Ethiopian troops massed on Somali border

June 16, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — Ethiopian forces are reported to have been deployed along the Somali Border after militias of the Islamic Courts Union have seized towns near the border between Somalia and Ethiopia.

Reports from the Somali state of Ethiopia say Ethiopian troops armed with heavy armored vehicles are massing on the border zones near Somali Border, Shabelle news service said.

The Ethiopian move came after the Islamist militia advanced toward Beledweyne in central Somalia (350 klm northwestern of Mogadishu) Thursday making the government base in vulnerable.

Beledweyne is about 150 miles northeast of Baidoa, the seat of Somalia’s weak transitional government. The current Somali government has international support but no control of the country and has only a small security force. It lacks the power to make a move to the capital.

The next step of the Ethiopian army is not clear. Would they cross the border or not.

However, Ethiopia fears that the militia of the Somali Islamic courts may enter and destabilize the Somali State of Ethiopia where there already groups fighting against the Ethiopian government.

Somalia and Ethiopia went a war over their borders twice.

Somali Islamist control now most of Mogadishu, Jowhar in neighbouring Middle Shabelle region, and several posts in Hiraan region further north, including Gialalassi town. All are former strongholds of the warlords, several of whom have abandoned the Alliance to Restore Peace and Against Terrorism (ARPCT).

“We have accepted to support the (Islamic) courts,” said Ahmed Abdi Alin, an elder in Gialalassi, where two rival Adde and Hawad tribal sub-clans formerly allied to the warlords reportedly negotiated a settlement and shifted loyalty to the Islamists.

In the last five months confrontations between the Union of Islamic Courts and the ARPCT considered to be financially and logistically backed by the US, has caused the death of 400 people.

(ST)