Heavy fighting in Somalia, Darfur

The fighting in Somalia has finally gone hot between the Islamists and the Ethiopian forces defending the Somali government's last redoubt, Baidoa. (Reuters, BBC, AFP)

Described as "heavy fighting," rockets, mortars, small arms fire, it is said that the Ethiopian troops are waiting for reinforcement.

Also, the militias in Darfur have attacked aid workers' compounds in Gereida forcing them to evacuate. This has been a consistent pattern among the militias there to drive out international observers in an area before the killings, massacres, and rapes begin.

(And, a very interesting WaPo article on the Ethiopian politics of this war. Ethiopia needs this war to distract its people and maintain US funding and support.)