| Submit your comments on this article | |
| East/Subsaharan Africa | |
| Ethiopia admits Somali forays | |
| 2003-02-25 | |
| Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has admitted to the BBC he has occasionally sent troops into neighbouring Somalia to attack members of a militant Islamist group, al-Ittihad. Mr Meles said al-Ittihad was linked to al-Qaeda and they had tonnes of captured documents that proved the link to al-Qaeda. "They have engaged in terrorist activities in our country," he told the Focus on Africa programme. He also said that several Afghan Arabs had been killed during an Ethiopian attack on an al-Ittihad training camp. They seem to be everywhere. Mr Meles insisted that he wanted to see a stable and united Somalia and said "in the end it is for Somalis to decide". But he said they had lists of members of al-Ittihad inside Somalia's parliament and the Transitional National Government (TNG). TNG President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan has consistently denied Ethiopian claims that his government has linked to Islamic extremist groups. "Extremist? Us? Never!"
| |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Zenawi should be commended for taking the initiative and tackling Islamists that he believed, and consequently proved, were involved with al-Qaeda. There's no indication that he was pressured by the US, but acted on his own intelligence services. Keep up the good work Zenawi! |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-02-25 13:07:59 |
| #1 think how whacked-out you'd have to be to be considered "extremist" in Somalia.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-25 11:37:55 |