Somalia's Islamic movement investigating mysterious blast in the capital
December 16, 2006

The leaders of Somalia's Islamic movement were investigating an explosion that rocked this already tense capital but caused no injuries or damage, an Islamic official said Saturday.

The Friday evening blast near the Ramadan Hotel - one of the headquarters of the Council of Islamic Courts - sent terrified residents running through the streets. Sheik Muqtar Robow, the group's deputy defense chief, said nobody was injured but his forces had sealed off the area and were investigating.

He called the explosion "mysterious."

The Islamic Courts movement has vowed to launch a holy war starting next week unless Ethiopian troops supporting this country's government leave Somalia. Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation, fears the emergence of a neighboring Islamic state and has acknowledged sending military advisers - though not a fighting force - to help the government.

On Friday, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said during a rare interview that peace talks with the Islamists are no longer an option, warning that the group is allowing al-Qaida terrorists to "set up shop" in the Horn of Africa.

"This is a new chapter and part of the terror group's plan to wage war against the West," Yusuf told The Associated Press from his office in Baidoa, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Mogadishu.

Tension has been mounting in recent weeks between the government, which has international recognition but little authority on the ground, and the Council of Islamic Courts, which controls most of southern Somalia. The United States has said the Islamic movement has links to al-Qaida, an accusation Islamic leaders have repeatedly denied.

Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into chaos. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but it has struggled to assert its authority in the face of the increasingly powerful Islamic council.

Experts fear the conflict in Somalia could engulf the already volatile Horn of Africa. A recent U.N. report said 10 nations have been sending weapons to the warring sides in Somalia.

War would hit an already devastated country where one in five children die before age 5 from preventable diseases. The impoverished nation also is struggling to recover from the worst flood season in East Africa in 50 years.

"The fighting can happen at any time now," Yusuf said Friday, adding that peace talks were impossible now that the Islamic leaders have declared war on his government. The sides have held several rounds of talks in Khartoum, Sudan, but have failed to produce any lasting effect.

"They are the ones who effectively closed the door to peace talks and they are the ones who are waging the war," Yusuf said of the Islamic council, noting that his administration would not attack first. Baidoa, the only town the government controls, is surrounded by fighters loyal to the Islamic group.

"We are not under the illusion that peace is possible," Yusuf said.

Source: The Associated Press