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By Hassan Yare
13 January 2007
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Somalia's parliament declared on Saturday a state of emergency for three months to restore security in the Horn of Africa country after several weeks of war ousted rival Islamists.
Members of parliament passed the vote in the government's interim seat of Baidoa -- its home until Ethiopian and Somali troops defeated Islamists who had controlled much of the south.
"A three-month state of emergency has been passed. If need arises for the government to extend the period then the president will have to ask parliament for approval," second deputy speaker Osman Elmi Boqore told parliament.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said in late December that three months of a state of emergency were necessary to impose order after Ethiopian troops, planes and tanks helped Somali government forces end six months of Islamist rule.
The government, which is seeking to install itself in the capital Mogadishu, faces a huge challenge to bring peace and security to the Horn of Africa nation, which has been without effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.
The vote came hours after Ethiopian-backed government forces captured a southern Islamist stronghold. Many fugitive Islamists were believed to be holed up in the coastal village of Ras Kamboni near the Kenyan border after fleeing south.
"The government took over the last Islamist stronghold of Ras Kamboni yesterday evening after fighting in the morning," said Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari.
"Most of the wanted terrorists have either died or fled. They are hiding in the forests ... Government forces are still chasing them. We will not stop the chase until we are sure they are totally eliminated."
Washington sent a warplane into Somalia on Monday to try to kill top al Qaeda suspects and Ethiopian aircraft have pounded the area for days to finish a war that began before Christmas.
"Ethiopian planes are now striking Heerowajer near the Kenyan border as well as Badmadowe where the Islamists are believed to be hiding," lawmaker Abdirashid Mohammed Hidig, also acting government leader for the area, said in the southern port of Kismayu, from where he said operations were being launched.
Hidig said U.S. forces were on the ground but were not involved in any fighting although he had not seen them. A senior U.S. official told Reuters this week he was not aware of any American special forces in Somalia.
HERDSMEN KILLED
British-based aid agency Oxfam said air raids to pursue Islamists and their suspected al Qaeda allies hiding in southern Somalia had mistakenly killed 70 nomadic herdsmen.
While some Somali sources have reported scores of deaths, there has been no independent confirmation. Both Ethiopia and the United States deny hitting civilians.
Washington's strike was its first overt military involvement in Somalia since a disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1994.
It killed up to 10 al Qaeda allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the U.S. government said. Washington denies carrying out any further strikes.
Ethiopia, the region's major power, wants to withdraw in coming weeks its soldiers who have been attacked in Mogadishu since helping the government seize the capital late last month.
Diplomats fear that would leave the government -- the 14th attempt at central rule since 1991 -- vulnerable to remnant Islamists vowing guerrilla war, warlords seeking to re-create their fiefdoms, and competing clans.
The administration has called for peacekeepers to be deployed immediately. The African Union says it is willing in principle to send troops. Uganda is ready to provide the first battalion, but is nervous of the risks for its soldiers.
Somali warlords agreed on Friday to merge their forces into a new national army, but fighting outside the presidential palace where they met showed how hard that task will be.
Warlord gunmen trying to force their way inside fought Somali troops and the shootout -- the kind of clash commonplace in Mogadishu for the last 15 years -- killed several people.
Source: Reuters