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December 29, 2006 /Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writers
Baghdad “” Deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging about 6 a.m. Saturday Baghdad time.
Hussein’s death warrant was signed today by the nation’s two vice presidents and execution witnesses gathered in the heavily fortified Green Zone for the execution, according to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the proceedings.
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United States Congress (Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
By Donald Payne | December 29, 2006
The invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian forces, despite claims of invitation by the weak Baidoa-based Transitional Federal Government, only leads to more suffering and instability in the Horn of Africa region. United Nations Security Council resolution 1725 clearly stated that “all Member States, in particular those in the region, should refrain from any action in contravention of the arms embargo and related measures.” Read more…
By Justin Raimondo | December 29, 2006
Why the US supports the warlords
In our Orwellian age, no one is surprised when American foreign policy takes a U-turn, and, suddenly, we are at war with Eastasia ““ because, you see, we have always been at war with Eastasia. Yet even the most jaded observers are bound to raise an eyebrow over our embrace of the Somalian warlords, whose disarmament and capture was our announced goal the last time we intervened. That failed effort, you’ll recall, was dubbed “Operation Restore Hope.” Read more…
By Edmund Sanders,LA Times /December 28, 2006
The headline in an Ethiopian newspaper drew familiar, if unflattering, comparisons to another nation’s faster-than-expected victory in a war abroad.
“Mission Accomplished,” blared Addis Ababa’s Daily Monitor in a story about Ethiopian forces’ triumph over Somalian Islamists this week.
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By Joe De Capua, VOA | 28 December 2006
With rapidly changing developments in Somalia, observers are debating what it all means. Among those following developments in Somalia is Ken Menkhaus, associate professor of political science at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua asked Dr. Menkhaus if EPRDF forces can hold Mogadishu.
De Capua interview with Dr. Ken Menkhaus [audio:http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/english/2006_12/Audio/mp3/Somalia_Analysis_Menkhaus_DeCapua_28Dec06_Eng2a.mp3]
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By Joe De Capua, Washington | December 27, 2006 As EPRDF continues its military advances in Somalia, observers are debating the wisdom of the strategy. For an analysis, VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua spoke with Dr. David Shinn of George Washington University, a former US ambassador to EPRDF. Dr. Shinn gives his short-term and long-term views of the situation. He says he thinks EPRDF forces may try to encircle the capital, Mogadishu. De Capua interview with David Shinn mp3 audio clip [audio:http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/english/2006_12/Audio/mp3/Somalia_Analysis_Shinn_DeCapua_27Dec06_Eng2a.mp3] |
By Salad Duhul, Associated Press | December 28, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The Islamist forces who have controlled Somalia’s capital for months abandoned the city to clan rule today after government and EPRDF forces advanced to within striking distance.
EPRDF/SOMALI conflict: Violence and Looting
[audio:http://www.abugidainfo.com/doc/voa-headline.mp3]
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VOA | December 27, 2006
Washington, D.C., December 26, 2006 ““ The Voice of America (VOA) will add an additional half-hour morning radio news program in Amharic to cover the crisis in Somalia.
The program will be heard via shortwave radio in Ethiopia and the region, beginning Thursday, Dec. 28 at 6:00 a.m. local time, with a repeat at 7:00 a.m. local time. It will be broadcast from VOA’s Washington, D.C. headquarters at 0300 UTC. Read more…
Ethiopian, Somali forces 18 miles away from Mogadishu
December 27, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) — A joint force of Ethiopian and Somali government troops advanced Wednesday to just 18 miles (30 kilometers) from Islamist-held Mogadishu, but a representative said they would besiege the Somali capital rather than attack it.
“We are not going to fight for Mogadishu, to avoid civilian casualties. Our troops will surround Mogadishu until they [the Islamists] surrender,” Ambassador Abdikarin Farah told reporters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Earlier, pro-government forces seized the key southern town of Jowhar from their Islamist rivals before taking Balad, north of Mogadishu. Read more…
Dec 27 (BBC):.The African Union has called on Ethiopia to withdraw thousands of troops from Somalia immediately.The call, supported by the Arab League and the east African grouping IGAD, comes after Ethiopia intervened to support Somalia’s interim government.
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Spiegel | December 27, 2006
EPRDF’s offensive against the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia risks plunging the region into a long war which may end up strengthening the Islamists. And if America sees the invasion as a chance to weaken Islamic radicalism, it’s seriously misguided. Read more…
UNITED NATIONS Dec 27 (AP) — The top U.N. envoy to Somalia urged the Security Council to demand an immediate cease-fire between Ethiopian forces backing Somalia’s weak government and the powerful Islamic militia that has controlled much of the country.But the appeal Tuesday from Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative to Somalia, failed to produce results.
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Fikru Helebo Dec 26:. Here we go again. Ethiopia is engaged in a war for the second time in less than a decade. The last time Ethiopia went to war in 1998 it was on a false premise: Ethiopians were told that their territory has been invaded by Eritrea, a former province of Ethiopia, and they were called to defend the motherland from an aggressor. Surely, the Eritreans were the aggressors, but the real reason for the war was the fall out between the Tigrean ruling elites who rule on both sides of the border, not the ill-defined border between the two countries.
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A more involved military offensive might pose the same problems the U.S. is facing in Iraq, observers say.
By Edmund Sanders, LA Times Staff Writer
December 26, 2006
Dec 25/2006 VOA:The Bush administration is urging a halt to conflict in Somalia that has
intensified since neighboring Ethiopia launched air strikes on the country’s two main airports and sent ground troops into Somali territory. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington, Ethiopia’s military intervention is aimed at propping up the weak Somali government, which is challenged by a powerful Islamic militia.
Listen to Bowman report Read more…
MOGADISHU, Dec 25 (Reuters) – Ethiopian fighter jets attacked a second Islamist-held airfield in Somalia on Monday, hours after spraying the runway at Mogadishu international airport with gunfire, an Islamist fighter said by telephone. “Three MiGs are now attacking Baledogle,” said the fighter, who asked not be named, referring to Somalia’s biggest military airfield, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu. “They are targeting the runway and I can see it being hit
By Guled Abdi Mohamed – SDWO.COM |December 24, 2006
Ethiopia has launched a massive attack against the Somali Islamic Courts. Ethiopia airplanes launch and airstike through out the country destroyed Beledweyne’s Civilian Airport, Bridges and Roads. Ethiopia has about 20,000 combat troops in side Somalia. Ethiopia and Somalia have been rivals throughout history, and memories of the 1977-78 Ogaden war between the two are still fresh. Read more…
Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)|December 24, 2006 Latest reports from Baledweyn, central Somalia, indicate that Ethiopian warplanes are bombing the main town of Hiran region.Witnesses said the planes air-raided market vicinities, where people were shopping. They also said large numbers of students in the area were supplied with arms to fight with the Ethiopian troops. Read more…
MOGADISHU, Somalia -Ethiopian fighter jets pounded several Somali towns held by a powerful Islamic militia, a sharp escalation in violence that threatens to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa in widespread violence. Read more…