Somali Islamists advance on Baidoa despite talks

By Guled Mohamed

The chief negotiator of Somalia's Islamic courts Ibrahim Hussein Adow stands inside a hotel in Khartoum October 30, 2006. Islamists challenging the authority of Somalia's interim government said they would not proceed with a third round of peace talks on Monday unless Ethiopian troops were withdrawn from the chaotic country. REUTERS/MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAH L

BUUR HAKABA, Somalia, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Heavily armed Islamists say they are steadily advancing on the Somali government's only outpost, despite efforts to bring the two sides together for peace talks in Sudan.

The religious movement has declared holy war on thousands of troops from neighbouring Ethiopia it says invaded Somalia to prop up the country's weak Western-backed administration, confined to Baidoa town.

Cradling an AK-47 rifle in a tent near the frontline, Maalim Hashi Ahmed, one of the commanders leading thousands of Islamist troops massed just 30 km (18 miles) from Baidoa, said his fight was with the Ethiopians, not the government.

"Whatever is happening here has nothing to do with the talks," Ahmed told Reuters in an interview late on Monday. "Everyday, our frontline troops advance a few kilometres towards Baidoa. We will not retreat, come what may."

Residents said Ethiopians manning defensive lines east of Baidoa fired guns to test their heavy weaponry on Tuesday in readiness for an all-out confrontation. Ethiopia admits it has troops in Somalia but says they are only for training.

Ahmed was candid about the Islamists' intentions.

"People think we will stop once we seize Baidoa," he said, a pistol lying on the matt at his side.

"We want to bring the whole of Somalia, including the self-declared states of Puntland and Somaliland, under sharia law. Somalia is one and we plan to re-unite it."

The rise of the Islamists, who seized the capital Mogadishu in June, directly threatens the interim government -- the 14th attempt to restore central rule in Somalia since the 1991 ouster of a dictator plunged the country into anarchy.

NO RETREAT

All attention is now focused on Buur Hakaba, a southern town surrounded by maize fields on the road from Mogadishu to Baidoa.

In the past month, residents say government troops and their Ethiopian allies have seized it twice, and twice the Islamists have grabbed it back. This time they came in force.

The hilly area now resembles a sprawling military base, as hundreds of Islamist battlewagons -- trucks mounted with machine guns and anti-aircraft rockets -- churn up the earth.

Weaving between them, tankers and smaller trucks deliver supplies to thousands of Islamist troops clad in green fatigues and plastic caps, water carriers hanging from their shoulders.

Residents said business was booming since the influx of the soldiers, many of whom spent their pay on the local camel milk.

Ahmed said his fighters closer to Baidoa were braving dense thorn bushes and hostile wildlife as they crawled towards the Ethiopian lines 10 km away.

"Some of our troops have been bitten by snakes, but there is no turning back," he said. "It is unlawful in our religion to show your back to the enemy. We never retreat, come what may."

He said the powerful movement, which has refused to meet the government delegation at the talks in Sudan unless the Ethiopians are withdrawn, had a moral obligation to fight.

"God willing, within this week we will get the Ethiopians out of our country," Ahmed said. "We are obliged by Allah to defend ourselves. They invaded us, so we have take them out."

He said his fighters had been ordered to treat any prisoners well, but that their enemies had no choice but to give up.

"It is against our faith to kill prisoners," he said. "We have surrounded Baidoa. There's no way out for the Ethiopians except surrender, or else their copses will litter everywhere."

Source: Reuters, Oct. 31, 2006