Saturday, July 22, 2006
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Ethiopian military personnel landed at a Somali airbase on Saturday as the country’s newly empowered Islamists withdrew from talks many hoped would stop Somalia’s slide toward war.
Witnesses in recent days have reported seeing Ethiopian troops mobilized to defend the fragile Somali government’s provincial base in Baidoa against Islamist militia advancing from Mogadishu.
Residents and aid workers in the southwestern town of Wajid said Ethiopian soldiers seized the airport from gunmen serving the local authorities overnight, before receiving two helicopters carrying Ethiopian forces on Saturday afternoon.
“Ethiopian military have been landing at the airport,” said one Wajid resident, who did not want to be named.
Diplomats fear Somalia is on the verge of major conflict after Islamist militia moved their closest to Baidoa this week.
The Islamist leadership, vowing holy war, has called on the Horn of African nation of 10 million to prepare to fight against the foreign troops, as Addis Ababa threatened to crush any attack on its ally, President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government.
Hopes of a quick diplomatic breakthrough were dashed after a senior Islamist leader said a second round of talks, due to take place in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, had been suspended.
Foreign powers hoped the Arab League-brokered negotiations would stop an increasingly belligerent standoff between the two sides from spiraling into war.
“We do not negotiate with a government which is being helped by the enemy of Somalia,” Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said in a letter to Islamist delegates to the talks in reference to Ethiopia.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
MILITARY MOVES
Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and possible Islamist aspirations to create a “Greater Somalia” that would incorporate Ethiopia’s southeastern ethnically Somali Ogaden region.
Analysts believe Ethiopia, the Horn’s dominant power, has sent up to 5,000 troops into Somalia, and is massing more on the border to deter Islamist advances.
A source close to Somali government leaders admitted the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil.
“They are there, but not in the big numbers people are saying. But believe me, if the Islamists attack, they will come,” said the source, who did not wish to be named.
“Our national army is not set up yet, and they have many militias, so we need assistance.”
Several residents in Baidoa said more Ethiopian forces and armoured vehicles arrived overnight to help guard the parliament, presidential palace and airport.
“Ten more Ethiopian military vehicles arrived last night with around 300 troops,” said former militiaman and Baidoa resident Abdirizak Adan.
“The Ethiopian troops have changed their uniforms and are now wearing the same clothes as the Somali government soldiers.”
The government imposed a curfew on Baidoa three days ago, Adan said.
More than 50 pickup trucks mounted with heavy arms left Mogadishu, the Islamist stronghold which they captured from U.S.-backed warlords last month, various residents said.
They said the Islamist militia were joined by Eritrean and Ethiopian rebel forces and were heading to Baidoa and Buur Hakaba, a town 60 kms (37 miles).
The reported movements could not be independently verified.
Analysts say possible Eritrean involvement may be driven by Asmara’s poor relations with Addis Ababa, deadlocked over an unresolved border dispute. In a May report, the United Nations accused Asmara of funneling arms to the Somali Islamists during their rise to power — a charge Eritrea denies.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in Khartoum)
Source: Reuters, July 22, 2006
