ASMARA - Somali opposition figures formed a "liberation" movement on Wednesday threatening war on Ethiopian troops in their homeland in a move bound to polarise positions in the Horn of Africa even further.
The new group, agreed on in Eritrea by some 400 delegates ranging from Islamist leaders to former government officials, is called "The Alliance For The Liberation Of Somalia".
Last year thousands of Ethiopian soldiers crossed the border to help the interim government chase out an Islamist movement that had ruled Mogadishu and most of the south for six months.
Somalia has been beset by factional fighting and has been without stable government since 1991.
"We have two-track options: first is the liberation of Somalia through military struggle, the second is through diplomatic efforts," said movement spokesman Zakariya Mahamud Abdi.
Although its impact remains to be seen, the naming of the alliance alone will give a symbolic boost to Islamist-led insurgents fighting the interim Somali government and its Ethiopian military allies, analysts and diplomats said.
It will also provide yet another bone of contention between long-time foes Ethiopia and Eritrea, and is likely to make desperately needed reconciliation harder, they added.
"The opposition has been able to organise and has taken a very militant stand in favour of armed resistance," said Michael Weinstein, U.S. expert on Somalia at Purdue University.
The formation of the alliance would probably heighten the chances of fund-raising from sympathisers in the Somali diaspora and the Arab world, and annoy those backing the government and the African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia, he said.
"This is not good news for the United States, the U.N., and Uganda, and Ethiopia," he said.
