“Hundreds” of Ethiopian troops said deployed near Somali border

The Ethiopian government has deployed troops along the border with Somalia. Sources have confirmed to Somaliland press that hundreds of Ethiopian troops on armoured vehicles were at the border area near Somalia’s central and southwestern regions.

Reports say that the Ethiopia are concerned about the Al-Shabab Islamic Movement and other Islamist groups, which control parts of central and southwestern Somalia.

Al-Shabab forces are said to be setting up bases near the Bakool Region in southwestern Somalia.

Al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, says it wants to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.

“It would be strange if the Shabab and others did not try to capitalize on the fact that a significant proportion of the peacekeeping operation in Somalia was leaving and to try to fill in whatever vacuum they feel there is,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told journalists in Addis Ababa.

“But at the moment, what will happen next is an open question,” Meles said.

The departure of the Ethiopians has raised fears of a power vacuum at a time when Somalia is also facing rampant piracy off its coast. The country has not had a functioning government since 1991 and few expect that a Somali force can establish order even with the help of a relatively moderate faction of Islamists who had agreed to share power in October.

Al-Shabab has said that it now will focus its attacks on the about 3000 more African Union peacekeepers based in Mogadishu.

The Ethiopian army, one of Africa’s largest, was viewed by many Somalis as abusive and heavy-handed although they lastly left the country after two years of fighting with armed insurgent groups.

Source: SomalilandPress