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Somalia: Ethiopian Troops Normally Patrol Baidoa
Ethiopian forces with armed vehicles are patrolling streets in Baidoa after interring some parts of Somali Regions for the past days, reports say. Sources in Baidoa, some 245KM southwest of Mogadishu indicate that Ethiopian infantry units are seen inside the town where the weak government is based. According to the latest developments from the town, they patrol inside and outskirts of the town while people are asking each other what is next to come.Somalia parliament approved foreign troops to intervene the country in order to back the federal institution extend powers through out the country. It's yet unclear whether the move will upgrade possibilities of bloodshed but analyses say the Islamists in the country are likely to wage war against what they previously called clear aggression. Somalia PM Denies Reports of Ethiopian Troops in Somalia Somalia's interim prime minister has categorically denied reports that Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia, or the town of Baidoa, where the country's fledgling government is based. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu is in Baidoa and reports that this is the second time in the past two weeks tensions in the Horn of Africa have escalated over unconfirmed reports that Ethiopian troops have crossed over into Somalia. U.N. officials meet militia in Somalia MOGADISHU, Somalia - U.N. security officials met Monday with the Islamic militia that runs Somalia's capital, the first formal contact since the militants' seizure of Mogadishu and much of the south. The militia's leader said a weekend message from Osama bin Laden portraying Somalia as a battleground in a global war on the United States showed the al-Qaida leader sympathized with the Somali militia and its supporters. Militia leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, whom the U.S. has accused of links to al-Qaida, said Sunday that bin Laden cannot tell Somalis what they should do. But he also said the fugitive al-Qaida leader's latest message showed no ill will toward the Islamic militia. Another militia official, the head of its executive council, called on Somalis to prepare to fight Ethiopian troops believed to have crossed the border. The hard-line Aweys replaced the more moderate Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who charged Sunday that Ethiopians had been illegally entering Somalia since June. "They are in some parts of our territory but, God willing, they will regret," Aweys, now head of the militia's executive council, told journalists in the capital. Abdulrahim Issa Adow, secretary to Aweys, said the group has put its fighters on alert but they have not sent combatants to attack Ethiopian troops, who are believed to be in areas outside the militia's control. Islamic fundamentalists have supported separatist groups in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has supported the Somali Islamists' rivals with guns and money to keep them from taking power. The president of Somalia's largely powerless, U.N.-backed secular interim government, Abdullahi Yusuf, is allied with Ethiopia and has asked for its support. Posted by: Fred 2006-07-03 |
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