Several hundred Somalis have taken to the streets of the capital city, Mogadishu, to protest the presence of Ethiopian troops who are backing the interim government.

The Somali government has postponed a plan to forcibly disarm Somali residents as security forces clashed with several hundred demonstrators in the capital, Mogadishu.

The Kenyan government has closed its border with Somalia to stop Somali refugees fleeing the violence from entering the country. The government also said the border closure was necessary to secure the country from an influx of fleeing combatants who are armed and may increase proliferation of small arms.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday deployment of an East African stabilization force in Somalia is an urgent need following the rout of Islamic militiamen by Ethiopian forces and troops from the Somali interim government. The United States is committing more than $16 million in new humanitarian aid for Somalia.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Tuesday his country's troops may leave Somalia within a few weeks. He spoke a day after Ethiopian and Somali government forces drove rival Islamist movement from its last stronghold in Somalia. Meanwhile, an advisor to Mr. Zenawi has been explaining how Ethiopia hopes to win the peace in Somalia. Bereket Simon said the reconstitution of Somalia as a sovereign nation should be one of the objectives.

Somalia's interim president is in Kenya for talks with President Mwai Kibaki and other top security officials. Meanwhile, Kenyan authorities have arrested and detained at least eight people at a border crossing, saying they could be fighters and financiers of the Islamic Courts Union attempting to flee Somalia into Kenya. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.

Officials from Somalia's interim government are seeking to return to Mogadishu and assert its authority after Ethiopian forces helped Somali troops drive Islamist fighters out of the capital.

The United States said Thursday it continues to support a U.N. plan for an East African peacekeeping force for Somalia that would obviate the need for intervention by that country's neighbors. The U.N. plan, approved early this month, has stalled amid mounting violence in Somalia. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

With rapidly changing developments in Somalia, observers are debating what it all means. Among those following developments in Somalia is Ken Menkhaus, associate professor of political science at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua asked Dr. Menkhaus if Ethiopian forces can hold Mogadishu.

Somalia's prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, says the government's Ethiopian-backed troops have reached entry points into the capital, Mogadishu, after Islamists abandoned the city. As VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, tensions between rival clans in the capital are escalating, as they compete to fill the power vacuum left by the Islamists.

The United Nations World Food Program says it has suspended air operations in Somalia because of escalating violence in the Horn of Africa nation.

The Somali capital, Mogadishu, is reported to be in chaos after Islamist forces, which had controlled the city for nearly seven months, abandoned it early Thursday. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has the latest from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.