Somalia on knife-edge as Ethiopia, Islamists ready for all-out war (AFP) [View All]

[Eugene]

Somalia on knife-edge as Ethiopia, Islamists ready for all-out war

by Emmanuel Goujon
2 hours, 7 minutes ago

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said
his country has completed preparations for war with neighboring
Somalia's powerful Islamist movement, alongside faltering peace
efforts.

Meles told parliament Thursday that the Islamists, who have declared
holy war on Ethiopian troops deployed to Somalia to protect the weak
internationally backed Somali government, represented a "clear and
present danger" to his country.

Less than a hour after after Meles' announcement, the Islamists
gathered in a war council in Mogadishu and said they were ready to
defend Somalia from invasion by a "reckless and war-thirsty" Ethiopia.

-snip-

Mainly Christian Ethiopia has watched with growing concern the rise on
its southeastern border of the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June
and now control most of southern and central Somalia.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061123/ts_afp/somaliaunrestethiopia_061123120616