Witnesses: Ethiopian soldiers enter second Somali town

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Ethiopian troops moved into a second Somali town on Saturday to protect the country's weak, U.N.-backed government but talks aimed at easing tensions in this Horn of Africa nation fell apart.
About 200 Ethiopian troops, driving in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, moved into Wajid and took control of the airport, witnesses said, because they feared reprisals. Wajid is a U.N. aid base 46 miles southeast of the Somali-Ethiopian border.
Arab League talks in Sudan on Saturday were designed to ease the situation in Somalia, where the Islamist militia captured the capital, Mogadishu, from warlords and then consolidated its control over most of southern Somalia. Both sides signed a temporary cease-fire pact June 22.
But the Islamists walked out of the talks Saturday because of the Ethiopian incursion, and the government side said it would not attend until it received international guarantees that any agreement would be respected.
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