NAIROBI, Kenya — Islamist insurgents overpowered Somali government troops on Monday, seizing a strategic town and continuing their steady march across the country.
According to witnesses, several truckloads of Islamist fighters stormed Bulo Burti, a town north of the capital, Mogadishu, and killed eight government soldiers. Government troops then fled, and residents said that government offices, weapons depots and several armed trucks fell into the hands of the Islamists.
“Very quickly they took over,” said Islow Ahmed, who owns a small general store in Bulo Burti, which is located along one of the major north-south trading routes in Somalia. “We all want peace. But now we’re all afraid.”
Ever since it took over the capital in late 2006, Somalia’s transitional government has been struggling to suppress an Islamist insurgency. Thousands of Ethiopian Woyanne troops helped install the transitional government in Mogadishu and oust an Islamist administration that had controlled the city for six months.
But the Islamists are fighting back, gaining ground and recruits, and the transitional government seems increasingly on its heels.
Government officials say they desperately need help to defeat the Islamists, who the government believes are getting weapons and money from Arab countries. The government has pleaded for the United Nations to send in peacekeepers, but the United Nations has so far seemed reluctant to do so.
In recent weeks, the Islamists have routed government troops in several towns, though their typical strategy is to inflict losses, snatch weapons and then melt back into the bush. It was unclear on Monday whether Bulo Burti was one of the first towns the insurgents had seized — and held. Some residents said that the Islamists stayed after the fighting, retaining control over the roads leading in and out of town. But government officials said that the insurgents had eventually withdrawn.
The Islamists seem to have a lot of local support in Bulo Burti. In the fall of 2006, the town’s clerics threatened to behead anyone who did not pray five times a day.
But Abdi Awaleh Jama, an ambassador at large for the government, contended that the loss was not the result of an organized Islamist movement, but rather an extension of the clan fighting that has plagued Somalia for the past 17 years since the central government collapsed.
“It’s a flea biting,” he said. “These are clan militias. They use the name Islamists to get attention.”
The Islamists have often teamed up with clan militias, especially those who have their own long-standing grievances against the government. The Islamists came to power in 2006 by uniting clan militias and driving away the warlords who had been preying upon the population.
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Mohammed Ibrahim contributed reporting from Mogadishu
(Reuters) – Ethiopia’s two greatest track runners Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele could meet over 10,000 metres at the Beijing Olympics.
“It’s up to the federation, but they could end up together in the 10 kms. It’s a big possibility,” their manager Jos Hermens said in Edinburgh shortly after Bekele won his sixth world long-course cross country title on Sunday.
Gebrselassie’s fitness in a 10,000 metres race at Hengelo on May 24th will be a big factor.
Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele
So too will Bekele’s choice of events for Beijing. He has yet to decide whether to defend his Olympic 10,000 metres title, chase gold in the 5,000 where he was the silver medallist in Athens four years ago or tackle both races.
“I can’t say this far ahead but to do both would not be easy,” Bekele said. “The pollution might mean I would have to focus on one.”
Gebrselassie’s course is much clearer. The world marathon record holder is bypassing the longer race at the Games because he is concerned the pollution could affect his health.
The 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000 metres champion and former world record holder hopes to qualify for Beijing at that distance with a strong Hengelo showing. He has no road races planned until then.
“He has to catch up with some speed work,” Hermens said. “He needs the track training.”
Hermens said Bekele was likely to run a 5,000 at Hengelo. The current 5,000 and 10,000 metres world record holder also wants to compete in the African championships from April 30th to May 4th on home soil in Addis Ababa.
“It’s a bit close to this so it won’t be easy but I do believe I have to take part, though I’m not sure what distance I will run,” he said.
Bekele has never run outdoors in the United States but that is likely to change in June.
The Olympic champion is working on plans to compete in the June 8th Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, Hermens said.
“He knows he needs to be there,” his manager added.
Bekele was scheduled to compete over two miles last year in the meeting which is heavily supported by his sponsor Nike, but withdrew because of lack of fitness.
“It is too early for sure to say what he might run,” Hermens said.
Meeting director Tom Jordan also confirmed Bekele was expected in Eugene.
“I do anticipate he will be competing in the Prefontaine Classic, but I do not know at what distance,” Jordan said.
(The Daily) – Inside Washington Hall, located in the South Central District of Seattle, 500 people sing prayers in unison. Sounds of Amharic spill from the auditorium into the basement below as volunteers pack traditional lunches of injere, a traditional Ethiopian bread, into foam containers.
A variety of shoes are placed neatly upon the stairs leading up to the auditorium. A pair of women’s gold pumps and men’s Nikes, lay in a corner of the entrance.
Outside the doorway, worshippers bow, kissing the floor before entering the sacred church.
The rhythmic sounds of the priest’s voice echoes within the large establishment and excited whispers of children are heard from the back of the room. This service is performed without instruments, completely relying on the voices of the worshippers singing a cappella.
Early on Sunday mornings, St. Michael’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church meets within the walls of the historic structure. It’s one of three Ethiopian Orthodox churches in Seattle, and offers a place for Ethiopian Seattleites to praise God while preserving their culture.
Sofonias Estifanos, who immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia nine years ago, has been coming to the church since it was established nearly five years ago. He attends service every Sunday. Being able to speak Amharic, bond with other Ethiopians and continue religious traditions specific to his church are all important to him.
“Without the church here, I don’t know how I would survive,” Estifanos said. “This is the only piece of Ethiopia we have here.”
Bare feet are cushioned by decorative rugs covering hard wood floors. A young girl twirls around in circles using her scarf as a cape, behind pews in the back. Men stand on the left and women on the right. The majority of the members wear white scarves. Women wear them wrapped around their faces, and men drape them around their shoulders.
The service goes through several phases, starting with prayers and singing. It finishes with a sermon by the Abatachen, the equivalent of a high priest in Amharic. It is not uncommon for people to stand, kneel or sit during different times of the service. At one point, the priest walks around the room with the Bible, and offers it to be touched by each member of the congregation. Members gently press their foreheads against the book as a sign of respect.
In 2000, the census reported that more than 4,000 people of Ethiopian decent were living in Seattle. Today, it is difficult to determine the number of the growing population, but local community members predict that the amount has more than tripled.
The church frequently holds about 500 people, but on religious holidays like Easter, up to 1,000 squeeze into the building.
Every Sunday feels like a vacation back home, Beyene Ayenew said. The Ethiopian immigrant misses everything about home, except for the school system.
For Ayenew and many Ethiopian other immigrants in Seattle, the opportunity to attend college was a huge factor in moving to the United States.
“At home in order to attend college you have to be very rich,” he explained. “Student loans do not exist; you have to pay for college in cash.”
Since college was not an option in Ethiopia, Ayenew worked for 10 years as a carpenter and a portrait artist to pay the bills.
The opportunity to come to the United States was presented when Ayenew fell in love with a U.S. citizen who was visiting her family in Ethiopia.
Three months after meeting, the two married. After the ceremony, his wife returned to the United States. It was two years before Ayenew was able to gain citizenship and finally be with his wife. The pair had differing opinions and plans for the future. Ayenew wanted to attend school and start a family; she wanted to work and buy cars, he explained. Two years later, she filed for divorce.
“I am feeling very alone, and I am all by myself during the week,” he said. But at church he feels like he is part of a strong community.
Many of his friends are busy working, so his days consist of using the computer, watching television or painting alone in his apartment.
The former carpenter remains positive. He often thinks about his ultimate goals of attending the University of Washington for architecture, starting his own business and raising a family.
After the service, the basement is packed for a celebration. On this day Ayenew eats a plate of traditional Ethiopian food consisting of beans and vegetables on injere, a soft, circular pancake-like bread. There is barely room to stand, and each person in the room is touching. In the Ethiopian church, there is no such thing as “personal space.” Holding foam containers, they share food and stories from their weeks.
“When I am here everything feels the same … I feel like I am back home,” Estifanos said. “Except for the weather, of course.”
At the end of the lunch, Ayenew and Estifanos hug goodbye. They both look forward to next Sunday, when they can spend another few hours back at “home.”
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[Reach reporter Chantal Anderson at [email protected].]
To get popular support for next month’s local elections in Ethiopia, Woyanne cadres have started to force farmers in Oromia Region (Killil) to sell teff and other crops below the market value. Those who refused to sell at prices set by Woyanne cadres were jailed and their crops have been confisicated… Read more by zikkir News Service >>
(DPA) – The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) fighters have seized control of the central Somali town of Bula Burde, north of the capital Mogadishu.
Residents have confirmed that nearly 200 fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns have been in the town for at least four hours, AP reported.
“(The Islamists) are in Bulo Burte and have full control of the district. They were chanting ‘God is great’ when they entered the village as all the government forces fled,” said Burashiil Ibrahim, a local elder who said he saw seven uniformed bodies after the battle.
After the brief clash, the Islamists captured government vehicles known as technicals – pick-up trucks with machine guns – leaving government troops escaping on foot.
Bula Burde with around 3,000 residents is placed in the central region of Hiran, 215 kilometers (135 miles) north of Mogadishu.
Hiran governor Yusuf Mohamed, who was commanding the government forces, has reportedly fled the area.
Over the past year, Mogadishu and its outlying outposts have been a scene of daily violent clashes between Ethiopian Woyanne-backed Somali forces and rebels.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, violence in Somalia had forced at least 15,000 people to flee to neighboring states since the start of the year.
