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Islamic forces abandon stronghold in Somalia
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 31, 2006
KISMAYO, Somalia
Islamic fighters abandoned the last major town they held early Monday and were seen heading south toward the Kenyan border while government forces approached slowly because of land mines, residents and the government spokesman said.
The Islamic forces began to disintegrate after a night of artillery attacks at the front line and following a mutiny within their ranks, witnesses said. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said he had information that Islamic forces were moving south toward the Kenyan border.
"The Islamists have fled Kismayo and our troops are on the way," Dinari said.
Leila Ali, a local radio journalist, confirmed that Islamic forces had left the city and that no fighters were on the streets.
On Sunday in Kismayo, an estimated 3,000 Islamic fighters were preparing for a bloody showdown, but Islamic fighter Rabi Ahmed told the AP that about 50 militiamen in the city were refusing to go to the front and fight.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said Islamic militants in Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, were sheltering alleged bombers Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Taha al-Sudani. The east African embassy bombings killed more than 250 people.
Islamic leaders had vowed to make a stand against Ethiopia, which has one of the largest armies in Africa, or to begin an Iraq-style guerrilla war.
"My fighters will defeat the Ethiopian's forces," Sheik Ahmed Mohamed Islan, the head of the Islamic movement in the Kismayo region, said by telephone.
"Even if we are defeated we will start an insurgency. We will kill every Somali that supports the government and Ethiopians," he said.
Somalia's interim government and its Ethiopian allies have long accused Islamic militias of harboring al-Qaida, and the U.S. government has said the 1998 bombers have become leaders in the Islamic movement in Africa.
"We would like to capture or kill these guys at any cost," Prime Minister Gedi told the AP. "They are the root of the problem."
In the past 10 days, the Islamic group has been forced from the capital, Mogadishu, and other key towns in the face of attacks led by Ethiopia.
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Pre-Emption, Ethiopia-Style
Gedi said he spoke Sunday to the U.S. ambassador in Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, about sealing the Kenyan border with Somalia to prevent the three terror suspects from escaping.
"If we capture them alive we will hand them over to the United States," Gedi said. "We know they are in Kismayo."
The U.S. government has a counterterrorism task force based in neighboring Djibouti and has been training Kenyan and Ethiopian forces to protect their borders. The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet also has a maritime task force patrolling international waters off the Somali coast, which helps prevent terrorists from launching attacks or transporting personnel, weapons or other material, said fleet spokesman Commander Kevin Aandahl.
Islamic movement leaders deny having any links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.
But in a recorded message posted on the Internet on Saturday, deputy al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Somalia's Muslims and other Muslims worldwide to continue the fight against "infidels and crusaders."
Gedi accused al-Zawahri of trying to destabilize Somalia and its neighbors.
The military advance marked a stunning turnaround for Somalia's government, which just weeks ago could barely control one town — its base of Baidoa — while the Council of Islamic Courts controlled the capital and much of southern Somalia.
The Council of Islamic Courts, the umbrella group for the Islamic movement that ruled Mogadishu for six months, wants to transform Somalia into a strict Islamic state.
Islamic officials said they still had fighters in the capital and were ready for warfare. Late Saturday, an unexplained blast in the capital left one woman dead and two others wounded and stirred fears of a guerrilla war.
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Associated Press writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Les Neuhaus and Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
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Meles/Bush Blunders in Somalia:
War Mongering Agents of Destabilisation and Mass Destruction
By Yilma Begashaw
1. Introduction
The Islamic Court has used some unnecessary aggressive words against Ethiopia. We may also have some past bitter memories. However, currently they do not have any capacity to threaten the Ethiopian sovereignty. Meles Zenawi went to this proxy war to pay back favours for those foreign powers that enabled him to stay in power despite a disastrous defeat at the May 2005 National Election. He may also be trying to leave behind a legacy of bad memory and hatred against our people for many years to come. This may be part of the 100 years of homework the Woyanes and the Shaabiyas gave Ethiopia when they came to power. The AU Deputy commission supported Meles exactly as he did following the rigged 2005 election. Together with peace loving Somalis, Erithreans, the Sudanese and the international community, we have to oppose unnecessary wars. Those responsible for war crimes must be brought to the International Court of Justice. We have to learn from past mistakes. We want democracy, peace and prosperity in the region, not aggression, destabilisation, displacement and our peoples’ continued sufferings.
2. We have never been Aggressoss,but Defenders
We Ethiopian are peace loving citizens of the world. We have a clean history. We don’t go out to attack any nation, big or small. But we always successfully defend ourselves against and foreign aggression, big or small. As we fight only just wars, our mighty creator was always on our side. Religion, ethnicity or greed did not divide us during our resolution to defend our mother land, except very few traitors this was because we were only forced to fight a just war, to defend our sovereignty, a just war that was the concern of every citizen, regardless. It is true there were times when we were threatened or even invaded by the Somali dictatorial regimes, notably that of Ziad Barre. But, every time they came, we taught them good lessons. We may not like the unnecessary and provocative propaganda of the Somali Islamic Court. However, they do not have any capacity to threaten our territorial integrity at the moment. We do not have to go to wars simply because we heard some threats from some corners. We have to create a democratic, stable, peaceful and strong Ethiopian nation that cannot be threatened by any war mongers.
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3. We Always Provided Safe Haven for those that were under aggressions
When the Muslims crossed over to Ethiopia, for protection, we gave them a safe haven.
That is why the Holy Quran warns every Muslims not to ever attack Ethiopia. Ethiopia, a country that has never been colonised, gave all the genuine assistance to the African Freedom Fighters that led them to independence from colonialism. We have thus been respected in the World because of our peace-loving nature. We do not want to lose that golden legacy.
4. So, why is Meles breaking yet Another Record against the Ethiopian People’s Aspirations?
4.1. Meles is a fascist dictator that was put in power in1991 by the Anglo American brochures Western conspiracy, following the last days of the brutal dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam Military regime.
4.2 Despite his regime’s criminal records, the Meles regime was sustained on power for 15 years by the Western powers. Prime Minster Tony Blair even recruited him as one of the Commissions for Africa Development while Meles was well known for being one of the causes of chronic African problems.
4.3 Those very Western Powers (notably the American and the British Administrations) still sustained him on power after the May, 2005 Ethiopian National Election, in which the opposition political parties made a landslide victory, as evidenced by reputable International Election Observers- notably their own European Union, headed by Hon. Anna Gomez and the Carter Administration.
4.4 He is sustained on power to serve the mistaken polices of the American State Department of President Bush’s Administration and the Foreign Department of P.M. Blair’s British Government.
4.5 Meles will therefore go extra miles to serve or to pretend to serve his foreign masters, to pay back favours for staying in an unbelievable power for so long.
5. How About the Support from the African Union?
Most of the leaders of the member countries are also dictators. They always scratch each others’ backs. When respected International Election Observers such as the European Union and the Carter Administration presented valid reports of massive vote rigging, intimidation and harassment conducted by the Meles Regime, the Deputy Commissioner of the African Union surprisingly gave support to Meles Zenawi. Thousands of international petitions were signed, asking the Deputy Commissioner to resign. Instead of resignation, he is adding another blow by supporting the illegal intervention of the Meles regime in the internal affairs of Somalia. Until the African nations are democratised, one cannot except much from the bunch of corrupt dictators.
6. The Way Forward
The African Union is corrupt and incompetent. The United Nation is under the control of the Super Powers. The only way forward is the coordinated and concerted people-to-people struggle, nationally, regionally and internationally, for democracy, justice, stability and global peace and prosperity. Peace-loving citizens have to struggle jointly to bring to the International Court of Justice, those leaders responsible for war crimes inflicted against their own people and elsewhere.
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Eritrea says Ethiopia faking ID cards in Somalia
By Jack Kimball
ASMARA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Eritrea accused arch-foe Ethiopia on Sunday of fabricating identity cards to support claims that Eritrea sent troops to back the Islamist movement in Somalia.
Ethiopia says hundreds of Eritreans have been killed during nearly two weeks of war between the Somalia Islamic Courts Council and Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks, soldiers and jet fighters.
Asmara denies the Ethiopian accusations.
"The forces of invasion in Somalia through the mercenary agent (Ethiopia) ... are resorting to the futile ploy of seizing and duplicating the ID cards of Eritreans residing in Ethiopia and sending such cards to Somalia with a view to backing up their baseless claims," Eritrea said in a statement.
A recent U.N. report said Eritrea had more than 2,000 soldiers inside Somalia and Washington has accused Asmara of using the anarchic Horn of Africa country to fight a proxy war against Addis Ababa in Somalia.
Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his forces were hunting Eritreans who were "hiding behind the skirts of Somali women" after Islamist fighters fled the battlefield.
Asmara says the United Nations is in cahoots with the United States to destabilise the region.
The rapid advance of the joint Ethiopian-government force in Somalia has largely laid to rest analysts' fears fighting there could grow into a regional war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The two nations fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people and tensions between them remain high.
Last week, outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he wanted to reduce the number of U.N. peacekeepers policing their frontier due to "humiliating" restrictions placed on the U.N. force by Asmara and Addis Ababa's unwillingness to accept the ruling of a border commission.
In October, Eritrea sent tanks and more than 2,000 soldiers into the disputed area in what the U.N. condemned as a "major breach" of a 2000 peace deal that ended the war.
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Somalia President says Somalia will not be like Afghanistan and Iraq
BAIDOA: Somalia’s interim president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed said Somalia will not be like Afghanistan and Iraq - his government won in the fighting with Islamist movement with the help of Ethiopian forces.
In news conference held in Baidoa city, the base of the transitional federal government, shortly after meeting with the Ethiopian foreign minister Siyoum Mesfin in Biadoa, president Yusuf said that his government could now handle the situation in Somalia, if needed it will ask for African troops to help the government establish the security.
Siyoum Mesfin, the Ethiopian foreign minister met with President Abdulahi Yusuf over the political issues between Somalia and Ethiopia and best ways to promote peace in the region in prevent of any terrorist actions in horn of Africa.
Mr. Yusuf thanked Ethiopian government for the help it offered interim government in order to stand on its feet and control whole Somalia.
"My government in collaboration with its neighbor (Ethiopian government) won to oust the so-called Islamic Courts and its terrorist groups from the capital and now my government is with its people working together how to restore peace and security," Yusuf said.
President Yusuf also said that he had raised with the Ethiopian foreign minister over issues relating to how to bring peace and stability in the region and disarm the militias and then promote relations between Somalia and Ethiopia.
Siyoum Mesfin and his delegation went back to Addis Ababa after talks.
It is the second time that Ethiopian foreign minister visited Baidoa, the seat of the transitional federal government during the Ethiopian military mission against the Islamic Courts in Somalia.
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More Than 1,000 Somalis Rally In Minneapolis
(AP) Minneapolis More than one-thousand Somalis rallied in Minneapolis to protest Ethiopia's military intervention in their homeland.
The gathered Saturday at Peavey Park, singing, chanting and holding up signs that said, "Ethiopia out of Somalia." Police estimated the crowd at 1,500.
Thousands of Ethiopian troops entered Somalia before Christmas and, on Friday, took over the capital city of Mogadishu, which had been controlled by the Union of Islamic Courts.
Many at the rally objected to the U.S. government's description of the Islamic Courts as a terrorist group and the Bush administration's support for Ethiopia.
Minnesota's large Somali community is divided over the issue. One supporter of Ethiopia's offensive was quickly escorted away from the protest by police, to the cheers of the crowd.
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Islamists, Cornered in Somalia, Lose Local Support
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
The New York Times
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Dec. 31 — As fighting began to flare up today around Kismayo, the final redoubt for Somalia’s diminished Islamic movement, elders within the city demanded that the Islamists leave.
Mohammed Arab, a leader of the Ogaden sub-clan, said 36 elders of various clans and sub-clans met over the weekend with Islamist leaders and tried to persuade them that resisting the huge Ethiopian-backed force heading toward them would be futile.
“We told them that they were going to lose,” Mr. Arab said, “and that our city would get destroyed.”
Kismayo, a scenic harbor town along the Indian Ocean that was once part of the fabled East African spice empire, had been spared the fighting so far.
But the Islamists, according to Mr. Arab, did not care.
“These guys are bent on war,” he said.
Ethiopian troops and tanks are seen in Mogadishu airport on 29 December. The Ethiopia-backed Somalia government has said its troops marching to the southern port town of Kismayo would surround the last Islamist stronghold to seek surrender, as a blast rocked the capital.(AFP/File/Peter Delarue)
Around 5 p.m., the fighting started, with the Ethiopian-backed forces unleashing an artillery barrage against Islamist troops dug in near Jilib, a town about 30 miles north of Kismayo. As the shells began to rain down, residents said, clan militias within Kismayo turned on the Islamists. That set off running gunbattles across the city, with several people reportedly killed. It also accelerated the exodus out of Kismayo, with thousands of residents hastily tossing a few things over their shoulders and joining the stream of people fleeing the fighting in southern Somalia.
It is hard to know what is going to happen next.
Local support in Kismayo is evaporating, as it did last week in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, when clan elders decided that the Islamists were a losing cause and pulled their troops and weapons out of the movement. That led to the city falling much faster than anyone expected into the hands of Somalia’s transitional government, which has used Ethiopian troops and airpower to reclaim much of the country. Clan elders are the pillars of Somali society, and many of the Islamist fighters in Mogadishu were simply clan militiamen loaned to the movement.
But the fighters in Kismayo may be different. Kismayo is where the Islamist leadership fled after losing Mogadishu, bringing with them their most devout and hardcore fighters. Ethiopian officials have said that the Somali Islamists are bolstered by several thousand foreign fighters — from Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Libya and Eritrea, Ethiopia’s bitter enemy, though American intelligence officials say the numbers are far fewer, most likely in the hundreds.
Diplomats in the region are still searching for a way to avert disaster. Kenyan officials, with American encouragement, continued to meet in Nairobi today with the few remaining moderate leaders of the Islamist movement in an attempt to call a cease-fire. But the talks were slow-going, said one official close to the parties.
In Mogadishu, the transitional prime minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, seems to relish his newfound authority. Mr. Gedi, a bookish veterinarian whom few Somalis would have recognized before last week’s stunning comeback by the transitional government, is holding daily press conferences, meeting with clan elders and surveying bombed out buildings for future office space. Today, he reassured the populace in confident tones that the era of warlord rule was over.
“People of Mogadishu do not have to fear,” he said.
But many still do. A large explosion rocked an apartment building in Mogadishu on Saturday night, killing a woman. Some residents said it was a missile fired at nearby Ethiopian troops and possibly the opening salvo of an anti-Ethiopian insurgency. Later in the day, Ethiopian troops began to recede from Mogadishu’s streets to barracks on the outskirts of the city.
Mohammed Ibrahim and Yuusuf Maxamuud contributed reporting from Mogadishu.
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Why Democracy is failing in the Muslim World
It’s not a single issue causing the decline of democracy in the Muslim world; rather it’s a combination of a range of issues that trigger one another. Such as the occupation of Palestine, invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and turning a blind eye on the problems in Chechnya, Kashmir, Philippines, Thailand, Somalia and right through the Muslim world, by far who suffer at the hands of their oppressive rulers who are or have been backed by west.
During the cold war most Muslim leaders were in favour of a so called “democracy” rather than socialism as long as it gave them the right to oppress their own people, deny all democratic rights, and at the same time be friends with the west so long they remained in the seat of power.
However, the fall of Afghanistan to the “Mujahideens” in mid 80’s opened up series of disaster for these leaders; young Muslim men from all over the world were returning to their countries with not only a victory from the Russian war but a mission; a mission, of standing up to their leaders who had long oppressed their citizens, had had no political opposition and used torture as a tool against their political opponents.
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Indeed, this mission the veterans of the Afghan war, was not the only one but the US and its allies, who support the “Mujahideens” in their war with the Soviet and knew them well, had a mission too. Since the Soviet collapse, they turned to changing and modernising the Muslim world through supporting the hated rogue leaders. Among other things, this has become a key issue between the once allies “Mujahideens” and the west.
Ever since, the gap has been getting bigger and the west are not keen on any dialogue on the issues that separate them and their once favourite allies in the war against communism. They opted to support dictators most of whom gain power through military coup.
Also the occupation of the “Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem (Islam’s third holiest city) was not going down well in the Muslim world. But it was the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and the rhetoric used in the declaration on the war on terror by president Bush “Either you with us or against us” that has restrained relations between west and the Muslim world, not to mention the Abu-Ghuraib prison scandal, Guantanamo Bay and the passing of the “rendition law” in the US.
Further more the situations in Chechnya, Kashmir, the Philippines and Thailand send bad signals to the Muslim world demonstrating, uncertainty and lack of care from the rest of the world. People are tortured, imprisoned and killed for their beliefs. Unfortunately countries that once stood up against these sorts aggression got blood on their own hands.
Terrorism and Islam
Although there is no clear definition of ‘terrorism’ yet these two ideologies have been inter-connected, and sometimes used as a political tool to intervene, interrupt and invade the political developments of other countries that have no relationship with the west, most of whom are from the Muslim world.
Somalia has been without a central government for over fifteen years. There have been large nineties awful atrocities committed against helpless civilians, by people who are ruthless and blood thirsty.
There have been many attempts to reconcile the warlords and liberate the country which they have led into fiefdom, regardless of the many times they showed no sign of implementing of whatever they had agreed.
These failures were largely blamed on the European Union (EU) and the Arab League, who were putting their interest in the country first, rather than that of the people. However, the United States (US) showed little interest in Somalia after their failed “Operation to restore hope” in 1993.
But after 9/11 the interest of the US in the Somalia was rapidly increasing.
On the other hand, the Somali peace reconciliation conference started in Kenya in 2002, when the warlords agreed to form a unity government after more than three years of discussions engulfed by controversy and walkouts both from the organizers Inter-Governmental Agency for Development (IGAD) and the warlords.
The International Community remained silent and neither the EU and USA nor the UN and the Arab League were keen to recognise and support back the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG), which more or less lacked a base in the country.
On the contrary, the US has unilaterally appointed a group of warlords to a fight a proxy war on their behalf, a claim which they neither deny nor accept yet.
These US appointed warlords disrupted the progress of the TFG and more openly criticised their members and declared that they were not part of a weak government; once the TFG minister of Trade Muse Sudi said in an interview he gave to a local radio “a minister is the one who lives in the capital and has his office and a house in the capital he is not a guest in Baidoa”.
In order to win the hearts of the Washington administration these warlords captured and killed innocent people to claim that they were doing their fair share of “the war on terror” and they called them selves “The Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism.”
It was an alliance that angered many members of the public and caused an uprising, which became a formidable force in Somalia, known as the Islamic Union of Courts (IUC).
The success of this group, largely backed by the businessmen who had long suffered from a lack of security mainly around the capital, angered many in the region in particular in Ethiopia, which has enough troubles with its own Muslim population. On the other side, the international community have sent mixed reactions towards the group, and some have accused the group of harbouring terrorists wanted for the bombings of the US embassy in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Surprisingly, Britain and the US which hesitated to recognise the TFG pledged unwavering support and called the (TFG) a “UN backed government”. Further more Britain sent a high grade delegation to Baidoa, Somalia, the base of the weak government of mainly former warlords who committed many of the atrocities and now Meles in Mogadishu in support of the warlords.
In my conclusion, if we are there to pledge support to everyone claiming to be a democratic, moderate freedom fighter without checking and proofing their claims and not questioning whether they are the problem rather than the solution, then it will be hard to contain the sentiment of the Muslim world.
Though no one has condoned the capture of the two Israel soldiers by Hezbollah, in the case of the conflict that followed between Hezbollah and Israel, the world stood aside while the entire infrastructure of Lebanon was destroyed.
I hope to live to see the world promoting peace and harmony through dialogue, discussion and respect for each other without the alienation of any group because of their race or religion; I hope the media, rather than inflaming the crisis would work towards bridging the gap between communities.
I hope to see the world full of sincere politicians who serve their people with integrity (promote unity), without a political stunts. I doubt there are.
Abdirizak Isak
Melbourne, Australia.
e-mail: a_rizaq20_25@hotmail.com
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Ethiopia Advances on Somali Islamists’ Last City
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
The New York Times
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Dec. 30 – A phalanx of Ethiopian tanks and armored personnel carriers chugged toward the last city occupied by Somalia’s diminished Islamist movement, witnesses said today, setting the stage for one final major battle.
According to residents along Somalia’s coast, the Ethiopian troops, along with soldiers from Somalia’s transitional government, were preparing to seize Kismayo, a port city near the Kenyan border where the Islamist leaders have holed up.
Sheilk Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a high-ranking cleric, vowed not to go down without a fight.
"I want to tell you that the Islamic courts are still alive and ready to fight against the enemy of Allah,"
Sheilk Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
"I want to tell you that the Islamic courts are still alive and ready to fight against the enemy of Allah," Mr. Ahmed told residents of Kismayo in a speech today. "We left Mogadishu in order to prevent bloodshed in the capital, but that does not mean we lost the holy war against our enemy.”
Mr. Ahmed called on Somalis to begin an anti-Ethiopian insurgency, and already several masked gunmen have surfaced on Mogadishu’s streets.
Diplomats in Kenya, though, said that they were talking to moderate representatives of the Islamic movement today, trying to persuade them to back down.
In Mogadishu, the presence of Ethiopian troops continued to spark violence, with supporters of the Ethiopians battling street by street against the remaining Islamist partisans. Gunshots rang out, men and women battled with sticks and rocks and the thick black smoke of burning barricades lifted into the air.
Just two days ago, in a stunning reversal of fortune, Somalia’s transitional government, with the muscle of the Ethiopian military, reclaimed Mogadishu, driving out the Islamist movement which had ruled large swaths of Somalia. More than a thousand people have been killed in the fighting and Somalia’s leaders now face the daunting task of trying to piece together a country that has not had a central government for 15 years.
Sheikhdon Salad Elmi, the director of a large hospital in Mogadishu’s Medina neighborhood, said the prospects of stability depend on how long the Ethiopian troops stay.
“It’s very humiliating,” Dr. Elmi
“I think it’s naïve for them to go right now,” Dr. Elmi said. “We need them for security. But they are very visible and most people don’t like them. The longer they stay, the more resentment that will come.”
Somalia has fought -- and lost – two wars with Ethiopia but never before have Ethiopian troops occupied the capital.
“It’s very humiliating,” Dr. Elmi said.
Ethiopian officials have said that they plan to withdraw troops in a matter of weeks but not before neutralizing the Islamists, who declared a holy war against Ethiopia, Somalia’s larger, more powerful and Christian-dominated neighbor.
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One week ago, the Ethiopian military, with tacit American approval, unleashed a fierce counterattack against the Islamists, bombarding their positions with jet fighters and pushing tanks deep into Somali territory.
Since then, the Islamists have been steadily on the run, their teenage troops no match for a well-equipped modern army.
Mohammed Ibrahim and Yuusuf Maxamuud contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
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Meles Zenawi: A Terrorist Fighting War on Terror?
December 29, 2006.
anuakjustice.org
Who is Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia? Is he the free world’s partner in the War on Terror or is he a terrorist? The answer might depend upon whom you ask. To his own people of Ethiopia, you might hear stories of human rights abuses, political prisoners, Internet censorship and suppression of freedom, but he is representing himself quite differently to outsiders, especially now that he has diverted the attention of the international community from his own serious political problems to his new war with Somalia, assisted by the United States.
As he publicly is presented as being pro-Christian, pro-democracy and a legitimate anti-terrorist partner, his record in his own country defies these descriptions and instead places him on the opposite side of each.
Even the news coverage has nearly universally failed to emphasize the crisis facing Ethiopians under his own seventeen-year-old regime. As Meles is riding high with public recognition, Ethiopians, especially those who live in the United States, Canada or Europe, are discouraged with one-sided coverage that has not even mentioned the fact that Ethiopia has turned into a repressive and abusive police state where its own citizens live in fear and silence.
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As a result, few average Americans, Canadians or Europeans know about the severity of widespread human rights abuses, the hijacking of the National Election of May 2005 when Meles declared his party the winners despite evidence to the contrary, the killing of 193 peaceful unarmed protestors by security forces under the control of Meles, the imprisonment of elected opposition leaders and thousands of other political prisoners and the religious conflict in Ethiopia that eyewitnesses report were incited by government troops following Meles’s much used tactic of fomenting conflict. He has been an agent of terror in Sidama, Ogaden, Oromia, Amhara, Tigray, Gambella and continues to perpetrate brutality, oppression and suppression to his people throughout all of Ethiopia.
Neither does he represent any religion. Meles was schooled in Marxist/Leninist/atheistic principles, which he appears to heartily follow while speaking the foreign language of democracy, words of which he seems to have no understanding.
In the last few days of media coverage in the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere overwhelmingly calls this dangerous conflict in the Horn of Africa, a war between Christian Ethiopia and Islamic extremist terrorists in Somalia who declared a holy Jihad on Ethiopia. However, first of all Meles Zenawi, according to many Ethiopians, was never really elected in the last election; and therefore, many reject the notion that he can even speak for Ethiopians let alone declare war for them. Regardless, even as the recognized political leader, the basic premises he has offered for engaging in this war are severely flawed.
First of all, Meles states that he was “dragged” into this war to stop the terrorists who declared Jihad against Ethiopia. What is not explained is that Meles had sent 8000 troops across international borders, penetrating into Somalia, before such a declaration of Jihad was made. The New Islamic Courts agreed to have a dialogue if he first removed the troops; however, he would not and even failed to admit until recently, that he had sent these troops across country lines. He called Somalia a threat even though they never invaded Ethiopia.
Secondly, the transitional government he was supporting is made up of persons he was involved in choosing when this government was set up in Kenya two years ago with the assistance from the United Nations. These leaders he is supporting are described as warlords who have been corrupt and unable to establish stability, peace and the rule of law within Somalia over this two-year period of time. The people of Somalia want stability, but Meles has little to offer Somalis as there is little stability in Ethiopia and the potential for further deterioration in his own country is at an all-time high. If he had such concern, why has he not offered constructive help in the past? Why is he doing this now?
Thirdly, news coverage indicates that he is representative of “Christian” Ethiopia despite the fact that Ethiopia is a country where the number of Christians is about equal to the number of Muslims, both of which have been living peacefully, side by side for many years. Instead, the well-accepted opinion is that Meles Zenawi operates as a communist and an atheist who has followed policies more reminiscent of authoritarian and brutal dictators the likes of Stalin. He reportedly has good relations with Omar Al-Bashir of the Sudan who has a notorious history of persecuting Christians in Southern Sudan and of committing a genocide in Darfur while at the same time, upholding Sharia law in Khartoum. It makes one doubt Meles’s motives in Somalia.
In addition, reports from eyewitnesses were received in early October regarding the religious conflict in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, between Christians and Muslims, alleging that Meles’s defense troops and pro-government militias incited the attacks, yet these attacks were blamed on Muslims said to have been trained in Somalia. It appears that Meles is attempting to incite a religious conflict that will enrage people from both sides if they fall for it. Without wide news coverage of the truth, well-meaning people will be very vulnerable to believing this calculated propaganda and will take sides that will further divide us on religious lines. We have enough real misunderstanding and threats in this world that we do not need to stir up problems where none or few existed before. Both Christians and Muslims should abhor being used in this way.
Fourthly, Meles states he has been dragged into a war to fight against extremist terrorists, yet he is a terrorist himself! Ask the people who live under him. Ask the Anuak, the Oromo, the Ethiopian Somali in the Ogaden region, the Sidamo people and they will tell you themselves. In fact, he may possibly face charges for crimes against humanity for the murder of 424 educated Anuak leaders in a massacre that began in December of 2003. One of the first men murdered was a devout Christian pastor whose church was growing in Gambella, Ethiopia. Ethiopian National Defense Forces, in a government plan called, Operation Sunny Mountain, also murdered other church members at a prayer meeting in the pastor’s home. Since that time some believe 2000 more Anuak have been killed.
Even this week, we have received reports, yet uncorroborated, that Meles has supplied arms to a tribe in Southern Sudan with the directive of killing Anuak there; however, the plan may have backfired when the guns were used against another group who had cattle. Early reports indicate that the government of northern Sudan gave tacit permission for the arms to be used against the Anuak.
Just look at the recent reports from the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard University, titled “We are now hoping for death”: Violence and Grave Human Rights Abuses in Gambella, Ethiopia”, http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/clinic/documents/ETHIOPIAREPORT.pdf and another report completed for UNICEF, titled “Livelihoods and Vulnerabilities Study, Gambella Region of Ethiopia” http://www.allthingspass.com/journalism.php?catid=13# released by one of its authors, regarding the ongoing human rights violations against the Anuak. This is not only the case for the Anuak, but for millions of other Ethiopians who live in fear and terror from their own government. How can Meles free others when his own people are not free?
Fifthly, can Meles offer peace, stability and the rule of law to Somalia when these do not exist in Ethiopia? The evidence is plentiful that Meles has little to offer to the people of Somalia and should take care of his own problems first. He and his party, the EPRDF, have not earned the legitimate right to speak for Ethiopians. Instead Ethiopians have been betrayed when the election was stolen in 2005 and excessive force was used to silence the outcry.
Meles is spreading a parasite that has been eating and infecting the Ethiopian people. He is now taking it to Somalia. Ethiopians are faced with a chronic food shortage, high incidences of HIV/AIDS, the widespread lack of clean water and poor educational opportunities despite millions of dollars from donor countries over the last seventeen years of Meles’ leadership. Ethiopians were hoping that investments would be made in the people, our best natural resource, improving the lives of Ethiopians, but this has not happened to most. The average Ethiopian lives on less than $1 per day. Human rights abuses, the imprisonment of journalists, political leaders and opposition leaders and the daily fear of terror and oppression holds our country men and women captive while at the same time we Ethiopians are forced to invade Somalia with promises that we can deliver something better than what we have ourselves? This does not make sense!
Instead, it only may serve to take the focus off the internal problems and overwhelming popular dissatisfaction with the current government, lengthening Meles’s control over Ethiopians and others in the Horn. Meles said Ethiopian troops had killed a thousand Somalis, but never mentioned how many Ethiopians were killed in what appears to be a war for his survival. If he survives, more Ethiopians will die as well, all casualties of this small clan led by another warlord, Meles Zenawi.
What we need is not clans, tribes or ethnic groups competing for political control or we will earn ourselves another terrorist from within. Instead we need to change to becoming a broader, more inclusive “pan-Ethiopia” rather than attempting to be “multi-ethnic Ethiopia.” We must see each Ethiopian as being a human being, a unique child of God. We should speak for the rights not only for our family, our ethnic group, our religious group or any other “group,” but we should speak for universal rights for every Ethiopian.
Each of us can speak up for such an Ethiopia! You do not have to be a political leader to influence at least one person around you! May God hold Ethiopia together and allow us to think “big,” way beyond our own groups to our nation, region and continent. God values every life as equal.
However, our biggest challenge right now for Ethiopians who live in the United States is to not become so discouraged by the United States’ support of Meles in his war on Somalia that we lose our focus. Instead, as we hear the news repeatedly provide a one-sided report such as has been the case the last few days, take the opportunity to call in to radio stations, TV stations or write letters to the editor of papers and magazines, providing the other side. We can speak up in our communities and churches. We can call our senators and representatives to Congress.
We have an obligation to educate others regarding what is truly happening in our country and urge them to take action. Government policy makers need to hear from us. As individuals, they may be influenced by our individual stories and the information we know first hand. Policies and systems can change because they are the by-products of individuals who can change.
When we speak up, we must speak with respect, patience and honesty if we expect to be heard. Anger and disrespect will sabotage our efforts. Former President Gerald Ford died this week. He was known for his ability to effectively communicate with others and was quoted as saying, “You can disagree with others without being disagreeable!” Ethiopians may disagree with American foreign policy in Ethiopia and Somalia, but we must find an effective way to communicate this not only to policy makers, but also to average citizens who probably have little understanding about what is going on in Ethiopia unless all of us take responsibility for getting out the facts.
American citizens need to know that the reason so many Ethiopians and people from all over the world want to come to this country is because of the liberty, rule of law, human rights and opportunity we so cherish here. But right now, it is the US that is supporting this regime because Meles has convinced them that he is needed in the War on Terror. But his partnership comes with a cost, much of which is being dearly paid by the people of Ethiopia who simply want to enjoy basic freedom in their own country.
Those who are citizens of the United States, Canada or Europe should speak out against our own country’s policies that hold up regimes such as that of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. We should hold our media accountable for one-sided coverage by doing our best to give them the other side, helping them to see how failing to do so, prolongs an abusive and brutal government where men, women and children are the casualties.
News coverage has been calling the war with Somalia one between “a Christian nation” and “an Islamic extremist nation.” But as Meles spreads the message throughout Ethiopia and now to Somalia of hate, division, ethnic cleansing and lies, he does not stand for principles laid out by Jesus Christ. That message is of love, justice, mercy, hope, freedom and redemption. May people of all faiths or of no faith at all, not be confused by a “wolf in sheep’s clothing!” May those of us who enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not interfere with others wanting the same! May God accomplish more than we could ask in this beautiful land of Ethiopia!
=========================================
For additional information, please contact:
The Director of International Advocacy:
Phone (306) 933-4346
E-mail: advocacy@anuakjustice.org
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Ethiopia does not have any agenda in Somalia but averting threat posed to its sovereignty: Ministry
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia
December 29, 2006 - Ethiopia does not have any agenda in Somalia but avert the threat posed to its sovereignty by the extremist leadership of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), the ministry of information said.
In a weekly statement it sent to ENA, the ministry said the principal mission of Ethiopia’s defense forces being dissolving the war declared by the extremist leadership of the UIC and of ensuring the sovereignty of Ethiopia, they have no intention of prolonged stay inside Somalia.
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“Ethiopia believes that the task of bringing about reliable and lasting peace and development in Somalia is the responsibility of the Transitional Federal Government and its people,” the statement said.
According to the statement this position of Ethiopia will enable to enhance friendly ties and cooperation between the peoples of the two countries.
The war declared by forces of destruction in Somalia has been averted successfully, the statement said, adding, their hostile acts and rhetoric witnessed in the last six months have been routed by the joint counter-offensive measures of the Ethiopian Defense Forces and the Forces of the TFG of Somalia.
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Ethiopian government owned news agency (ENA) reported the following on its website.
Ethiopia's military measures do not intend to invade neighboring country but safeguard its Sovereignty: Russia Television
December 29, 2006
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The military measures of the Ethiopian government against UIC extremist forces are not intended to invade a neighboring country but to safeguard its sovereignty, Russia Television reported.
In a statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to Ethiopian News Agency on Friday, the Russia television report said, as western countries watch closely the activities of Islamist extremist groups, Ethiopia has been alertly watching terrorist actions in its environs.
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In a related development, in an interview he gave to the Station concerning the war, Deputy Director of African Institute with the Russian Science Academy, Professor Vladimir Shubin said unlike the misinformed assumption of some observers, the conflict is not at all between Christians and Muslims.
Observers who assume that the war is religious do not realize that Ethiopia is a country of several Muslim followers.
He said the fundamentalist leaders who had controlled Mogadishu did not welcome the decision of the United Nations on sending peacekeeping force to the area.
The war Ethiopia carried out with the extremist leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts to ward off terrorism has been duly supported by the African Union, the ministry said citing the Ethiopian Embassy in Moscow.
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Scholar Says Ethiopian Calendar Neither Gregorian Nor Julian
The Ethiopian Herald
December 29, 2006
By ENA
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
A renowned Ethiopian born U.S scholar, Prof. Ephraim Isaac said that the Ethiopian calendar is unique in that it belongs neither to the Julian, nor to the Gregorian calendars.
Photo: SEED
He also said that close to 2,000 African-Americans living in the U.S have been organizing themselves to come to Ethiopia for the celebration of the New Ethiopian Millennium.
Prof. Ephraim who is Director of the Institute of Semitic Studies in the United States, said that most scholars, including himself, believe Ethiopia has retained the old Egyptian system of calendar.
Historical literatures show that the calendars of the entire world are based on the work of the old Egyptian astronomers who discovered, as early as 3,000 BC to 4,000 BC that the solar or sidereal year lasted slightly less than 365 ¼ days.
However, it was left to the astronomers of the Alexandrian school to incorporate this knowledge into some sort of calendar; and it was these astronomers who also came up with the idea of leap years.
Subsequently, the Romans under Julius Caesar borrowed their reformed calendar from the Alexandrian science and adopted it to the western world.
Then the Copts inherited this science as a right and built upon it themselves.
In due course, according to the literatures, the Copts handed this calendar, together with their method of computing the date of Easter, on to their descendant Church in Ethiopia.
Therefore, the literatures further said, the Ethiopian year has something in common with the western year, having been derived from the same source.
Prof. Ephraim also said that many people mistakenly assume that Ethiopian calendar is Julian. "The Gregorian calendar is actually the revisions of Julian calendar, which Pop Gregory edited or decided according to certain calculations," he said.
Months in both Julian and Gregorian have 30 and 31 days, and with February or June either 28 or 29 days during the leap year, he explained and said that the two do share similar character in terms of months and 365 days, which is 366 days in each leap year.
But, he said, months in the Ethiopian calendar which is based on Mestehafe-Hissab (Book of Calculation), the derivatives of the Alexandrian Jewish calendar, have equal 30 days, and then Pagumen, which is the 13th month of 5 days and 6 in each leap year, he said.
In addition to Mestehafe-Hissab, the professor said, there is a very famous book called, Mestehafe-henok, (The Book of Enoch) which is found only in Ethiopia with chapters that deals with some calculation of the years.
As the same time, he said, there is still another book called Abushakir, which came to Ethiopia from Coptic Egyptian of Arab background.
Above all these, he said, there are five years difference between the Gregorian calendar and the birth of Jesus Christ while only three between the latter and the Ethiopian calendar.
"Accordingly, many scholars including I, believe that the Ethiopian calendar is much closer to the birth of Jesus Christ. And this is one of the many unique ancient heritages which Ethiopia has contributed to the entire world," he said.
He also said that close to 2,000 African-Americans living in the U.S. have been organizing themselves to come to Ethiopia for the celebration of the approaching new Ethiopian Millennium.
According to him, the group recently held a press conference in the U.S. and informed nearly 20 giant media organizations including the Washington Post to cover every news development in the celebration of the New Ethiopian Millennium.
Victorious Somali PM says Ethiopian troops to stay as needed
by Mustafa Haji Abdinur
MOGADISHU (AFP) -Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has driven triumphantly into Mogadishu, claiming total victory over rival Islamists and stressing that his Ethiopian military allies would stay as long as needed.
Gedi returned in an armed convoy one day after government forces and Ethiopian troops had forced Islamist leaders to abandon the coastal capital they had controlled for six months.
"Most of the Islamists were destroyed by our forces ... the Islamic courts do not exist any more," Gedi told reporters, adding that their defeat had curbed the expansion of terrorism in Africa.
Ethiopia has fought two territorial wars with Somalia and the role of the Ethiopian military in helping drive out the Islamists has been a contentious one, but Gedi stressed that there would be no immediate withdrawal.
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"The Ethiopian (forces) will stay as long as needed by the transitional federal government ... The stabilization of Somalia is needed for the stability of our neighbours," he said Friday.
The African Union has called for the Ethiopian troops to pull out immediately and, even as Gedi drove into Mogadishu, there was a large-scale protest in the northern part of the capital with protestors throwing stones, burning tyres and calling for the foreign soldiers to leave.
Gedi's weak government, which relied heavily on the Ethiopian military to secure its victory over the Islamists in nine days of heavy fighting, has announced plans to impose three months of martial law to restore order.
Looting and gunbattles had erupted in Mogadishu on Thursday between rival clan-based militias after the Islamists -- including the movement's leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- withdrew to their last stronghold in Kismayo port.
"This country has been through a lot of anarchy, so to restablish order we will have to have an iron hand, especially with the private militia," Gedi said.
The Ethiopian intervention in Somalia has received tacit US support, with Washington arguing that Addis Ababa had legitimate security concerns about the possibility of Islamists with Al-Qaeda links gaining control of the country.
Gedi said victory over the Islamists had opened "the path for a new future for us to prevent any attempt of terrorism and to reverse the expansion of terrorism in the whole of Africa."
But Islamist fighters still held Kismayo, where their local commander, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilalone, vowed they would launch guerrilla-style hit-and-run attacks across Somalia.
"We will never surrender to Ethiopians," he told AFP.
"I assure you the Islamic forces are everywhere in the country and you will see the forces operating within days. What we will do is hit and run. We will ambush their convoys everywhere in Somalia."
An AFP correspondent saw Ethiopian tanks, more than 70 military trucks and hundreds of troops near Banadir Hospital in southern Mogadishu. Hundreds more vehicles were parked at the northern and western gates of the city.
Somalia disintegrated into lawlessness after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. It was carved up among clan warlords, some of whom now back the government, and defied all international bids to restore functioning institutions of state.
There have been no independent assessments of casualties but Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi claimed up to 3,000 dead on the side of the Islamists, while the Islamists said they had killed hundreds of government troops.
The UN World Food Programme said Friday it was resuming humanitarian air operations to Somalia after the government lifted a ban on air flights.
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Why Somalia war unsettles the world
The Monitor's View
The Christian Science Monitor
How a war ends often depends on how it began. Take the one that boiled over in Somalia last week. Islamist forces attacked a legal government guarded by an invading Ethiopian army. Which side had just cause? The answer isn't so easy.
Both the UN and the African Union, two international bodies that often intervene in sovereign nations, largely stood by, argued, or scratched their collective heads as the fighting in Somalia raged on. Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared a UN-backed intervention was not needed.
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The Islamists, known as the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and made up of various religious clans in Somalia, declared "holy war" Dec. 20 and invited foreign jihadists to join in. Neighboring Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation, claimed the UIC was meddling with Ethiopia's Muslim minority. And the US (supporting Ethiopia) claimed the Islamists were creating a terrorist state, using child soldiers, and committing Taliban-like abuses.
Thursday, with the Islamists having lost control of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, world diplomats were still trying to figure out how to apply lessons learned from conflicts of the past 15 years, such as Rwanda, Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, and the US military's disastrous 1992 food mission in Somalia.
Each of those conflicts has added various types of rationale to an ongoing debate over how to justify outside military intervention in a troubled nation or between nations.
The 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in particular, led Mr. Annan to back "humanitarian intervention" if a state fails to protect its people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, or crimes against humanity.
Annan, who leaves office next week, won support for this so-called responsibility to protect at a 2005 world summit. It is perhaps the most significant legacy of his 10 years as UN chief.
But the move hardly settles the debate, especially as the international community has done little to stop the killings in Darfur. The world also has yet to come to terms with the Bush doctrine of preemptive intervention against terrorists or terrorist- supporting nations. The UN endorsed the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to preempt another Al Qaeda-led attack on the US. But it didn't back the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Ethiopia preemptively moved to protect a Somali government recognized by most nations but besieged by the Islamist forces. It had the tacit approval of many African and Western nations. But not the UN.
The Islamists, on the other hand, had temporarily brought order to the capital and other parts of Somalia after 15 years of no effective central government and chaos under competing warlords. They also won support from many nations.
This conflict exposes the difficulty in defining general principles and thresholds to justify outside intervention while also contending with the self-interests of UN member states. Even if a need for intervention is clear, as with Darfur, finding a military force to do it isn't easy. And unintended consequences, as with Iraq's civil war, can result.
Successful interventions by the UN and others have set the groundwork for deciding future interventions. But the Somalia war shows more work still needs to be done.
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Rebuttal to Professor Shinn’s Response
Re: The The Ethiopia-Somalia Conflict By Ambassador David Shinn
by G. E. Gorfu
The analysis you have written in reply to my previous letter is quite correct, and I am glad that you agreed Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns in Somalia. From the outset, let me tell you that I too, agree with your analysis in almost every point that you have made.
There is however an issue that I would like to raise in regards to point No. 10 in your letter, and I quote, “If Ethiopia completes its military campaign quickly and then withdraws all of its forces, the area it has taken from the Islamic Courts will presumably be turned over to the TFG and former warlords. Can they successfully withstand attacks from the Islamic Courts? This is highly doubtful. Will the TFG and the former warlords remain united? This, too, is questionable.”
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There are three points to consider here: first, returning the areas liberated form the Islamic Courts being turned over to the TFG. These areas can also be handed over to International Forces of the UN or AU. That is where they should be deployed until such time that a Sovereign Somali Government can be constituted and installed.
Secondly, can the TFG successfully withstand attacks from the Islamic forces? In my view, these so called, “Islamic Courts” are not even a united force, as you yourself have indicated, but are some thirty independent warlords. They only recently got together through sheer pressure and intervention by foreign Islamic elements from as far away as Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Hezbollah, Iran… etc. through a prime facilitator, Eritrea’s Issays Afeworki. Therefore, if these outside elements are removed, it is feasible to expect that the TFG can, and should prevail.
Finally, ‘Will the TFG and the former warlords remain united?’ By “united” I take it that you to mean: “united” to the cause of forming a stable Somali government. My response here is that it is for the Somali people to decide what they would like to do at that juncture. If they allow the TFG, (“Transitional” as its name implies) to carry out its duty of constituting a Somali Government, well and good. It is to be expected that all factions will cooperate towards that one goal, and each group would have a number of seats in the future assembly according to the votes they get.
That failing, however, all this should be left for the Somali people to decide when all foreign participants leave the scene. If they want to fight it out among themselves that too should be an option left for them. As long as all foreign forces leave, and do not interfere, it should be understood that this it the internal affair of Somalia.
The most important thing in all this is to secure Somalia’s borders and enforce the UN arms embargo, so that no more arms shipments ever sneak into Somalia. I repeat, unless that can be guaranteed by the International Community, it will all be a dejavu, and in a year or two, we will be right back where we are today.
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Thousands greet Somalia's PM in capital
By LES NEUHAUS, Associated Press Writer Associated Press
December 29, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somalia's prime minister entered the capital Friday, a day after an Islamic movement's fighters retreated ahead of his Ethiopian-backed troops, and was welcomed by thousands of cheering residents of the battle-scarred city.
While the visit was meant to symbolize the government's victory, fighting was likely to continue. Clan divisions, hatred of Ethiopia and religious fundamentalism remain problems for the government to tackle.
Ali Mohamed Gedi drove into the southern part of the city in a heavily armed convoy of 22 vehicles, then toured Mogadishu's seaport amid tight security.
Trucks fitted with loudspeakers roamed the city, blaring patriotic music. Mogadishu for the last six months has been controlled by a group who tried to establish a government based on the Quran. Some of its leaders are accused of having links to al-Qaida.
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In Praise of Ethiopians
Mogadishu Mayhem(The London Times)
"The government will lead this nation to a bright future," Gedi told reporters after arriving in central Mogadishu. "Today is the beginning of a new life, new stabilization and a new future for Somalia."
His first task is disarmament and demobilization of the thousands of militiamen in the country, he said.
Somalian Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi (C, L) and Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed (2ndR) arrive in Afgoye to celebrate the liberation of the city from the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) fighters. The United States called for a resumption of power-sharing negotiations between Somalia's rival factions after government forces backed by Ethiopian troops moved into the capital Mogadishu following a retreat by Islamist militia.(AFP/Peter Delarue)
Even before the rise of the Islamists, Gedi's government had been kept out of Mogadishu by clan violence. There was an attempt on his life during a rare trip to the city in November 2005. He called for the international community to provide both humanitarian and technical support and for the U.S. to help "to rid terrorism from the region." He said the government will move to the capital when it is safe.
As Gedi arrived, several thousand demonstrators in one neighborhood took to the streets to protest the presence of Ethiopian troops in the capital. Protesters threw stones, burned tires and used cars to block a main road. The crowd was later dispersed.
Earlier, Ethiopian troops aboard tanks fired warning shots into the air after dozens of young men threw stones as the convoy traveled through the city.
Gedi drove through the international airport past Ethiopian tanks guarding the runway. Thousands lined the route, according to an AP reporter who was with Gedi.
Many in overwhelmingly Muslim Somalia are skeptical of the government's reliance on neighboring Ethiopia, a traditional rival with a large Christian population and one of Africa's largest armies. Ethiopia and Somalia fought a bloody war in 1977.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the executive leader of the Council of Islamic Courts, the umbrella group for the Islamic movement, was defiant in comments to The Associated Press Friday.
"We will not run away from our enemies. We will never depart from Somalia. We will stay in our homeland," he said from the southern coastal port of Kismayo, where his forces retreated from Mogadishu.
Hundreds of foreign fighters, mainly Arabs and southern Asians and some wounded, were seen in Kismayo. Some of the Islamic movement's members espouse an extreme form of Islam, and the United States accuses it of harboring al-Qaida terrorists.
Somalia's president vowed to take the fight to Kismayo.
"We are going to go there and confront them," Abdullahi Yusuf said. "If we capture them, we will bring them to justice."
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said he will not give up the fight until extremists and foreign fighters supporting the Islamic movement had been crushed, predicting it would take a few weeks longer.
Ethiopian jets continued to buzz Jilib, a front line town 65 miles north of Kismayo that is at a crucial junction of rivers and roads.
Until now, the government has tried to rule from Baidoa, the only town it held before Ethiopian troops came to its aid less than two weeks ago.
"Now the difficult task of rebuilding the country begins," Gedi told an AP reporter who was traveling with him. "We want to restore law and order."
Gedi said he is ready to bring peace to the nation.
"I want to disarm the entire country's general population," he said. "Our people are sick of civil war and instability."
Before the Islamists established control, Mogadishu had been ruled by competing clans who came together to support the Islamic fighters. Now, the clans could return to fighting one another and may reject the government's authority.
Somalia's clans have been the basis of politics and identity here for centuries. The country has not had an effective government since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on one another.
Somalia's complex clan politics have been the undoing of at least 14 attempts to install a government in this violent, anarchic nation. Gedi's government is riddled with clan rivalries, most notably between the young prime minister and elderly President Abdullahi Yusuf.
"The future of Somalia is very bleak and Somalis will share the same fate with Iraq and Afghanistan," Abdullahi Mohamed Laki, a Mogadishu resident, said Thursday. "The transitional government has no broad support in the capital."
The U.N. said Friday it will resume humanitarian food aid flights to the country this weekend. Fighting forced the U.N. to evacuate its international staff and halt assistance to 2 million people affected by the conflict and recent floods.
The African Union and the Arab League have called for Ethiopian and all foreign troops to immediately leave Somalia.
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Associated Press writers Salad Duhul and Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Nasteex Dahir Farah in Kismayo and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Baidoa, Somalia, contributed to this report.
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Ethiopia's foray smoother in Somalia than at home
Involvement in neighbor's brewing civil war splits public opinion
By Edmund Sanders
Published in Baltimore Sun and LA Times
December 29, 2006
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- The headline in an Ethiopian newspaper drew familiar, if unflattering, comparisons to another nation's premature declaration of victory in a war abroad.
"Mission Accomplished," blared Addis Ababa's Daily Monitor in an article about Ethiopian forces' triumph over Somali Islamists this week.
In 2003 the same phrase adorned a banner behind President Bush as he declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. The battles and bloodshed proved far from over.
Just as the Iraq invasion has divided Americans, Ethiopians are split on their government's decision to get involved in Somalia's brewing civil war by sending troops across the border.
After just a week of fighting, Ethiopian troops have enabled Somalia's transitional government to regain control of a vast swath of southern Somalia that had been seized by Somalia's Islamic Courts Union over the past six months.
By yesterday morning, Ethiopian and Somalia government troops reached the outskirts of the capital city, Mogadishu, with Islamic forces seeming to have disappeared into the populace.
Ethiopian leaders are calling the military intervention a smart pre-emptive strike against the spread of religious extremism in the Horn of Africa. They say the world should thank Ethiopia for defeating a coalition of militant Islamists that U.S. officials accused of having links to terrorism, including al-Qaida.
Others worry that the foray could backfire over time by stirring political instability at home or driving Islamic terrorists to set their sights on Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has no opinion polling to measure public attitudes, and recent government crackdowns against opposition leaders and journalists have made some afraid to express their views.
But nearly everyone, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, agrees that the issue has sparked debate.
"It's natural to have disagreements on fundamental issues," Meles said yesterday. Yet he stressed that Ethiopian people "overwhelming" support the action in Somalia.
Earlier this month, Ethiopia's parliament voted in favor of a Somalia engagement by about 75 percent.
Though the vote suggested a resounding endorsement, opposition leaders said it was the closest tally they have had in a legislative body heavily dominated by Meles' party. One parliament member who is part of Meles' political coalition abstained, a rare act of defiance.
Noting that Islamists have threatened to resort to guerrilla tactics against Ethiopians, opposition leader Beyene Petros said he was not convinced that the threat posed by the Islamic courts merited Ethiopia's declaration of war.
"Ethiopia should not be bogged down in a problem that is not ours," he said. "This is not Ethiopia's problem. It's all of Africa's."
He also expressed concern that the government might use the perceived threat of terrorism to crack down against political enemies. After last year's disputed election, Meles was criticized for his response to large student demonstrations. Nearly 200 were killed and many elected opposition leaders remain in prison awaiting trial for treason.
Supporters of the intervention in Somalia point to the Islamists' declaration of a "holy war" against Ethiopia.
"It's self-defense," said Amare Aregawi, editor of the newspaper The Reporter. "People always say, 'Don't touch the terrorists. You'll aggravate them,'" said Aregawi, a former rebel fighter. "What are we supposed to do? Flatter them?"
Others said the Islamists in Somalia were merely a front for international jihadists or other enemies of Ethiopia.
"I believe this whole thing came from Eritrea," said Michael G. Kirstus, 29, a customs house worker. International experts said Eritrea dispatched 2,000 troops to aid the Islamists, though the government denied it.
Allegations of U.S. involvement have been another hot-button issue in Ethiopia. Many believe the United States used Ethiopia to launch a proxy war against the Islamists.
"This was an American-made war," said Akmel Negash, 22, a student.
Meles denied yesterday that American soldiers or weapons were used in any battles, though he noted that the U.S. and Ethiopia have a long-standing agreement to share intelligence.
"We are not fighting anybody's war," Meles said. "We are fighting to defend ourselves."
Meles said that during a visit this month by U.S. Gen. John Abizaid, the American commander advised against a Somalia invasion. "He shared his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan with us and he indicated that we have, to the maximum extent possible, to avoid direct military intervention in Somalia," Meles said.
The war against Somalia's Islamists has been a touchy topic in Ethiopia's Muslim community. The country is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims, though Christians have dominated the government and Muslims were often oppressed.
Though the communities have largely coexisted in peace, earlier this year, Muslim and Christian villagers clashed in southwest Ethiopia over a conflict about religious holidays. More than a dozen were killed and churches were burned.
"Muslims in Ethiopia are angry," said Isaac Eshetu, 25, a student. "For 2,000 years they've been living as strangers in their own motherland."
He said he opposes violence or imposing his religion on others, but "as a Muslim, I would like to live under an Islamic government."
Some Muslims questioned whether Ethiopia's Christian leaders launched the attack because they feared that an Islamic government in Somalia might encourage Ethiopia's Muslims to seek the same.
Other Ethiopian Muslims said they supported the war. "I'm Muslim, but I don't identify with them," said Mohammed Arab, 33, a waiter in Addis. "They believe in holy war. I don't."
Edmund Sanders writes for the Los Angeles Times.
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Immigrants Turn Two Cafes Into Hubs of Political Discourse
By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 29, 2006; Page B03
As Ethiopian invaders rolled into Mogadishu yesterday, the debate in a pair of Northern Virginia coffeehouses turned on the fate of that beleaguered capital in the Horn of Africa.
Was this liberation from Islamic extremists? Or foreign intervention at its worst?
Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts melts away: Meles Zenawi
December 28, 2006
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ENA)Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said the Union of Islamic Courts has simply melted away and its grassroots militia have surrendered and abandoned Mogadishu to their clan bases on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning hours.
In a press conference he gave today at around 2:00 PM to local and foreign journalists, Prime Minister Meles said in the process of their disbanding and scatter out of Mogadishu, the members of the extremist force distributed the guns under their control to unemployed youths in the town to create havoc on the wake of their withdrawal.
Citing reports coming from Mogadishu, the Prime Minister said these newly armed unemployed youth have now been involving in widespread acts of violence and robbery in the town.
Meles said, now that the Shura council which preside over the fundamentalist leadership of the UIC has crumpled, the existence of the so called UIC is no more. Currently, there are only remnants of the extremist group moving towards the seacoast.
Up to the time of the press conference, 75 per cent of the mission against the terrorists has been accomplished, Meles said. There are works to do yet though, he added.
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Somalia govt troops enter Mogadishu
The Ethiopia - Somalia Conflict By David Shinn
Special Section : Somalia
Transitional Federal Government soldiers on their truck in Bur Haqaba, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Baidoa, Somalia Thursday, Dec 28, 2006. (AP Photo/Guy Calaf/pool)
According to the Prime Minister, currently the UIC grassroots militiamen have joined back to their clan areas, surrendering their weapons to their respective clan leaders. "We have nothing to settle with them as they are now peaceful citizens of Somalia."
He indicated the need for the work of tracking down on the retreating so called Shabaab, a force formed by the extremist leadership, the group of international terrorists, and the remnant of the Eritrean army so as to prevent them from establishing themselves again and destabilize Somalia and the region.
The Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopia have been deliberating on ways of salvaging Mogadishu from the on-going violence, he said.
Ethiopia is consulting with the TFG and Mogadishu elders, Prime Minister Meles said, adding the necessary measure would be taken as per the counsel expected from this consultation. Up until the time of the press conference, the TFG and Ethiopian forces were at the thresholds of Mogadishu going after retreating terrorists, he said.
Prime Minister Meles said the joint communique the AU, IGAD and LAS issued concerning the situation in Somalia is consistent with the stand Ethiopia has been pursuing.
Meles reiterated that Ethiopia's object is defending the danger posed against it, and upon completion of this mission the Ethiopian army would withdraw from Somalia.
He said the mission will continue until those responsible are put under control. "We are planning to stay there for month hopefully it would be completed in days if not a few weeks at most, but once we have done that we are out of it ".
The Prime Minister said his government would provide support to the TFG in the latter's efforts to stabilize the situation in Mogadishu.
He said there is no apprehension that the UIC extremist leadership might have regrouped and launched guerilla and this in view of the fact that the fundamentalist leadership has no mass base in Somalia. This, however, will be determined by the success of the TFG in creating an all-inclusive communication, he said, and expressed his belief that the TFG will succeed in this.
Meles said no government, but Sha'ebia, has objected to the legality of measures and the right to defense of Ethiopia to repulse the acts of terror and aggressions. He said Ethiopia is fighting to safeguard its sovereignty.
He said the support provided by the Ethiopian people on this anti-terrorism campaign has been more than enough. He said, the leader of the fundamentalist force Sheikh Hassan Daher Aweis left Mogadishu this morning.
The Ethiopian mission in Somalia is limited and targeted at defending against the attacks of the extremist force on Ethiopia and Somalia. This accomplished, Somalis will solve their internal problem. He said Ethiopia may provide support to help Somalis solve their problem provided that it is requested to do so and provided that it has the capacity.
However, he said, what Somalis demand is beyond the capacity of Ethiopia. Their demand is a huge humanitarian relief assistance and a peacekeeping force, he indicated.
Meles said, "The US have not contributed a single bullet, a single soldier or a single military equipment to this operation...."
"...We have with the US long standing arrangements to share intelligence on terrorist activities in the neighborhood that sharing of intelligence has not been stopped during the conflict. This is the sum total of our close partnership with the US and the so called involvement of the US in the Somali crisis."
---END---
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By MICHAEL WINES
Published: December 28, 2006
Most of Ethiopia’s malnourished children do not die. Instead, they grow up stunted and sickly, weaklings in a land that runs on manual labor.
The New York Times
Front Page Story on Today's NY Times Print Edition
SHIMIDER, Ethiopia — In this corrugated land of mahogany mountains and tan, parched valleys, it is hard to tell which is the greater scandal: the thousands of children malnutrition kills, or the thousands more it allows to survive.
Malnutrition still kills here, though Ethiopia’s infamous famines are in abeyance. In Wag Hamra alone, the northern area that includes Shimider, at least 10,000 children under age 5 died last year, thousands of them from malnutrition-related causes.
Yet almost half of Ethiopia’s children are malnourished, and most do not die. Some suffer a different fate. Robbed of vital nutrients as children, they grow up stunted and sickly, weaklings in a land that still runs on manual labor. Some become intellectually stunted adults, shorn of as many as 15 I.Q. points, unable to learn or even to concentrate, inclined to drop out of school early.
Read Full Story including Slide Show
Adna Berhanu and her 5-month-old son, Agnecheu, in a hospital nutrition ward for severely malnourished infants in northern Ethiopia
NY Times Photo Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
Yet almost half of Ethiopia’s children are malnourished, and most do not die.Some suffer a different fate. Robbed of vital nutrients as children, they grow up stunted and sickly, weaklings in a land that still runs on manual labor. Some become intellectually stunted adults, shorn of as many as 15 I.Q. points, unable to learn or even to concentrate, inclined to drop out of school early.
Shimider is but a hundred or so stone and reed homes, one room each, in a mountain valley in the Amhara region, 250 miles north of Addis Ababa. The slopes here have been intensively farmed for thousands of years, and their soils are exhausted.
Twenty-two years ago, a famine here killed more than one million people. Today, hunger is measured in squandered lives.
Thirty percent of Amhara’s children under 5 are stunted, with another 26 percent severely stunted, evidence of lifelong, acute hunger. One in 15 pregnant women experiences night blindness, indicating vitamin A deficiency and a diet devoid of protein and red or yellow fruits and vegetables.
The Ethiopia-Somalia Conflict
Key Points
By David Shinn*
December 28, 2006
The following is my abbreviated assessment of the current fighting between Ethiopian military forces and militias of the Somali Islamic Courts. I approach the topic from the standpoint of US interests, not those of either Ethiopia or Somalia. I define US interests as achieving political and economic stability in East Africa and the Horn, minimizing or eliminating humanitarian disasters, and successfully countering terrorism.
1. Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns vis-à-vis Somalia, not the least of which is a 1,000 mile long border. There is a history of previous hostility, the legacy of Mogadishu’s Greater Somalia policy that laid claim to about one-quarter of the land area (the Haud and the Ogaden inhabited by Somali-speaking peoples) of Ethiopia, and the fact that at least one senior leader of the Islamic Courts recently stated his intention to revive irredentist claims in Ethiopia. Another senior leader of the Islamic Courts disavowed any such claim.
2. There is also the legacy of terrorist attacks against Ethiopia in the mid and late-1990s emanating from al-Ittihad al-Islami, now a defunct organization in Somalia. Several of its leaders, however, hold senior positions in the Islamic Court structure. In addition, there is credible evidence that three non-Somalis involved in the 1998 terrorist attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam took refuge in Somalia and may still be there.
3. The Ethiopian military is far more powerful than the militias of the Islamic Courts, which can not at this writing pose a serious military threat to the Ethiopian homeland, including the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region. The Ethiopian military has the capacity to defeat handily the Islamic Court militias inside Somalia in conventional engagements.
4. The more than thirty Islamic Courts are neither unified nor homogeneous except that they agree on their desire to create an Islamic state governed by some form of Sharia. They also appear unified in their opposition to Ethiopia. Different Courts seem to have different interpretations of the way they would implement Sharia. Some seem to prefer a benign version while others have taken extreme positions. It is important to remember that even Muslims in Ethiopia, which is almost fifty percent Muslim, observe elements of Sharia in civil issues.
5. Prior to the intervention in Somalia of Ethiopian fighting forces, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) held Baidoa and some surrounding territory, but little else. The Islamic Courts held about fifty percent of the former Somali Republic. Puntland and Somaliland were the two largest components not under their control. The UN, African Union and even the Arab League recognized the TFG as the legitimate government of Somalia.
6. Clan structure is critical to Somali political dynamics. To simplify, there are five major clans that then break down into sub-clans, sub-sub-clans, etc. Most, but certainly not all, support for the Islamic Courts comes from the Hawiye clan and especially its Habr Gedir sub-clan. Even within this sub-clan, the Ayr sub-sub-clan is most important.
7. The Islamic Courts achieved power quickly due to their ability to defeat discredited warlords in Mogadishu and establish for the first time in almost two decades relative peace and security. Most Somalis were fed up with sporadic conflict between clans and various political rivals for power. The Courts also instituted welcome social services. On the other hand, the extreme positions (e.g. declaring that anyone who did not pray fives times a day was subject to beheading) of one or more of the Courts alienated many Somalis. The effort by the Islamic Courts to ban the mild narcotic, Khat, which has been widely used by Somalis for many decades, was especially unpopular. (Khat is an illegal drug in North America and highly destructive to family life.)
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8. This brings us to the most recent Ethiopian military intervention. Ethiopia stated that the intervention will be brief and not involve an effort to enter the capital of Mogadishu. Ethiopia reportedly intends to damage significantly the fighting capacity of the Islamic Court militias, forcing them to return to the negotiating table on an equal basis with the TFG.
9. The Ethiopian strategy, from the standpoint of ETHIOPIAN interests, is appropriate. But can it work? I have serious doubts.
10. If Ethiopia completes its military campaign quickly and then withdraws all of its forces, the area it has taken from the Islamic Courts will presumably be turned over to the TFG and former warlords. Can they successfully withstand attacks from the Islamic Courts? This is highly doubtful. Will the TFG and the former warlords remain united? This, too, is questionable.
11. And if Ethiopia concludes that it must remain for an extended period of time in order to insure the success of the TFG and former warlords, how will Ethiopian forces fare? I seriously doubt that Ethiopia wants to get bogged down in a long, drawn out guerrilla campaign with Islamic Court militias deep inside Somalia and far from Ethiopian supply centers. This would not be in the interest of stability in the Horn of Africa or in the interest of the US.
12. It is important to emphasize that other foreign players are deeply involved in the fighting in Somalia. According to numerous press reports, significant numbers of jihadi fighters from the Middle East and South Asia have arrived to support the Islamic Courts. The UN-sponsored Monitoring Group on Somalia reported in October that there were 2,000 Eritrean troops in Somalia in support of the Islamic Courts. (Eritrea denies that it has troops in Somalia; the denial is not credible.)
13. From my perspective, and I believe from the standpoint of the best interests of the US, all foreign forces should leave Somalia—Ethiopian troops, Eritrean troops, and non-Somali jihadis. Little positive will be accomplished, however, if only one or two of these components depart and one or two stay.
14. It is equally important that the Islamic Courts and the TFG return to the negotiating table where they must sit down in the spirit of compromise and agree to a power sharing arrangement. This will be difficult, but it is not impossible. The talks will probably result in an Islamic state, but Somalia is virtually entirely Muslim and it would not be the first Islamic State. Islam in Somalia also has a long tradition of moderation. A government comprised of representatives of the secular TFG and religiously-focused Islamic Courts provides at least the possibility of a government that can establish security and be accepted by the majority of Somalis. As long as foreign parties play a major role in Somalia, there is virtually no possibility of long-term peace. At best there will be a short-term imposed peace and even this is probably wishful thinking.
15. Foreign forces will probably not leave Somalia unless they face considerable international pressure. This will require the friends of the TFG and Ethiopia such as the US and the European Union to put pressure on Ethiopia to leave. The Arab League collectively and its individual members must do the same with the Islamic Courts so that the foreign jihadis leave Somalia. Friends of Eritrea such as Italy must ensure that the Eritrean troops leave. Any other non-Somali groups, such as Ethiopian dissident organizations that oppose the current government in Addis Ababa, must also leave if they are present in Somalia.
16. There is obviously no guarantee that this scenario will work. It is fraught with challenges. As I look at the problem, however, it has at least as good a chance of success and will result in less loss of life than the alternatives. It will also minimize the return to Somalia of a humanitarian disaster. Finally, it is the approach that comes closest to achieving US interests in the region as it might permit the return of stability and open the door to serious discussions with Somali authorities concerning past links to terrorism.
*David Shinn is former United States Ambassador to Ethiopia
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Somalia gov't troops enter Mogadishu
By SALAD DUHUL, Associated Press Writer
Somali government troops rolled into Mogadishu unopposed Thursday, the prime minister said, hours after an Islamic movement that tried to establish a government based on the Quran abandoned the capital.
The Islamic militia promised a last stand in southern Somalia.
"We are in Mogadishu," Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said after meeting with local clan leaders to discuss the handover of the city. "We are coordinating our forces to take control of Mogadishu."
"We will not let Mogadishu burn"
Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister
Transitional Federal Government soldiers on their truck in Bur Haqaba, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Baidoa, Somalia Thursday, Dec 28, 2006. (AP Photo/Guy Calaf/pool)
Gedi was welcomed to the town of Afgoye on the outskirts of Mogadishu by dozens of traditional leaders from the capital and hundreds of government and Ethiopian troops who have been fighting for more than a week against the Islamic militia. The Islamic fighters had at one point taken over the capital and most of southern Somalia.
The Islamic movement's retreat early Thursday, which its leaders called tactical, was followed by looting by clan militiamen, some of whom had been allied to the Islamists. It was a chilling reminder of the chaos that had once ruled Mogadishu.
"The speed of the government's advance has surprised observers" BBC
Gunfire could he heard in many parts of the city and witnesses said at least several people had been killed.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to inflict total defeat on the Islamic movement and said he hoped the fighting would be over "in days, if not in a few weeks."
"Forces of the transitional federal government and Ethiopia are on the outskirts of Mogadishu now," he told reporters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
"We are discussing what we need to do to make sure Mogadishu does not descend into chaos. We will not let Mogadishu burn."
Mogadishu's clan leaders, though, have the greatest influence over whether order or lawlessness follows the retreat of the Islamic movement known as the Council of Islamic Courts.
President Abdullahi Yusuf said Thursday his troops were not a threat to the people of Mogadishu.
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Opponents of Islamists Seize Somali Capital (NY Times)
Somali militiamen hold weapons they looted after Islamists fled Mogadishu. Photograph: Shabelle Media/Reuters
"The government is committed to solving every problem that may face Somalia through dialogue and peaceful ways," the statement said.
Mohamed Jama Furuh, a former warlord and current member of parliament, claimed control of the capital's seaport on behalf of the government at midday on Thursday. His militia had controlled the port before Islamic forces took over.
"The port is now in my hands. I want to provide security and protect it from looting ... until we hand it over to any other administration," Furuh told The Associated Press by telephone.
Abdirahman Janaqow, a top leader in the Islamic movement, said he had ordered his forces out of Mogadishu to avoid bloodshed.
"We want to face our enemy and their stooges ... away from civilians," Abdirahman Janaqow said in a telephone interview.
Yusuf Ibrahim, a former Islamic movement fighter who quit Thursday, said only the most hardcore fighters were still opposing the government and its Ethiopian backers. He said they numbered about 3,000 and they were headed to the port city of Kismayo, south of Mogadishu, which the Islamic forces captured in September.
Ahmed Ali Harare, the military commander for the region, told the AP they would not quit Kismayo without a fight.
Witnesses reported seeing a large number of foreign fighters in the convoys heading south. Islamic movement leaders had called on foreign Muslims to join their "holy war" against Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population. Hundreds were believed to have answered the call.
Islamic fighters have gone door-to-door in Kismayo, recruiting children as young as 12 to make a last stand on behalf of the Islamic courts, according to a confidential U.N. situation report citing the families of boys taken to the frontline town of Jilib, 65 miles north of Kismayo.
Residents told the AP Islamic leader Hassan Dahir Aweys had arrived in Jilib with hundreds of fighters aboard 45 pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
In Iraq, an insurgent group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq urged Muslims to support the Islamists in Somalia who were abandoning the capital Thursday and fleeing government forces, according to an Internet statement.
The so-called Islamic State of Iraq - a coalition of Sunni insurgent groups, chief among them al-Qaida in Iraq - said all Muslims should "stand by the side of their brothers in Somalia and to support them financially, with weapons and men and with prayers."
The Islamic movement took Mogadishu six months ago and then advanced across most of southern Somalia, often without fighting. Then Ethiopian troops went on the attack in support of the government last week.
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The New York Times got its hands on the U.S. State Department's internal guidance on the conflict:
"Should the press focus on the role of Ethiopia inside Somalia," read a copy of the guidelines that was given to The New York Times by an American official here, "emphasize that this is a distraction from the issue of dialogue between the T.F.I.'s and Islamic courts and shift the focus back to the need for dialogue." T.F.I. is an abbreviation for the weak transitional government in Somalia."The press must not be allowed to make this about Ethiopia, or Ethiopia violating the territorial integrity of Somalia," the guidance said.
Before the Islamists established control, Mogadishu had been ruled by competing clans who came together to support the Islamic courts. Now, the clans could return to fighting one another and may reject the government's authority.
Somalia's complex clan system has been the basis of politics and identity here for centuries. But due to clan fighting, the country has not had an effective government since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on one another.
Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up the interim government. It had been unable to assert much authority, in part because it has been weakened by clan rivalries.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said over the past few days, hospitals and other medical facilities in southern and central Somalia have admitted more than 800 wounded people.
"The ICRC is extremely concerned about civilians caught up in the fighting, wounded people and people detained in connection with the fighting," said Pascal Hundt, head of the ICRC's Somalia delegation.
____
Associated Press writers Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Les Neuhaus in Afgoye, Somalia, and Chris Tomlinson in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.
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Islamist forces 'quit Mogadishu'
BBC News
Thursday, 28 December 2006
A top Somali Islamic leader says his forces have abandoned the capital Mogadishu, following an offensive by the Ethiopian-backed government.
"We have withdrawn all the leaders and members," Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told al-Jazeera TV.
Ethiopia has intervened to back the Somali government, capturing ground previously held by Islamist militias.
The move came after the UN Security Council failed to agree on a call for the withdrawal of foreign forces.
"We did not leave the capital to chaos," said Sheikh Ahmed, who heads the executive committee of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).
"We left it to avert heavy bombing because Ethiopian forces are practising genocide against the Somali people," he added.
Mogadishu residents have reported seeing convoys of Islamic fighters driving south.
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Islamists Seem to Give Up Grip on Somali City (NY Times Dec 28 2006)
ICU leaders resign as Ethiopian army nears the capital (SomaliNet)
Special Coverage of Somalia
A joint force of Ethiopian and Somali government troops are reported to be just 30 km (18 miles) from Mogadishu, threatening to besiege the capital.
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A Dark Deja Vu in Somalia
Analysis: The war between Islamist rebels and neighboring Ethiopia recalls an era when the agendas driving Africa's conflicts were never exclusively local, even if most of the victims were
By TONY KARON
Time Magazine
Posted Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006
To many Africans old enough to remember the Cold War, the bloody conflict currently unfolding in Somalia will be awfully familiar. Back before the Berlin Wall fell, localized power struggles all over the continent often turned into full-scale regional wars when the protagonists cast themselves or were cast — however improbably — as torch-bearers for Washington or Moscow. Such association would bring boundless diplomatic and financial support, not to mention boatloads of weapons and other military assistance, enabling local strongmen to wage self-serving wars for years on end. There's no Cold War any longer, of course, but in the case of Somalia, the"Global War on Terror"may be having a similar effect.
Ethiopia showing new way of solving problems with terrorism: Sergei Strokan
ENA
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia December 27, 2006 - Ethiopia is showing a new way of solving the problems with terrorism, which will replace the global anti-terrorism coalition -- slow, expensive, and out-of-date, a writer named Sergei Strokan said in a commentary posted on Russia's Daily Online, Kommersant.
“Perhaps, the world should thank Ethiopia for undertaking that dirty work, relieving great countries from the unpleasant necessity to gather, to summon UN Security Council, and to think what to do with Somalia’s Islamists, keeping in mind their own interests,” Strokan said in his commentary titled Somalia-Ethiopia Conflict.
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“And who would reproach Addis Ababa of double standards, of which great nations often accuse each other, if Ethiopia is fighting in Somalia for its own national security?” he asked.
“It is inherently wrong to think that Africa’s problems concern only Africans themselves. It is high time to forget that Africa is so exotic and so far, and to begin treating it as a huge region capable of becoming an enormous hotbed of instability, giving rise to issues which should be solved on time. For if they are not solved, it will become worse and more costly to solve them afterwards,” the writer said.
“The situation in Somalia proves that statement quite well. Neighboring Ethiopia had to interfere urgently. Islamic regime in Somalia had all chances to become exactly what the Taliban regime in Afghanistan became for the world.
It was after the September 11 attack, when it turned out that Afghanistan, so far from the U.S., was the foothold for terrorists, the world realized that the Taliban is not a regional issue. A global anti-terrorism coalition had to be created to solve it. It was already impossible to overcome the Taliban regime with less sacrifices.
Creating an anti-terrorism coalition headed by the U.S. was very costly. Afghanistan has the second coming of once defeated Talibans, and the “coalition of will” in Iraq proved that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So, the question arises: is there some other way to neutralize the threat spreading in the world?
Ethiopia, in fact, is now showing this new way of solving the problems with radical Islamism and terrorism, which will replace the global anti-terrorism coalition -- slow, expensive, and out-of-date.
Source: ENA
Ethiopian Foreign Minster held talks in Baidoa Somalia
Baidoa , December 27, 2006 (Addis Ababa) - A senior Ethiopian government delegation led by Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin held discussions with the President, Prime Minister and other senior officials of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia on the current affairs of the region in Baidoa on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Information told Ethiopia News Agency on Wednesday that the Ethiopian government delegation, which comprised Information Minister Birhan Hailu, met and held discussions Somalia TFG President, Abdullahi Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi and senior officials of the TFG Ministry of Information.
The two parties held the discussion on the counteroffensive launched by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and that of the TFG and on the achievements obtained so far, the ministry said.
Moreover, they also discussed on the various issues on which Ethiopia and the TFG can do together, the ministry said.
The two parties have reached agreement to strengthen the counterattack launched against the extremists, to make the gains made so far sustainable and on ways of starting dialogue among the TFG and other peace loving Somalia forces, except the extremists.
They also urged the fundamentalist group which is backed by the Eritrean government and various anti-peace forces that are retreating in disarray to leave Somalia immediately.
The ministry said the two parties reached a common understanding on the need to solving the Somalia issue by the Somalis themselves.
They also agreed on the deployment of African peacekeeping force urgently in Somalia as per the decision passed by IGAD, AU and UNSC in a bid to bring about sustainable peace in the country.
They also urged the international community and donors to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to the people of Somalia.
Both the Ethiopian government and the TFG called on the international community to provide appropriate support to the TFG.
The Ethiopian delegation in its stay also held discussions with senior Ethiopian military commanders and encouraged the members of the defense forces to further intensify their offensive against the remnants of the extremist group.
The Ethiopian government delegation returned home late on Tuesday, the ministry added.
ENA
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Somalia Government Advances on Capital
By SALAD DUHUL 12.27.06, 3:55 PM ET
Associated Press
Clan leaders in the Somali capital considered switching sides and throwing their support to government forces, which advanced to within striking distance of this beleaguered city Wednesday.
In Mogadishu, fighters with the opposition Islamic courts movement were seen changing out of their uniforms into civilian clothes. Women selling qat - the popular leafy stimulant banned by the militias - crowded the streets.
Jowhar Somali citizen celebrate as they carry the Somali Transitional Federal Government flag after soldiers arrived in Jowhar town 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Baidoa in Somalia, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006. AP Photo
The militias of the Council of Islamic Courts seized Mogadishu in June and went on to take much of southern Somalia, often without fighting. They were later joined by foreign militants, including Pakistanis and Arabs.
The militias seemed invincible after capturing the capital, but they are no match for Ethiopia, which has the strongest military in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopian forces crossed the border Sunday to reinforce the internationally recognized Somali government, which was bottled up in the town of Baidoa, 140 miles northwest of Mogadishu.
On Wednesday, Ethiopian and Somali government troops drove Islamic fighters out of Jowhar, the last major town on the northern road to Mogadishu. As troops entered Jowhar, an independent radio station began blasting Western music, which the militias had banned.
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Islamists Seem to Give Up Grip on Somali City (NY Times Dec 28 2006)
ICU leaders resign as Ethiopian army nears the capital (SomaliNet)
Special Coverage of Somalia
In Baidoa, government officials introduced journalists to a dozen soldiers who said they were forced to fight on behalf of the militias. "I was in school before the war, but the Islamic courts forced me into their army," said Mohamed Hussein Mohamed, 15.
The U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday it was "particularly concerned about reports of civilians, including children, being forcibly recruited to join the fighting."
In the past, refugees from Somalia had complained of forced enlistment by the Islamic Courts Union, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva.
Mogadishu residents close to Abgal clan leaders said those leaders were considering whether to drop their support for the Islamic movement and side with the government, in an effort to avoid a struggle for the capital that could cause extensive casualties.
The residents discussed the issue on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from Islamic militias, who want to rule Somalia by the Quran.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari confirmed that talks for the peaceful surrender of Mogadishu were under way.
"Elders, scholars and civil society members have contacted us and they told us that they don't need bombardment or attack," Dinari said. "We will not attack Mogadishu. ... Islamic courts militias are already on the run and we hope that Mogadishu will fall to our hands without firing a shot."
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said he aims to severely damage the courts' military capabilities and allow both sides to return to peace talks on as equals.
But one Islamic courts official said his forces were preparing for a new phase in their battle.
"Our snakes of defense were let loose, now they are ready to bite the enemy everywhere in Somalia," said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley. He did not elaborate, but some Islamic leaders have threatened guerrilla warfare including suicide bombings in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
Kenneth Menkhaus, professor of political science at Davidson College in North Carolina, said the war will likely be "prolonged, inconclusive, low-intensity and asymmetrical."
"This is a war that will not end any time soon," he said. "Neither side has the capacity to defeat the other."
Somalia's complex clan system has been the basis of politics and identity here for centuries. But fighting between clans has prevented Somalia from having an effective government since 1991. That's when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator and turned on one another.
Competition for control of Mogadishu since 1991 has involved the Abgal and Habr Gadir clans, who joined to support the Islamic council earlier this year.
If Abgal elders switch sides, probably in return for key government posts, urban warfare between the Abgal and Habr Gadir clans seems certain to resume.
The Islamic courts tried to supplant the influence of the clans by appealing to Somalis as Muslims. Many Somalis were grateful for the order the courts' militias imposed.
Dinari, the Somali government spokesman, said soldiers were heading toward the small village of Balad, about 18 miles from Mogadishu. Mohammed Abdi Hassan, a resident of the village, told The Associated Press by phone that the Islamic fighters had fled, leaving no one in control.
But many also chafed at the movement's strict enforcement of Islamic codes.
"Since the Islamic courts have taken control, people are walking instead of hiring a taxi," said Hussein Mudde, a taxi driver in Mogadishu. "They don't have money because the Islamic courts closed the cinemas and music halls. Poets and artists and performers have been jobless."
Meles, the Ethiopian prime minister, said Tuesday he had been given unconfirmed reports that as many as 1,000 people had died and 3,000 were wounded since the fighting began on Saturday.
The Red Cross reported 850 people injured at hospitals supported by the relief agency in Mogadishu and Baidoa, but had no figure for fatalities.
The U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday it was readying staff, trucks and emergency relief items in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia for up to 50,000 fleeing Somalis.
The agency said it had received reports of thousands of displaced civilians within Somalia fleeing the fighting.
Associated Press writers Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Les Neuhaus in Baidoa, Chris Tomlinson in Nairobi, Kenya, and Sarah DiLorenzo in New York contributed to this report.
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Internet cafes start registering users
By Groum Abate
The Capital
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency is distributing forms for Internet cafes in the country to register internet users.
Sources told Capital that the agency in collaboration with the Federal Police is disbursing the letter to all cyber cafes in Addis Ababa and other major towns to easily identify illegal users.
These sources said that the form requests the internet user’s ID that consists of a full name and residential address.
These users would be registered and police officials would collect the form for identification.
The sources said that if an internet café is found giving service to unregistered customers, the owners would be jailed for violation of the regulation with severe punishment.
Some observers said that the scheme was devised after cyber cafes increasingly used their internet access for dialing purposes.
People now use the internet consistently. Access has been made available through the various internet café’s in Addis Ababa at affordable prices. Most users go online to check their emails, their favorite soccer team and to chat with acquaintances.
Also popular in the use of the internet as a way of communication is the use of voice over IP technology, which enables to make phone calls cheaply over the net. This technology has seen vast numbers of users as it offers cheap rates and is readily available. Compared to the expensive prices the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) the only telephone services provider in Ethiopia, offers, this option is appealing to most.
These calls cost from 2 birr per minute onward.
Nowadays, with ETA cranking up its efforts to discourage such uses and making it illegal to provide such services, these cafes became rare some two years back. However, after the Agency eased control they have become widely popular again.
The number of Internet users is growing in major cities like Addis Ababa due to the increasing popularity of cyber cafés. There were about 100,000 Internet users by the end of 2004. Internet PoPs are also available in major towns like Mekele, Nazreth, Bahr Dar, Awassa, Jima, Dessie, Gondar, Nekempte and Dire Dawa. Nevertheless, the distribution of Internet users is still strongly skewed to the capital, with 94% of Internet users.
Ethiopia joined the world of the Internet as of January 1st 1997. Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation being a transport and Service Provider (ISP) in the country has taken the initiative to introduce the service and presently, there are over 40,000 Internet users.
ETC is encouraging its existing and potential users to use the service through reduction of tariffs.
It is to be recalled that the government had previously taken measures to regulate cyber cafés with some operators having been shut down because of illegal activities including inexpensive international phone access popular with the public. It is estimated that these calls have cost ETC millions of birr in lost revenue
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Ethiopia's Invasion Seen Worsening Somali Chaos
THE WORLD FROM BERLIN
Spiegel
"Ethiopia's offensive against the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia risks plunging the region into a long war which may end up strengthening the Islamists. And if America sees the invasion as a chance to weaken Islamic radicalism, it's seriously misguided."
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Ethiopia, the Model?
Antiwar.com
Ethiopia is a dictatorship that regularly jails political opponents and brutalizes its own people, as well as its neighbors. It is, naturally — that is, in the Bizarro “conservative” worldview of Senor May and the Foundation for the Defense of “Democracies” — a model to be emulated.
Trevino: Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Failure of Journalism
The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia proceeds apace, and from all reports, it proceeds at a much faster clip than anyone -- including me -- expected. Western journalism is struggling, and failing, to keep up.
Read more
Let us be mindful of the consequence of our Action
By a Concerned Ethiopian:
First of all personally I have no desire to take any part in politics however, it is sickening to hear unfounded accusation and this has compelled me to jot this note.
The famous proverb calling a spade spade is the order of the day at this time and moment. It is very sad to hear from the so-called Ethiopian Diaspora being extreme and go to an extra length to make the life of the people of Ethiopia miserable again and again. I have never seen any nation Diaspora work against the interest of its own nation they claim to represent. There is no need to gather evidence to corroborate, just read few of the extreme so-called opposition blogs filled with unfounded accusation and ranting, are enough to mention.
From the very beginning of the Ethiopian student movement till today the so-called Ethiopian intellectuals have not contributed much for the development of Ethiopia, period. The negative and destructive work done by some half-baked so-called intellectuals nullify the little positive contribution done by some genuine Ethiopian intellectuals. My heart goes to all the Ethiopians and their family for the life lost in Eritrea and more over brother-to-brother fight with TPLF now EPRDF, what a loss. Please read kibur Dawit Woldegiorhis’s recent book “Kihdet Bedeme Meret” the destruction the loss and clearly put all Ethiopian problems being instigated by the so called Ethiopian intellectuals, who became an instrument of foreign interest against the interests of Ethiopian people they claim they stand for. What an army and air force we had and how dedicated solders, ethnic representation we had, and all those dear Ethiopian sons and daughters perished in brother to brother fight thanks for Ethiopian intelligentsia. After all this, still the blood thirsty Ethiopian intelligentsia wants another blood bath and try every nukes and crooks to instigate turmoil and fully collaborate with foreign forces that work for the demise of Ethiopia. What a shame!
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During the Derg era an elderly person asked what Socialism is, and one answered “Kifat, Mikegnet, Kinat …” (wicked, evil, jealous, envy , rude ..) and the elderly person said, then socialism has got its home and will never leave us. This saying manifests the true nature of the so-called Diaspora. In all regions where the Diaspora lives a formal Ethiopian community is either missing because we do not cooperate, or in several places litigate by hiring costly lawyers with an existing Ethiopian community, or there are a bunch of communities in one area that bicker against each other instead of providing a community service suppose to be provided. We claim that we are religious; it is known that most Ethiopian exile practice orthodox Christian in their communities. What a shame politically divided church exists in these communities. Who is behind this shameful act? The so called Diaspora intellectuals spearheaded such division by creating distrust among the god fearing parishioners in some places with huge litigation cost and hence, it is customary to have several Ethiopian churches lead by you name it, so called pseudo opposition party in every community where Ethiopian exiles live. If this is the kind of leadership and democracy we want to offer for the Ethiopian people it would be aggravating the pain to the wound we already inflected on the Ethiopian people and there is a good Amharic proverb that should be mentioned here. “Bafincieye Yewta”. (Let it go out of my system through my nose”}
Please do not get me wrong there are quite a number of well-qualified Ethiopians working in top-notch schools, research centers; companies well respected which add joy to our heart of their well-deserved accomplishments. Some of these beloved sons and daughters of our nation are doing their contribution to extricate our people from abject poverty and disease. The North American Ethiopian medical association’s great commendable work, Ethiopian engineers and Business professionals work and contribution are a few to mention. Thank you for your noble work and may your future plan be a success!
On the other hand from day one to this day we see names with title Dr, Professor, etc ranting about the human right violation, oppression etc and work hand in hand with external agents who long for the demise of Ethiopia. First of all let us be straight a title of Dr or Professor does not mean anything unless what we advocate has a wisdom. Our education is based on recital like the old “kese timherte bet Dawit wengel Medgem“ we can get a PHD in history, geography even in science or engineering unless we are wise we end up hurting the very people we are longing to help. Let us ask ourselves what have we done with our education or what can we do with it, except a few. What have we designed, or are working in cutting edge technology or science? Leave alone Ethiopians thousands of Chinese and Indians who have flooded US Universities and research centers are not working on an innovation, mainly work on expanding or value adding to an innovation. This goes back to our upbringing of recital education and hopefully the next generation will have a better chance to be innovative by changing the teaching method. So let us not get carried away, we are no better than the average Ethiopian and be mindful before blabbering all this ranting and disservice the very people we want to help. Talking about Ethiopian education the professors after studying abroad and seeing how foreign university professors, nurture the new generation and inculcate the students, some of our professors behavior is beyond imagination. No body expect the to have an American university type student versus faculty relationship in Ethiopian universities of course, however some professors conduct is appalling. There was one time one graduate student who is also a faculty member, cannot dare to have a coffee in a bar near the university where his professor gets his coffee because of the fear of this professor. Undergraduate students go and have a coffee there without any fear. These kind of professors run the campuses like a feudal with their recital education and never allow the new generations to reach their level, leave alone advance and better. Surprisingly these professors did not have feudal background most of them came of peasant background and yet to demonstrate such behavior is unusual. A formal research of this behavior is warranted to address the issue. Of course we are not perfect but let us ask ourselves why this happen and how we can we help our students to better their education? There are few exceptions who worked and still working, who did a very commendable work to advance and grow the faculties tirelessly and even spend a lot of time to undo the damage done by these feudal bent intellectuals and they should be praised for their work and my hat is off for their noble deeds. Among the very few exceptional who has raised the bar of excellence one on the top of the list who has facilitated hundreds of Ethiopians PhD study, who are now serving in Ethiopia and all over the world, and most recently single handedly defended the interest of not only Ethiopian, the whole developing world farmers interest against the giant corporations, not to sell genetically engineered seeds without regulations, Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egzibher comes to mind. One student’s father son conversation is worth to mention here, he showed his father his grade and told him that it is better than his own score and the father was pleased and said if a son is not better than his father there will not be a progress. This has a deep meaning and we need to encourage the young to achieve higher so that we progress as a society.
One of the recent set back in Ethiopia is the sad event transpired after the general election. Our heart goes out for all the family for the life lost during the unrest. The strong opposition leaders who walked the walk, talk the talk has sacrificed a lot for a cause of real multiparty democracy. They are paying a price for such cause and it is because of these Diaspora fanning extremism that forced them into this quagmire. It would have been nice to see them administer Addis Ababa as they won fair and square and the government to have a viable opposition. It is important for the government to know that these people who are in jail have no part in violence and for the interest of democracy restore their elected position in the assembly and start a real plural governing. Democracy cannot be built overnight we need to crawl first before walking. Ethiopia has no history of democracy and we are one of the violent nations in the world where fight among brothers resulted into a huge devastating loss of the young and the brightest of Ethiopians. The cyber war is going strong and with such vitriolic venom tone it does not seem to wind soon.
We have to learn how to agree to disagree definitely the government has its own policy and of course some of us do not agree with their policy and hope there is a peaceful means to have a dialogue to address the issues. We have been violent for years and years and let us try in a peaceful ways and means to reach our goal, which some of us think is beneficial to our people. Some of the Diaspora goes to the extreme length even to US congress to revoke the Ethiopian government officials travel privilege. In one hand we say we are the world beggars and poverty stricken people and on the other hand we strive to block the mobility of these officials who took the shame of our beggar ness, and beg in the world arena to feed our people.
The main argument for this effort is that the government is enriching its own clicks and followers and uses it against the people of Ethiopia to oppress. First of all don’t we think the donors are smarter than what we think? Secondly these days such aid and loans are designed for a specific project and funding is released periodically with balance and check. So what is the concern? Unless we want to work against the interest of the Ethiopian people our concern has no merit. My thanks goes to all Ethiopian officials who work hard by donning all the shame, by being a beggar, in front of grueling executives to secure loan and aid for the people of Ethiopia. Such concerted effort to work against the interest of the Ethiopian peoples is beyond me. To draw a parallel scenario similar to this action worth to mention is, in one of the north American cities where Ethiopian Diaspora resides there is one Ethiopian community center run by an Ethiopian who gets its funding by designing projects. The city award funding, by selecting on a merit basis, among other immigrant community submitted projects and proposals. The entire project is evaluated and the fund is released by check and balance. A few so called Diaspora spent huge money even swindle naïve Ethiopians to contribute for the litigation fund and took this individual to court alleging that he is trading by the name of Ethiopians. What a farce if they really care for the community, they could have started the community before him to serve the people we care. The other option is if they have the gut, to propose their own project and apply for funding as the guy did, to achieve their goal. No we just feel jealous when some one is doing it. Last time I checked these litigants lost their case in the court of law after spending huge attorney and litigation fee and the Community started by this individual is operating stronger than ever. What a waste!
Some Diaspora claims that bogus statistics and rosy picture by the government media are not factual and are presented for public consumption to make the government look good. Where are you living do you know to sift through facts. It is not difficult to find facts from fiction. Here is where I call a spade spade. It does not take much in this day and age to find out and figure out facts from fiction unless we do not want to accept the truth. Should Ethiopia deserve to develop at a faster pace? Yes. Is the government trying to do that? Yes. Does the government need a lot of improvement to govern the people? Yes you bet.
This is the time I want to credit the government for the achievement-attained and wish them to attain even higher goal. Let us mention few facts and figures and all these are available on the Internet and at independent sources.
Education.
Primary and secondary education covering has grown in leaps and bounds and to uniform the education curriculum plasma TV is introduced in the high schools of Ethiopia. I am sure the facilitators of this project switch to the affordable means of communication using the optical fiber laid recently via broadband connection than using satellite communication. Plasma TV is the most expensive TV screen and the lifetime is only four to five years whereas LCD screen is as good as plasma and has at least 12 years of life time and as well cheaper. Even HD CRT screens should do fine and sound technology adoption is essential to cut cost down, this is just my remark. Woreda net is also deployed to connect federal offices and different administrative Woredas with a state of the art communication network on Tele backbone that provides voice, data and as well Video conferencing. Even some developed countries do not have such network what a feat!
Higher education is really the bright spot of achievement, there were only two universities before the current government now there are nine universities and thirteen more universities are on the pipe line. Is not that wonderful and gives one a goose bum? Yes indeed of course quality is also important and once these schools are rolling quality should be the focus. The capacity building program of upgrading the technology faculties in the country to enhance the quality of the graduates is worth to mention and a far sighted work the government is taking and please keep up the good job. The engineering faculties of Addis Ababa, Jimma , BahirDar, Alemaya(DireDawa campus) , Arbaminch and the soon coming Gonder universities are poised to create highly demanded well trained Engineers who will be designing and building the new Ethiopian projects, kudos to that. The thirteen universities coming online at once is huge for a country like Ethiopia and the money to build such schools are secured from a long term loan and probably a small amount of aid and these is what the half baked Diaspora running to block from happening. What a shame! When the students from these schools graduate the government should encourage the talented ones to go and pursue higher education locally or abroad. In this day of globalization we need to be competitive and that is what China and India are doing and after graduation some will return equipped with high caliber knowledge as what is happening to India and China. The Diaspora ideal help would be facilitating GRE TOEFL and other relevant tests and applications for these graduates to join US higher learnings. Hopefully it wont be long to see a young Ethiopian graduate abroad from the likes of Dilla,Semera or Bokoji University soon (By the way Bokoji university will not be online soon). The existing universities and the one coming soon have an expansion project plan to raise their capacity in quantity and quality. Graduate training is also expanding in bounds and leaps and heart warming to hear Gonder and Jimma universities also are training MDSs in different field of specialization. Of course it is expensive and is not the priority but for a proper health care new medical schools should be opened in the new and upgraded universities and in the long run it is an investment on human capital. To retain the doctors in the hospital the government should work on some form of health coverage insurance so that the hospitals run at a cost and be able to pay much reasonable wage to the Doctors.
The pioneer Alemaya University has produced world renown Ethiopian scientists that are serving all over the world and is expanding it’s offering with different new faculties including Harer and DireDawa campuses. The new upcoming DireDawa and Jijiga universities undoubtedly benefit from this institution by sharing resources. In addition to these higher learning institutions that produce trained manpower there are from 30-35 agricultural colleges scattered all over the country administered by the ministry of Rural development. These newly built colleges produce junior agricultural technicians and these colleges each train from 1500 – 2000 students full boarding and lodging with fully staffed faculties funded by the government. It is hard to say where the money comes from for all these funding! Yet the Diaspora is winning all over Europe and North American capitals to block such loans and aids that are directly used to teach the Ethiopians that can help to extricate the Ethiopian people from abject poverty. World Bank and other loans have been used to build these colleges and is a huge investment and let us hope that it start paying off. Fully functional agricultural research centers networked and equipped with laboratory equipments have sprouted across the country even in the remote areas headed by the research center (EARO->EIAR). It is a daunting challenge to retain the qualified staff in these remote area research centers. The recent wave of housing condominium building in Ethiopian cities and towns should focus to benefit these researchers housing need and adjusting their compensation by enterprising these research centers will help. The findings of these research centers are published in international journals and easy to find and for the quality of their research work pick any research proceedings or publication. Google the name of author the trail takes you for a university in Germany, Holland, Belgium, US, Ethiopia or countless international recent centers. It is also heart warming to see Ethiopian professors in various US Universities collaborate with Ethiopian universities and research centers in biotechnology, improved crop, goat breeding and you name it. Private universities and colleges have sprouted in every corner of the country and especially a formidable quality schools are under progress especially in Addis Ababa and the job opportunity that created by complementing the income for the academics is a godsend. In order to create respect among Ethiopian people and learn the different culture and language of the different nations, it may be time to launch in all elementary and high school a compulsory requirement for each student to study one additional Ethiopian language of their choice other than their own mother tongue. Hopefully this creates a mutual respect and helps the students work in different regions that may require local language skill.
Transport
Air
Ethiopian Ethiopian!
The recent growth of Ethiopian Airlines is phenomenal! Ethiopian not only to Ethiopia, the service it provides for Africa, is huge by enabling Air travel between African countries as a brisk. For Ethiopia it is not only a flag carrier it is bridge for the outside world and catalyst for its economy. The technology transfer, exposure and training for the employees it introduces are also an eye opener in every sector, for the country. The hard working and dedicated men and women of Ethiopian airlines and the senior management deserve congratulations to the wonderful work they are doing. It was only a couple of years back the airline hit the one Million passengers mark and this year’s 1.7 M mark makes the airline well on its target to transport 3M by 2010. This double-digit growth in a competitive industry, where fuel cost going to the roof and at a time almighty US carriers are big time in red, it is amassing to have such performance and again keep up the wonderful work! Recently for the first time in the history of the airline it has acquired the largest number of brand new aircrafts into it’s fleet. Namely eight Boeing 767-300and 737-700 of these five with direct buy and three on lease basis. To top it off a number of Boeing 767 and 757 are being added to the fleet on a long term lease basis to this day to meet it’s need. Ethiopian is poised to receive probably the second carrier next to Japan Airlines in the world; beating even American carriers on the third quarter of 2008 the most advanced Boeing 787-8/9 into its fleet. What a bold and daring move! Ten of these large and highly advanced fuel-efficient aircrafts costing the airline in the tune of billions of dollar is the fleet renewal project that ends by the year 2010. The airline is also on the work to order five more either Boeing 787-8/9 or Airbus 350 and a number of regional aircrafts to supplement the existing Fokker 50 fleets. A multimillion Birr state of the art cargo terminal and brand new maintenance hangar (hope this time it is heated for grave yard shift technicians) are a testimony for the airline growth in bounds and leaps. Coupling with the recent conversion of a Boeing 757 passenger to cargo and a combination of additional DC8/10 and MD11 on lease has poised the carrier for a daily up lift of 80 –120 tons of agricultural produce to Europe. The impact of this for the economy is going to be phenomenal. It is a hope that the plan of the management to adjust compensation, and the quality of life in Addis, to fend off the recent attrition of the pilots to MiddleEast and Asia and even lure back those who left. It is fulfilling and a duty for the pilots also to serve the nation that gave them the opportunity. When the prime minister travels abroad takes out of service an aircraft for days and it is hard to imagine how the airline manage to handle scheduled passengers of these flights where standby aircraft are none. If the travel is only by B737 the impact is not as huge as B767 and after that, the prime Minster faces the unrelenting so-called opposition wherever he lands be it Europe or North America. After dogging all this commotion in front of foreigners as bad as it is his trip is to ask for help, negotiate a loan or an aid the Diaspora by the name of Ethiopian people fight to deny Ethiopia to get assistance. The government leadership and the senior board members of the airline including ET senior managements deserve applause for such shinning and spectacular growth of the airline. ET is currently enjoying excellent credit rating due to the country’s peace and tranquility and the Ethiopian government’s amicable relation ship with the US government. During the Derg Era Ethiopian was paying arm and leg in high interest rate for the B757s it acquired. Yet again a few Diaspora vigorously advice fellow countrymen not to fly Ethiopian and use other foreign carrier which cost more and put up for a mishandling in a transiting airport. Had ET depended on the Diaspora it would have been long ago in Chapter 11 while in the bright side, the proud Africans Frequent fliers’ mileage is growing in bounds and leaps.
Communication
Tele
Ethiopian telecommunication is providing all types of modern communication for the nation by expanding its service to all parts of the region. This complex fast evolving sector by any measure is a daunting task to implement and provide service. The recent achievement of this sector is linking major cities and towns in an amassing short period of time with an optical fiber. Once the under sea international hook up is completed it will have a huge saving on intentional communication and huge bandwidth for data uplink and download. In fact locally with the current optical fiber network data upload and download between the nodes should be a brisk. Cell phone subscribers will soon exceed the landline and the focus of the landline expansion is proper. Having its own communication training institute and aiming to excel in producing highly skilled man power with the all the faculties and external consultants, it is poised to improve the quality and the reliability of the service it gives for its customers. The recent flop reported in the media related to the billing system should never happen in such institution who successfully commissioned numerous complex projects and it is a sloppy work and should not be repeated. There is a blog against Tele, regarding the management practice, mostly by its own employee. It is good to have a good challenge and these employees should challenge all the management’s proposals to do it right and the management should open the implementation of the proposals for all capable personal for a review. Most of the blog is criticizing the recent government signing of memorandum of multibillion-dollar projects with Chinese companies. Referring to the recent flop of Chinese Cell phone network and compatibility and quality with installed Ericsson or Nokia networks. First the Government is probably getting an incentive in financing and price break. Now the challenge is the due diligence of the Ethiopian side Engineers to make sure the intended project is done right. Chinese do not have their own technology hard ware is not an issue it is possible to negotiate to require a hard ware that should meet a minimum requirement. China does not have its own router uses Cisco or equivalent router and Unix boxes are the likes of Solaris with its own OS and also uses the likes of Oracle for the back end. They do not have their own unless they invent a new one now. Moreover all this brand name hard wares, their inside components except CPU the cards the chips and the memory are made in China,Taiwan and so on. So where is the concern yes the catch is to demand well-tested fault tolerant software that drive this system for a particular project. This is the place where things fall apart and the make and break happen. Due diligence and proper training is important in the requirements to consider. Is not that a recent memory of American brand VSats bought for the school net ended up without much success? So Brand only or western company will not be the answer. Leave alone a country like ours in US a multibillion dollar system built by reputable numerous US companies for public office election voting system, has flopped on the day of election. However, this dose not mean that it is okay to have a sloppy work especially us should be very careful not to squander the little resource we have and due diligence should be the name of the game. Kenya or other African countries have several private Cell phone operators with huge cell pone customers. There is always a trade off and the Ethiopian government has resisted even the pressure of lending organization not allow such operators and this is an act of a sensible government, which looks after the interest of the nation first, well done! The country long ago would have attracted a number foreign drive-by cell phone operators and siphon the lucrative profit with a couple of networks and towers. The sensible thing to do down the road, still the government having a large stake is to float share for sale first for locals and invite foreign operators with a portion of the stake. This is exactly what British telecom, German Postal, TeleItalia or other major European government did.
Industry
Ciminto Ciminto
One of the measuring indicator Economists relay on is construction. It is hard to believe the current cement demand in Ethiopia is twice Germany, no wonder the demand for cement due to the ongoing construction of dams, schools, roads, buildings, houses and condominiums, that the demand dwarf the existing production. The Mugher cement factory doubling its capacity, a number of private cement factories including Midroc, hopefully come online before the sector is stifled with a shortage of this product, which will have negative consequence for the economy growth. The government facilitation and the an wavering economic investment of the beloved Sheik Mohammed Alamoudi by offering to meet the cement demand by importing, are commendable and hope to rescue the construction sector.
Sugar Sekuar Sekuar
The completion of Fincha sugar factory has undoubtedly raised the countries sugar production. However the demand stripping over the supply and the un-satiated export potential warrant more output. Again it is timely and commendable for the government executing huge projects of the new sugar plant including huge Dams to irrigate thousands of hectares of sugar cane plantation for the factory. The funding for this project is mainly from the government coffer and for the factory recently loan is secured from Indian government. Moreover this project is a test for a homegrown design and construction, which is conducted totally from design to construction by local contractors. Let this be your springboard to land to many more big projects. The work started by the private companies to provide fuel for vehicles will get a boost from this factory ethanol production. Well done and commendable act by a responsible government for the concerted effort to realize this project. Processed leather product and textile are also given considerable attention and will be the next export commodities brewing to grow.
Energy
The white oil of Ethiopia.
It is a recent memory of Ethiopia boycotting Seoul Olympic to win the heart of North Korea, to finish Gilgele Gibe hydro project that was started by them. The continuous blackout and power rationing in the cities that forced some businesses scrambling to back up their power supply with an expensive diesel generator are still fresh. Ethiopia produced only about 450 MW from all old and poorly maintained powerhouses. It is only after the tune of multimillion dollars WorldBank loan and several years of construction the Gilgel Gibe with a huge dam came into line with 184 MW capacity to ease the continuous blackout and power rationing. A 300 MW Tekeze dam which is in the pipeline, having 185 feet height bigger than the controversial Chinese world largest, the “three gorges hydroelectric dam”, followed by Gilgle Gibbe II with capacity of 450 MW construction is progressing using the Gilgel Gibbe I dam and building a new powerhouse. The Beles hydroelectric another 450 MW, is also being carried out and to top it off probably the largest in sub-Sahara the Gilgel Gibe III with 1850 MW capacity on the Omo river the biggest ever, construction is well under progress. Electrifying towns and regions and connecting high power lines into the grid are progressing in full steam. Indian companies are contracting these projects with the soft loan obtained from Indian government. Local companies the like of Midroc and others are supplying locally manufactured electric poles and wires in the tune of multimillion Birr contract for the electrification project. The high power line connection to Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya and beyond is progressing and it will not be long, Ethiopia becomes the powerhouse of Africa. All these huge projects enabling the nation to improve the lives of millions of Ethiopians require billions of dollars, which Ethiopia cannot afford to finance. Living in a developed world where electric power is a given like air and sunshine, few Ethiopian Diaspora demonstrate at World Bank headquarters and European investment banks to block the loan needed for these kind of significant projects. Our proverb for the like of these, “Tute Nekashe” is long overdue. The government-concerted effort for such spectacular performance deserves applause. The excellent performance of the senior management of EELPA and the hard workingmen and women of this company deserve our appreciation. My fifty cents observation is, it is high time for EELPA to take the initiative to get rid of an inefficient, in its days a break through, “ Yenjer Mtad” that wastes enormous energy, heating bricks which is a poor conductor of heat , with an inefficient material. In North America it is already available and with local modification the consumer can enjoy huge saving in their electric bill and the saved power is a plus for the rural electrification. Recently also EELPA is testing a prepaid card electric meters, well technology is good but care should be taken and let us not be carried away with such sophisticated technologies. First in a country like Ethiopia where there is a huge unemployment human meter readers are affordable and such systems initial cost is high moreover servicing these equipments can be costly. Prepaid cards can be forged and EELPA can loose money unlike telephone-prepaid cards where pin numbers are checked at a central server. The good old meters even in America are still being used and some meters are hooked with telephone lines and utility providers read the meters from a central location and still this may not be appropriate for Ethiopia yet. Due diligence is important before diving into a costly technology just because of its convenience.
Oil & Gas
Let us keep our finger crossed for the Gambella region oil well drilling, executed by the Chinese company on behalf of Petronas hit a jackpot, which can help to bring down the sky rocketing inflation due to fuel price in the country. The Government has taken a risk to re-negotiate profit sharing with Petronas that won the Kalub and Hillal gas fields in Ogaden. In light of world gas prices the government demand and bold move is commendable and shows executing its duty to keep the interest of the nation.
Agriculture
Cash crop
Export oriented cash crops production is increasing steadily. Sesame production in the Northwestern part of the country is becoming one of the top foreign currency earners. Recently a western media has sarcastically commented that how Europe is getting food from Ethiopia? The comment arose due to the recent haricot bean supply to European market from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is ranking now second next to a South American nation in exporting this crop. Flower production is poised to be a major foreign earner and the incentive provided in terms of tax holiday, bank loan and infrastructure development to attract foreign investors in this sector by the government is commendable and has started paying off. Several International media has reported that, the incentive provided by the Ethiopian government has lured a considerable number of growers from Kenya to move their operation into Ethiopia. The government with the help of international experts is on the verge of launching commodity trading which will benefit Ethiopian framers enormously. Indian farmers have reaped enormous benefit from such system. Coffee exports in quality and quantity is growing and is the major foreign currency earner. Thanks for Oxfam the clandestine attempt to block, the Ethiopian government effort to increase revenue by Trade marking and branding the beans, by big US Corporation (Starbucks) has been exposed via the world media. This kind of effort should have been initiated by the Diaspora to help the Ethiopian coffee farmers to get their fair share for their product by boycotting Starbucks and informing others also to boycott until the company withdraws its opposition. Except a few news articles by cut and paste the news in Ethiopian related sites, no effort by the Diaspora has been proposed to rally and support Oxfam’s exposure to help the Ethiopian coffee farmers.
Kibur Sheik Mohammed Alamoudi
It is very hard to reason why people develop hatred and disseminate unfounded claims to discredit once noble deed and try to tarnish a spectacular accomplishment. Some Diaspora disseminates hate and even encourages boycotting any service or product affiliated to this beloved son of Ethiopia. The reason they are giving is that he is the supporter of EPRDF. So what? Does not any one have the right to support their liking? Is not that democracy all about? These people know deep down, this is an excuse to express their hate for any one that does well to our people, our inherent envy expressed in different forms. Most Ethiopians appreciate and wish for many more years of investment in Ethiopia, which has significantly contributing to improve the life of thousands of Ethiopians, by the beloved son of Ethiopia Kibur Sheik Mohammed Alamoudi.
Ethnic based political oppositions.
In my judgment the main problem of Ethiopian people is abject poverty, illiteracy and disease and the great OROMO people share the same problem like their other ethnic Ethiopian brother and sisters. Some enlightened group of oromo at some point were not considering other oromos as oromo who live or born beyond Ambo from their reference. Their reference being Wellega particularly Dembidollo where most of them hail from, currently residing in Europe and North America and a number of them residing in Minnesota. There is a joke also that this group of people claim Minnesota as well to liberate referring to their Viking descendant. An expert research can definitely shade the light why such number of intellectuals from this region (Dembidollo) have such view. Looking to the background of their primary and secondary education being at mission school that is run by foreign missionaries, one wonders that if the colonized mentality has been planted by these missionary educators in to the young mind of these people, which they routinely do in other colonized African countries. In the other hand there are also proud and distinguished ormo Ethiopians who have contributed and contributing in fighting the Ethiopian people enemy, poverty by engaging in every sector with the likes of His Excellency Bultcha Demekssa. It is important each ethnic group has its own autonomy, flourish its own culture and live peacefully for the better future with all the different ethnics in the nation with fair and just government. In this fast globalization of the world claiming a certain region to a certain ethnic, based on mere majority is not productive and the claim to own the region may not be based on fact. This region claiming that, it only belong to a certain ethnic group, which is now simmering in mainly underdeveloped nations can be outdated by recent DNA findings. As a matter of fact Ethiopia, the people of the world can claim particularly Afar region, in short any body in the world can claim Afar as its own! This DNA tracing technique was on NBC(an American TV) .A very fascinating and impressive program Anchors’ DNA tracing was revealed. The result shows path used by their ancestors to reach North America. Surprisingly all route begins from the now Afar region of Ethiopia. Astonishingly the path shown for the one of the anchor was that her ancestors came to America from Afar traveled to Asia and then North America. The Anchor admitted that she has an Asian blood. The way it works is DNA like finger print even more powerful has a unique marking. The Researchers have a collection of DNA sampling of different people in the different part of the world. One’s DNA is compared with the representative samples the method determine in high precision the person ancestry. In general the point is that all people evolved from the same family and in this fast globalization unity and diversity is strength and the focus should be fighting and help the alleviate the yoke of poverty from people of Ethiopia.
Conclusion.
Including myself please let us do our fair share within our capacity to improve the livelihood of our fellow Ethiopians back home, we owe it to them. If not at least let us stop our relentless effort of defamation, blocking the effort of the people who are labouringly to improve the very people we want to help. We are not saying the Government is perfect, needs a lot of improvement and dialog should be the medium to communicate our message across, and prove us wrong, that these deeds executed by the government are not helping to improve the life of Ethiopians. If not at least be mindful before taking an action that disservice the very people we want to help.
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Time to regain the hitherto lost political chances
By Agere Aleme
When an Islamic militia first established a foothold in Somalia by capturing the capital of Mogadishu in June 2006, the United States initially withheld judgment until the intentions of the group could be determined with some certainty. While the militia rejected the label of “terrorist organization,” its actions over the next few months made it clear that Islamic extremists had taken their quest for a radical Muslim state, based entirely on Sharia, to the African nation. Now America may be faced with a new battleground in its global war on terrorism.
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The United States has refused to engage in dialogue with the Supreme Islamic Courts Council (SICC) until it renounces some of its more radical positions and practices. Over the past six months there have been multiple reports out of Somalia of beheadings, stoning, and the implementation of severe restrictions on everything from music and movies to the freedoms granted women.
When the SICC continued to make advances throughout the country, the Somali interim government retreated to the town of Baidoa, with protection from the armed forces of Ethiopia. Somalia’s neighbor has repeatedly warned the SICC that it would intervene in the conflict, and that intervention has now become the reality on the ground.
This past week Ethiopian forces launched multiple air strikes against the Islamists as part of their effort to defend the interim government. Fighting continues today with Ethiopia and the Interim Government of Somalia holding the upper hand on the battle field. The threat of a larger regional conflict is looming as the Islamists have made an open call for foreign fighters, both from Ethiopian adversary Eritrea and from other Jihads around the world. Voluntary fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Britain and even the USA have already joined the SICC in Mogadishu.
If an African conflict erupts, and if Islamic extremists flock to the continent to participate in the battle for a Taliban-style Somalia, will U.S. and other western forces get involved? Any war on terror would require a response to a new haven for Islamic extremists. The United States is heavily involved in Afghanistan and Iraq and just does not have the forces available to engage in another fight in Somalia.
So what happens next? Obviously, the United States will increase aid and support to Ethiopian armed forces, and that is probably a safe bet. Getting someone else to do the fighting is always preferable, as long as the interests of the United States can be secured that way.
Another possible course of action is the attempted revival of Somali warlords. This would be dangerous ground indeed, and the likelihood of success is not very high. Warlords, by their very nature, are loyal to those who enhance their power, wealth, and prestige the most.
It is likely that Ethiopia and Eritrea will bloody fight each other in what will hopefully not become a larger regional conflict. Ethiopia is concerned with its borders and is not likely to support the Somali interim government to the degree necessary to eliminate the SICC as a ruling force, despite what appear to be initial battlefield successes. For the United States, other regional realities will delay the expansion of the war on terrorism to Somalia until another day.
More than any other time ever in the past, the US government is now convinced that Ethiopia is its natural ally in East Africa that can fight and stop international and home grown terrorists alike. Consequently, it has nothing to say against Ethiopia whatever the Ethiopian regime does concerning its national sovereignty just like Israel. As a result of the regional political game to balance power, Ethiopia has a huge political capital in the eyes of the Western world. Home grown terrorists like AFD, OLF, ONLF and EPPF have become history.
Viewed from Ethiopian political leverage, one can also see that this is the best time for Meles Zenawi to regain our port Assab, by every means possible. For example, Ethiopia can tell the Western world that it needs to control the port, for security concerns. No one forced Israel to go out from Golan Heights of Syria until now. No one can force Ethiopia for taking Asseb back.
The fact that the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea is not yet clearly demarcated is also a blessing factor. Ethiopia can argue that Assab port was part of Wollo until 1990, and the 1993 Eritrean referendum was conducted on an emergency basis in haste without any formal border demarcation being carried out at the time. Ethiopia can also continue to with-hold the boarder issues in suspense further as the Ethiopian people have not been asked to vote for such referendum.
The current war with the Somali-Islamists has given Meles Zenawi a second chance to regain our access to the sea. The first one was lost with the premature conclusion of the 1998-2000 war with Eritrea. Will PM Meles use Ethiopia’s favorable position in the eyes of the Western world to her advantage and bring back Assab now? Many doubt it, given Meles Zenawi's past record on Eritrean Issues. But it is not an impossible task altogether. This is perhaps another chance for Meles Zenawi to straighten up the wrongs he committed from other political aspects in haste. Ethiopia will for sure get back her port one day with or with out Meles, because the people want it (including the people of Tigre) and it is a just demand for having access to the see for our 80 million Ethiopian peoples. But PM Meles can take the credit for himself if he does this left over homework now. He himself and his children will live in peace for a long time to come, if he manages to return Assab that was given away unfairly to Eritrea as Assab is the only legitimate out let of Ethiopia to the sea. If this mission is accomplished, then overwhelming majority of the Ethiopian population is actually ready to forgive him for his past mistakes. Indeed and very truly indeed, for any government that calls itself 'Ethiopian' there is no other time better than the present one to regain the Assab port.
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AU says Ethiopian troops should leave Somalia
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopian troops waging war against rival Islamists in Somalia should leave the country immediately, the African Union (AU) chief said on Wednesday.
"We call for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops without delay," AU chairman Alpha Omar Konare said in a statement.
"We call for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops without delay," AU chairman Alpha Omar Konare said in a statement. "We appeal for urgent support for the transitional government and the withdrawal of all troops and foreign elements from Somalia."
Konare urged Somalia's interim government and the Somalia Islamic Courts Union to end all hostilities and resume Arab League-sponsored peace talks that collapsed in Sudan last month.
He said an AU-led mission planned to visit both sides in Somalia in the coming days.
After a week of artillery and mortar duels between the two sides that spiralled into open war, Ethiopian-backed government troops were advancing on the Islamists' stronghold Mogadishu.
Somalia's envoy to Ethiopia said the joint force planned to besiege the capital until the Islamists laid down their arms.
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Ethiopians nearing Somali capital
BBC News Map
Ethiopian and Somali government forces are advancing towards Somalia's capital Mogadishu, which is currently held by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
Earlier, they seized the strategic town of Jowhar, 90 km from the capital, from Islamist militias during a dawn attack.
At the weekend Ethiopia began a major offensive against the UIC, which held much of central and southern Somalia.
Jowhar is a former UIC stronghold, and its loss leaves the Islamists with control of little more than the coast.
The Ethiopian and pro-government Somali troops are reported to be only 30 km from Mogadishu.
Dear Professor David Shinn,
I read your comments and concerns about the situation in the Horn of Africa, and you have been reported in the LA Times by the Times Staff Writer, Edmund Sanders, to have said: ""I don't understand what Ethiopia's objective is..." Sir, when a Jihad is declared on any country, what other objective would it have, except to defend itself?
The concerted effort of Egypt, Libya, Hezbollah, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran... etc., all of them Islamic countries and some known terrorist groups, has always been to destabilize Ethiopia by every possible means. I would like to quote a recent report by Reuters that you might have missed: -
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10884941.htm
where all these counties have been identified and listed as being behind all the foreign fighters in Somalia. So, there is no way for Ethiopia to just sit back and watch these developments as these terrorists get more and more entrenched in the area, and come across to invade and exact punishment. For the last several years, they have covertly sent terrorist into Ethiopia, where in Addis Ababa and other cities they threw bombs, killing many innocent people, destroying properties, and creating havoc.
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So, Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns in Somalia. The anarchy that prevailed there for the last fifteen years, where the one Somali group has been fighting another in clannish turf wars should never be allowed to spread into Ethiopia. Ethiopian authorities have the sacred duty and responsibility of securing the nation's borders and of providing law and order in a land, which is home to close to 80 million people.
Finally, you are reported to have concluded by saying: "...international leaders should immediately intervene and push to remove all foreign fighters from Somalia." I could not agree with you more. In fact, that should have been done a year or two ago. But by foreign fighters, I hope you do not only mean Ethiopians, as the foreign fighters there have come from all those countries listed above, and have been there for several years hatching their plans to invade Ethiopia. It is because this was not done by the “international leaders” timely that Ethiopia has had to engage in this war that it ill affords.
I hope this answer your question. And I also hope Ethiopia cleans up the mess in that area and withdraws immediately. I do not want to see my country bogged down as an occupying force. But it is important that these so called, "international leaders" can guaranty no foreign shipment of arms will ever again come into Somalia. Otherwise, we will be in a similar situation within a few months or years.
G. E. Gorfu
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Islamists Retreat in Somalia
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 27 — The Islamist forces once in control of much of Somalia are crumbling faster than anyone expected and beat a hasty retreat back to their stronghold in Mogadishu, Somalia’s battle-scarred capital, on Tuesday.
By dawn, Buurhakaba, a large inland town, had fallen to the Islamists’ rivals, along with nearby Dinsoor and Bulo Burti, where just a few weeks ago the clerics in charge were threatening to behead people who did not pray five times a day.
“Our entire defense system was instantly overrun,” said Ibrahim Diris, a medic for the Islamist forces who narrowly escaped capture in Buurhakaba. “They attacked us with tanks, planes, helicopters and infantry. Thank God they spared the ambulances.”
Some women threw stones at the Islamist commanders and shouted, “Fight your own holy war!”
The Islamist fighters, who had seemed invincible after taking Mogadishu from the city’s warlords in June, now seem powerless to stop the steady advance of the internationally recognized transitional government and the Ethiopian forces that are backing it.
By nightfall, the transitional government’s troops were 50 miles from Mogadishu, calling for the Islamists to surrender. The Islamist leaders refused, saying they would take their fight “everywhere,” possibly a threat to unleash guerrilla tactics and suicide bombers, which they have already used.
The fast-moving developments seemed to confirm what United Nations officials and witnesses in Somalia have been saying since the fighting erupted a week ago: that the teenage troops of the Islamists, however religiously inspired, were no match for the better-trained Ethiopian-backed force, with its tanks and fighter jets.
Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, said Tuesday that his soldiers and their Somali allies had “broken the back” of the Islamists and killed more than 1,000 fighters, though United Nations officials have put the toll substantially below that.
But the conflict is hardly over. Thousands of people continue to march through the streets of Mogadishu, rallying for the Islamists, and analysts are unanimous that an Ethiopian occupation of Mogadishu, a city thick with weapons and xenophobia, could become a bloodbath.
In Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government, leaders said they were planning to take the capital, where they had been afraid to work until now.
“It’s just a matter of time,” said Hussein Saylan, chief of the transitional cabinet, from a command center where radios crackled in the background. “We’re moving swiftly toward Mogadishu, and the Islamists are panicking. We’re finishing them off as we go.”
Ethiopian soldiers are seen on a tank in 2001. Ethiopia moved tanks and other reinforcements into the battle zone for a third day of fighting against Islamist forces in southern Somalia, witnesses said, while the Islamists vowed an all-out war.(AFP/ANP/File)
Witnesses said Ethiopian fighter jets and helicopter gunships fired missiles at the retreating Islamists in pickup trucks — easy targets in the open desert.
In Mogadishu, the Islamists began fortifying the airport, radio station and other important buildings, preparing for a siege. Shopkeepers emptied their stores. Some families fled their homes and drove off with tents and water jugs in the back of their cars.
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Western intelligence officials said soldiers from Eritrea were furiously distributing antiaircraft missiles to the Islamists, and residents in Mogadishu said they had already heard them being test fired. According to United Nations officials, thousands of fighters from Eritrea, Yemen, Syria and Libya have streamed into Somalia to wage a holy war against Ethiopia, a country with a long Christian history that today is about half Muslim.
Ethiopia and Eritrea are bitter enemies, having recently fought a costly border war that is still unresolved.
On Tuesday, Mr. Meles said, “The only forces we are pursuing are Eritreans who are hiding behind the skirts of Somali women.”
Though diplomats in Africa have expressed concerns about the conflict in Somalia exploding into a wider regional war, most have been noticeably silent about Ethiopia’s aggressive tactics. Ethiopian officials have said they sided with the transitional government because Somalia’s Islamist movement was a regional menace.
Patrick Mazimhaka, a high-ranking African Union official, told the BBC that Ethiopia was within its rights to strike.
“It is up to every country to judge the measure of the threat to its own sovereignty,” he said.
American officials have given Ethiopia, one its closest allies in Africa, their tacit approval to do what is necessary to neutralize the Islamists, whom American intelligence agents have accused of sheltering terrorists with Al Qaeda. But American officials have asked Ethiopia to avoid strikes that could kill large numbers of civilians, and so far Ethiopia seems to be cooperating.
On Tuesday, analysts in Nairobi said American surveillance planes were funneling battlefield intelligence to Ethiopian forces.
Maj. Kelley Thibodeau, spokeswoman for the task force of American military personnel based in nearby Djibouti, said she was “not at liberty to discuss” the matter.
Though there are more than 100 American soldiers training Ethiopian troops, Major Thibodeau said: “Officially, we haven’t put anybody in Somalia. The Americans don’t go forward with the Ethiopians. They are training Ethiopians in Ethiopia.”
As the Ethiopian-backed forces continued their rout, it seemed that the Islamists might have overplayed their hand. Just a few months ago, the Islamists were the most powerful force in Somalia and popular in many areas for restoring order after 15 years of anarchy. The transitional government, an assortment of clan elders and former warlords, had been marooned in Baidoa, too weak to extend its authority beyond the city limits. Instead, it had been urging the Islamists to return to peace talks to discuss sharing power.
But all that changed last Wednesday at dawn, when the Islamists attacked Baidoa from two directions. Witnesses said waves of young fighters were summarily mowed down by the more experienced Ethiopian-backed troops. Then on Saturday, the Islamists announced that Somalia was open to Muslim fighters across the world who wanted to wage a jihad against Ethiopia.
The next day, Ethiopia struck, its military pushing deep into Somalia to begin wiping out the Islamist forces.
“Our entire defense system was instantly overrun,” said Ibrahim Diris, a medic for the Islamist forces who narrowly escaped capture in Buurhakaba. “They attacked us with tanks, planes, helicopters and infantry. Thank God they spared the ambulances.”
The question now is whether Ethiopian forces will try to seize Mogadishu.
At the United Nations on Tuesday, the special envoy for Somalia, François Lonseny Fall, urged the Security Council to call for a cease-fire, saying that although the interim government’s forces were advancing toward Mogadishu, they were “still facing stiff resistance” in several areas. Speaking at an emergency session, he said he feared that continuing violence could have “serious consequences” for the entire region.
Ethiopia’s deputy foreign minister, Tekeda Alemu, said taking Mogadishu was not part of the plan.
“We are a poor country and we know that what we can accomplish is limited,” he said. “We don’t want to go into Mogadishu. We want the two sides to talk.”
But neither side seemed ready to negotiate. “The war is entering a new phase,” said Sheik Sharif Ahmed, a top Islamist leader. “We will fight Ethiopia for a long, long time and we expect the war to go everywhere.”
The toll is piling up. At Benadir hospital in Mogadishu, a crowd of women pushed at the gates to see wounded sons and husbands. Some women threw stones at the Islamist commanders and shouted, “Fight your own holy war!”
Yussuf Maxamuud and Mohammed Ibrahim contributed reporting from Mogadishu, and Elissa Gootman from the United Nations.
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Ethiopia routed terrorist forces in Somalia - Meles
Ethiopian, TFG Forces routing international terrorist forces in and around Baidoa: PM Meles
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
December 27, 2006 - Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopian forces and the forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia have broken the back of international terrorist forces in and around Baidoa, and the latter are now in full retreat.
Meles said the main forces that the Ethiopian defense forces and that of the TFG faced particularly around Baidoa were not Somali forces as such. “They were Eritrean troops, international terrorists and some elements of the so-called Shabab," Meles said in a press conference he gave to local and international journalists here on Tuesday.
“Our commanders have got the list of international terrorists, people outside of Somalia who were wounded and being treated at a hospital in the town of Diinsoor when the town was occupied,” Meles said.
“Not only did we get the names of those Eritreans, but the list of names of people who carry British Passports. So when we talk about international terrorists, we mean international. Not just Middle East," he added.
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Meles said something like 290 non-Somalis, who were wounded, were being treated at the Hospital in Diinsoor.
“The whole of Middle Somalia is now free from these terrorist groups, and Baidoa is not under threat any more,” Meles said.
Meles said, so far Ethiopian troops have not entered any town, and it is only the TFG forces that have gone into towns. "Liberating towns is not Ethiopia’s agenda. Our army has avoided even the small towns that have been liberated so far.”
He added, “There are no specific towns that we target to liberate. We have no specific agenda of targeting Mogadishu or any other specific town. We are not after towns, we are after the terrorist groups.”
“Only senior commanders of our army have entered into these liberated towns, and they did so solely for the purpose of talking to traditional leaders in these towns," Meles said.
“We have done more than half of our mission already. As soon as we complete the other half, and I hope it won’t take us long, we will be out of there," Meles said.
Asked what exactly is Ethiopia's mission, Meles said, “The mission of our defense forces is to protect Ethiopia from the threat posed by the so-called Mujahidin, the Shabab, and their backers - the Eritrean army."
“They pose a very serious threat to us - ‘A clear and present danger’ as our parliament described it. Our mission is to stop that by degrading their military capability to hurt us. Once we have done that, we have completed our mission.”
“So far the Somali people in the areas that our troops and those of the TFG have crossed have been very welcoming to our troops. We have not faced resistance of any kind from the Somalian population – none whatsoever,” he said.
"Much of the UIC militia is out of the game now. They have gone to their clan bases. We have no plan to pursue those. The rank and file of the Islamic Courts militia is not a threat to Ethiopia. It is not the enemy; and we are not pursuing them at all."
Then Premier said, the limited operation of the Ethiopian Air force in Mogadishu was a very carefully carried out operation.
“The Air force limited its activities to the air base at "Balo Dogleey", where there are no civilians. It is an air base where the leadership of the international terrorists have their headquarters," Meles said.
"There was one air raid on Mogadishu International Airport. But it was a very limited one and caused very limited damage, because the intention was not to cause damage, but to warn off civilian planes that are being chartered to ferry Eritrean troops and ammunition into Mogadishu," Meles said.
"The only forces we are pursuing are the remnants of the Eritrean army which have been stationed there, and international terrorists who call themselves Mujahidin," Meles said.
Asked about the extent of the involvement of the Eritrean troops, Meles said, “They are in it up to their neck. They are in it in every form they can. They have their manpower there. They provide leadership. They provide logistics. They provide the conduit for other forces to provide assistance. Those who do not wish to provide assistance directly, do it through the Eritrean government.”
Meles described as "myth" the theory of regional conflagration between Ethiopia and Eritrea. If the Eritrean government had been eager to start a regional war with us, it would not have had to go thousands of kilometers up to Somalia.
Meles said he do not see any reason why this war should be protracted. "I would be very surprised if this thing were not to be wound up over the next days, at most a week or so,” he said.
Asked how Ethiopia would face a guerilla warfare which the terrorists are threatening to launch, Meles said, "Ethiopia will not be there for them to wage a guerilla war.”
“Our hope is that the dialogue between the TFG and the UIC will be revitalized. Our hope is that those foreigners who have been messing around in Somalia would be required to leave, and the Somalis will be left alone to deal with their matter through negotiation," Meles said.
“If our military operation has created an environment which is good for such dialogue, we would be absolutely thrilled,” he added.
Meles said Ethiopia welcomes all peace initiatives being carried out by the international community and that it would fully cooperate to the fruition of such initiatives. "But," he said, "Ethiopia’s intention is not to circumvent the peace talks."
“Our intention is to protect ourselves from the threat that these people posed on us as Ethiopians. Once we do that, we hope the Somalis can do their homework without interference from any body, including Ethiopia.”
Asked about worries of the humanitarian implications of the war, Meles said, he do not think that is a valid worry. "We have not stopped any humanitarian work, and do not have plan to stop any humanitarian work."
ENA
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Prime Minister of Somalia speaks with VOA
The international community is keeping up its push for an end of the fighting in Somalia ; the European Union released a statement that it’s gravely concerned about the clashes between Ethiopia and Somalia ’s Islamist Movement.
VOA’s Horn of Africa correspondent Alula Kebede speaks with the Prime Minister of the Somalia Transitional Government Ali Mohamed Ghedi about the presence of Eritrean troops in his country and the Ethiopian military action.
He rejects the view that Ethiopia is an aggressor in Somalia and he explains the reasons behind the bombing of the Somali airports.
PM Ghedi: - The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has resolved and decided to close the Somalia airspace and the territorial waters as well. So, we have requested the friendly countries those who are kin to support the Government and the Somali people to cooperate and to support us in defending our airspace and also our territorial waters of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
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Special Section: Somalia
In that context, Ethiopian government, which is our neighboring country and committed for our peace and stability for Somalia people and then for the region in defending ourselves from the so called Islamic Courts and their alliances being the terrorists in the region or the world terrorists. So, this is a fact and we are closed our airspace and also our territorial waters against all those aircrafts, ships and resells who are providing foreign troops, terrorists, logistics, weapons and ammunitions to the foreign fighters who are linked with the international terrorists in Somalia and also in the Horn of Africa region. This is a decision of the government; this is a bilateral cooperation between Somalia and Ethiopia and also the other governments in the region.
VOA - Mr. Prime Minister, as you have suggested earlier you have decided to close all borders sea and land for security reasons. What’s your rational behind this decision?
PM Ghedi: – The rational behind this decision is that the main reason foreign militant fighters who are linked with the international terrorism or al-Quaeda network were using the Somalia seaports and airports by providing their forces, weapons and ammunitions and explosives as well as logistics in order to destabilize the Horn of African country of Somalia and the region as well. So, we have decided as the government to close all our borders in terms of land, sea and the airspace. This is a line with the international rules and regulations for the protection of mankind in the world.
VOA: - Mr. Prime Minister, how could you enforce the closure of these borders in terms of feasibility?
PM Ghedi: - The war against terrorism in the Horn of Africa region is not only a national issue but it’s also a regional and international one. So, we have requested the neighbors the friendly countries those who are keen to support to the government of the Somali people to provide security in our airspace territorial waters and the land as well. So, the first country who decided to support us since the terrorists have officially declared and they stated that they are targeting the government and the people of Ethiopia in order to destabilize the region.
VOA: - Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi on the other side you have been repeatedly reporting that the Eritrean government was providing support including military weapons to the Islamic Courts. What’s the extent of the Eritrean government at this juncture?
PM Ghedi: – The involvement of the Eritrean government is to the highest level. They were providing troops, weapons and ammunitions; they were providing training the Jihadists in Somalia and also in their countries. So, this is what has attracted the government of Ethiopia to intervene the case because you can understand the linkage between the opposition groups of OLF and ONLF who are tiding with the so called Jihadists or Islamists in Mogadishu and elsewhere and also the government of Eritrea so. These are the enemies of the government and the people of Ethiopia . So, this is the reason why the government of Ethiopia is involved in this case in order to protect themselves.
Source: - VOA, December 26, 2006
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UN council fails to agree on plea to end Somali war
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 26 (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy urged the Security Council on Tuesday to call for an immediate halt in the fighting in Somalia or risk a broader conflict and greater instability in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation.
Failure to reach a political settlement through a resumption of talks between Somali Islamists and interim government forces "would be disastrous for the long-suffering people of Somalia and could also have serious consequences for the entire region," said Francois Lonseny Fall of Guinea, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for Somalia.
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But the 15-nation council was unable to reach agreement on such an appeal after Qatar, its sole Arab member, insisted the statement also call for the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian forces -- as well as all other foreign forces -- from Somalia.
The other council members backed a statement calling instead only for "unauthorized" forces to pull out, a phrase they argued would not apply to Ethiopian troops which were there at the invitation of the interim government.
After more than three hours of negotiations, diplomats said the council was split 14 to one on the matter and suspended their efforts until Wednesday afternoon.
In the meantime, the Arab League, the African Union and the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which brokered the installation of Somalia's shaky transitional government in 2004, were due to meet in Addis Ababa on Wednesday to discuss the situation, Fall said.
A British diplomat involved in the talks, speaking on condition he not be identified by name, said the Qatari approach was flawed as it "put the cart before the horse."
The approach favored by the other 14 council members would first call for a cease-fire, followed by a resumption of peace talks between the Islamists and the government, in hopes of ultimately reaching a deal creating the necessary conditions for a withdrawal of all foreign forces, this diplomat said.
GOVERNMENT SAYS ETHIOPIA 'ACTING LEGALLY'
The Qatari approach also risked backfiring as the Ethiopians were likely to ignore a plea to withdraw for now, this diplomat said.
Somalia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Idd Beddel Mohamed, defended the Ethiopian intervention, saying Addis Ababa had sent troops "at the invitation of the transitional federal government, and is acting legally under international law."
Mohamed said he had privately assured council members that his government was committed to a resumption of talks with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in hopes of national reconciliation.
The council split as Ethiopia said it was halfway to crushing the Islamists with its forces advancing on Mogadishu, the Somali capital and ICU stronghold, after a week of war.
Somalia's envoy to Addis Ababa said Ethiopian troops were within 40 miles (70 km) of Mogadishu and could capture it in 24 to 48 hours.
Fall said there were reports of government forces marching toward Mogadishu from two directions. "However, they are still facing stiff resistance from the Union of Islamic Courts militias and their allies in several areas," he said.
He said the fighting was spreading rapidly across areas previously held by the ICU, with forces loyal to the interim government taking control of, or advancing on, many towns outside their stronghold of Baidoa.
Some 35,000 Somali refugees had already already fled to neighboring Kenya to avoid the fighting, and young men fleeing Mogadishu had told aid groups that children were being forcibly recruited as soldiers, Fall said.
The fighting had also undermined efforts to aid 2 million people in south-central Somalia affected either by war or by earlier heavy flooding in the area, he said. All international aid workers had been evacuated from the area, Fall said.
U.N. agencies and relief groups would try to resume aid deliveries using local personnel but could do so only to the extent they could gain access to the affected areas and carry out their work in safety, he said.
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U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia
The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 — The United States on Tuesday signaled its support for the Ethiopian offensive in Somalia, calling it a response to “aggression” by Islamists who have since the summer been consolidating power in the country.
Read more from The New York Times
US defends Ethiopian attacks in Somalia, urges 'maximum' restraint
WASHINGTON (AFP)
"Ethiopia has genuine security concerns"
United States State Department
The United States defended Ethiopia's attacks on Islamists in Somalia that have reportedly claimed more than 1,000 lives but urged the Ethiopian government to exercise "maximum restraint" in its intervention.
"Ethiopia has genuine security concerns with regard to developments within Somalia and has provided support at the request of legitimate governing authority -- the Transitional Federal Institutions," State Department spokesman Gonzo Gallegos told reporters.
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Kenya has asked Ethiopia to stop strikes against the Somalia Islamic militia.
Up to 1,000 Islamists dead in Ethiopia offensive-Meles
Special Section: Somalia
But he said the United States "urged and continue to urge the Ethiopian government to exercise maximum restraint in intervening or responding to developments in Somalia and to assure the protection of civilians.
"The United States remains concerned by the deteriorating security situation and the humanitarian impact of this fighting in Somalia," said Gallegos, as Ethiopia claimed its forces backing the weak Somali government had dealt a massive blow to Islamists, forcing them to retreat after days of battles.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi claimed Tuesday that days of fighting had left more than 1,000 dead, saying he was halfway to a decisive victory in Somalia.
The figure could not be independently confirmed as the Islamists have claimed killing hundreds.
The weak Somali government holds only one major town, Baidoa, in the southern central region, while the Islamic Court Union fighters in June seized the capital Mogadishu from warlords and then extended their control over south and central Somalia.
Somali government fighters began to advance against the Islamist movement after Ethiopian warplanes bombed Mogadishu airport and other airfields to cut supply lines.
Mainly Christian Ethiopia justified intervention on the grounds that the Islamists represent a direct threat to its own security and sovereignty, and has aligned with Washington in linking their radical leaders with the Al-Qaeda terror network.
Gallegos warned that "no Somali party should use external actors as an excuse to avoid further dialogue.
He did not identify them but Meles had said the "enemy" included "many Eritrean troops, international jihadists and Shebab (youth militias)."
"We are working with the international partners in the International Somali Contact Group and in the region to urge all Somali parties to cease any further hostile actions," Gallegos said.
The United States, he added, had instructed ambassadors in the region to meet with governments to urge them to press the Somalis to return to the negotiating table.
"We do not believe it can be resolved on the battlefield," Gallegos said.
Heavy fighting began last week after the Islamists demanded the departure of Ethiopian troops backing the internationally recognised but largely powerless Somali government.
The country of 10 million people has been wracked by conflict since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The UN Security Council was to convene Tuesday for an emergency meeting to hear a briefing from UN special envoy for Somalia Francois Lonseny Fall of Guinea, said Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman.
The Addis Ababa-based African Union, which Monday called for a quick end to the fighting, appeared to back Ethiopia, though it has announced plans to host crisis talks on Wednesday among regional nations and the Arab League.
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Tick, tick, tick
Somalia is a bomb threatening to explode. Washington knows that, but it has no good policy options.
Los Angeles Times Editorial
December 26, 2006
DESPITE THE MANY foreign policy failings of this administration, in one thing President Bush has always been dead right: his diagnosis of the dangers of failed states as breeding grounds for terror, crime and despair. After 9/11, the Bush administration understood that weak states could not only endanger their inhabitants and their neighbors but also, to the extent that places like Afghanistan gave haven to terrorists or other "non-state actors," they could menace the rest of the world. The September 2002 National Security Strategy report summed up the threat: "America is now threatened less by conquering states than we are by failing ones."
Somalia has since 1991 been on the international watch list of places with nonexistent or nonfunctioning governments that could easily become incubators for mayhem. Garrett Jones, a retired CIA case officer, recently wrote in our pages that Somalia long ago ceased to be a failed state and is more properly a "space between countries."
Now, like a cancer we can monitor but not cure, the agony of Somalia (and its "Black Hawk Down" memories for Americans) has metastasized from violent, warlord-dominated anarchy into a bellicose, fundamentalist Islamic regime that controls much of the country. As in Afghanistan, its Islamic courts have brought some much-needed law and order, but its new rulers are emulating the Taliban in all the harshest ways. And, just as Osama bin Laden requested, they're plenty cozy with Al Qaeda. While U.S. officials say they have confirmed the presence of only half a dozen senior Al Qaeda leaders in Somalia, the number of Al Qaeda members or affiliates is in the hundreds.
Meanwhile, the Islamists and their everbelligerent neighbors, including Ethiopia and Eritrea, are all preparing for a nasty proxy war that is likely to engulf the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia attacked Islamist positions in Somalia on Sunday. And, as if a major regional war weren't dreadful enough, a civil war is also beginning between the Islamists and the weak, unpopular band in the hinterlands of Baidoa that passes for an internationally-backed Somali government. The Islamists are virtually certain to win. Refugees are already on the move as civilians in Baidoa, sizing up the military odds, vote with their feet. Estimates are that 400,000 people could flee to Kenya, where they are unlikely to receive a delighted welcome.
Knowing the dangers of allowing Somalia to fester, could the Bush administration have prevented this? Sure. But the cost of doing so was unacceptably high — to the administration, to Congress, to the American people, to the Europeans and to the United Nations. None of the options for serious nation building in xenophobic, tribal Somalia are politically, financially or morally palatable.
The U.S. could have backed the least odious of Somalia's warlords — surely a human rights abuser — and hoped that dictatorship would prove better than anarchy, that "our" warlord would prove malleable and educable and that he could eventually be forced to hold elections or be retired to south Florida. That well-worn model has earned a justifiably bad reputation. We could have occupied the country ourselves — if anybody had wanted to, and if we hadn't been busy remaking Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. could have, as some idealists proposed, asked the U.N. Security Council to place Somalia under international trusteeship (that's temporary colonization by a nicer name). And who would have volunteered the troops and the money for such a quixotic mission?
Correct diagnosis is a vital first step. But with failing states, the cures are more elusive.
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Your enemy’s enemy is your friend
By Leoul Mekonen
I read the following piece in Los Angeles Times under the title "Somalia could be Ethiopia’s quagmire", and I would like to comment on the Ethio- Somali war.
"The U.S. has worked closely with Ethiopia, including training elements of its military, in its four-year effort to contain the spread of Islamic extremism in the Horn of Africa. U.S. officials repeatedly have denied using Ethiopia as a proxy against Somali Islamists, and have insisted that they argued against an Ethiopian invasion with officials in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital."
It is very easy to deny the involvement of U.S. in the Ethio-Somali war. Is it politically correct to approve that U.S. is using Ethiopia as a proxy against Somali Islamists? What will be the reaction of United Nations and the Islamic states around the world if the U.S. approves the invasion of Somalia. We know that in our complicated world, the most important thing is political correctness and not honesty. We knew from experience that sometimes leaders like Yassir Arafat gave order to terrorist attacks and at the same time lament and condemn the terrorist acts. Such kind of political game is not new in our world and in some ways U.S. is also a part of this game.
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In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war
WAR OF THE POOR
Ethiopian offensive in Somalia could mirror Iraq war
When it comes to the strong relationship between U.S. and the Meles Zenawi regime in Ethiopia, the U.S. government has never been honest to the rest of the world. First of all, Meles Zenawi is holding power by squashing opposition groups who won during the May 2005 election. The Ethiopian people have demonstrated their support to the opposition groups mainly to Coalition to Unity and Democracy(KINIJIT) by flooding the streets of Addis Ababa like Tsunami. Not a single African country has witnessed such human wave of support for political oppositions as it happened in Addis Ababa during May 2005. The opposition political leaders who now languish in Ethiopia were high profile scholars who have studied, worked and lived in U.S. for many years. They are academics who have been committed to build a democratic society and there is a great deal of resemblance between the incarcerated leaders and the American civil and political rights activists of the 1960's. While U.S. was aware of the fact that the Meles Zenawi regime was tyrannical and hold power by guns, the U.S. state department kept a blind eye and deaf ears for the call of Ethiopians to denounce and stop supporting the Meles Zenawi regime. Despite to the atrocities Meles Zenawi regime inflicted on peaceful citizens, the U.S. continued its strong ties under the pretext of "war on terror".
One of the reasons for the failures of the U.S. foreign policy both in the Middle East and in Horn of Africa is, its old and short-sighted theory which is based on "your enemy's enemy is your friend". We have seen how this principle affected U.S. and our world generally during and after the cold war period. The enemy’s enemy who were supported by U.S. during the cold war era were at last turned to be the nightmares of U.S. We Ethiopians used to believe that U.S. was committed to the establishment of democracy and good governance in Africa. But to our grief and sorrow, we have learned that political interest is more valuable to U.S. than democracy and human rights. When the Meles Zenawi government was clearly condemned by the European Union and criticized for massacring more than 190 peaceful demonstrators in a broad daylight, the U.S. state department was admiring the tyrannical regime of Meles Zenawi as good ally to “war on terror”.
It is clear that the Somali Islamists are enemies to the U.S. but arming and supporting a dictatorial regime with the notion of supporting the enemy's enemy will not bring positive outcome to the U.S. as well as Ethiopians. After all, Ethiopians feel as captives under the Meles Zenawi regime and U.S. is the main contributor to the misery they face each day. During the 1960's there was a saying "if you are black, stay at the back, if you are white you are alright." Now this saying is no more valid but "As long as you stand with U.S., you are free to kill and crush" seems to be the dominant attitude among dictatorial African leaders.
How can U.S. win war on terror by supporting a regime that terrorises its own citizens? In my opinion it is lunatic to think that the Ethiopian army will crush the Islamists. Instead it will raise the patriotic spirit of Somalis and even those who have had negative attitude towards Islamists will prefer to join them. Hating Saddam doesn’t necessarily means to love USA. Any Iraqi father or mother who lost her son by American bomb will sooner or later hates the presence of U.S. army in Iraq. Any Somali who hates the Islamists will be compelled to join the Jihadists when their airport is bombed by Ethiopian troops.
To conclude my comment, it would be wonderful to the U.S. if the government shifts its attitude,” your enemy’s enemy is your friend”. This can give a short term advantage but its consequences and outcomes are grave in the long run. The U.S. can make a fundamental change in our world specially in 2007, by up holding the principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law above political and economic interests. It is smart to learn from previous mistakes and it is not late for the U.S. to make the world a better place by sanctioning dictatorial regimes like Meles Zenawi’s and promoting democratic forces. This will lead U.S. to a long lasting victory. As the Holy Bible teaches us “Man harvests what he has sown” and the U.S. must constantly evaluate what the country has harvested due to its wrong sometimes unethical foreign policy.
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3 Sides Prepare for Battle in Somalia
Tuesday December 26, 2006 7:46 PM
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somalia government soldiers, joined by troops from neighboring Ethiopia, advanced toward Somalia's capital Tuesday as Islamic fighters dug in and promised a ``new phase'' in the war - a chilling pronouncement from a movement that has threatened suicide attacks.
Somalia called on the Council of Islamic Courts militias, bloodied by a week of artillery and mortar attacks, to surrender and promised amnesty if they lay down their weapons, government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.
As many as 1,000 people may have been killed and 3,000 wounded in the fighting, many of them foreign radicals, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said.
"A lot of people in Mogadishu will be very happy to chew some qat and have the Islamic courts out of their way,"
Hurreh, Somali foreign minister, said, referring to the narcotic leaf banned by many of the Islamic courts.
Meles said about 3,000 to 4,000 Ethiopian forces, which entered Somalia on Saturday, may soon wrap up their offensive against the Islamic militias that until recent days controlled most of southern part of the country.
``As soon as we have accomplished our mission - and about half of our mission is done, and the rest shouldn't take long - we'll be out,'' Meles told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Tuesday for a briefing on the clashes.
Ethiopia sent fighter jets streaking deep into militia-held areas Sunday to help Somalia's U.N.-recognized government push back the Islamic militias. Ethiopia bombed the country's two main airports and helped government forces capture several villages.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a top leader of the Islamic group, accused Ethiopian troops of massacring 50 civilians in the central town of Cadado. Ethiopian officials were not immediately available to respond.
Ahmed said his fighters are in tactical retreat in the face of superior Ethiopian firepower. But the military struggle has just begun, he added.
``The war is entering a new phase,'' Ahmed said from Mogadishu, the capital. ``We will fight Ethiopia for a long, long time and we expect the war to go everyplace.''
Ahmed declined to elaborate, but some Islamic leaders have threatened a guerrilla war to include suicide bombings in Addis Ababa.
Ismael Mohamoud Hurreh, Somalia's foreign minister, said Tuesday that the government's small military force has been training for this offensive for five months.
``We will hold our line very, very well, don't worry about that,'' Hurreh told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Experts fear the conflict in Somalia could engulf the region. Islamic courts leaders have repeatedly said they want to incorporate ethnic Somalis living in eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya and Djibouti into a Greater Somalia.
For months, foreign Islamic radicals - including Pakistanis, Arabs and Chechens - have been trickling into Somalia to fight on behalf of the Islamic movement. According to a U.N. report in October, Eritrea has dispatched 2,000 soldiers to Somalia to fight with the Islamic forces against the government.
Ethiopia's Meles said his goal is not to defeat the militias but severely damage their military power - and allow both sides to return to peace talks on an even footing.
``The rank and file of the Islamic Courts militia is not a threat to Ethiopia,'' he said Tuesday. ``Once they return to their bases, we will leave them alone.''
Ethiopian troops will not enter Mogadishu, he said. Instead, he said, Somali forces would encircle the city to contain the militias that control it.
Any effort by the Somali government or Ethiopia to take the capital risks a disaster similar to the U.S. intervention in Somalia in 1992.
That U.N.-sponsored mission ended in 1993, after Somali militiamen shot down a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. Eighteen American servicemen were killed in the crash and vicious street fighting that preceded and followed, made famous in the book and movie ``Black Hawk Down.''
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Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, pushing the country into anarchy.
Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up a central government for the arid, impoverished nation on the Horn of Africa.
But until the past week, the government has not been able to extend its influence outside the city of Baidoa, where it is headquartered, about 140 miles northeast of Mogadishu.
The country was largely under the control of warlords until this past summer, when the Islamic militia movement pushed them aside.
One critical issue for the Somalian government is how clan leaders will respond to the Islamic courts movement's changing fortunes.
Clan elders tend to take the victor's side in the interest of minimizing violence in their villages. The 11 courts that make up the Islamic council are based on clan, vary widely in their interpretation of Islamic law and do not always get along.
Hurreh, the Somali foreign minister, said Somalis will embrace the fall of the Islamic militias. Their severe interpretation of Islam is reminiscent, to some, of Afghanistan's Taliban regime - ousted by a U.S.-led campaign in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden.
``A lot of people in Mogadishu will be very happy to chew some qat and have the Islamic courts out of their way,'' Hurreh said, referring to the narcotic leaf banned by many of the Islamic courts.
Many Somalis, however, are angered by Ethiopia's intervention because the countries have fought two wars over their disputed border in the past 45 years.
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Associated Press writers Salad Duhul in Mogadishu, Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Chris Tomlinson and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.
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PM Meles Zenawi says more than half of mission accomplished in Somalia
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia December 26, 2006 (WIC) – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said today that Ethiopian defense forces have accomplished more than half of their mission in Somalia and will get out of the country as soon they completed the remaining task.
In a press conference he gave to foreign journalists this afternoon,the Premier said ''a joint Somali government and Ethiopian force has broken the back of the international terrorist forces...These forces are in full retreat.'' He added that up to 1,000 Islamist fighters had been killed,out of whom the significant number are not Somalis.
Meles stated that the series of attacks in the past few days were carried out outside populated areas and therefore civilian causalities are totally negligible.The Ethiopian troops have not targeted any specific area or town,but they are going after terrorists wherever they are,he further pointed out.
The PM said the mission of the defense forces is to protect Ethiopia from the threat posed by the Mujehadeen and Shabab.“Our mission is to stop that by degrading their military capability,” he underlined.
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Meles said that Ethiopia hopes that peace and dialogue between the TFG and the UIC will be revitalized. “If our military forces have created conducive environment for that, we will be absolutely thrilled.” he said.
''We will retain trainers but will have no fighting forces'' once the mission is completed,Prime Minister Meles concluded.
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In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war
Salim Lone
Tribune Media Services
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Published In International Herald Tribune
NAIROBI
Undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, the Bush administration has opened another battlefront in the Muslim world. With full U.S. backing and military training, at least 15,000 Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia in an illegal war of aggression against the Union of Islamic Courts, which controls almost the entire south of the country.
As with Iraq in 2003, the United States has cast this as a war to curtail terrorism, but its real goal is to obtain a direct foothold in a highly strategic region by establishing a client regime there. The Horn of Africa is newly oil-rich, and lies just miles from Saudi Arabia, overlooking the daily passage of large numbers of oil tankers and warships through the Red Sea. General John Abizaid, the current U.S. military chief of the Iraq war, was in Ethiopia this month, and President Hu Jintao of China visited Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia earlier this year to pursue oil and trade agreements.
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The U.S. instigation of war between Ethiopia and Somalia, two of world's poorest countries already struggling with massive humanitarian disasters, is reckless in the extreme. Unlike in the run-up to Iraq, independent experts, including from the European Union, were united in warning that this war could destabilize the whole region even if America succeeds in its goal of toppling the Islamic Courts.
An insurgency by Somalis, millions of whom live in Kenya and Ethiopia, will surely ensue, and attract thousands of new anti-U.S. militants and terrorists.
With so much of the world convulsed by crisis, little attention has been paid to this unfolding disaster in the Horn. The UN Security Council, however, did take up the issue, and in another craven act which will further cement its reputation as an anti-Muslim body, bowed to American and British pressure to authorize a regional peacekeeping force to enter Somalia to protect the transitional government, which is fighting the Islamic Courts.
The new UN resolution states that the world body acted to "restore peace and stability." But as all major international news organizations have reported, this year Somalia finally experienced its first respite from 16 years of utter lawlessness and terror at the hands of the marauding warlords who drove out UN peacekeepers in 1993, when 18 American soldiers were killed.
Since 1993, there had been no Security Council interest in sending peacekeepers to Somalia, but as peace and order took hold, a multilateral force was suddenly deemed necessary — because it was the Islamic Courts Union that had brought about this stability. Astonishingly, the Islamists had succeeded in defeating the warlords primarily through rallying people to their side by creating law and order through the application of Shariah law, which Somalis universally practice.
The transitional government, on the other hand, is dominated by the warlords and terrorists who drove out American forces in 1993. Organized in Kenya by U.S. regional allies, it is so completely devoid of internal support that it has turned to Somalia's arch- enemy, Ethiopia, for assistance.
If this war continues, it will affect the whole region, do serious harm to U.S. interests and threaten Kenya, the only island of stability in this corner of Africa.
Ethiopia is at even greater risk, as a dictatorship with little popular support and beset also by two large internal revolts, by the Ogadenis and Oromos. It is also mired in a conflict with Eritrea, which has denied it secure access to seaports.
The best antidote to terrorism in Somalia is stability, which the Islamic Courts have provided. The Islamists have strong public support, which has grown in the face of U.S. and Ethiopian interventions. As in other Muslim-Western conflicts, the world needs to engage with the Islamists to secure peace.
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Fundamentalists in Somalia retreating in disarray
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
December 26, 2006 - The fundamentalist group in Somalia has been retreating in disarray unable to resist the counter offensive launched by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the Transitional Government of Somalia on Monday, the Ministry of Information said.
The counterattack launched against the fundamentalist group has been further intensified in all fronts on Monday, the Ministry said.
In a statement it sent to Ethiopian News Agency late on Monday citing Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry said the fundamentalist group, the Eritrean government, the OLF, ONLF and international Mijahidins have incurred heavy human and material losses since Ethiopia launched counterattacks on Sunday.
The National Defense Forces have been accomplishing their mission in their counterattack which was launched on Sunday after long patience.
The statement said the Ethiopian National Forces together with the forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have controlled Biiradleey, Gelanbuur and Adede towns in the Gaalkaayo front, as well as Kalibeer and Beldweyne towns in Ferfeer Front.
Mogadishu residents run towards the airport after it was attacked by the Ethiopian air force yesterday. Photograph: Abukar Albadri/EPA
The National Defense forces are currently advancing to control Bulo, Borde and Juhar towns.
Moreover, they have controlled Adili town and its vicinities and surrounded Diinsoor town.
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In Buur Hakaba front the National Defense Forces destroyed enemy forces that dug into 20-kilometers away and surrounded Buur Hakaba town.
The Defense Forces have also inflicted heavy damages on institutions controlled by the fundamentalists’ group through air strikes launched on selected targets with the consent of the TFG. The Mogadishu airport was also hit with machine gun fired from the air.
The Ministry said the Ethiopian Air Force would further intensify pounding selected targets.
The people of Somalia in towns liberated from the control of fundamentalists have been expressing their support through rallies to the TFG, the statement said.
Particularly, the public in Adede locality have taken arms to rally behind the Ethiopian Defense forces and the forces of the TFG to fight against the fundamentalist group.
(ENA)
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Up to 1,000 Islamists dead in Ethiopia offensive-Meles
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamists are in full retreat after Ethiopian airstrikes and a ground offensive that have killed up to 1,000 of the religious movement's fighters, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
"A joint Somali government and Ethiopian force has broken the back of the international terrorist forces... These forces are in full retreat," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
"A joint Somali government and Ethiopian force has broken the back of the international terrorist forces... These forces are in full retreat," Meles told reporters in Addis Ababa, adding that up to 1,000 Islamist fighters had been killed.
"A few are Somali but the majority are foreigners," he said of the dead.
Addis Ababa has vowed to protect Somalia's weak interim government from rival Islamists based in Mogadishu. A week of artillery and mortar duels between the two sides has spiralled into open war that both sides say has killed hundreds.
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Meles said most fighters of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) had fled to their home areas. He said Ethiopian forces were now hunting down troops from his arch-foe Eritrea, which he accuses of supporting the Islamists.
"The only forces we are pursuing are Eritreans who are hiding behind the skirts of Somali women, and terrorist mujahideen," Meles said.
"The only forces we are pursuing are Eritreans who are hiding behind the skirts of Somali women, and terrorist mujahideen," Meles said.
Ethiopia says the SICC has recruited foreign jihadists, and that a handful of almost 300 prisoners taken after one battle for a central Somali town held British passports.
Meles said he had sent between 3,000 and 4,000 Ethiopian troops into Somalia, but denied they were occupiers. He said it was a small force, but carried a lot of firepower.
"Our military is skirting the towns and attacking only military bases," he said.
"We have already completed half our mission, and as soon as we finish the second half, our troops will leave Somalia."
He said he had information 3,000 wounded had been taken to hospital in the Islamist stronghold Mogadishu. But he said there were few civilian casualties because most of the fighting had taken place away from settlements.
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Ethiopian forces near Somali capital
Tuesday December 26, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Mogadishu residents run towards the airport after it was attacked by the Ethiopian air force yesterday. Photograph: Abukar Albadri/EPA
Ethiopia today pressed on with its offensive against Somali Islamists and threatened to seize the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
At least two Ethiopian jets fired missiles on retreating Islamist forces, prompting the interim Somali government to claim a partial victory.
Hundreds of troops have been killed during a week of heavy artillery and mortar fighting amid fears that it could spark a wider regional conflict in the Horn of Africa.
"Ethiopian forces are on their way to Mogadishu. They are about 40 miles away and it is possible they could capture it in the next 24 to 48 hours," Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia, Abdikarin Farah, told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
But the Islamists, who insisted their withdrawal was "tactical", warned that any attempt to take Mogadishu would end in disaster for the attackers.
"It will be their destruction and doomsday," the Islamist spokesman Abdi Kafi said. "We will fight to the last man until we ensure there are no more Ethiopian troops in our country."
The Islamists, who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June, claim broad popular support and say their main aim is to restore order under sharia law after years of anarchy since the 1991 ousting of the dictator Siad Barre.
Ethiopia, which fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep, accuses the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) of wanting to annex Ethiopia's ethnically Somali Ogaden region. Addis Ababa has sided with the internationally recognised, but weak, transitional government, based in Baidoa.
Diplomats fear the fighting will draw in Eritrea on the side of the Islamists.
"What is happening in Somalia is very, very dangerous and will have consequences in the Horn," the Eritrean information minister, Ali Abdu, told Reuters in Asmara.
The African Union (AU) has backed Ethiopia's right to intervene in what has been seen as a potentially significant endorsement that may further embolden Addis Ababa.
The AU deputy chairman, Patrick Mazimhaka, told the BBC that Ethiopia had given the organisation - set up to stop conflicts across Africa - "ample warning" that it felt threatened.
"It is up to every country to judge the measure of the threat to its own sovereignty," he said. Diplomats say Kenya, which is taking in a flood of Somali refugees across its northern border, is working behind the scenes to broker ceasefire talks.
Thousands of Somali Islamist fighters crammed into camouflage-painted trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns headed out from Mogadishu and elsewhere to reinforce their comrades beaten back from frontlines around the south central town of Baidoa.
The air strikes at Leego and Jama'ada - east of Buur Hakaba, a town recaptured by pro-government forces today - marked the third day of such attacks by Ethiopian planes.
After the Islamist withdrawal, residents and local militiamen looted Buur Hakaba, 20 miles east of Baidoa, stealing boxes of food and medicine, witnesses said.
"The town is in total chaos," said the resident Adan Hassan.
Analysts say Ethiopia's heavy arms and MiG warplanes helped them halt an initial Islamist attack and saved the transitional government from being driven out of Baidoa.
"This is the first stage of victory ... When this is all over, we will enter Mogadishu peacefully," the Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told Reuters by telephone from Baidoa.
Despite its hopes for a quick win, the transitional government fears renewed assaults or a guerrilla campaign, particularly from hardliners within the SICC.
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