Saturday, January 3, 2009

Ethiopia: Complete troop pullout from Somalia will take several more days

Two soldiers killed by Roadside bomb in Mogadishu
By Agence France Presse (AFP)


Saturday, January 03, 2009

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia said its military withdrawal from Somalia was under way and would last several more days, even as its forces were targeted in yet another deadly incident in Mogadishu on Friday. The final phase of Ethiopia's pullout from neighboring Somalia comes at a time of deep political confusion and in the dying stages of US President George W. Bush's administration, Addis Ababa's staunchest ally.

"We have already started to implement our withdrawal plan. It will take some more days. It is a process and will take some time," said Bereket Simon, Ethiopian Premier Meles Zenawi's spokesman.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 at the behest of the transitional administration, a Western-backed body formed in exile that, at the time, only controlled a strip of land along the border with Kenya. The Ethiopian forces along with interim government troops ousted from government the Islamic Union, an Islamist group that had brought the first semblance of rule - in the form of a strict interpretation of Sharia law - to large swathes of the country for six months.

Since being pushed from government, the movement splintered, with hard-line factions fighting an insurgency that has seen them retake virtually all of the country except for its breakaway regions.

Ethiopian forces were still operating in Mogadishu Friday. Two soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the capital after which the troops fired at civilians, killing seven, according to witnesses.

"A bomb exploded near a group of Ethiopian soldiers at the K4 crossroads. There were many civilian victims," Somali police colonel, Ali Hasan, told AFP, referring to a southern district in the capital.

"The Ethiopian soldiers were combing the area for explosive devices and were struck by a roadside bomb blast. I saw the torn dead bodies of two of them," said Mohammad Abdullahi Jeri, a resident.


"As a result, the Ethiopian soldiers sprayed bullets in all directions, killing seven civilians, including a woman," he added.

Human-rights groups have denounced the Ethiopian practice of killing civilians in the vicinity of attacks on its troops.

Ethiopia announced late last year that it would complete its troop pullout by the end of 2008 but later said it could take a few more days in order to ensure a smooth transition.

"When we talked about the end of the year, we meant that the withdrawal would have started by that time," Bereket said.

"We wanted to consult with the African Union and the contributing countries about our withdrawal," he added.

There are currently some 3,600 Ugandan and Burundian African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Somalia who are due to take over security duties until joint units involving government forces and moderate opposition factions are established.

AU forces have already started taking up military positions left vacant by Ethiopian forces, who have significantly scaled back their presence across the country in recent months.

Since they were first deployed in March 2007, ill-equipped and under-funded AU peacekeepers have been unable to restore stability in Somalia, where fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and an Islamist-led insurgency continues to rage.

Ethiopia's continued presence in Somalia has been the main argument used by Islamist insurgents and allied clan militias for their struggle. - AFP, with The Daily Star

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