Although both the Ethiopian and Somali Interim government deny it, there are reports that Ethiopian troops have entered the provisional capitol of Baidoa. The Islamic militia that has been threatening the interim government is calling for a Jihad against the Ethiopians.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, in a radio broadcast, said Ethiopia deployed troops to the government's base in Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, to bolster what he described as a puppet regime.
"I am calling on the Somali people to wage a holy war against Ethiopians in Baidoa," said Aweys, who the U.S. government says has ties to al-Qaida. "They came to protect a government which they set up to advance their interests."
Residents of Baidoa reported seeing hundreds of Ethiopian troops, in uniform and in marked armored vehicles, entering Baidoa on Thursday and taking up positions around transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf's compound. Ethiopian and Somali government officials have denied Ethiopian troops are in the country, though witnesses from five towns have reported seeing them.
"Abdullahi Yusuf is in the pocket of Ethiopia," Aweys said on the radio, heard across the country. "He's been a servant of Ethiopia for a long time."
Islamic militants had rallied people to condemn the presence of Ethiopians after Friday prayers.
Demonstrators in Mogadishu shouted anti-Ethiopian and anti-U.S. slogans as they marched in the capital, accompanied by dozens of Islamic militiamen and trucks mounted with heavy weapons.
"We are against Ethiopian troops invading our country," read some of the banners carried by mostly male demonstrators. "God is Great!" shouted the protesters.
Radical Islamic militia, however, later shot dead two people when a rare demonstration broke out against the rulers of Mogadishu. "We don't want Islamic movements!" shouted the protesters before they were dispersed by fatal gunfire, the Banabir radio station reported.
Residents of Baidoa appeared unfazed by the presence of Ethiopian troop. Tensions sparked by fears of attacks by Islamic militants eased Friday in the town.
The troops, wearing their national military uniforms, arrived in the government base in Baidoa, deploying near the Somali president's home, at the airport and on the outskirts of the town, residents said by telephone.
Ethiopia's move could give the internationally recognized Somali government its only chance of curbing the Islamic militia's increasing power. But Ethiopia's incursion could also be just the pretext the militiamen, who control the capital and most of the rest of southern Somalia and have been accused of terrorist links, need to build public support for a guerrilla war.
Ethiopia continued to deny its troops were in Somalia, despite reports from witnesses.
"There are no Ethiopian troops who have crossed the border into Somalia," Solomon Abebe, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, told the AP. "How can they tell who is Somali and who is Ethiopian?"
Reliance on Ethiopia appears to make the government beholden to the country's traditional enemy and hurts its legitimacy. Anti-Ethiopia sentiment still runs high in much of this almost entirely Muslim country, which is why the government and Ethiopia, a mostly Christian nation, may want to keep the troop deployment quiet.
The Islamic militia appears to have begun pulling back from the capitol, though. Ethiopian troops intervened in Somalia in 1993 and 1996 and forced the Islamists back. It may well be happening again.
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