Somalia govt forces surrounded
Thousands of Islamic militants today surrounded the only town Somalia’s government controls, the prime minister said.
It came as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless troops from neighbouring Ethiopia leave the country.
The surrounded town of Baidoa was today teeming with soldiers patrolling the city and manning checkpoints.
Ethiopian troops are believed to be based around Baidoa.
“I believe that war is inevitable because elements within the so-called Islamic Courts are against peace and stability in the country,” Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said in his office in Baidoa.
Ethiopia acknowledges sending military advisers to help Gedi’s internationally-recognised government but denies sending a fighting force.
A confidential UN report obtained by the Associated Press in October said up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border backing the government.
“If the Ethiopians don’t withdraw from Somalia within seven days, we will launch a major attack,” Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Islamic group, said in the capital, Mogadishu.
