Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com, Ethiopia
Biruk Girma
26 December 2008
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia on Wednesday said that it has achieved most of its goals it had set before its troops were deployed in neighboring Somalia two years ago.
“We have achieved our goals we have set to rescue our national security from potential dangers that could have arisen from Somalia,” Wehade Belay, a spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told journalists.
He said his country was now preparing to leave Somalia with grace after dismissing the risks from the extremist groups in Somalia who were backed by the Eritrean government and other anti-Ethiopian forces like OLF and ONLF who had used the war-torn horn of African nation as their base to attack Ethiopia.
Wehade said these groups had declared a war on Ethiopia.
“We certainly have quailed the threat that would have come from Somalia have secured a position in a way that any anti-Ethiopia force can not attack Ethiopia from Somalia”.
The spokesman also indicated that his country’s decision to withdraw its troops from Somalia is irreversible.
“The decision to withdraw had got approval of the House of People’s Representatives,…and the Ethiopian army, that successfully discharged its mission in Somalia, will be withdrawn according to plan,” he stressed.
“It had been long that we achieved this goal but it took us long to withdraw because we were trying to make the transitional government of the country stand on its own feet and see a more politically stable Somalia,” the spokesman added.
Wahde accused Somali leaders of being an obstacle to Ethiopia’s efforts for peace and security in that war-ravaged country but put his country’s inclination to put forth future support under the AMISOM whose mandate was extended till March 2009 as a member state.
“As the current chairmanship of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a member of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), an active participant in the UN and international forums, Ethiopia will continue exerting efforts to help ensure peace and stability in Somalia.” The spokesman put the leaders as responsible to the strengthening of Al-shabab.
“The group has gained the strength because of the weakness of the transitional government not because of the support from the people.” According to the spokesman, the Ethiopian force has also played a significant role in portraying that the extremist under the leadership of Al-shabab are incapable of threatening the national peace and security.
Wehade also told journalists that preliminarily joint efforts inside the politically instable Somalia would ensure viable solution to curb problems regarding piracy which has hampered the international trade on the coast.
“Since the long dated political instability inside the war-torn horn of Africa nation is the very basic cause putting the ship root across the Gulf of Aden the most hazardous place for the international trade, the world should act on the ground first rather than wasting millions of dollars on the pirate combating,” Wehade stressed.
We hade expressed Ethiopia’s interest in the international fight against piracy and ensure a peaceful and secured trade root in the coast.
“The piracy should stop. We back the efforts but it is costing them a lot. We now say they should focus on the ground because it started from there.” Wahde said it would have not been this much costly, if the world had showed up interests in the war inside the country two years back in the first place.
