Somalis accuse Ethiopia of plundering food warehouses

The spokesman for the Somali National Front Muhammad Ibrahim Jame' haul told the press in Makadishu on Thursday that the Ethiopian forces had plundered foodstuffs warehouses in the city of Balad Haou, adjacent to the Somali-Kenyan borders.

He added that the said warehouses contained large quantities of sugar, rice, wheat, as well as weapons and communications systems owned by the citizens of the city. Haou added the "the blundering and steeling operations by the Ethiopian forces pushed many of the citizens of the city to evacuate towards the city of Manteira on the second side of the Kenyan borders, while others escaped to Gharbhari city, the capital of Ghado district. Meantime, forces of the leader of the Somali National alliance Hussein Aideed backed by opposition Ethiopian forces of Omoro are jointly carrying out vast military operations in " Bye" district against the forces of " al-Rahnowin resistance army."

The London based al-Hayat daily said that seven Ethiopian armored vehicles on Wednesday entered the city of Hadar in Bakkoul district in Somalia. Well-informed sources in Makadishu expected military confrontation to erupt in the region between Aideed forces and the Ethiopian forces. There are fears that fighting will expand to cover other cities like Kesmayou, the coastal city in the South and the capital Makadishu, especially following the return back of leaders of the Somali groups which back Ethiopia from Addis Ababa.