Ethiopia’s PM says having military officials in Somalia
Oct 19, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia’s prime minister told parliament Thursday that he has sent military trainers to help Somalia’s struggling government, the first official acknowledgment that Ethiopian troops are inside the neighboring country.
However, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia has not deployed a fighting force. U.N. officials and local resident have long reported that Ethiopian troops have deployed inside Somali border towns and around the transitional government headquarters in Baidoa, 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital, Mogadishu, to support the weak government against Islamic militants.
Zenawi did not say how many trainers he had sent to Ethiopia’s eastern neighbor, but said the move was in keeping with international efforts to support a transitional government seeking to establish itself in a country that has been largely lawless for 15 years.
“We have sent only trainers, who are soldiers,” Meles said. “Other than this, the army has not entered into Somalia.”
Ethiopian troops were first seen in the country after an Islamic group, the Council of Islamic Courts, took over Mogadishu and continued to expand across most of southern and central Somalia. Islamic radicals have declared a holy war on Ethiopia because of the troop deployment, but there have been no reported clashes between Ethiopian troops and Somali Muslim militia.
Meles said the holy war threats, and reported incursions into Ethiopia by Islamic militants, could lead to war if some kind of peaceful accommodation is not reached with the Islamic group.
“We have the right to defend ourselves against these people. We have been very patient throughout this ordeal,” Meles said. “If the incursion continues … the armed forces have a duty to respond to that.”
“But at this moment, it has not reached this level,” he added.
Meles said his country was threatened on three fronts and that he was doing everything possible to keep those conflicts from turning violent. He said that in addition to the Islamic forces in Somalia, longtime rival Eritrea had moved troops into a U.N.-monitored demilitarized zone between the two countries and Ethiopian insurgents were threatening his government from within.
Meles went on to accuse Eritrea of forming alliances with the Islamic militants in Somalia and the rebel groups inside Ethiopia to overthrow his government.
“The Eritreans are closing ranks with anyone just to attempt to dismantle Ethiopia,” he said, but insisted that Ethiopia’s first response would not be with arms. “We are going to make an effort to resolve this in a peaceful way.”
Meles said his government was ready for talks with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front and the political opposition, but only if they gave up their armed struggle, something they have do far refused to do.
“Now the only alternative is to show them that there is nothing they can do by force.”
(AP)