Zenawi says favourable to keep Ethiopian troops in Somalia

October 24, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he is against the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in the current conditions from Somalia. He pointed out that this move means sabotaging sacrifices paid to stabilize the neighboring country.

Speaking on Tuesday 23 October at the 4th regular meeting of the House of Peoples’ Representatives Meles said total and immediate pull out of the Ethiopian army in Somalia under the circumstances would have been tantamount to sabotaging the sacrifices paid by the army and also rendering valueless Ethiopia’s contributions for peace in Somalia.

Responding to questions concerning the relation of Ethiopia with Somalia, Meles said the Ethiopian army was deployed to Somalia as per a request made by the Transitional Federal Government.

“So, rushing to pull out the army immediately would have entailed a situation for the already dismantled forces of terror in Somalia to regroup, and thereby to render void the sacrifices already made by the Ethiopian army.” He said

Somali troops, with crucial aid from neighboring Ethiopia, drove the Council of Islamic Courts out of the capital and the southern Somalia in an offensive that began late last December. But many Somalis resent the presence of Ethiopian forces. Somalia, a Muslim country, and Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population, fought a brutal war in 1977.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had announced in January 2007 the withdrawal of its troops from Somalia two weeks after after helping the Somali interim government rout Islamists in a two-week war.

The United States and Ethiopia have portrayed the Islamists as linked to and even run by al Qaeda, putting Somalia firmly on the map of the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

Somali Islamists took control of the capital Mogadishu in June 2006 and had imposed sharia law across much of the south.

(ST)