Battle for Somalia nears Kenya border – residents

MOGADISHU – Gunfire rattled near Somalia’s border with Kenya early yesterday as Ethiopian warplanes backing the Somali government streaked overhead in pursuit of its fleeing Islamist rivals.

The Islamists, who withdrew from their last stronghold on Monday after two weeks of war, rejected a government amnesty offer after disappearing into hills between the port of Kismayu and the long frontier with Kenya. Residents of Liboi, a Kenyan border post, said they saw Ethiopian fighter jets and helicopter gunships flying over the Somali town of Doble, 25 km away, late on Tuesday.Then they heard shooting which tailed off after midnight.”When we heard the gunshots we panicked, although we knew it could be these groups fighting across the border,” Liboi businessman Abdi Rage said by telephone.Nairobi sealed the border after the Somali government urged it to stop the leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) or foreign jihadist supporters escaping.”Security officers moved to the border immediately when they received the reports of shooting, but they did not see any signs of fighting.Things are calm and under control,” local Kenyan police commander Johnstone Limo told Reuters by telephone.”No armed individual or group can enter our country or be allowed to compromise its security,” he said.”We shall stop them, arrest them and, if necessary, fight them.”Eight suspected combatants were being questioned after they were arrested trying to enter Kenya near Liboi on Sunday.An ambush that killed at least one Ethiopian soldier in south Somalia on Tuesday showed the fighting may go on, despite a lightning military offensive by Ethiopian tanks, troops and jets that routed the Islamists from Mogadishu then Kismayu.The International Contact Group on Somalia, including the foreign ministers of Germany, Sweden and Norway and EU aid chief Louis Michel, was due to meet in Brussels yesterday to discuss the situation in Somalia.Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his forces will stay in Somalia for a few more weeks to help the interim government pacify the Horn of Africa nation.Both have called for international peacekeepers to be deployed without delay.Uganda has provisionally offered a battalion, and its President Yoweri Museveni was due to fly to Addis Ababa later yesterday for talks on Somalia with Meles.Kampala has said it will only deploy when its mission and exit strategy are clearly defined.Nigeria may also help.Nampa-ReutersResidents of Liboi, a Kenyan border post, said they saw Ethiopian fighter jets and helicopter gunships flying over the Somali town of Doble, 25 km away, late on Tuesday.Then they heard shooting which tailed off after midnight.”When we heard the gunshots we panicked, although we knew it could be these groups fighting across the border,” Liboi businessman Abdi Rage said by telephone.Nairobi sealed the border after the Somali government urged it to stop the leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) or foreign jihadist supporters escaping.”Security officers moved to the border immediately when they received the reports of shooting, but they did not see any signs of fighting.Things are calm and under control,” local Kenyan police commander Johnstone Limo told Reuters by telephone.”No armed individual or group can enter our country or be allowed to compromise its security,” he said.”We shall stop them, arrest them and, if necessary, fight them.”Eight suspected combatants were being questioned after they were arrested trying to enter Kenya near Liboi on Sunday.An ambush that killed at least one Ethiopian soldier in south Somalia on Tuesday showed the fighting may go on, despite a lightning military offensive by Ethiopian tanks, troops and jets that routed the Islamists from Mogadishu then Kismayu.The International Contact Group on Somalia, including the foreign ministers of Germany, Sweden and Norway and EU aid chief Louis Michel, was due to meet in Brussels yesterday to discuss the situation in Somalia.Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his forces will stay in Somalia for a few more weeks to help the interim government pacify the Horn of Africa nation.Both have called for international peacekeepers to be deployed without delay.Uganda has provisionally offered a battalion, and its President Yoweri Museveni was due to fly to Addis Ababa later yesterday for talks on Somalia with Meles.Kampala has said it will only deploy when its mission and exit strategy are clearly defined.Nigeria may also help.Nampa-Reuters