Mogadishu Falls, Emergency Declared

MOGADISHU — Ethiopian troops entered the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, December 28, and militia groups allied to the interim government took control of key installations after the Supreme Islamic Courts of Somalia (SICS) quit the capital.

"We are already inside Mogadishu in some areas," Somali Premier Ali Mohamed Gedi told reporters in Afgoye township, about 20 kilometers west of the capital, Agence France Presse (AFP).

"I want to meet with civil society leaders, religious leaders, but not the SICS," said Gedi.

Militia groups allied to the government earlier took control of key installations in the capital.

"We have taken control of the sea port, the airport after the Islamic courts left the area this morning," Salad Ahmed Mohamed, a faction commander, told AFP.

Another faction said they took control of the presidential palace.

The SICS, which until last week was in control of the capital and much of southern Somalia, quit Mogadishu as Ethiopian troops advanced.

"We have withdrawn our forces (from Mogadishu) and there are no SICS forces (there)," Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, head of the SICS's Executive Committee, told the Doha-based Al-Jazeera news television.

"We did not leave the capital to chaos. We left it to avert heavy bombing because Ethiopian forces are practicing genocide against the Somali people," he insisted.

The SICS said this week its troops were staging a "tactical retreat" in the face of the air strikes by Ethiopian troops and gearing up for a long-term guerilla war.

Heavy fighting began on December 20 after the expiry of an ultimatum by the SICS for Ethiopian troops to leave the country.

Emergency

The Ethiopia-backed interim government declared a state of emergency in the country earlier Thursday.

"The government's national security committee has declared a state of emergency in Somalia," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told AFP.

"Under this state, the government will ensure that peace is restored in the country, especially Mogadishu and everybody is disarmed," he said.

"This government is controlling about 95 percent of the country and will stop at nothing to ensure that the whole country is under our control."

Residents said Ethiopia forces had captured the town of Afgoye, 20 kilometers west of Mogadishu, effectively surrounding the capital.

"I have seen 150 Ethiopian armed vehicles ... they passed Afgoye town and are headed to Mogadishu," Afgoye resident, AbdiKhalid Ali Nur, told AFP.

"I think they are closing in on the capital," he added.

Heavy machine-gun fire was also reported in the northern suburb of Sinaii early Thursday.

"We have been told that looting and gunfire has broken out in northern Mogadishu," an aid official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Somalia has been wracked by factional war since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Late Wednesday, the UN Security Council failed again to reach consensus on a statement calling for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Somalia and an end to military operations.

"We could not reach consensus" on the non-binding statement, said Mutlaq al-Qahtani, a UN delegate from Qatar, which chairs the 15-member council and drafted the text.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab League and the African Union pressed Wednesday for the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia.

But the United States signaled complete support for the Ethiopia's offensive as a response to what it described as "aggression" by the SICS.