In A Matter Of Five Days, The So Called Weak Government Managed To Capture Somalia!!

[raadamiir]

"In A Matter Of Five Days, The So Called Weak Government Managed To Captured The Formidable Capital And Most Of Somalia" Newyork Times.

 

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 28 — Just hours after Islamist fighters abandoned Mogadishu, the capital from which they ruled much of Somalia, thousands of troops of the transitional government marched into the city on Thursday in a stunning reversal of fortune.

 

The government soldiers and the Ethiopian infantrymen who have been backing them poured in from the outskirts, residents said. The only gunshots fired were long celebratory bursts into the air.

 

In a country with such a troubled recent history, including famine, anarchy, isolation and war, a potentially viable government has suddenly emerged.

 

In a matter of five days, the internationally recognized government, a fledging authority that had been so weak it was marooned in a provincial market town, captured the formidable capital and most of Somalia — with more than a little help from Ethiopia.

 

The Islamists, whom many Western nations had considered a grave and growing regional threat with terrorist connections, were vanquished faster than anyone had expected, or at least removed from power.

 

“We always knew these Islamists weren’t all they were cracked up to be,” said Abdirizak Adam Hassan, chief of staff for the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. “And now we are where they used to be, in control of Mogadishu — well, as much as anyone can be in control of Mogadishu.”

 

On Thursday morning, before most of the troops arrived, the city exploded in anarchy as armed bandits rushed into the streets and fragmented militia units began to fight each other for the spoils of war.

 

Witnesses said that an intense gun battle raged around a former Islamist ammunition dump, and that clan warlords instantly reverted to setting up roadside checkpoints and shaking down motorists, reminiscent of the years of chaos before the Islamists pacified the city in June.

 

Still, Mogadishu has been almost a holy grail for the government.

 

For months, leaders cooped up 150 miles inland in the market town, Baidoa, had spoken of their dreams of returning to the once-beautiful (and now bullet-pocked) city by the sea. But they were blocked on all sides by the Islamist forces, which dominated most of south-central Somalia, including the capital, their stronghold.

 

All that changed on Sunday when Ethiopia, with tacit approval from the United States, carried out an aggressive counterattack against the Islamist forces. Ethiopia sided with the government because the Islamists had vowed to invade Somali-speaking areas of Ethiopia and wage a holy war against it.

 

By Wednesday, the Islamist military had been decimated by Ethiopian airstrikes and mass desertions. Clan elders, traditionally the pillars of Somali society, pulled their troops and firepower out of the Union of Islamic Courts, or U.I.C., after a string of back-to-back military loses in which more than 1,000 fighters, mostly teenage boys, were quickly mowed down by the better-trained and equipped Ethiopian-backed forces.

 

“Our children were getting annihilated,” said Abdi Hulow, an elder with the powerful ****** clan. “We couldn’t sustain it.”

 

By Thursday, government officials said, many of the Islamist leaders had fled into the thickly forested areas to the south, where the government plans to hunt them down. But there were also worries that the Islamists would wage guerrilla warfare, as they have threatened.

 

“The U.I.C. may have decided not to fight the Ethiopians and their allies this time around,” said Ted Dagne, an Africa specialist for Congressional Research Service. But he added: “This does not mean the U.I.C. is finished. The U.I.C. fighters simply changed their uniform to a civilian cloth.”

 

Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, an Islamist leader, said Thursday that his forces had surrendered Mogadishu to avoid a bloodbath. “We don’t want to see Mogadishu destroyed,” he told Al Jazeera television by telephone from an undisclosed location.

 

Even before the government troops had planted themselves in downtown Mogadishu, the political negotiations began.

 

Mr. Hulow and other elders said they had asked transitional leaders for positions in the new government in exchange for support. Ali Mohammed Gedi, the prime minister, told the elders that first he needed help in disarming the militias.

 

Mr. Gedi also gave a short news conference on the outskirts of Mogadishu in which he reached out to the Somali diaspora, saying: “We need your help. It’s time to come home.”

 

One group was noticeably absent from all these talks: conservative clerics, who seemed to have overplayed their cards.

[raadamiir]

Mr. Gedi also gave a short news conference on the outskirts of Mogadishu in which he reached out to the Somali diaspora, saying: “We need your help. It’s time to come home.”

 

I hear the PM Gedi call mine ticket is ready.

[Abdi2005]

Daba dhilifs thinks evry thing ends her, its only the begining. Do you think there will be no resistent agains kafir backed goverement? It will become nonfunctioning goverment it will be opposed like Siad Barres goverment. In short time you will se first disputes betwen the munafiqins(a/yusuf,gedi,m.dhere,ina.ceydid,qeybdid,qanyare...) about power and controll over certain areas, and the clan dispute will begin especially with a/yusuf the worst qabyalist.

[General Duke]

^^^Come on, you can not be serious? Is the suprise, to give us another suprise?

Saxib it is nearly over the TFG has enough muscle and support to pacify the country. No former strong man is in the city, Qaybdeed, Qaynyare, Dheere, Sudi, none are back in the city, but the TFG forces are in the airport, port, and many locations oustide and inside and many more forces are coming from every direction.

Gone are the dark days, it is the time for reconstruction, development and peace..

,Insha Allah

[Somali_Friend]

I love this picture. It changed everything.

US came running to Baydhoa

UN resolution became a breathe through

EU got scared of losing out completely even though never left ICU side

The Chinese worked countries like Egypt, example egypt and ethiopia sat and talked about Somalia there and agreed how to avoid extreme issues between them.

 

A lot happened around this picture. A lot also happened for Ethiopia, since Meles was at the center of the conference. America abondoned Warlords which were a big obstacle for relations between Somalia and Ethiopia.

 

[General Duke]

Wonderful article.