Sunday, June 18, 2006
AFP
Somalia’s powerful Islamic alliance, which has taken control of several areas in the country, has claimed that Ethiopia has deployed troops inside its borders, heightening tension as defeated warlords left the capital aboard a US military vessel.
Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed, the leader of the Joint Islamic Courts, said 300 Ethiopian troops entered through the southwestern border post of Dollow early yesterday, apparently to counter the increasingly powerful Islamic group.
“Ethiopia has massed troops at its border with Somalia and we are getting information that they have entered Somalia,” Ahmed told AFP.
“There is no reason at this stage to warrant Ethiopia bringing more troops to the border. I am urging Ethiopia to refrain from these acts that would spoil relations with Somalia.
“What is going on in Somalia has nothing to do with Ethiopia,” he said, explaining that the US was encouraging Addis Ababa to check the advance of radical Islamic militia and protect Somalia’s fledgling transitional government.
There was no independent confirmation of any Ethiopian military presence in Somalia. Officials in Addis Ababa denied that any Ethiopian soldiers had entered Somalia.
“Ethiopia is not part of any conflict between the warlords and (Islamic) fundamentalists. We are very concerned. We are carefully monitoring the situation,” said Bereket Simon, a senior official in Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s office.
A key ally of the US in the global war against terrorism, Ethiopia has reacted warily to the swift victory of the Islamic Courts’ forces, which routed the US-backed warlords from their strongholds and are extending their control northwards, targeting Beledweyne, a key access town to Ethiopia, about 300km north of the capital.
Ethiopia’s alleged incursion into Somalia came as a US military vessel picked up and took warlords Musa Sudi Yalahow and Bashir Raghe Shirar from their clan’s protection in north Mogadishu to an unknown destination, while Omar Muhmoud Finnish joined the Islamists, effectively ridding the capital of the pro-US warlords, aides said.
The trio were members of the US-backed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), formed in February to help fight the Islamists, who are accused by Western intelligence of having links with extremist groups such as al Qaeda and harbouring foreign fighters.
The Islamists have taken control of swathes of territory from warlords, who either have fled or defected to the courts.
In addition, defeated warlords Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, Issa Botan Ali and Abdu Nur Said surrendered their weapons to the courts in the Galguduud region, neighbouring Hiiraan in central Somalia, where Muslim preachers are opening Sharia tribunals, residents said.
In Jowhar, 90km north of the capital, Islamists started setting up new systems of governance after winning the backing of influential clan elders and pledged to help newly formed administrations ensure security.
Since the clashes erupted in Mogadishu in February, at least 360 people have been killed and more than 2 000 others wounded, many of them civilians, but residents say the toll could be much higher.
Washington’s concerns over the rising power of Islamic radicals in Somalia manifested themselves in February when it sponsored the creation of the ARPCT, giving the alliance cash and intelligence support to search and kill extremists.
The courts have denied the charges, insisting that they have instead slowly managed to restore stability in Somalia, a feat that the combined might of the United Nations, the US and the Somali government have failed to accomplish.
Since Barre was toppled, Somalia has been wracked by factional fighting, scuppering more than 14 internationally-backed efforts to restore a functional government in the impoverished country of about 10 million.
While Washington has never publicly confirmed or denied bolstering warlords, US officials have told AFP that it is essential to help to rein in the advance of the Islamists, which they viewed as “creeping Talibanisation”.
A US-inspired group, comprising envoys from the US, Norway, Britain, Sweden, Italy, the European Union and Tanzania to promote reconciliation in Somalia held its first meeting at the United Nations this week and vowed to foster good governance in Somalia
Source: AFP, June 18, 2006
