Somalia: Islamic Courts warn of possible renewal of civil war

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controls much of southern and central Somalia, has warned of imminent war between it and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which reportedly took Buur Hakaba, a town close to its headquarters in Baidoa on Monday, a senior UIC official told IRIN. Buur Hakaba, some 180 km from Mogadishu, was in the hands of a local militia sympathetic to the UIC, according to a local resident, until around 7.30am, when the militia left. The resident said TFG and Ethiopian troops had since entered the town.