Ethiopia says strength of Somali Islamists is due to government failure

January 5, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin has explained the recent success of the Somali Islamists by the failure of Somali transitional government to establish its authority in the country.

Mesfin minimized reports about Al-Sebab’s strength saying that the vacuum created by the lack of well established administration in the country provided the Islamist fighters with the opportunity to control easily different towns.

“So al-Shebab, even 10 armed people can create havoc throughout the country because the government has not been able to extend its infrastructure and administration in the rest of the country.”

The minister encouraged the Somali government to swiftly elect a strong leadership to lead the country during this critical stage of its history. He stressed that the government had better organized and stronger military, police and militia than the Islamist groups, adding they only missed a united and strong headship.

The Ethiopian foreign minister who made his statement at the Addis Ababa airport to bid farewell to the Somalia’s acting President Sheikh Adan Mohamed Madoobe and the Prime Minister Hassan Hussein Nur.

Despite the repeated calls for a swift election of a new president by the international community and neighboring countries — Ethiopia and Kenya, the Somali factions have already started a new power struggle for the post of the president and the election could take more time.

Mesfin also blamed the international community for not supporting the Somali transitional government or the peacekeeping mission in the troubled country. He further said Somalia did not receive as much attention as has been given to Darfur.

The head of the Ethiopian diplomacy repeated that Addis Ababa could not bear indefinitely and without international support the responsibility of the situation in Somalia.

(ST)