Reuters reports "Power vacuum as Ethiopian troops quit Mogadishu"

Reporters Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Sheikh working for Reuters write:

"MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia’s government withdrew completely from Mogadishu on Thursday, witnesses said, leaving a power vacuum in the capital that is expected to lead to more bloodshed.

Islamist hardliners from the al Shabaab insurgent group have ambushed the departing soldiers and also clashed with other militias in a deepening power struggle between rebel factions.

"I saw the last convoy of Ethiopian forces passing by on the road. Most of them were walking alongside their vehicles," said Ahmed Farax Nur, who lives on the outskirts of the capital and was woken by the tanks rumbling past in the dark.

Abdifatah Ibrahim Shaaweye, deputy governor of Banadir Region which includes Mogadishu, told Reuters the last Ethiopian troops had quit their remaining bases in the city overnight.

Some analysts fear the withdrawal of an estimated 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers will cause more violence in Somalia, which has been mired in civil conflict for the last 18 years.

But others believe it could be a positive development for the Horn of Africa nation — which the United States has long feared could become a haven for militants — spurring moderate Islamists to join a new, more inclusive administration.

After the resignation of former president Abdullahi Yusuf, a new Somali president is supposed to be elected by January 26. Former prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein told a news conference in Mogadishu on Thursday that he would stand for the post.

BATTLES IN THE SOUTH

The rebels have fought the Western-backed interim government for two years, and are also increasingly fighting each other.

At least eight people were killed in battles on Thursday between a local militia and al Shabaab in Lower Shabelle region, and residents said five more were killed in a blast targeting a vehicle carrying militiamen in the southern town of Bardheere.

"We saw the whole car burning," witness Saida Hussein said.

At least 21 people were killed in Mogadishu on Wednesday as insurgents shelled the hill-top presidential palace and ambushed departing Ethiopians in the narrow streets below.

Al Shabaab, which Washington has formally listed as a terrorist organization with close ties to al Qaeda, has vowed to attack African Union (AU) peacekeepers and government facilities such as the capital’s main airport after the Ethiopians leave.

The AU has 3,500 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi deployed in the city and desperately wants to reinforce the mission.

Fighting has killed more than 16,000 civilians since the start of 2007, after Addis Ababa sent military forces to help the government drive a sharia courts movement out of Mogadishu. One million people have been forced from their homes.

Ethiopia, frustrated by rifts in the Somali administration, the cost of its operation and the lack of international support, began dismantling its main bases in the capital on Tuesday."

source: Reuters

Gallery:

An Islamist insurgent holds his machine gun inside the stadium, one of the bases vacated by Ethiopian troops in the capital Mogadishu January 14, 2009.