Ethiopia promises to withdraw from Somalia as soon as possible

Visiting Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said on Thursday in Khartoum that his country's troops entered Somalia only for defending itself and they will withdraw from the state in the Horn of Africa as soon as possible.

He made the remarks following a meeting with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, during which he delivered a letter from Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir.

Mesfin told reporters that the Ethiopian troops went to Somalia because of repeated threats made by the Somali Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), a militant Islamic group which was ousted from the Somali capital Mogadishu a few days ago, against his country.

He said that the UIC had threatened to launch a holy war on his country and had extended open and continuous supports for the elements attempting to destabilize the situation on the Ethiopian- Somali borders.

The Ethiopian foreign minister stressed the urgent need of deploying in Somalia peacekeeping forces of the African Union (AU) according to the decisions which had been adopted by the AU, the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as the United Nations Security Council.

Warning against a vacuum of sovereignty which could return Somalia to the anarchy in the past, Mesfin said that what Ethiopia had done was to create a suitable atmosphere to help the Somali government stand on its feet and stabilize the situation in the country.

Helped by Ethiopia, troops of Somalia's interim government had routed the UIC, which had controlled most of southern Somalia, in the past two weeks.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has said that he believes major fighting was over, but the UIC has declared it would keep fighting.

Somalia's interim government has been in wars with the UIC for over one year.

Ethiopian troops officially entered Somalia on Dec. 24, joining fighters loyal to Somalia's interim government to repel an Islamist assault on the government stronghold of Baidoa.

Source: Xinhua