Militant Islamists veto talks as Ethiopia deploys troops in Somalia

SOMALIA'S Islamists refused talks with the government yesterday as witnesses said Ethiopia deployed more troops over the border to defend the government's provincial base against an Islamist advance.

A second round of talks had been scheduled to take place in the Sudanese capital Khartoum in a bid to stop an increasingly belligerent stand-off between the two sides from spiralling into war.

"We do not negotiate with a government which is being helped by the enemy of Somalia," senior Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said in a letter to Islamist delegates to the talks.

Diplomats fear Somalia is on the verge of conflict after Islamist militia moved close to the government's provincial base in Baidoa last week amid daily reports of new Ethiopian military movements.

The Islamist leadership, vowing holy war, has called on the Horn of African nation of 10 million to prepare to fight against the foreign troops, as Addis Ababa threatened to crush any attack on President Abdullahi Yusuf's government.

Analysts believe Ethiopia, the Horn's dominant power, has sent up to 5,000 troops into Somalia, and is massing more to deter Islamist advances.

A source close to Somali government leaders admitted the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil.

"They are there, but not in the big numbers people are saying. But believe me, if the Islamists attack, they will come," said the source, who did not wish to be named.

"Our national army is not set up yet, and they have many militias, so we need assistance."

Residents in Baidoa said more Ethiopian forces and armoured vehicles arrived overnight to help guard the parliament, presidential palace and airport.

"Ten more Ethiopian military vehicles arrived last night with around 300 troops," said former militiaman and Baidoa resident Abdirizak Adan.

"Ethiopian troops changed their uniforms and are now wearing the same clothes as Somali government soldiers."

The government imposed a curfew on the hill town three days ago, Adan said.

More than 50 pickup trucks mounted with heavy arms left Mogadishu, the Islamist stronghold captured from US-backed warlords last month, various residents said.

They said the Islamist militia were accompanied by Eritrean and Ethiopian rebel forces and were heading towards Baidoa and Buur Hakaba.

Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and possible Islamist aspirations to create a "Greater Somalia" that would incorporate Ethiopia's southeastern ethnically Somali Ogaden region.

Yesterday, about 200 more Ethiopian troops with at least five trucks mounted with machine guns and other vehicles moved into Wajid, about 46 miles southeast of the Somali-Ethiopian border. The soldiers took control of the town's airport, without resistance, from a militia serving the local administration.

Concern was growing among diplomats because the town is the base for southern Somalia operations for UN agencies and other aid organisations.

Wajid, which has experienced relative peace compared with other southern Somalia towns, such as Baidoa, is run by a clan-based administration that has not allied itself with the transitional government or with the Islamists.

Ethiopia's move could give the internationally recognised Somali government its only chance of curbing the Islamic militia's increasing power. But the incursion could be the pretext the militiamen need to build public support for a guerrilla war. The Islamic militia has installed strict religious courts, sparking fears it will become a Taliban-style regime.