Ethiopia protects UN troops
2006-07-21 07:30
Mogadishu - Hundreds of Ethiopian troops in armoured vehicles rolled into Somalia to protect their allies in this country's virtually powerless government from Islamic militants who controlled the capital.
The move could give the United States-backed Somali government its only chance of curbing the Islamic militia's increasing power.
But, Ethiopia's incursion could also be just the provocation the militia needed to build public support for a guerrilla war.
A top Islamic official, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, said: "We will declare jihad if the Ethiopian government refuses to withdraw their troops from Somalia."
The neighbouring countries were traditional enemies, although Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed had asked Ethiopia for its support.
Somalia 'without effective govt'
Thousands of Somalis had taken to the streets in recent weeks to denounce witness accounts of Ethiopian troops along the border.
The US on Thursday urged Ethiopia to exercise restraint and said the European Union, America, the African Union, the Arab League and others in an international contact group on Somalia would meet soon to consider the volatile situation.
Somalia had been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and later turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
The government, which included some warlords linked to the violence of the past, was established with the support of the United Nations to help Somalia emerge from anarchy.
But the body wielded no real power, had no military and only operated in Baidoa, about 150km east of the Ethiopian border.
Islamists seize Mogadishu
Witnesses said the Ethiopians, wearing their national military uniforms, deployed on Thursday at the airport outside Baidoa, had set up a fenced compound near the transitional president's home in the city.
The Islamic militia of the Supreme Islamic Courts Council stepped into the power vacuum in recent months, seizing the capital of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia.
On Wednesday, the militia reached within 35km of Baidoa, prompting the government to go on high alert.
The militia began pulling back on Thursday as more than 400 Ethiopian troops entered Baidoa. According to the witnesses, soldiers smiled and waved to residents before setting up their camp.
According to a statement, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed concerns about the increased tensions near Baidoa and urged dialogue.
The UN statement said Annan "called on the Somali parties to refrain from actions that could further strain relations between the Transitional Federal Institutions and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Courts".
The US had accused the Supreme Islamic Courts Council of links to al-Qaeda that included sheltering suspects in the deadly 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
- AP