Somali deputy PM demands retreat of Ethiopian forces

Monday, April 09, 2007

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ASMARA -- Somali Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aidid has demanded the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from the country to allow the people to decide their future.

"Ethiopian troops must leave from Somali territory to let the Somalis decide their own fate," Aidid said in a brief interview broadcast on Eritrean state-run EriTV late Sunday.

Aidid expressed fears that Somalia, which recently suffered its worst violence in the past 15 years, was becoming another Iraq, split between warring factions and foreign forces.

Four days of heavy fighting that erupted late last month between Ethiopian forces and a combination of local militia and remnants of a defeated Islamist movement killed hundreds and forced thousands to flee the capital Mogadishu.

Mogadishu has been the scene of intermittent battles since the Ethiopian troops backed the weak interim government to oust the Islamists late December.

Aidid was in Asmara for talks with President Issaias Afewerki, who repeated warnings that foreign forces were complicating the situation in Mogadishu, and that accusations that Islamist forces are terrorists was wrong.

"As long as the Islamic faith facilitates the reconstitution and unity of Somalia, why should it be a target?" Issaias said, according to a statement on the information ministry's Web site. "Those forces who seek to link the Islamic faith with terrorism are the very ones who do not respect and understand the Islamic faith, as well as aspire to put into effect their agenda of religious politics."

Analysts have expressed fears that Ethiopia and Eritrea, still at odds over their unresolved 1998-2000 border conflict, are fighting a proxy war in Somalia.

Source: AFP, April 09, 2007

Hiiraan Online