DEHAI NEWS MAILING LIST ARCHIVE: [dehai-news] Aljazeera.net: Ethiopia troops 'return to Somalia'

[dehai-news] Aljazeera.net: Ethiopia troops 'return to Somalia'

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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Jun 20 2009 - 15:18:13 EDT

Ethiopia troops 'return to Somalia'

Saturday, June 20, 2009

http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2008/12/6/20081261237796734_5.jp
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Ethiopian troops previously entered Soamlia in 2006 to drive out the Islamic
Courts Union [File: EPA]

Ethiopian troops have reportedly crossed into neighbouring Somalia after it
made a plea for foreign troops to help it battle opposition fighters seeking
to overthrow the government.

Somalia's parliamentary speaker made the request on Saturday after several
days of heavy fighting in the north of the capital, Mogadishu.

"The government is weakened by the rebel forces. We ask neighbouring
countries - including Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen - to send troops
to Somalia within 24 hours," Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur, the Somali
parliamentary speaker, said.

Ethiopian troops last entered Somalia in late 2006 to support the
then-government and drive out Islamic Courts Union fighters led by Sharif
Ahmed, the current president.

Ahmed later joined the government after signing a UN-brokered peace deal and
is now battling former allies from the al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam groups,
which have vowed to topple his government.

Border security

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Nairobi in Kenya, said that it
remained to be seen what action Ethiopian forces would take.

"Ethiopia has got a big stake in what is going on in Somalia because it
believes that its security would be threatened if the Islamist militais,
such as al-Shabab, take over Somalia," he said.

"But I doubt it is sending its forces into Somalia, unless it gets its
actions sanctioned by the United Nations, which would take weeks, if not
months.

"Ethiopia's return to Somalia might be about securing its borders rather
than heading to Mogadishu."

Nur said that it had been forced to call for help after the opposition
fighters had been bolstered by hundreds of foreigners.

"We have a state of emergency in this country today because foreign fighters
from all over the world are fighting the government," he said.

Nur also said that an al-Qaeda operative from Pakistan was directing the
fighting and was based in the Sanna neighbourhood of Mogadishu, close to the
presidential palace.

He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

The United States has previously said that the al-Shabab movement, which has
vowed to topple the government of Sharif Ahmed, the president, is supported
by al-Qaeda.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor, a journalist in Mogadishu, told Al Jazeera that there
was likely to be heavy fighting if the Ethiopian troops reached the central
and southern areas controlled by the armed opposition groups.

"There will be confrontations and clashes," he said.

"Some of the politicians in the government say, however, that the Ethiopian
troops can help set up the institutions of the government."

Al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam launched an offensive against government forces
on May 7 and more than 300 civilians are believed to have been killed in the
resulting fighting.

Heavy fighting

There were reports of heavy fighting on Saturday in Hamarweh, another suburb
near the presidential palace, after clashes in the northern Karan district
overnight.

"I saw heavily armed Islamist fighters advancing onto Hamarweh area. They
are firing mortar shells and government forces are retaliating," Warsameh
Ahmed, a Mogadishu resident, told the AFP news agency.

"It seems they are to close to taking control of the area."

Three high-profile government officials - the security minister, an MP and a
senior police officer - have been killed in recent days.

More than 4,300 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers are already deployed in
Somalia as part of an African Union (AU) force and are charged with
protecting strategic sites such as the presidency, the port and the
airport.

But the troops are not allowed to fight alongside government forces and are
only authorised to retaliate if they come under direct attack.

Kenya said on Friday that it would not sit by and allow the situation in its
neighbour to deteriorate further as it would destabilise the rest of the
region.

It said that the AU was committed to increasing its commitment, but
al-Shabab had warned against any foreign intervention.

Sheikh Hasan Yacqub, an al-Shabab spokesman, said in the southern port city
of Kismayo: "Kenya had been saying that it will attack the mujahidin of
al-Shabab for the last four months.

"If it tries to, we will attack Kenya and destroy the tall buildings of
Nairobi."

Thousands of residents fled Mogadishu on Saturday, many of them joining the
estimated 400,000 people who are living rough along the Afgooye corridor,
about 20km south of the capital.

In depth

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