Mogadishu falls

Well, that was quick.

Triumphant Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into Mogadishu on Thursday after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months.

The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule.

Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid.

"People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," said resident Abdikadar Abdulle, adding scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city center

This a very good sign. I am sure there is plenty of fighting and dying to do, in that part of the world it never really stops, but it is better to have the Islamists on the run than moving forward.

"We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters in the frantic port city.
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"Most of our leaders have fled. I am no longer an Islamic Courts' soldier."

Good news. I'll take it.