Major central Somali town falls to insurgent fighters

Saturday, June 28, 2008

MOGADISHU, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Insurgent fighters took over the provincial capital of central Somali region of Beledweyn hours after Ethiopian troops withdrew from the city, residents said Saturday.

The fighters arrived in the town early in the morning taking positions and keeping guard at the streets.

Locals ransacked the offices of the regional and municipal administration and the whereabouts of the regional Governor and mayor of the city of Beledweyn are not yet known, resources in Beledweyn, 300 km north of Mogadishu, told Xinhua.

Commanders of the insurgent fighters spoke with local residents saying they will fight with Ethiopian troops if they returned to the city which has fallen to the insurgents early this year but the insurgents withdrew hours after they took over.

Sources in the city said that Ethiopian troops who since they returned to Beledweyn after they left early this year had been stationed in the town with the newly installed administration trying to consolidate their authority in the region.

The new Governor had said early this year that insurgents were inside the region and had been trying to reign in. Ethiopian troops were deployed in the town and the former governor's forces disbanded.

Ethiopian troops, who are currently deployed in Somalia to assist the Somali transitional government assert its influence throughout the country, were reportedly heading to towns in the central region of Mugud. It is not clear why they withdrew from Beledweyn or went to the Mudug Region

The near daily attacks on Somali and Ethiopian troops by insurgent fighters continued unabated despite the signing of a peace deal early this month between Somali transitional government and a faction of the opposition group The Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia.

Another faction of the alliance based in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, and the Al-shabaab Islamist group have boycotted the talks held in Djibouti last month. They vowed to continue their attacks on Ethiopian and Somali transitional government forces and officials until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia.

Somali has been without a central authority since the ouster of former Somali ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

Source: Xinhua, June 28, 2008