Somalia's beleaguered U.N.-supported government says the country is indanger of being taken over by Islamist militants with ties toal-Qaida. It has sent out an appeal for neighboring countries tointervene militarily in Somalia within the next 24 hours.
Speakingto reporters in the capital Mogadishu Saturday, Somali ParliamentSpeaker Sheik Aden Mohamed Nur "Madobe" made a startling appeal.
Thespeaker says the government has been weakened by rebel forces and nowneeds military intervention from Somalia's neighbors - Djibouti,Ethiopia, Kenya, and Yemen - in the next 24 hours.
Echoingremarks made by Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in recentdays, Madobe says the government is fighting al-Qaida, which hasestablished bases in Somalia and is determined to take over thecountry.
Reports say two days of heavy fighting in northMogadishu between government and pro-government forces and Islamistinsurgent groups, led by al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab and its ally HisbulIslam, have prompted thousands of people to flee from the area. Theneighborhoods currently under siege once provided refuge for residentsfleeing violence in other parts of the capital. Both warring sides areclaiming victory, but there has been no independent confirmation.
LateFriday, gunmen kidnapped and killed Mohamed Hussein Adow, a lawmakerclose to President Sharif. He was the third government official to bekilled violently in as many days. On Thursday, the country's securityminister, Omar Hashi Aden, died in a suicide bombing at a hotel inBeletweyne near the border with Ethiopia.
Ethiopia withdrewits troops from Somalia in January after an unpopular two-year militaryintervention to prop up Somalia's weak secular government. A moderateIslamist president was elected by an expanded Somali parliament to leada new unity government made up of Islamists and secular politicians.
Buthard-line Islamists have rejected the government as being pro-Western. Hundreds of foreigners have been seen fighting alongside the rebels inrecent months, prompting fears that al-Qaida is providing the supportthe rebels need to oust the government.
Despite repeated denialsfrom the government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is believed to havealready deployed hundreds of troops back into Somalia in recent weeksto counter the growing military strength of al-Shabab. Ethiopia isalso said to have given training to pro-government militias nowfighting on the frontlines.
Meanwhile, the Somali government andthe United States charge that Ethiopia's arch enemy in the region,Eritrea, is fanning violence by providing arms and weapons to Somaliextremists as part of a continuing proxy war against Ethiopia.
OnFriday, Kenya, which suffered two al-Qaida-related terrorist attacks onits soil in 1998 and 2002, indicated that it was willing to considersending troops to Somalia. Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetangulasaid the threat posed by Somali militants was too great to ignore.
"Wewill not sit back and watch the situation in Somalia deteriorate beyondwhere it is. We have a duty - a constitutional duty as a country andas a government - to protect our strategic interests including oursecurity," he said.
Horn of Africa analysts and observers havelong warned that the conflict in Somalia had the potential to trigger awider regional war.