Somali Islamists say told by God to fight Ethiopia

24 July, 2006

By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist leaders told protesters on Monday that God had commanded them to fight Ethiopian troops sent to defend the Horn of Africa nation's virtually powerless interim government.

In the latest anti-Ethiopia rally, crowds of mostly young men and a few veiled women gathered at a football stadium in the Islamist-controlled capital. Some protesters set fire to an Ethiopian flag to cries of "God is great!"

The protest came as a group of Somali legislators urged the Ethiopians to leave their country in a first recognition from within the Horn of Africa's interim authorities of a military incursion by its neighbour and ally.

The Mogadishu rally was organised by the newly powerful Islamist movement, which says Addis Ababa has moved several thousand troops into the country -- a charge bolstered by eye-witness accounts and believed by most regional experts.

"We are telling Ethiopia that we are ready to die," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a senior Islamist in charge of defence, told the crowd.

"We've been commanded by God to fight you," he added, quoting a verse from the Koran in which Allah instructs Muslims to fight their enemies.

ETHIOPIAN DENIAL

Addis Ababa has repeatedly denied sending soldiers across the border. But it has threatened to "crush" any Islamist attack on the government, based in the provincial town of Baidoa.

The 16 lawmakers issued a statement in Mogadishu calling for the soldiers to withdraw. "Ethiopian troops should get out of Somalia as soon as possible and should cease from the constant aggression against Somalia," they said.

"This move is a clear interference against the freedom and sovereignty of Somalia."

It was not clear where the lawmakers' allegiances lay, although some were believed to be Islamist sympathisers and their presence in Mogadishu seemed to support that.

Most Somalis fear the Horn of Africa nation could slide into full-scale war amid escalating rhetoric on both Ethiopian and Islamist sides and military movements.

Somalia has been plagued by conflict and without central rule since the 1991 ouster of a military dictator.

Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fiercely opposes the Islamists -- who recently took Mogadishu -- as "terrorists."

For their part, the Islamists have exploited deep-seated anti-Ethiopian sentiment to urge the population of 10 million to fight against foreign troops.

"I've never taken part in any war or battle," said 18- year-old student Fozia Bashir, who wore a black veil that only revealed her eyes.

"But I swear I'm ready to defend my country against Ethiopia."