Somali Islamists on Retreat After Ethiopian Attacks

The United States and the West better be paying attention to what's going on in Africa as the failed states there are a veritable breeding ground for Islamists and jihadis. Somalia is only the latest example, and it is there that our interests in eliminating an Islamic state forming meshes well with the Ethiopians who have been threatened with jihad by the Islamic courts who are in control of much of Somalia:

Islamic fighters retreated Tuesday as Somali government and Ethiopian troops advanced on three fronts in a decisive turn in the battle for control of this Horn of Africa nation.

Somalia's internationally backed government called on the Council of Islamic Courts to surrender and promised amnesty if they lay down their weapons, spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said from Baidoa, the seat of the interim administration.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose military openly joined the war Sunday after weeks of quietly aiding the Somali government, said his forces had completed about half their mission.

"As soon as we have accomplished our mission — and about half of our mission is done, and the rest shouldn't take long — we'll be out," Meles told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, leader of the Council of Islamic Courts' executive body, said the group had told its troops to withdraw from some areas.

The fight is far from over, but the Islamists are going up against an actual army in this fight, and not the ragtag group that the Somali transitional government set forth against the Islamic courts. The Islamic courts were able to trounce the transitional government and force it from Mogadishu, and Ethiopia stepped in to assist the transitional government.

Ethiopia is threatened by the Islamic courts because the Islamic courts have been fostering and supporting those Somalis living along the common border to try and expand Somali claims on the land that is within Ethiopia's borders. The US should be backing the Ethiopian fight considering that the Islamic courts have been calling for jihadis from around the world to rally to their cause, making Somalia a breeding ground and a place where they congregate under a friendly regime. That cannot be allowed to stand.

A scorecard for keeping track of who's involved. And Ed Morrissey points out which side the AP is rooting for - the Islamists who 'brought law to a lawless region,' even if it meant killing those who might want to watch World Cup soccer matches, or dress in a way that was considered unIslamic.

Others blogging: Jules Critteden, Outside the Beltway, Blue Crab Boulevard.

UPDATE:
Hot Air notes a sneering op-ed in the IHT by a former UN official who thinks that the conflict between the Ethiopians and Somalis is being stoked by the US. Sorry, but the facts simply don't wash. While the US has an interest in seeing that the Somalis are contained and the jihadi threat extinguished, the Ethiopians have a bigger interest - namely eliminating a threat to their country in the form of the Islamic courts.

Truthout has several other reports from Somalia. Time Magazine notes that the conflict is heating up and that the UN Security Council will be taking up the issue (that can't be good, for the Ethiopians, that is):

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose military openly joined the war Sunday after weeks of quietly aiding the Somali government, said his forces had completed about half their mission. "As soon as we have accomplished our mission — and about half of our mission is done, and the rest shouldn't take long — we'll be out," Meles told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. He also claimed Islamic militiamen had suffered heavy casualties, citing internal reports from Ethiopia's military. "I hear reports of close to 3,000 injured in Mogadishu's hospitals ... and well over 1,000 might have died," Meles said.

The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Tuesday to be briefed on the fighting. An African force authoritized by the Security Council on Dec. 6 to protect the Somali government has not yet been deployed. The Dec. 6 resolution, sponsored by the United States and co-sponsored by the council's African members, also partially lifted an arms embargo on Somalia so the regional force could be supplied with weapons and military equipment. Both sides have claimed to have killed hundreds of their enemy, but independent observers have not been given access to the battlefields to check on the reports.

Gateway Pundit notes that the transitional government is calling on the Islamic courts to surrender. Gateway also notes that the jihadis aren't beyond trying to pull a fauxtography to show that they're winning when all evidence points to the contrary and that the Ethiopians got wise to the jihadi tricks.

Others blogging: Western Resistance notes that armor (even old Soviet stuff) still defeats jihadis riding in technicals; Clarity and Resolve; JoshuaPundit; YARWCB.

Technorati: somalia, ethiopia, eritrea, african union, council of islamic courts, genocide, crimes against humanity, jihad, failure, and united nations