Ethiopia vows to withdraw troops after Somali peace deal
October 27, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopian government announced Monday it will comply with a U.N.-brokered peace deal reached yesterday by Somali factions requiring the gradual withdrawal of its troops from the neighbouring troubled country.
Somalia’s government signed a ceasefire agreement with moderate Islamist leaders of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) on Sunday after meeting an opposition demand to fix the exit of Ethiopian troops.
Under the UN-mediated agreement reached in Djibouti the troops would start re-locating from parts of Mogadishu and the garrison town Baladwayne on Nov. 21; leaving the areas under control of African Union peacekeepers.
“We will respect this encouraging decision reached by the transitional government of Somalia and the ARS (Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia),” said foreign ministry spokesman Wahade Belay. Adding that Ethiopia will implement the agreement reached by the Somali parties.
He further said that Djibouti deal is in line with Ethiopia policy of “orderly withdrawal.”
However the deal does not mention the full withdrawal of all the Ethiopians troops from Somalia, where they are regarded as occupiers. So it is unlikely to calm down hardliners who have boycotted the peace process.
Actually the hardliner Islamist Shabaab faction rejected today Djibouti agreement saying it was a ploy to splinter the opposition.
“Fighting will go on in Mogadishu and we shall not stop until all foreign troops leave our country,” said Sheikh Muktar Robow Abu Mansoor, a spokesman for al Shabaab.
Ethiopian troops joined Somali government forces to push Islamists out of Mogadishu in late 2006, ending their six-month rule of most of the south. But Islamist fighters regrouped to launch an insurgency from early 2007 that has killed at least 10,000 civilians and displaced about 1 million people.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.
(ST)