Anti-Ethiopian protests erupt in Mogadishu
Source: Reuters
(Adds details, background) By Sahal Abdulle MOGADISHU, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Somalis burned tyres and threw stones on Saturday in protest at the presence of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, a week after the forces helped the interim government drive out Islamists, witnesses said. Ethiopian soldiers shot in the air to disperse the crowd, a Reuters witness said. One resident said the protesters burned tyres near stalls sellings jars of fuel in a central K4 area. "All the businesses (near K4) are closed. People are busy defending their businesses," resident Abdi Nur said. Several groups of dozens of people, including women and children, marched in the streets shouting "Down with Ethiopia". Heavily-armed Ethiopian forces helped the Somali government drive out the Islamists from Mogadishu a week ago, breaking free from its provincial outpost Baidoa to end six months of Islamist rule across much of southern Somalia. The protests come just days after an ambush killed at least one Ethiopian soldier in south Somalia and a hand grenade was thrown at Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu. Western and African diplomats had called on Friday for the urgent deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia as al Qaeda's deputy leader urged defeated Islamists to launch an Iraq-style insurgency against Ethiopian forces there. "You must ambush, mine, raid and (carry out) martyrdom campaigns so that you can wipe them out," Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said in his message. Al-Zawahri's message, posted on a Web site used by militant Islamist groups, is likely to reinforce Washington's belief that the Somalia Islamic Courts Council is linked to and even run by an al Qaeda cell, a charge the Islamists have denied. The Islamists have vowed to fight on, melting into the hills in Somalia's remote southern tip where Ethiopian and government forces are hunting hundreds of their fighters.
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