28/08/08 (B462-B) Shabelle / Somalie : neuf soldats des forces somaliennes fidèles au GNT désertent pour rejoiindre les groupes de l’opposition armée. Nine government soldiers join armed opposition groups (En Anglais – Info lectrice)

About nine soldiers loyal to the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia based in Former Pasta Factory in Mogadishu joined the opposition armed groups on wednesday.

The soldiers were parts of recently trained in Ethiopian have given into an armed Islamic rebel group, which is one of the groups based in the country fighting the government and foreign forces.

The rebel soldiers were paraded before the Mogadishu media when they arrived.

The interim administration is struggling to contain deepening Islamist-led deadly battles involving near-daily attacks on allied Somali-Ethiopian troops.

The Horn of Africa nation of nine million people has suffered constant violence since the 1991 fall of a military dictator. Ethiopia sent thousands of troops in 2006 to help the Western-backed interim government oust Islamists from Mogadishu.

A small 1,800-strong African Union force, mainly Ugandans, has done little to stem violence in Somalia, though it has won plaudits for providing medical care and securing areas like Mogadishu’s port and presidential palace.