AFGOYE, Somalia, Dec 29, 2006 (AFP) - Somalia's government plans to impose martial law now that its Ethiopia-backed forces have arrived in Mogadishu, which has been abandoned by Islamist forces, government officials said Friday.

"We need three months' martial law in order to disarm all the militias," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said earlier in Afgoye, about 20 kilometres (13 miles) outside the capital.

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Mohamed Aidid, a Somali clan warlord who has rallied to the transitional administration, said the parliament based in the south central town of Baidoa is expected to endorse the laws on Sunday.

"We need a parliament approval of the martial law for three months. It has been decided already by the cabinet," Aidid told AFP.

"We will go back to Baidoa to present and discuss our laws to the parliament on Sunday," he added.

Somalia has been embroiled in heavy fighting since Islamist fighters launched an attack against the government near their base in Baidoa after a deadline for Ethiopian troops to withdraw.

Ethiopia refused to pull out its forces and launched a heavy attack against the Islamists, forcing them to retreat from front line townships in the south and centre of the country to Mogadishu, which was abandoned on Thursday.

Islamist leaders have fallen back on the port town of Kismayo, where one of their military commanders said Friday that they will never surrender to the Ethiopians and government forces, but carry out guerrilla attacks.

©2006 AFP All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.

top