Islamist fighters dig in on the border as Somalis plan 'final assault'

Xan Rice, The Guardian, January 6, 2007

Kiunga - The last remnants of Islamist fighters on the run from Ethiopian and pro-government troops have dug themselves into trenches around the fishing village of Ras Kamboni on Somalia's southernmost tip and are facing a final assault, the Somali defence minister, Colonel Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire, said yesterday. They were left with two options, he said: "To drown in the sea or to fight and die."

Since they left their last urban stronghold of Kismayo on New Year's Day fighters of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), thought to number several thousand, have scattered into the scrublands of southern Somalia. Ethiopian troops, backed by fighter jets, have pursued them but there have been few major engagements. The US, which accuses the SCIC leaders of harbouring international terrorists, is providing support from the sea, with warships patrolling the coast and marines in high-powered speedboats checking the identity documents of passengers on the dhows that ply the coast.

Kenya closed its porous northern border to try to prevent Islamist fighters entering the country. In doing so it also prevented hundreds of ordinary Somalis, who were worried about clashes, from crossing the border, to the displeasure of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The border post at Kiunga, a fishing village of 2,000 inhabitants, has achieved special attention. Ras Kamboni, which is a three-hour walk away, through a mangrove forest and along the beach, has a long history with hardline Islamists. Al-Itihaad al-Islaami, the radical movement that was headed by current SCIC leader Hassan Dahir Aweys, is believed to have run training camps there during the 1990s.

After they left Kismayo it was immediately suspected that some of the Islamists had headed to the fishing village and the surrounding thick bush in the south-eastern corner of Somalia.

Some people in Kiunga suspect they may be able to evade capture in the triangle framing Ras Kamboni, Buur Gaabo, a coastal town to the north, and Kolbia to the west.

"The Islamists know this area like the back of their hands," said Jamal Fankupy, chief of Kiunga. "It is not going to be easy to catch them."

If a major assault on the fleeing Islamists is about to take place 12 miles from here, as the Somali government claims, then nobody has told Stephen Chelimo.

The senior Kenyan police officer sat quietly at this sleepy border town yesterday afternoon, explaining how 105 Somali would-be refugees had been returned to Ras Kamboni."We sent them back because there is now peace in Somalia," he said.

As he spoke army helicopters buzzed overhead, bringing in fresh troops and supplies to Kenya's remote border region. Mr Chelimo frowned. "I have just been over that way, and noticed nothing happening," he said.

The difference in perceptions illustrates just how difficult the situation in Somalia is to read. Are the Islamists already a spent force, as Mr Chelimo intimated, or even one about to be defeated on his doorstep, as the Somali government and its Ethiopian backers suggest?

Or are they strong enough, and resourceful enough, to heed the words of Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of al-Qaida, broadcast on the internet yesterday.

"I speak to you today as the crusader Ethiopian invasion forces violate the soil of the beloved Muslim Somalia," said al-Zawahiri on the audiotape, which could not be independently verified but was carried on a website often used by Islamist militants.

"Launch ambushes, land mines, raids and suicidal combats until you consume them as the lions and eat their prey."

To try to prevent a resurgence of the Islamists, and the warlords that preceded them, the international community appears united behind the idea of an African peacekeeping force to protect the weak government of President Abdullahi Yusuf and hasten the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.

The UN has called for the deployment of 8,000 peacekeepers, but so far only Uganda has pledged troops. A meeting in Kenya of US, EU, African and Arab diplomats ended yesterday with a US pledge to provide $40m (£20.7m) to Somalia in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance, and a plan to ask more African nations to provide troops.

The European Union said it would also help pay for a peacekeeping force.

Ethiopia's government wants to pull out in a few weeks, saying its forces cannot be peacekeepers and that it cannot afford for them stay.

The issue is divisive in Somalia because many people are opposed to outside intervention, while others do not believe the government, in its present form, can protect them.