that the Islamic group was warmongering and not interested in peace. "Ethiopia has exerted efforts as it will do so for the peaceful resolution of the problem in Somalia," the statement said.
| "Namely by killing these jokers," the statement added. |
"The war is between Somalia and Ethiopia so the transitional government has to choose between Somalis and Ethiopia," Suley told reporters.
Somalia's deputy defense minister Salad Ali Jelle told reporters that 71 Islamic fighters had been killed and 221 injured so far during clashes in three locations near military training camps around the government garrison town of Baidoa. Two of the bodies were foreign fighters. Three government troops were killed and seven injured, Jelle said. Neither claim could be independently verified.
Separately, witnesses in the town of Bur Haqaba, which is controlled by the Islamic movement, reported hearing mortars, anti-aircraft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades being fired Thursday.
After returning from Somalia late Wednesday, EU envoy Louis Michel said skirmishes were likely to continue for now, but said both sides had broadly agreed to ease tensions, and he believed they were committed to negotiations.
| Can't you tell how committed they are to negotiations? |
Foreign Minister Ismail Hurre said that while his government wanted talks, it did not believe its rivals did. Michel said he had spoken on Tuesday to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He said Meles supported his peace initiative, but provided no other details of their conversation. He acknowledged hard-liners and moderates within the Islamic movement have at times differed, but said he believed all factions were behind Wednesday's agreement.
Clashes have erupted 15km from the government garrison town of Baidoa where the EU envoy met with Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf. As the clashes started, several hundred Ethiopian troops aboard 13 military trucks and with artillery support were deployed to strengthen government forces on the eastern side of the city, a government official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
The interim government holds only a small area around the central town of Baidoa. The Islamic militiamen control the capital, Mogadishu, but have also fanned out across most of southern Somalia.
