Ethiopian premier says Somali Islamist continuing provocations
Dec 14, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the ultimatum issued recently by the fundamentalist leadership of the Union of Islamic Court, UIC, to launch a major attack against Ethiopia shows how it further intensified its continuing provocative acts as it did in the past.
“They [the UIC] have committed aggression against Ethiopia for months now so we do not see any new thing here which requires any new response,” Meles told reporters who asked about the threat from the UIC to attack in one week.
“We are trying to get this issue resolved peacefully.” He said, however, If it is not resolved peacefully it will be very unfortunate”, he added.
A top official of Somalia’s Islamic militia vowed Tuesday 12 December to launch a “major attack” within a week unless troops from neighboring Ethiopia leave this chaotic Horn of Africa country.
“If the Ethiopians don’t withdraw from Somalia within seven days, we will launch a major attack,” Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Islamic group, told a news conference in the capital, Mogadishu.
According to The Associated Press, a confidential U.N. report in October said up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border backing the government. Ethiopia has acknowledged sending military advisers, but denies sending a fighting force.
“With regard to physical attacks, since last summer the Islamic courts have been training and equipping and smuggling armed elements – hundreds of them – into Ethiopia and they have clashed with security services in Ethiopia.” Said the Ethiopian premier.
Meles said that Somali Islamists had told Ethiopian official, during recent talks, “there are differences within the UIC movement”, he further said “sometimes they appear to be respectful and at others they are impervious to reason and logic. It is a frustrating round of contacts. We hope that future ones will be more productive.”
On his part, the chairman of the Somali Courts Executive Council, Sheikh Sharrif Sheikh Ahmed, stressed during a meeting with president of Yemen, Ali Abdallah Salih that they were ready for talks with Ethiopia if it pulled out its troops from Somalia in seven days.
Since June, the Council of Islamic Courts has seized Mogadishu and taken control of much of southern Somalia. The group’s strict interpretation of Islam has drawn comparisons to the Taliban, although many Somalis credit the council with bringing a semblance of order to a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade.
The political volatility in Somalia is the latest blow to a nation that is struggling to recover from the worst flood season in East Africa in 50 years.
(ST)