MOGADISHU, 16 June 2006 — Islamist militia took the Somali town of Baladwayne yesterday, aiming to expand their control of southern Somalia and beginning to flank the weak interim government’s base in Baidoa, residents said.
Residents woke to find the militias, supported by local religious leaders, in control of a key bridge and a prison without any fighting. The town near the Ethiopian border has been under the control of a governor appointed by Somalia’s interim government.
“The courts arrived last night and took over the main bridge and central prison. They had been planning this takeover for some time using local religious leaders,” a resident, who gave his name as Farah, said.
“They are stationed at the bridge and at two important checkpoints in the town. There were more than 70 Islamic militia in those three points,” resident Dahbo Ali said.
The Islamists last week became a force to be reckoned with after they seized the capital.
The interim government is Somalia’s 15th attempt to bring central government to a country where warlord-control has prevailed since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. But it is based in Baidoa because it lacks the muscle to attempt a move to the capital that could involve a confrontation with militia forces.
The Islamist capture of Baladwayne and on Wednesday the critical town of Jowhar gives them control of a sizeable swathe of southern Somalia stretching from Mogadishu at the coast almost to the Ethiopian border.
