Somali Jihad Update from The Ethiopian Reporter: “Somalia: ‘Withdraw Or Be Ready for-Full Scale War’ – Aweys to Ethiopia”
“We call on Ethiopia to withdraw its forces from Somalia, otherwise be ready for full-scale war,” Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) of Somalia, warned on Thursday.
Ethiopia, despite numerous witnesses who say they have seen its troops in Somalia, has denied the statements.
Aweys’ statement comes a decision made one week ago by defense chiefs from the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), that the first deployment of a nearly 7,000 African peace support force is to assemble in northeast Kenya near the Somali border late September. The troops are to be comprised of Sudanese and Ugandan soldiers.
“We say again that Ethiopian intervention in Somalia will never be accepted, no one can dare divert us onto a path other than Sharia law,” added Aweys during an inauguration ceremony that saw the opening of Mogadishu’s International seaport.
And the conquest continues:
On Thursday several hundred gun men went into a town called Doul, some 40 kilometers south of Galkayo bordering Somaliland.
There are reports that the UIC militia are preparing to fight the warlords in Bandiiradley, and expand their territory further north into Galkayo and the semi-autonomous north-eastern region of Puntland.
Warlords that were defeated and chased out of Mogadishu by the UIC are also bracing themselves for battle in Doul, according to reports from the residents of Galkayo.