The timeline of events in the War in Somalia during 2007 is set out below.
+Fatality reports–(A minimum - based on news reports) Month Ethiopiansoldiers Somalisoldiers* Othersoldiers** Insurgents Civilians January 4 3 None 25 70 February None 2 None 4 30 March–April 37 13 1 429 1,212 May None 1 5 None 1 June 2 7 2 13 19 July 11 23 None None 60 August 5 32 None 11 69 September None 80 None 106 55 October 18 27 None 11 79 November 16 9 None 1 123 December None 21 None 1 55 TOTAL 93 (500Somali insurgency to intensify : Mail & Guardian Online ) 218 8 601 1,823 (8,636) Sources: SomaliNet
*The number includes policemen, militiamen and intelligence personnel**Other soldiers killed: 2 Kenyan, 6 Ugandan
Incumbents President: Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed Prime Minister: until 30 October: Ali Mohammed Ghedi 30 October-24 November: Salim Aliyow Ibrow starting 24 November: Nur Hassan Hussein
Timeline
January 1, 2007
On January 1, Islamists abandoned their last stronghold in Kismayo. After their departure, looters took to the streets, but order was restored shortly. The Islamists are reportedly retreating toward the Kenyan border. Kenya has boosted security at the border to prevent them from entering their territory.
African and Arab League countries have called on Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia, but these troops practically constitute the military might of the Interim Government whose head, Ali Mohamed Gedi, insists the Ethiopian troops stay in Somalia until he no longer needs them.
In a move to curb resistance against the come-back of the Interim government, after the take-over of Mogadishu on Friday, Ali Mohammed Gedi swiftly announced the introduction of martial law, but such a measure, taken on the background of what is seen as foreign occupation, is already sparking the organization of guerrilla warfare in the capital.
On December 31, 2006, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), along with other senior ICU officials in the port city of Kismayu about south of Mogadishu, urged Islamist supporters across the country to initiate an insurgency to wage guerrilla war against the Ethiopian troops backing the Somali transitional government. Ahmed issued the statement after the Muslim Eid prayers on Saturday: "I call on the Islamic Courts fighters, supporters and every true Muslim to start an insurgency against the Ethiopian troops in Somalia. We are telling the Ethiopians in Somalia that they will never succeed in their mission. By Allah, they will fail... We will not allow the Ethiopian troops to stay peacefully in Somalia."
January 2, 2007
2 Ethiopian, 1 insurgent, 2 civilians killed
Two Ethiopian soldiers were killed and three injured by one gunman in the town of Jilib. The suspected Islamist gunman was killed along with two Somalis later in the day. Kenya sealed its Somali border with helicopters, soldiers, and police in order to prevent Islamists from entering. During the course of the day Ethiopian helicopters accidentally bombed a Kenyan border post at Har Har, but did not cause any casualties. The Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf also met with Mwai Kibaki in Mombasa, Kenya.
Prime minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia is not able to stay in Somalia because of the high economic burden that would come with a prolonged troop investment. A call for peacekeepers has been made but many countries are reluctant to intervene without a clear mission and are wary of what happened in prior peacekeeping missions.
On January 2, 2007, US Marines operating out of Lamu, Kenya, were said to be assisting Kenyan forces patrolling the border with Somalia with the interception of Islamists.
January 3, 2007 Ethiopian aircraft and attack helicopters struck the town of Doble (Dhoobley), Afmadow province, not far from the Kenyan border. The strikes were presumably to hit ICU elements attempting to cross the border. Fighting tailed off after midnight.
A return to normality in the capital was furthered by the re-opening of the Mogadishu airport.
January 4, 2007 Unconfirmed reports said six Kenyan herders were killed by Ethiopian aircraft that crossed over the border of Somalia. Cordoning off the border, 20 Kenyan tanks were dispatched to patrol the frontier stretching between Liboi, in Garissa district to Kiunga, Lamu district. Reports said ICU troops were split across Afmadow and Badade districts, and possibly concentrated at the former al-Ittihad al-Islamiya (AIAI) stronghold of Ras Kamboni. TFG and Ethiopian forces reported taking district capital Afmadow (January 2), and Dhobley along the Kenyan border (January 3), and were presently en route to Badade, the district capital just north of Ras Kamboni. In Nairobi, up to ten of the twenty Somali Members of Parliament in Kenya who were alleged to have ties to the Islamic Courts were taken into custody. One report said five were taken into custody. Another report said ten.
Unknown gunmen thought to be Somali Islamists fired shots at a Kenyan security helicopter patrolling near the border with Somalia. The helicopter was flying over the southeastern Kenyan border town of Hulugho. The report did not say if the aircraft was damaged but said gunmen fired small arms from the region of Ras Kamboni, the base for the fleeing Islamists.
In Mogadishu, TFG militias set up checkpoints in the city. At one checkpoint, a group of militia apparently attempted to extort money from the driver of an oil tanker truck. In the ensuing argument, a rocket was fired at the vehicle, injuring at least 2 or 3 people. The vehicle had been carrying dozens of passengers who disembarked before the rocket attack.
January 5, 2007 On January 5, 2007, Sheikh Farah Moallim Mohamud became the highest-ranking member of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) to be captured by the Ethiopian-Somali forces. He was apprehended near Beledweyne then later released because of the general amnesty offered to Islamists who surrendered to the government.
On January 5, 2007, TFG Defense Minister Col. Barre Aden Shire Hiiraale announced: "Today we will launch a massive assault on the Islamic courts militias. We will use infantry troops and fighter jets... They have dug huge trenches around Ras Kamboni but have only two options: to drown in the sea or to fight and die." Fighting continued January 6 in the jungles south of Kismayo near the Kenyan border, where it was reported the Islamists were holding out armed with over 100 technicals.
Battle of Ras Kamboni
16 insurgents, 44 civilians killed The battle at Ras Kamboni was fought over January 5–12, 2007. During the operations, a US airstrike hit Badmadow Island in an attempt to kill Al Qaeda operatives embedded within ICU forces, and a series of Ethiopian airstrikes occurred to the north in Afmadow district.
January 6, 2007 On January 6, a crowd of more than 100 rioters gathered near Tarabunka square in Mogadishu. They protested the presence of Ethiopian troops as well as the plans to disarm the populace. Prime Minister Ghedi issued a decision to postpone the disarmament for an indefinite amount of time.
January 7, 2007 1 Somali soldier, 1 civilian killed Clashes broke out between Somali protesters and Ethiopian soldiers in the border town of Beledweyne after a town official was arrested for refusing to hand over a leading member of the Islamic Courts Union. Three people were reportedly injured.
A small skirmish has broken out in the Somali capital Mogadishu between Somali militiamen and the Ethiopian forces killing at least two persons and wounding two others. The clashes came after armed militiamen attacked military vehicles belonged to Ethiopian troops passing in front of the Sahafi hotel in southern Mogadishu. Both the dead and the injured were Somalis. The dead persons were a 13-year-old girl and a TFG soldier who died when his hand grenade accidentally exploded and one of the wounded was an old man who was in serious condition.
January 8, 2007 On January 8, 2007 as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected. It was announced the government would be relocated to Villa Somalia, in Mogadishu, from its interim location at Baidoa. Prof. Ibrahim Hassan Addow, representative of the ICU, speaking from Yemen, said the Islamic Courts were ready to enter negotiations with the Transitional Federal Government. However, TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed categorically refused to hold peace talks at this stage.
On January 8 it was reported that an AC-130 gunship belonging to the United States military had attacked suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Southern Somalia. Most casualties were said to be Islamic fighters. The aircraft flew out of its base in Djibouti. Many bodies were spotted on the ground, but the identity of the dead or wounded was not yet established. The targeted leaders were tracked by the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they headed south from Mogadishu starting on December 28. One attack was made well inland at Hayo (or Xayo, approx. Lat 0º28' N, Long 41º49' E), a village halfway between Afmadow and Dhobley. It was also reported that the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been moved into striking distance. Other named US Navy vessels joining the maritime cordon included the USS Anzio and the amphibious landing ship USS Ashland.
On January 8, 2007, to the north of Ras Kamboni, elsewhere in Badhadhe province, an Ethiopian force intercepted Islamist forces in the area of the Kenyan border town of Amuma, Garissa district. Seven vehicles were destroyed. A platoon of Kenyan border police were in the area to enforce the border closure. In Afmadow province, Ethiopia launched airstrikes against targets near Afmadow and Dhobley.
January 9, 2007 1 Ethiopian soldier killed On January 9, 2007, seven Pakistani members of the Tabliq (Tablighi Jamaat) were arrested in Mogadishu near the Presidential Palace of Villa Somalia, causing a local protest. Ethiopian and Somali troops were attacked in Mogadishu for the second time in a week with one soldier reportedly being killed and others wounded. A young girl was also wounded in the attack.
An insurgent attack on government barrack began at 7:30pm, Tuesday, near KM4 (Kilometer 4 Street), which resulted in one soldier dead and six wounded. The firefight lasted an hour.
On January 9, it was reported U.S. special forces and CIA operatives are working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia, and have been involved in numerous missions since the beginning of the war. US forces have been operating from Galkayo within Somalia, and from Camp Lemonnier, an American camp established in Djibouti following 9/11.
January 10, 2007 1 Somali soldier killed On January 10, 2007, due to the barrack attack, significant street fighting broke out in Mogadishu stretching from dawn to afternoon in a multi-party daylight clash between troops of the national government, Ethiopian soldiers, Islamic insurgents and local militias. Government soldiers cordoned off areas of the city and began a house-to-house search for weapons. At Medina hospital, 15 people, including three government soldiers, had been admitted for gunshot wounds over the past 24 hours, and patients overflowed the hospital's 65 beds. At least one TFG soldier was reported to be dead at the end of the day.