By Nico Gnecchi LIBOI, Kenya, Jan 8 (Reuters) - When Ethiopian soldiers confiscated Ga'an Towfiq's truck in Doble, a Somali town bordering Kenya, the 21-year-old made a dash for no-man's land. It seemed a safer option than living under the control of the unpopular Ethiopian forces which routed rival Islamist fighters in a two-week war to protect the Somali government. For 25 km (15 miles) Towfiq trekked through a desolate landscape of thorn bushes and muddy swamplands policed by Ethiopian troops in search of fugitive Islamists on one side and Kenyan soldiers seeking to block them on the other. "Ethiopian soldiers were entering houses in Doble, taking mobile phones and radios," said Towfiq, who reached Liboi, a Kenyan border outpost, a few days ago after evading both Ethiopian and Kenyan troops. "People are scared of the Ethiopians because they speak a different language. They are even using their own currency." The bleating of a Somali herder's goat was once the only sound to be heard along the border. Now it shakes with the clatter of machine guns, the drone of Ethiopian warplanes and the whirr of Kenyan helicopters scouring the area for Islamists who deserted their last stronghold a week ago, dispersing into the hills between the Indian Ocean port of Kismayu and Kenya. Military sources say several cars have been found abandoned in no-man's land, littered with items of clothing, sometimes military uniforms. On Sunday, the Kenyan army destroyed two "technicals" -- pickup trucks mounted with heavy arms -- believed to have been dumped by Islamists, one security source said. The source said guns, mines and mortars had been planted around the vehicles. "OCCUPATION" Aid workers say growing animosity and fear of the Ethiopians has forced thousands of Somalis to attempt to cross the border into the relative stability of Kenya. Scores more Kenyans have retreated deeper into the hinterland to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, locals say. However, Kenya has turned away 400 Somali asylum seekers, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said last week. The Kenyan government, struggling to shelter hundreds of thousands of refugees from the region's conflict zones, denied the report. "We the Somalis are being caught between Ethiopia and Kenya," said Liboi businessman Yusuf Ali, who trades in canned food, pasta and clothes. "There's no more business now that movement across the border has been stopped." Stranded in Liboi, Abdulatif Afdub, a contractor for the U.N. World Food Programme sits in a rented room furnished with a mosquito net and prayer mat and wonders what he will do with his cargo now that the border is shut. His food supplies had been destined for Somalis stricken by recent flooding. Equally troubling is what he saw during a visit to Doble. "Now people only see the Ethiopians and no one sees the transitional federal government," he said. "It seems like we're under occupation. I don't think there will ever be peace for us Somalis." (Additional reporting by Daud Yusuf)
