abstract
| - African and Arab League countries have called on Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia, but these troops practically constitute the military might of the Interim Government whose head, Ali Mohamed Gedi, insists the Ethiopian troops stay in Somalia until he no longer needs them. In a move to curb resistance against the come-back of the Interim government, after the take-over of Mogadishu on Friday, Ali Mohammed Gedi swiftly announced the introduction of martial law, but such a measure, taken on the background of what is seen as foreign occupation, is already sparking the organization of guerrilla warfare in the capital. On December 31, 2006, Sharif Sheik Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, along with other senior ICU officials in the port city of Kismayu about south of Mogadishu, urged Islamist supporters across the country to initiate an insurgency to wage guerrilla war against the Ethiopian troops backing the Somali transitional government. Ahmed issued the statement after the Muslim Eid prayers on Saturday: "I call on the Islamic Courts fighters, supporters and every true Muslim to start an insurgency against the Ethiopian troops in Somalia. We are telling the Ethiopians in Somalia that they will never succeed in their mission. By Allah, they will fail... We will not allow the Ethiopian troops to stay peacefully in Somalia."
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