Ethiopia created new hope for peace in Somalia-AU
Jan 27, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — African ministers said on Saturday Ethiopia’s military intervention in Somalia had created an unprecedented peace opportunity in the chaotic nation by helping the government to oust Islamists in a New Year war.
“The African Union notes with satisfaction the recent positive developments in Somalia which have resulted from Ethiopian intervention on the invitation of the legitimate transitional government,” a draft resolution expected to be adopted by African foreign ministers said.
The draft, seen by Reuters, said Ethiopia’s intervention “has created an unprecedented opportunity for lasting peace in the country.”
Ethiopian jets, tanks and troops helped the Somali interim government rout rival Islamists who had ruled the capital Mogadishu and much of the south since June.
African ministers, meeting before a heads of state summit in Addis Ababa next week, called for all-inclusive dialogue and international help in Somalia’s post-war reconstruction, “urging the U.N. to lead this endeavour”.
Before the Somali government and Ethiopian troops captured Mogadishu last month, Arab governments said unanimously that Ethiopian forces should leave the country, which is a member of the Cairo-based Arab League.
But conservative Arab governments such as Egypt’s also had reservations about the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC), which had imposed sharia law across much of southern Somalia.
Egypt, which for decades has competed in the background with Ethiopia for influence over Somalia, has said it supports the deployment of an African peacekeeping force in Somalia.
NEW ATTACKS
In Mogadishu, unidentified attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station late on Saturday. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the attack. The night before, attackers fired four mortar bombs at an Ethiopian camp in Darmoley, 10 km (6 miles) north of Mogadishu. No casualties were reported.
The strikes follow a series of guerrilla assaults on government and Ethiopian troops since they ousted the SICC.
Meanwhile, police were interrogating a man over a mortar strike on Mogadishu international airport on Wednesday that injured five people, government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.
Many suspect hardcore remnants of the SICC are behind the attacks, but there are many enemies of the government including warlord and clan militias plus criminals.
Dinari also said 23 people, including senior Islamist officials he did not identify, were flown into Mogadishu after having been handed over to the government by Kenyan authorities, who arrested them attempting to cross the border.
Many fear a slide back to the anarchy Somalia has suffered since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
President Abdullahi Yusuf’s interim government, formed at peace talks in Kenya in late 2004, is the 14th attempt to end the mayhem since 1991. But it only set foot in the capital on Dec. 29 and faces a huge task to tame the city.
It has asked for peacekeeping troops, and the African Union has backed a force of almost 8,000 to replace the withdrawing Ethiopian soldiers — hated by many Somalis because the two nations have been rivals in the Horn of Africa for a millennium.
Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria have pledged troops, while South Africa and Rwanda have ruled out deploying. Mozambique and others are considering contributing.
(Reuters)