American naval forces have deployed off the Somali coast to prevent the UIC's defeated leaders from escaping by the sea, BBC says. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed the deployment of the American navy ships. "We would be concerned that no leaders who were members of the Islamic Courts which have ties to terrorist organization including al-Qaeda are allowed to flee and leave Somalia," he said.
Meanwhile, Kenya has tightened border security to stop flood of feeling UIC's militias among thousands of Somali refugees. Kenya has deployed tanks and helicopters on its borders, as the militias fleeing south clashed near the borders with the Somali and Ethiopian troops. Aid agencies called for urgent help to support genuine Somali refugees.
Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju told a news conference that the border was closed, but government spokesman Alfred Mutua told the BBC later that legitimate refugees were being allowed entry.
News says President Youri Mosifeni of Uganda is due to fly to Addis Ababa to discuss forming an African force to stabilise the country. He has already offered to commit 1,000 of his troops. BBC reports a two-week advance made by Ethiopian troops swept the UIC's militias from their strong controlled areas in most of the country which lasted for six months.
Ethiopia accuses the UIC of having links to al-Qaeda so they sent heavily armed troops into Somalia to back up the weak transitional government's troops.
Ethiopian and Somali forces have captured the border town of Doble, one of the final places held by the UIC on Wednesday. Four thousands refugees were reported to be stranded in the area, BBC said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called for peace talks after the European members of the Somali Contact group met in Brussels. "There has to be a withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces. There has to be a political process, an inclusive political process in Somalia." he said.
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The Battle of Mogadishu
First Hand Accounts From the Men of Task Force Ranger (Hardcover)
By - Matt Eversmann
Matt Eversmann and Dan Schilling, along with Tim Wilkinson, Mike Kurth, Raleigh Cash, and John Belman, were Army Rangers and Air Force spec ops personnel in the task force involved in the battle in Mogadishu.
Me Against My Brother
At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda (Paperback)
By - Scott Peterson
As a foreign correspondent, Scott Peterson witnessed firsthand Somalia's descent into war and its battle against US troops, the spiritual degeneration of Sudan's Holy War, and one of the most horrific events of the last half century: the genocide in Rwanda. In Me Against My Brother, he brings these events together for the first time to record a collapse that has had an impact far beyond African borders.
In Somalia, Peterson tells of harrowing experiences of clan conflict, guns and starvation.
He met with warlords, observed death intimately and nearly lost his own life to a Somali mob. From ground level, he documents how the US-UN relief mission devolved into all out war-one that for America has proven to be the most formative post-Cold War debacle. In Sudan, he journeys where few correspondents have ever been, on both sides of that religious front line, to find that outside "relief" has only prolonged war. In Rwanda, his first-person experience of the genocide and well-documented analysis provide rare insight into this human tragedy.Filled with the dust, sweat and powerful detail of real-life, Me Against My Brother graphically illustrates how preventive action and a better understanding of Africa-especially by the US-could have averted much suffering.
About the Author
Scott Peterson is currently the Russian correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, and is based in Moscow. He covered Africa for The Daily Telegraph of London and his photography has appeared in Time, Newsweek, Life, The New York Times Magazine, and Harper's.
The Journey by - Maryam Mursal
Audio CD (April 7, 1998)
Original Release Date: April 7, 1998
Mursal and her Danish collaborators (plus Real World honcho Peter Gabriel, who sings backup) mix the traditional with the modern, African influences with Arabic, or Eastern strings with Yma Sumac samples in order to create a wonderful music that is both distinctive and unusual, and yet totally inviting.
Somalia by - Billy Harper
Audio CD (November 30, 1995)
Original Release Date: December 13, 1995
