Islamist Forces Desert Somali Capital

Troops loyal to Somalia's weak transitional government were today poised to retake Mogadishu after Islamist movement fighters abandoned the city.

Clan militiamen poured into the streets to take control of the capital as government troops, backed by Ethiopian forces, prepared to follow from their bridgehead outside the city. "We will capture Mogadishu any time within the coming hours," the government spokesman, Abdirahman Dinari, said, adding that the country was under a state of emergency. "We are now at the entry points of the city."

Sheik Sharif Ahmed, the executive leader of the Somalia Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), told al-Jazeera television that he ordered his forces out of Mogadishu, which they have occupied since June, to avoid bloodshed in the capital. Residents living south of Mogadishu said they saw convoys of Islamist fighters driving south towards the port city of Kismayo.

In Mogadishu, gunfire echoed through the streets and hundreds of gunmen, who just hours earlier fought for Islamist rule, took off their uniforms and submitted to the command of clan elders, an Associated Press reporter said.

Some began looting SCIC bases and buildings belonging to SCIC officials, witnesses said.

"I have seen that the Islamists are defeated. I'm going to rejoin my clan," said Mohamed Barre Sidow. "I was forced to join the Islamic courts by my clan, so now I will return to my clan and they will decide my fate, whether I join the government or not."

Yusuf Ibrahim, an Islamist gunman until today, said around 3,000 hardcore followers decided to continue fighting against the government and Ethiopian troops and had left for Kismayo.

Other witnesses reported seeing a large number of foreign fighters in the convoys heading south. There were suggestions they were headed for a SCIC base at the southern tip of Somalia called Ras Chiamboni.

Islamist movement leaders had called on foreign Muslims to join their "holy war" against Ethiopia, a predominantly Christian nation. Hundreds were believed to have answered the call, according to reports.

In Mogadishu, most of the shooting and looting occurred in northern neighbourhoods, which are Abgal clan strongholds. Four people were reported to have been killed during exchanges of gunfire.

Salad Gabayre, a clan militia commander in the Sinai district, said elders were calling for young men to form militias to protect their neighbourhoods.

A well-known clan leader, Hussein Haji Bod, asked people to remain calm and strengthen security. "Elders and scholars will hold a meeting today to discuss the future of the capital," Mr Bod said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said hospitals and other medical facilities in southern and central Somalia had admitted more than 800 wounded people in recent days.

"The ICRC is extremely concerned about civilians caught up in the fighting, wounded people and people detained in connection with the fighting," said Pascal Hundt, the head of the ICRC's Somalia delegation. On the outskirts of Mogadishu, government forces took over the town of Balad and were just outside the western town of Afgoye, cutting off the coastal capital to the north and west, residents and government officials said. The government had taken control of Baledogle airport, the most important airfield in the country.

The commander of Ethiopian forces in Somalia, General Salem Hagos, was meeting with government commanders in Bur Haqaba to decide their next move. Colonel Ahmed Omar, a Somali officer, said Ethiopian troops would stop advancing on the capital, but government forces would approach the capital.

The Somali president, Abdullahi Yusuf, was expected to hold a press conference later today to offer political and religious moderates in Mogadishu a truce.

The SCIC captured Mogadishu in June and went on to take much of southern Somalia, often without fighting. Its fortunes started to reverse on Christmas Eve, when Ethiopia sent reinforcements across the border to help the internationally recognised government.

Somalia's complex clan system has been the basis of politics and identity for centuries. But due to clan fighting, the country has not had an effective government since the civil war of the 1990s. Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up the interim government. It has been unable to assert much authority, in part because it has been weakened by clan rivalries.

The competition for control of Mogadishu since 1991 has involved the Abgal and Habr Gadir clans, who joined forces earlier this year to support the Islamic Courts. If Abgal elders switch allegiance to the government, probably in return for key government posts, urban warfare between the Abgal and Habr Gadir clans is likely to resume.

The conflict has caused concern among western powers, including the United States, which has accused the Islamists of harbouring al-Qaida terrorists.

Last night, the UN Security Council failed for a second day to agree on a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in Somalia.