SOMALIA: Somalia's Islamist militias were yesterday retreating to positions close to Mogadishu after facing a barrage of air and ground offensives from forces loyal to the country's interim government and their Ethiopian allies.
The retreat marks a severe setback for the Union of Islamic Courts, which had swept across the battle-scarred country since seizing control of the capital in June. However, its leaders insisted the move was a tactical withdrawal as troops settled in for a long war.
"We are in a new stage of resistance . . . we have decided to change our tactics," Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the head of the Islamists' executive committee, said in Mogadishu. "We are ready to start long-lasting war with Ethiopia."
Several thousand Ethiopian soldiers are fighting alongside militias controlled by Somalia's weak transitional government. Yesterday, Ethiopian jets pounded Islamists' positions for a third day. On Christmas Day they attacked two airports, including Mogadishu, in an attempt to close off supply routes bringing arms and ammunition.
Addis Ababa is horrified at the prospect of a hardline Islamist movement on its doorstep.
Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, has locked horns with senior Islamists in the past, dispatching troops to Somalia during the early 1990s to put down an insurgency led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, now leader of the Islamists' consultative council.
Analysts have long warned that the presence of Ethiopian troops - lined up against their old foes Eritrea on the Islamist side - risks sucking the rest of the Horn of Africa into a war. A recent UN report named 10 countries who were supporting one side or the other with arms or finances.
The Islamists have been receiving frequent shipments of anti-aircraft missiles but have had no answer to Ethiopia's armed might. Mr Zenawi said his forces had inflicted heavy casualties.
"We got reports of more than 3,000 wounded in a Mogadishu hospital. Those who died are well over 1,000. Some are Somali but a significant number of them are not Somali. We regret the death of Somalis; the others are not so much regretted."
Advancing government and Ethiopian troops captured Burhakaba, one of the Islamists' main bases, close to Baidoa, after it was abandoned early yesterday.
Islamic fighters were also reportedly retreating on two other fronts. On the southern front, government troops captured Dinsor as well as Bulo Barde to the north.
Jowhar, only 55 miles from Mogadishu, was also evacuated by Islamist militias yesterday morning as Ethiopians advanced on the town.
Abdirahman Dinari, a spokesman for the Somali transitional government, called on the Islamists to surrender.
"Many of these fighters are young boys, students, who have been brainwashed by the UIC. We are prepared to offer them an amnesty if they lay down their guns to help minimise casualties," he said in Baidoa.
"This only applies to Somalis. It does not apply to foreigners or anyone with links to international terrorism."
A diplomatic source in Nairobi who is monitoring Somalia said the offer was a classic "divide and conquer" move. "This presents the Islamists with a real dilemma. The leadership wants to talk, but there are hardliners who know only too well that they are wanted by the Ethiopians and they are unlikely to agree to any sort of deal," he said.
The latest fighting risks exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian situation in a country ravaged by 15 years of anarchy. The Red Cross said it was treating more than 800 people wounded since fighting began last week.
A spokeswoman in Geneva said the number of dead was unknown, but thousands had fled their homes to avoid the clashes.
At the same time the United Nations has been forced to suspend air drops of food to almost a million people cut off by flooding which has ravaged the Horn of Africa during the past month.