dpa - German news agency
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
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Somalia's Islamists on Tuesday gave Ethiopia one week to pull its troops from the war-torn country, or else its forces would respond. Ethiopia has denied charges that it sent thousands of troops to guard Somalia's weak interim government, but has admitted to deploying several hundred officers to train the government forces.
"The Ethiopian government must pull its troops out of Somalia in seven days, and then we might sit for peace talks," Islamist head of defence Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad, known as Inda'ade, told reporters.
"But if it does not withdraw its forces from Somalia within seven days, the Islamists will decide how they will evict the Ethiopians from Somalia."
Peace talks in October collapsed after the Islamist delegation said it would not meet with the government while Ethiopian troops remained in the country.
Tension is high throughout the country, especially after Islamist and government forces clashed last week, leaving several people dead.
With Ethiopia's involvement, and Eritrea said to be arming the Islamists, experts warn that the Somali conflict could escalate into an all-out regional war.
Last week, the United Nations authorized a peacekeeping force to enter Somalia, which the Islamists vehemently opposed, but the government has demanded for months.
The Islamists took the capital Mogadishu in June and have since successfully captured most of south and central Somalia.
The internationally-backed government is limited to its base in the provincial capital Baidoa.
A power-sharing agreement between the two sides is seen as the only way to bring stability to Somalia, which has been without effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator plunged the country into anarchy.
Source: dpa, Dec 12, 2006