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MOGADISHU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- About two dozens of
Ethiopian military trucks packed with soldiers were seen heading
towards the southern town of Baidoa in a possible withdrawal from the
war-torn Horn of Africa country, witnesses said Friday. A column of more than twenty trucks
full of Ethiopian soldiers and their belongings were moving along the
road linking Baidoa and the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.
"The soldiers waved to the
displaced people in the Elasha camps," said Muse Farah, an eyewitness
in the camps along the road between Mogadishu and Afgooye, 30 km
northwest of the capital.
Ethiopian troops, whose presence in
Somalia has been unpopular with most Somalis, have been preparing for
withdrawal since the Ethiopian government announced, in a letter sent
last month to the African Union and the United Nations, its decision to
pull its troops out of Somalia by the end of last year.
Ethiopia said it will finally
withdraw its troops from Somalia during the first week of this month
after a number of previous deadlines failed because of logistical
difficulties.
Ethiopian troops have since been
setting up bases along the road between Mogadishu and the southern town
of Baidoa, the seat of the Somali parliament.
The route is a possible exit for
Ethiopian troops who have remained deployed in Somalia after they
crossed into the country in late 2006 to help Somali government forces
oust an Islamist administration that run much of south-central Somalia.
However, the insurgents have since
been carrying out daily attacks on the Ethiopian troops backing the
Somali government forces as well as the 3,400 African Union
peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi in Mogadishu.
The insurgents have gained ground
and are now in control of almost all of central and southern Somalia
while the Somali government only controls Mogadishu and Baidoa.
SOURCE: Xinhua. Friday, January 02, 2009