Ethiopia prepares to attack Somali Islamists – Eritrea

Aug 21, 2006 (ASMARA) — Eritrea accused today the Ethiopian government of planning to attack Somali Islamists with the support of the United States. Ethiopia aims to prevent the unification of the neighbouring country, an Eritrean report said.

According to a report aired by the Eritrean radio Monday, the Ethiopian government with the US Administration “blessing” will launch an offensive against the Somali Union of Islamic Courts soon.

The Ethiopian government, “with the support of the US Administration and other Western countries, was making intense preparations to implement the policy of its carers that aims to thwart the realization of a unified Somalia”, the report said.

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), warned earlier in August Eritrea and Ethiopia from interfering in the Somali affairs. The regional organization urged the two countries to stop taking unilateral actions that undermine the powerless but internationally-recognised transitional government of Somalia.

During the last weeks, Somalia’s Islamists vowed a “holy war” on against Ethiopian troops crossing into the Horn of Africa nation, while Addis Ababa threatened to “crush” any attack on the interim government it supports.

Twelve weeks after taking Mogadishu and other southern towns, the Islamists are engaged in an increasingly bellicose standoff with a fragile, Ethiopian-backed interim government based in the provincial town of Baidoa.

With Islamist militia moving their closest yet to Baidoa, and witnesses saying Ethiopian soldiers have poured over the border to defend the Somali government, the prospect of yet another major conflict in Somalia has risen sharply.

Ethiopia accuses Soamli Islamists of planning to topple the interim government and to destabilize Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa is anxious about possible Islamist aspirations to establish a “Greater Somalia” which would incorporate Ethiopia’s south-eastern Ogaden region inhabited by ethnic Somalis.

Ethiopia is also worry from the increasing Eritrean support to Somali Islamists. While Ethiopia wishes to remain the dominant in the region. Washington also believes that the Somali Islamic Courts are potentially dangerous and could destabilize neighbouring countries. The Islamists tried to convince the US Administration of the contrary but in vain.

Ethiopia could also anticipate this war because of some European attempts to advertise the Somali Islamists and to convince western governments that they represent Somali clans more than fundamentalists Somali hostile to the western world.

(ST)