NASTEEX DAHIR FARAH
Meanwhile, the government claimed that three of its lawmakers were kidnapped by members of the Islamic militia about 20 miles outside Baidoa, the only town under weak government controls. Islamic officials said they had no information on the abductions but said they would investigate.
The Islamic militia, which took over much of southern Somalia in fighting this summer, captured the agricultural town of Sakow late Wednesday from a militia controlled by the government's defense minister without a shot being fired, the militia said.
Sakow is about 100 miles southwest of Baidoa, along one of two roads leading to the town from the militia's power base in the southeast. Earlier this week, Islamic militiamen moved to Moode Moode, about 12 miles outside Baidoa to the east, said Gedow Awale Golade, a businessman in the region. Fuel supplies were also cut to Baidoa.
The moves prompted fears that a war could erupt between the militiamen and Somalian and Ethiopian forces, who were seen digging trenches outside the town on Wednesday. But it appeared both sides were posturing ahead of peace talks next week.
An extremist official in the Islamic group, Hassan Turki, said Wednesday the militiamen planned to attack the base, but a moderate leader said Thursday an attack was not imminent. That leader, spokesman Sheikh Abdirahim Ali Mudey, said the Islamic group would attend peace talks scheduled for Monday in Khartoum, Sudan.
"We are going to the talks and we don't want to attack Baidoa now because of a great respect we have for the previous agreements with the government," Mudey told The Associated Press by phone.
The government's information minister, Ali Ahmed Jama, said his side will also send negotiators to Khartoum. "Our government is for reconciliation," he said.
Tensions in the region remained high. Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle said the three lawmakers were seized as they drove to Baidoa from the capital of Mogadishu.
"If they (Islamic group) don't release them soon, the government will take action to free them," he said.
Mudey, the spokesman for the Islamic group, said the government were "bent on sabotaging" relations with lawmakers who often come to Mogadishu, which is under Islamic control.
In the past five months, Islamic radicals have seized control of much of southern Somalia. The Islamic group has also recruited 2,000 fighters in recent weeks through training camps it has established, Islamic officials said.
Ethiopia and the transitional government have denied there are Ethiopian troops in the country, only saying that Somalia's western neighbor has sent military trainers to help the government form a national army. The issue is sensitive because the two countries are traditional rivals.
However, government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, say about 6,000 Ethiopian troops are in the country or encamped on the 1,000-mile border. Ethiopia, with almost half of its 77 million population Muslim, fears fundamentalism in its neighbor.
Thousands of Somali refugees have fled across the border into Kenya, which has put its forces on alert. The international community has called for restraint by both sides and urged the Islamic forces to halt their advance.
Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.
The transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help in hopes of restoring order after years of bloodshed in Somalia, but it has been unable to assert its authority beyond Baidoa.
SOURCE: AP, Oct. 27. 2006