Somali Islamists warn Kenya against supporting Ethiopia
Nov 1, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — The Islamic Courts Council (ICC) today claimed that Ethiopian troops dressed in Kenyan army uniform had been deployed in large numbers along the Somali-Kenya border. They warned the Kenyan government that this move could lead to devastating results.
Sheikh Yusuf Siyad Indha Adhe, the security chief of the Islamic Courts, said at a news conference at Mogadishu’s former Banaadir Regional security HQ, that a large number of Ethiopian troops were now stationed along the border.
“Those are Ethiopian troops dressed in the Kenyan army uniform,” said Sheikh Indha Adhe, adding that the courts were not at war with Kenya and urged it to keep off the Somali affairs.
He accused the Ethiopian government of fuelling war in the Horn of Africa region, and whose Ethiopia troops were now deployed against Islamic forces outside Baidoa, HQ of Somalia’s interim government.
“Today, Ethiopia is not at peace. Kenya is. If Kenya supports Ethiopia in the war against Somalia, it will not continue to enjoy its current peace,” warned Indha Adhe.
He said the move come after Kenya failed to co-chair the Khartoum talks between the Islamic Courts and the interim government.
He appealed to the international community to act before the issue got out of control.
WAR CLOSER
After the failure of Khartoum mediation held by the Arab League and the Sudanese government, the War between the Somali Islamists and the Ethiopian backed Somali transitional government.
The government’s foreign minister, Ismail Hurre Buba, had earlier denounced the Islamists as no longer partners for peace.
The Islamists had arrived in Khartoum saying there would be no talks at all unless Ethiopian troops they say are in Somalia to prop up the fragile, Western-backed government were withdrawn.
The head of the Islamist team, Ibrahim Hussein Adow, praised the postponement and denied his side was planning any attack.
“There was a gap between the parties and substantial issues, so it was necessary to adjourn,” he told reporters. “We are not preparing nor planning for any confrontation. We want peace.”
His government counterpart said he would comment on Thursday, but one government delegate, member of parliament Ahmed Omar Gagale, told Reuters: “It is an opportunity lost.”
The Islamist’s Adow had earlier called for the talks to be delayed “because Ethiopia has declared war and invaded Somalia … We are in a war situation and Ethiopia has initiated this.”
The government and Mogadishu-based Islamists are vying for control of the nation, sunken in anarchy since the 1991 toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The Islamists sprang from a union of Islamic sharia courts and came to prominence after defeating U.S.-backed warlords in Mogadishu in June.
The government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, a former warlord and colonel in the Somali army whom diplomats say may favor a military solution, insists it has the international recognition and legal right to rule the country of 10 million.
But its power on the ground pales to the Islamists, whose disciplined fighters have taken much of south and central Somalia and imposed strict sharia law.
Security experts believe Addis Ababa has sent about 5,000 soldiers to help Somalia’s government. Ethiopia insists it has only several hundred armed military trainers in Somalia.
Analysts say a war between the militarily superior Islamists and the government could draw in Ethiopia and its archrival Eritrea, inflaming long-held regional grudges.
(Goobjoog/Reuters/ST)