Somalia's government says radical Muslim fighters streaming into country
December 11, 2006

MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) -- Somalia's Western-backed interim government
sounded the alarm Monday over recent clashes with Islamist rivals that it
said could spread into a regional conflict involving foreign Muslim
radicals.
 
Islamist fighters and pro-government troops were just miles apart after
weekend fighting near the Baidoa base of President Abdullahi Yusuf's
administration in an escalation of skirmishes many fear could turn into
all-out war.
 
"The Islamic Courts, instead of ceasing their expansion and committing to
peace and dialogue, have increased their military expansionist activities
and their belligerence to new heights," the Information Ministry said in a
statement from Baidoa.
 
"The Transitional Federal Government draws the attention of the
international community to the grave danger that the current situation poses
to peace and stability in Somalia and the region and would like the issue
addressed urgently."
 
At least two people have died in Friday and Saturday's fighting near
Dinsoor, southwest of Baidoa, the only place Yusuf's government controls in
Somalia. Islamist sources said Monday they had taken Tayeeglow, a town
northeast of Baidoa, but that could not be confirmed on the ground.
 
The Somali Islamic Courts Council took Mogadishu in June and now rules much
of south Somalia under sharia law. It is trying to block food and fuel
reaching Baidoa by truck.
 
Some experts believe the Islamists also want to to squeeze or break the
government's de facto security ring around Baidoa.
 
The Islamic Courts Council said the government is provoking war by inviting
Ethiopian troops across the border in violation of Somali sovereignty. Addis
Ababa denies witness accounts of thousands of its soldiers in and around
Baidoa.
 
The government statement sent to foreign media Monday said the Islamic
Courts Council, for its part, was welcoming an "influx of foreign
terrorists" into territories it controls.
 
"Thousands of Eritrean and other foreigners, who are answering the courts'
call for 'jihad', are pouring in," it added. "Our intelligence sources also
indicate increased flow of arms shipments from Eritrea and abroad."
 
U.N. experts and other analysts believe arch-foes Ethiopia and Eritrea,
which fought a bloody 1998-2000 border war, are backing the government and
Islamists, respectively.
 
Addis Ababa admits sending several hundred military trainers, while Asmara
denies any involvement.
 
Source: Associated Press