Tuesday, July 25, 2006
By Chris Tomlinson
BAIDOA, Somalia (AP) – A top United Nations envoy arrived Tuesday at the base of Somalia’s weak, UN-backed transitional government for one day meetings with senior government officials and their rival Islamic aimed at easing tension in the country following reports of Ethiopian troops present in Somalia.
Francois Lonseny Fall, the special representative to Somalia of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is in Somalia to try to reach an agreement on negotiations between Somalia’s Islamic courts that control most of southern Somalia and President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government.
Arab League-sponsored talks between the two sides collapsed in Khartoum, Sudan Saturday with Islamic court representatives walking out in protest at Ethiopian troops presence in Somalia and the government side wanting international guarantees that any agreement reached would be respected.
Ethiopian and Somali government officials deny that Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia, despite widespread witness accounts that the soldiers arrived five days ago to help ward off Islamic militants who have been accused of links to al-Qaida.
Fall made no comment to journalists as he went into closed-door meetings with Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden. The compound where they are meeting is under heavy security.
Fall is scheduled to go later on Tuesday to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to meet with officials of the Islamic courts.
“The Ethiopians have denied the occupation in our land, but we shall show the world corpses or PoWs from their ranks,” Sheik Muqtar Robow, deputy defence chief for the Islamic group, said Monday during an anti-Ethiopia rally that drew 5,000 people in Mogadishu.
Ethiopia, a largely Christian country, is the longtime enemy of Somalia, which is mostly Muslim. Somali government leaders may be reluctant to acknowledge that the Ethiopians have come to their aid because they don’t want to appear beholden to a traditional adversary. Yusuf is allied with Ethiopia and has asked for its support.
Anti-Ethiopian sentiment ran high during the rally organized by the Supreme Islamic Courts Council militia, which seized control of the capital and much of the rest of southern Somalia after months of bloody battles. More than 5,000 enraged Somalis packed a stadium in the capital, Mogadishu, burned an Ethiopian flag and carried signs that said, “We Must Fight Them!”
“I came here to show that the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia is illegal,” said Amina Hagi, a mother of four in Mogadishu, where anti-Ethiopian sentiment runs high.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
A new government, which includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, was established almost two years ago with the support of the UN. But the body wields no real power, has no military and only operates in Baidoa, 240 kilometres northwest of Mogadishu.
The Islamic militia stepped in and seized control of most of southern Somalia – prompting grave concerns in the United States, which accuses the group of harbouring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Somali witnesses in several towns reported seeing them cross from Ethiopia five days ago and enter Baidoa, after the Islamic militia moved within striking distance of the town. Ethiopian troops also were spotted in nearby Wajid.
Solomon Abebe, spokesman for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refused Monday to address the witness accounts of Ethiopian troops, but lashed out at the Islamic militia’s leader, calling Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys “scum” and a terrorist.
Salad Ali Jeeley, the government’s deputy information minister, said Monday’s rally was “aimed at igniting the conflict in Somalia.”
Source: AP, July 25, 2006
