Somalis, Ethiopians Engage Islamists (AP)

Somalis, Ethiopians Engage Islamists
Somali Troops, Ethiopian Soldiers Fight 600 Islamic Militiamen in South;
Kenya Closes Border

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN

MOGADISHU, Somalia Jan 4, 2007 (AP)— Government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers
were fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the southern tip of Somalia, an official
spokesman said Thursday.

In the past 10 days, Ethiopian-backed government forces have driven out the Islamic
movement that had controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for more than six
months. The Islamic movement retreated to the southern tip of Somalia and vowed to keep
fighting, raising the specter of an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

The Somali forces have surrounded the Islamic militiamen "from every direction" in the
southwestern district of Badade, near the Kenyan border, government spokesman Abdirahman
Dinari told The Associated Press. "The fighting is going on," Dinari said. "We hope they
will either surrender or be killed by our troops."

Kenya sent extra troops to the Somali frontier and closed its border, fearing an exodus
of refugees and foreign fighters.

-snip-

US covert operations underway in Somalia; resource conflict escalates over Horn of Africa

by Larry Chin

Global Research, May 27, 2006



With the world facing Peak Oil and Gas, the world’s superpowers are racing to secure every last drop of oil and natural gas from every remaining inch of the planet, with the African continent quickly becoming the stage for new violence and warfare. It is no surprise that Anglo-American oil interests, and the Bush administration’s covert operatives, are working Somalia, and the region, for all it is worth.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHI20060527&articleId=2524