From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Dec 14 2008 - 13:17:24 EST
CORRECTED - TIMELINE-Islamists close in on Somali capital
Sun 14 Dec 2008, 12:27 GMT
(Corrects spelling of president's first name)
Dec 14 (Reuters) - Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf sacked his prime
minister on Sunday, saying he had failed to bring security to the chaotic
country.
Here is a timeline of events since Islamists first seized the capital,
Mogadishu:
June 2006 - The Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) seizes Mogadishu from
U.S.-backed warlords and takes control of parts of southern Somalia.
Dec. 28 - Islamists flee Mogadishu ahead of a joint Ethiopian and Somali
government force which captures the city.
Jan. 8, 2007 - Abdullahi Yusuf arrives in Mogadishu for the first time since
he became president in 2004.
Aug. 30 - Yusuf winds up a six-week-long peace conference, which has no
visible impact on growing insurgency. Islamists and some other opposition
figures boycotted the talks.
March 26, 2008 - Islamist fighters seize Jowhar, the most significant of
several towns recently captured.
May, 1 - U.S. air strike kills al Shabaab leader Aden Hashi Ayro.
Aug. 18 - Somalia formally signs a peace deal with some opposition figures,
but the pact is rejected by hardliners.
Aug. 22 - Al Shabaab insurgents seize Kismayu, a strategic southern port,
after fighting that killed 70 people.
Aug. 25 - U.N.'s Food Security Analysis Unit says more than 3.2 million
people need humanitarian aid.
Oct. 3 - Islamists, now controlling swathes of southern Somalia, warn
Western charities working there not to meddle in their affairs.
Nov. 12 - Rebels take port of Merka, 90 km (56 miles) southwest of
Mogadishu, after government-aligned militia leave.
Nov. 14 - Al Shabaab fighters move into Elasha town near Sinkadheer, where
Ethiopian troops are based. Sinkadheer is 15 km (9 miles) south-west of
Mogadishu.
-- President Yusuf admits Islamist insurgents control most of the country
and raised the prospect his government could completely collapse.
Nov. 15 - The Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker is hijacked by pirates 450
miles southeast of Mombasa. The tanker is carrying $100 million of oil.
Nov. 28 - Ethiopia says it will withdraw its troops from Somalia by the end
of this year, piling pressure on Somalia's feuding government.
Dec. 10 - Somalia's moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returns to
Mogadishu for the first time in two years as a local rights group says
fighting has killed 16,210 civilians since then.
Dec. 11 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Zenawi says that AU peacekeepers have
asked Ethiopian troops planning to leave the country to help them quit
Mogadishu too.
Dec. 14 - President Yusuf sacks Prime Minister Nur Abdi and will appoint a
new one soon, saying his government has failed to extend the federal system
and security to the nation.
C Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.
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