Somali Militants Vow to take over the Interim Government's Base

Somali Islamists officially stated on Wednesday that they intend to take control over Baidoa, the new location of the Somali interim government, heightening fears that a new and more violent conflict would spring between the two sides.

However, Ethiopian officials immediately responded to this warning, issuing an official statement through which they were announcing that they would track all military movements made by the Islamists and would literally "crush" all potential attacks they would make on Somali interim president Abdullahi Yusuf and his government.

In an interview with Reuters, the Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu assessed: "We will use all means at our disposal to crush the Islamist group if they attempt to attack Baidoa, the seat of the transitional federal government. Ethiopia is closely monitoring the jihadist Islamist group which has now returned to Mogadishu after a warning from Ethiopia not to attack Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government".

Witnesses confirmed to Reuters that the Islamist fighters have indeed returned to Mogadishu, yet no one is able to predict what their next move is going to be.

Ethiopia has supported the secular warlord-based Somali interim government so far, while condemning the activities of the Islamist movement which took over the capital city of Somalia over a month ago, calling its members "terrorists". In addition to that, Ethiopia is considered to be a very important player in the current crisis in the region, since experts and analysts have declared that the country has several thousands troops near the Ethiopian-Somali border and another 20,000 inside Ethiopia, ready to charge in case their country, or the Somali interim government for that matter, are provoked.

On the other hand, Minister Hailu stated that the Addis Ababa supports peace initiatives coming from both the African Union and East African regional body Igad: "Ethiopia believes that the Somalia issue can only be resolved through Igad and African Union resolutions".