Monday, December 25, 2006
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Hours after Ethiopian warplanes bombed two Islamic-held airports in Somalia, the information ministry said Addis Ababa would take tough action in its war against the Islamists who attacked the country's Ethiopia-backed government last week.
"We have made it clear that we are going to use any appropriate means to destabilise the anti-Ethiopian forces in Somalia," the ministry's spokesperson Zemedkum Tekle has said.
The Islamists, who took control of the capital Mogadishu in June and have since extended their rule over much of south and central Somalia, declared a holy war against Ethiopian forces backing the weak Somali government, which holds only one major town, Baidoa.
When Addis Ababa acknowledged direct military involvement in the conflict on Sunday, the fifth day of heavy fighting, the government said it was acting in self-defence against insurgency attempts and to protect its own sovereignty.
"We are going to take so many measures on the ground to help our programme. We do have the right to act on the ground with any means as we like to achieve our goals," Zemedkum added.
Ethiopian warplanes bombed the Islamist-held Mogadishu airport early Monday, injuring one person, and also targetted Baledogle airport north of the capital on the second day of air assault against the Islamist positions.
The aim of the raids was apparently to deny supplies to the Islamists by air, while Somalia's government also ordered the closure of land and sea borders, though being powerless to enforce this.
Witnesses said the rival sides continued pounding each other with heavy artillery on several fronts on the sixth straight day, compounding the misery of people already affected by recent flooding.
"The defensive measures we are forced to take will be limited and proportional to the attacks launched against us and the dangers facing our country, as well as in line with international laws," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in a national address Sunday.
"Ethiopia's defensive measures are targeted only at this terrorist group," he added, referring to the Islamists, some of whom allegedly have links with the al-Qaeda network.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Fraser claimed in mid-December that Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts "is now controlled by al-Qaeda cell individuals," notably mentioning Hassan Aweys, leader of the movement's governing Shura Council.
"The top layer of the courts are extremists to the core, they are terrorists and they are creating this logic of war," Fraser told reporters on December 14. Ethiopia's authorities also refer to the "terrorists" and the country has since 2002 benefited from a US military assistance programme, particularly in anti-terrorism.
Heavy fighting began in Somalia on December 20 after the expiry of an ultimatum by the Islamists for Ethiopia to pull out its troops, heightening fears of a conflict that could draw in Ethiopia's foe, Eritrea.
The exact death toll remained unclear, but both sides claimed to have killed hundreds of their rivals.
Source: AFP, Dec 25, 2006