SOMALIA:Six months ago Jowhar's military strongman, Mohamed Dheere, fled in the face of advances by Islamic militias as they swept all before them.
Yesterday the warlord returned to his old stronghold wearing an "I love Jowhar" T-shirt at the head of a column of Somali and Ethiopian troops.
The Islamists had withdrawn from the town on Tuesday night in a ragtag convoy of technicals - 4x4s mounted with heavy machine guns - and cattle trucks, leaving the road to Mogadishu unguarded.
Dheere was greeted by hundreds of people and the local radio station celebrated by playing western music, banned under Islamist occupation.
The fall of Jowhar puts Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies only 55 miles from Mogadishu after four days of heavy fighting.
Last night reports suggested that Islamic militias in Balad, the last town on the road to the capital, had switched sides.
Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia told reporters in Addis Ababa that government forces planned to besiege the capital.
"We are not going to fight for Mogadishu to avoid civilian casualties . . . Our troops will surround Mogadishu until they surrender," said Abdikarin Farah.
Ethiopia says it is intervening in Somalia in order to protect the country's weak interim government against terrorist forces.
Ethiopian warplanes began bombing Islamist positions on Sunday. Since then the Islamic courts forces have pulled back to Mogadishu, where their leadership says they are preparing for a "long war".
Analysts have long warned that a conflict in Somalia could suck in the rest of the Horn of Africa.
Yesterday, Matt Bryden, consultant to the International Crisis Group, said Ethiopia was banking on the sharia courts collapsing.
"If Ethiopia is right and the courts fracture, then the gamble has paid off, but if not we are into the worst case scenario of a quagmire, with the military balance shifting day by day in favour of the courts and increasing the internationalisation of the conflict," he said.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council was due to resume discussions on Somalia. Splits have emerged among members, with Qatar insisting that any statement must urge foreign forces, including Ethiopian troops, to leave the country.
The humanitarian stakes could not be higher in a country that has been afflicted by years of drought, followed by months of heavy rain and flooding.
Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said an already desperate relief effort would be even more badly stretched if it had to help thousands more displaced people.