WRAP Town falls to government forces, AU, Somali ambassador comment
(28 Dec 2006) Bur Hakaba, Somalia - 26 December 2006 1. Locals celebrating arrival of transitional government troops 2. Government troop truck driving down road 3. Locals walking in town 4. Damaged Islamic movement's truck by side of road 5. Damaged Islamic movement's jeep 6. Destroyed Islamic movement's jeep 7. Various of transitional government troops in truck and jeep stopped on road 8. Transitional government soldier addressing locals, telling them the town has been re-taken, and there will now be peace 9. Destroyed Islamic movement's truck 10. Body of Islamic fighter by side of road 11. Locals gathered in group Mogadishu, Somalia - 27 December 2006 12. People and traffic in main street in capital 13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ibrahim Mo'allin Bulle, teacher: "Now we are going to defend our religion, we are going to defend our people, our unity. We don't want them to attack and enter our country. Now they attacked, so there are tactics we want to use - by attacking them or by killing all Ethiopians." 14. People shopping in Bakara market Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - 27 December 2006 15. Wide of street 16. People in street 17. Exterior of gate outside African Union headquarters 18. Cutaway camera 19. SOUNDBITE: (French) Professor Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission: "We also call for an urgent retreat of all foreign troops and foreign elements that today are to be found in Somalia. Somalia needs peace. Somalia needs dialogue, Somalia needs to find urgent political solutions." 20. Konare in conference room 21. Members of AU Commission 22. Wide of conference room 23. SOUNDBITE: (English) Abdikarin Farah, Somali Ambassador to Ethiopia: "So we are expecting them just to redouble their efforts they have been giving us, and to make sure that they support the government now seeing as we are now getting the whole country." 24. Wide of street STORYLINE: Ethiopian and Somali government troops attacked at dawn on Wednesday and drove Islamic movement fighters out of the last major town on the road to the capital. A former warlord who ruled the town, Jowhar, before it was captured by the Council of Islamic Courts in June, led the Somali government troops as they drove into the city, residents said. On Tuesday, transitional government troops re-took Bur Hakaba - one of the towns before Jowhar on the road to the capital - from the Islamic movement fighters. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said his troops were heading towards the small village of Balad, about (30 kilometres) 18 miles away from Mogadishu, but that they won't attack the city. Ethiopian forces entered the country in large numbers on Saturday, and Ethiopian fighter jets crossed the border Sunday to help Somalia's UN-recognised government push back the Islamists. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he aims to severely damage the courts' military capabilities and allow both sides to return to peace talks on an even footing. He also has said he would not send his troops into Mogadishu, which the Islamic movement has held since June. The government forces attacked Jowhar on Wednesday with artillery, mortars and heavy machine guns, and Islamic fighters used irrigation canals as fortifications, witnesses said. The militia, which wants to rule Somalia according to Islamic law, had stopped what their leaders earlier called a tactical retreat to defend Jowhar. In Mogadishu one man, a teacher, said the city's residents were ready to defend themselves from attack. "Now we are going to defend our religion, we are going to defend our people," Ibrahim Mo'allin Bulle said. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
