Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies were closing on Mogadishu last night after seizing several strategic towns from the Islamic militias who once threatened to overrun the country. They took control of Jowhar yesterday morning after a ragtag convoy of Islamist technicals — 4x4s mounted with machineguns — and cattle trucks abandoned the town for the capital 55 miles away.

Residents turned out to welcome Mohammed Dheere, a warlord ousted by Islamists six months ago, as he returned wearing a “I love Jowhar” T-shirt. Shortly afterwards, Islamic militias in Balad, the last town on the road to the capital, switched sides.

Government officials said that their forces were planning to lay siege to Mogadishu and bring the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) to its knees. After four days of heavy fighting the government troops, backed by Ethiopian aircraft, are no more than 18 miles from the capital, the Islamists’ stronghold. Abdikarin Farah, the Somali Ambassador to Ethiopia, told reporters in Addis Ababa that government forces were not planning a direct assault. “We are not going to fight for Mogadishu, to avoid civilian casualties,” he said. “Our troops will surround Mogadishu until they surrender.

Despite public shows of defiance, the leader of the UIC’s executive council has made a private approach to the Government, according to diplomatic sources in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. They have asked the Government to call off its march on Mogadishu in return for a reopening of peace talks, the source said.

“Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has been in touch with Baidoa and said that if there is no fighting in Mogadishu then he would welcome members of the Government to come to talks in the capital,” he said. “I would not be surprised if in the next days Prime Minister Gedi himself did not make that journey.”

The UIC seized control of Mogadishu in June and its forces went on to occupy most of southern and central Somalia, moving to within 40 miles of Baidoa, where a largely powerless interim government is based. It has been pushed back by a better-equipped and trained army, backed by air support.

Ethiopia says that it is intervening in Somalia to protect the interim Government against terrorist forces. Analysts have long cautioned that a conflict in Somalia could suck in the rest of the Horn of Africa.

Matt Bryden, consultant to the International Crisis Group, said that Ethiopia was banking on the Sharia courts collapsing in the face of greater military might.

“If Ethiopia is right and the courts fracture, then the gamble has paid off,” he said, “but if not we are into the worst-case scenario of a quagmire, with the military balance shifting day by day in favour of the courts and increasing the internationalisation of the conflict.”

The UN Security Council was due to resume discussions on Somalia last night. Splits have emerged among members, with Qatar insisting that any statement must urge foreign forces, including those from Ethiopia, to leave the country. The Arab League has also called for an end to fighting and for Ethiopians to leave.

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