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Ethiopian-backed government troops are now in control of most of Somalia.(Reuters) |
KISMAYU, Somalia — The Supreme Islamic Courts of Somalia (SICS), which until two weeks was controlling the capital Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, fled their last stronghold in Kismayu on Monday, January 1, as Ethiopian-backed government troops advanced toward the southern port city.
"They've all gone. There's a lot of confusion in the town, no one's in control," Bile Ali, a Kismayu resident, told Reuters.
Another resident, Mohamed Sheik Hussein, confirmed the withdrawal of the SICS fighters from the city.
He told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he saw SICS fighters leaving the city after they were "defeated around Jilib area (north of Kismayu) and abandoned Kismayu without bloodshed."
Witnesses at Jilib said mortar and rocket firing between the two sides stopped late on Sunday, December 31.
"Fighting stopped at around 10 p.m. (1900 GMT)," said a resident, who asked not to be named. "Then there was a big silence. Then the Islamic Courts just left."
The SICS, which rose to power after capturing Mogadishu in June from a US-backed warlord coalition, lost control over all parts it had controlled in less than two weeks.
The fighting erupted on December 20 after the expiry of an ultimatum by the SICS for Ethiopian troops to leave the country.
Ethiopian warplanes had bombarded key targets across Somalia, including Mogadishu airport.
Out-armed by the powerful regional player, Ethiopia, the SICS decided to chance tactics and described its repeated retreats as tactical maneuvers.
Fight On
It is not immediately clear where SICS fighters had gone after quitting Kismayu but they had their backs to the Indian Ocean and the Kenyan border.
Several diplomats believe US boats are patrolling the water off Somalia to prevent SICS leaders escaping.
A resident said they believed the SICS fighters were moving further south to the hilly region of Buur Gaabo, just inside Somalia from the border of Kenya.
"If they go there, it will be very hard for the Ethiopians to get them," he said.
SICS commander Sheikh Yaqub Ishak confirmed that his forces had left Kismayu, but vowed that his fighters would not surrender.
SICS forces are "still powerful and will not stop fighting the Ethiopian invaders," he told AFP by satellite phone.
Ishak said his fighters were still in Somalia, describing their withdrawal from Kismayu was a "military tactic."
"We are not outside, do not think that the Islamic courts have abandoned the country... we have left the cities but we remain in action and our enemies will face an insurgency," said the commander.
Analysts believe that the SICS may now concentrate on Iraq-style guerrilla tactics against a government they see as illegitimate and propped up by a hated and traditionally Christian foreign power.
SICS fighter numbers were believed to number about 3,000.
Ethiopia says it has 4,000 troops in Somalia, though many believe that number could be far higher.
Somalia's government has not given troop numbers, but is thought by experts to have several thousand.
Home to about 10 million largely impoverished people, Somalia has lacked almost all the trappings of a functional state, such as national systems of education, healthcare and justice, for the past 15 years.
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