Battle of Baidoa

The Battle of Baidoa began on December 20, 2006 when the Somali Transitional Federal Government's forces (TFG) allied with Ethiopian forces stationed there attacked advancing Islamic Courts Union (ICU) forces along with 500 alleged Eritrean troops and mujahideen arrayed against them.

The battle began with most reports hourly depicting the government forces defecting and its position on the verge of collapse. The TFG, along with its allies in the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), had certainly been on the retreat since the June offensives of the ICU. By the opening of the battle in December, Baidoa was invested with attacks coming in at least three directions.

Strong Ethiopian reinforcements rapidly changed the battle from one in which the TFG was on the defensive, through a strong series of counterattacks, to an Ethiopian/TFG decisive victory. Ethiopian armor, artillery, and air forces proved instrumental against the ICU's militia-based army.

Timeline

December 20, 2006

On December 20, heavy shooting broke out between Somali government troops and Islamists 25 km (16 mi) southeast of Baidoa where the Islamists claimed to have taken the government's military base in Daynuunay. The conflict thereafter moved north to the Islamist stronghold in Moode Moode Heavy weapons, including artillery, rockets and mortars were involved. Initial claims of casualties in this area were at least ten dead ICU militiamen and forty TFG soldiers wounded. Later claims of ICU casualties by the TFG were 71 Islamic soldiers dead and 221 injured, including two dead foreign fighters. The TFG claimed its own casualties were 3 dead and 7 wounded while the ICU claimed to have killed 7 government soldiers.

Baidoa

Baidoa (Somali: Baydhabo, Arabic: بيدوا‎), also known as Iscia Baidoa (Somali: Isha Baydhabo), is a city in the south-central Bay region of Somalia. It is situated 256 kilometers (159 mi) by road northwest of the national capital Mogadishu. For a brief period during the mid-2000s, Baidoa served as the temporary seat of the Transitional Federal Government. In 2014, it was made the capital of the Southwestern State of Somalia, a prospective Federal Member State.

History

Early history

Baidoa and the broader Bay region is home to a number of important ancient sites. Archaeologists have found pre-historic rock art on the city's outskirts, in Buur Heybe.

During the Middle Ages, Baidoa and its surrounding area was part of the Ajuran Sultanate. The influential polity covered much of southern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia, with its domain extending from Mareeg in the north, to Qelafo in the west, to Kismayo in the south.

In the early modern period, the Baidoa area was ruled by the Geledi Sultanate. The kingdom was eventually incorporated into Italian Somaliland in 1908, and ended in 1910 with the death of its last Sultan Osman Ahmed. After independence in 1960, the city was made the center of the official Baidoa District.