Monday, July 06, 2009
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, who would pay a visit to Addis Ababa on Monday said such intervention could be "counterproductive" to the Somali government. He fears that this would increase the popularity of the Islamist insurgency.
In an interview with Reuters the American diplomat explained his position by the "long-standing enmity between Somalis and Ethiopians."
However the US official confirmed the Ethiopian concern after the recent developments in Mogadishu. "The Ethiopian government continues to look very closely at developments in Somalia," he said.
He further added Ethiopia has the right to defend its territory if individuals cross the border saying Ethiopia’s efforts should be directed at defence of their territory and not necessarily involvement inside of Somalia."
Carson statements define the position of the new American administration on the Horn of Africa and Somalia particularly. Last week, Washington announced a direct military support to the Somali government.
"This will include military support in terms of arms and munitions and material resources, but not manpower," said Carson.
The administration of the former President Bush had supported for a while the Ethiopian role in Somalia. Some other western countries like France, which has significant military presence in Djibouti as the US, participate already in the training of the Somali army.
Following calls last month by the speaker of the Somali parliament for military intervention of neighboring countries, Ethiopia said it needs international mandate to send troops to Somalia to fight Islamists rebels.
However many reports mentioned the presence of Ethiopian troops among the forces loyal to the government. Nonetheless, Addis Ababa spoke only about "reconnaissance" missions and denied any military presence inside Somalia.
Source: Sudan Tribune, July 6, 2009