10/08/08 (B460) Press TV / Des centaines de soldats désertent l’Armée somalienne (base de Gashandhiga) pour rejoindre les camps des insurgés islamistes. Hundreds of Somalian soldiers defect (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Hundreds of Somalia’s soldiers from the Gashandhiga base in south Mogadishu have deserted the army and joined the Union of Islamic Courts fighters.

A Press TV correspondent in south Mogadishu reports that soldiers from the base have not received their salary for quite some time and government officials have been hiring soldiers from their own clans to create hegemony in the country’s forces.

In other reports, Ethiopian forces have dropped leaflets in village of Damanyo in south Mogadishu district and asked the residents to leave the area.

People were given 12 hours to leave the area and more than 2,500 mostly women and children were forced to leave.

Ethiopian forces said that the reason for the evacuation was the heavy fighting that was going to take place in the area.

Despite international condemnation, Ethiopian forces has been routinely attacking Somalian residential areas.