08/07/08 (B455) Shabelle Network / Pas de trêve avant le départ des Ethiopiens de Somalie. La coalition islamiste dominante a annoncé dimanche dernier qu’elle ne cesserait les combats qu’après le départ des Ethiopiens / No truce until Ethiopians withdraw-opposition official. (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Somalia’s Islamist-dominated opposition alliance said Sunday that they will not break in fighting until the Ethiopian troops pull out from Somalia.

« The alliance is undertaking every effort to get rid of Ethiopians, » the interior secretary of Somalia’s Reliberation of Somalia (ARS) opposition group Omar Hashi Aden told Shabelle « We plan to spread the resistance in entire Somalia, and we have already sent people to every corner of Somalia”

He added that there is no way that can enable the Ethiopian troops to pull out except “fighting”

“Somalis can concur on each other if the “Abysinians” meddling sets out” he said as he was speaking from central Somalia location.

Mr Hashi’s Remarks comes as bitter battles between Ethiopian troops and armed islamist fighters have been consecutively erupting in central Somalia regions.

Ethiopian troops helped Somalia’s embattled transitional government forces last year and ousted the Islamic Courts Union, which briefly took control of large parts of the country.

Since being defeated by Ethiopia’s vastly superior military machine, the Islamists have reverted to guerrilla tactics, launching daily hit-and-run attacks on government targets in Mogadishu.

The new organisation’s 191-member central committee was to continue to meet in Asmara, discussing strategy, a charter and appointment of leaders.

Some 1,600 Ugandan troops are currently deployed in Mogadishu as part of an African Union peacekeeping force that was initially supposed to number 8,000 soldiers but has been slow to materialise.

It has struggled to restore order in the capital Mogadishu.