Somalia to Ethiopia: Leave Somalia or It's War

Ethiopia must withdraw its troops from Somalia immediately or face an all-out war that "no army" could resist, three senior Somali leaders warned on Wednesday.

The three, including top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hussein Aidid, who holds a post in Somalia's government, were meeting in the Eritrean capital for talks.

Aidid said Somalis will unite against the "brutal occupation" of Ethiopian forces, who earlier this year helped the government's armed forces wrest control of much of Somalia from an Islamist movement.

"Up until now we [have used] dialogue to remove them but if they refuse to cooperate ... we will set everything aside to remove the Ethiopians ourselves," Aidid told reporters.

Sporadic fighting has continued between Ethiopian troops and insurgents in Mogadishu since government troops returned to the capital.

The three leaders, who shared a stage under a Somali map emblazoned with a dove and the logo "Somalia for Somalis", warned that the situation in the war-torn nation would deteriorate if Ethiopia failed to withdraw.