Somali parliament to declare martial law for 3 months

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Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamad Gedi says the country's parliament will declare martial law on Saturday for a period of three months.

 

"This country has experienced anarchy and in order to restore security we need a strong hand, especially with freelance militias," he told reporters in Mundul Sharey, his home village, some 40km southwest of Mogadishu.

 

It was Gedi's first visit to his village since 2002 and came hours after Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces pushed Islamist fighters out of the capital they had controlled for six months.

 

Earlier, Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into Mogadishu after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they had held for six months.

 

The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule.

 

Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid.

 

"People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," said resident Abdikadar Abdulle, adding scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city centre.

 

Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled its base early in the morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals.

 

"We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters. "Most of our leaders have fled."

 

The fall of Mogadishu came about 10 days after the Islamists sought to march on the government base of Baidoa. That prompted Ethiopia to come openly into the war, proving the decisive factor in saving the government and pushing back the Islamists.

 

But it was unclear what the SICC's next step would be, and analysts feared they could launch a protracted guerrilla campaign. Experts also questioned whether the weak Somali government could maintain security if the Ethiopians left.

 

"The idea that the Ethiopians can just bring this government from outside, plonk it down in the capital and walk away and everything will be solved, I think that's very, very unrealistic," Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, told Sky News in London.

 

The SICC had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu after chasing US-backed warlords from the city in June. Residents said order had collapsed with their departure.

 

"Mogadishu is now in chaos," Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told Al Jazeera television.

 

Ahmed said the Islamists were united and determined to push out Ethiopian forces, but retreated to avoid more bloodshed.

 

Islamist defence lines were routed by a joint force of Ethiopian armour and government fighters. But SICC leader Ahmed said his side's hasty withdrawal was a just tactical move.

 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to pursue the Islamist leaders. "We will not let Mogadishu burn," he added.

 

While the African Union (AU) has called for him to withdraw his forces "without delay", Meles is believed to have the tacit support of Washington in his push against the Islamists.

 

More than a week of mortar and rocket duels between the Islamists and the Ethiopian-backed government spiralled into open war 10 days ago.

 

The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday thousands had fled and were in a "desperate situation". On Thursday it said at least 17 people died and about 140 were missing after boats in which they were fleeing capsized off Yemen.

 

With Eritrea accused of backing the Islamists, many had feared the conflict would engulf the Horn. Ethiopia, like the United States, says the Islamists are supported by al Qaeda.

 

UN experts have accused 10 nations of providing arms, expertise and men to both sides. An al Qaeda-backed group in Iraq posted a statement on the internet this week urging Muslims to support the Islamists.

 

The SICC has depicted the conflict with Christian-led Ethiopia, which has one of Africa's most effective armies, as a holy war against "crusaders", tapping into decades of rivalry.

 

Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the Islamists had fled to the southern port city of Kismayu and the administration controlled 95 per cent of the country.

 

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi landed at Afgoye in an Ethiopian military helicopter, 30 km west of Mogadishu, where he was met by cheering crowds and clan leaders.

 

The Age

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What is Martial Law?

 

Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.

 

Usually martial law reduces some of the personal rights ordinarily granted to the citizen, limits the length of the trial processes, and prescribes more severe penalties than ordinary law. In many countries martial law prescribes the death penalty for certain crimes, even if ordinary law does not contain that crime or punishment in its system.

 

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