Asmara - Renegade Somali leaders on Monday vowed deeper insurgency against government-backed Ethiopian troops despite retreating in recent clashes in Mogadishu, some of the deadliest in the city's history.
Top leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and former parliament speaker Sheikh Sharif Hassan Aden said the rebel fighters, who melted away last week in the face of an Ethiopian offensive, had changed tactics in the bloody contest for Mogadishu.
"The resistance fighters are changing their strategy from face-to-face conflict to hit-and-run attacks," the leaders said in a statement released in the Eritrean capital.
"The Somali resistance groups have done a good job in defence against the invasion (by) Ethiopia, causing heavy Ethiopian casualties."
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Ethiopian forces have been battling fighters and clan militia since the beginning of the year when they backed Somali government soldiers to oust a militant movement from the capital and south and central Somalia.
The violence, which died down last Thursday, has killed hundreds in recent weeks and forced up to 400 000 to flee since the start of February, according to the United Nations.
"The resistance will never give up its mission to fight the invading troops," the leaders warned on Monday. "We urge the Somali people never to kneel down in front of the Ethiopians."
They also called for resistance against about 1 500 African Union peacekeepers already deployed in Somalia, and criticised the international community for failing to speak out about the violence.
Somalia has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.
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