Dec 16, 2006

Somalia's top Islamist leader said on Friday his fighters did not plan to attack the Horn of Africa nation's interim government but only its "invading" Ethiopian allies.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys mocked as "empty talk" US accusations that al Qaeda had taken over his movement.

"We do not intend to attack the government, but at the same time we are obliged to attack Ethiopians wherever they are," he told Reuters from Mogadishu.

"Our country has been invaded by Ethiopia ... we should have thrown them out a long time ago," added Aweys, saying he regretted the Islamists did not take the government seat of Baidoa when they first rose to power in June.

Witnesses and experts say thousands of Ethiopian soldiers are in and around Baidoa, including providing a personal protection force for Somali President Abdillahi Yusuf.

Islamist fighters flank them on three sides.

To Baidoa residents, the Islamists' distinction between the government and Ethiopia has little meaning on the ground, as they are perceived now as a joint force.

Residents there stocked up with provisions on Friday as troops tested weaponry ahead of a feared attack.

"I'm afraid when war breaks out, roads will be closed and food is going to be unaffordable," laborer and father-of-three Said Ali Ahmed said at a cafe in the trading town that lies in the middle of an agricultural area of south-central Somalia.

"I don't know where to take my family. When war starts here, it will be everywhere and most of the roads will be mined."

"Ultimatum stands"

The Mogadishu-based Islamists' defense chief vowed on Tuesday to strike if Ethiopian troops protecting the government at Baidoa, the only town it controls, do not leave by December 19.

"That ultimatum still stands, but I'm not sure of the details," said Aweys, a former military colonel-turned-cleric.

The ultimatum has increased fears of a new war in the conflict-riven nation, mired in anarchy since the ousting of a dictator in 1991.

Arch-foes Ethiopia and Eritrea are accused of arming the government and Islamists respectively, so many fear fighting in Somalia could quickly spread into a regional war.

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said on Thursday the Islamists were becoming more radical.

"The Council of Islamic Courts is now controlled by ... east Africa al Qaeda cell individuals. The top layer of the court are extremists. They are terrorists," she said.

Frazer cited the recent murder of an Italian Catholic nun in Mogadishu, and Islamists' declaration of jihad against Ethiopia.

Some diplomats read her remarks as preparation for possible US support of an Ethiopian-led war against the Islamists.

Aweys, who is on UN and US lists of people accused of links to terrorism, scoffed at Frazer's comments.

"This is the same American attitude, empty talk without any proof," he said, laughing. "The Americans are led by women, and in our culture women cannot lead men, so we cannot answer her."

Return to talks

The United Nations and other international bodies are urging all sides in the Somali conflict to pull back from the brink and return to a dialogue about power-sharing.

"There is a need to break the futility of violence. The military option can never be considered a solution," European Union development and humanitarian aid commissioner Louis Michel told Reuters in the latest appeal for peace.

"Very few people are taking the measure of the enormous risk the Somali situation can present to the region and the world."

Aweys said the Western-backed interim government - formed at peace talks in Kenya in 2004 - had no popular backing.

"We represent Somalis, we have more rights over the Somali people than the government," he said. "It was wrong to prevent us from taking Baidoa from the word go."

The Islamists would still, however, attend negotiations with the government if a new round got under way after the talks stalled in Khartoum recently, Aweys said.

Source: Reuters