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Somalia: Rice Calls for Withdrawal of Ethiopian Troops Lauds Joint Communique for Great Lakes Region

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)

6 December 2007
Posted to the web 6 December 2007

Biruk Girma
Addis Ababa

Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday reaffirmed US's stand for immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from the war-torn Somalia, for the benefit of peace and security in the region.

"The Ethiopian soldiers should not stay there in Somalia", Rice told a press conference at the Sheraton Hotel following discussions with some of the leaders of the African Great Lakes region also on a visit here for region's crisis talks.


Recalling a recent discussion she had with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki- Moon, Rice said her government still believed other forces should play their part in peace keeping efforts in that country by replacing the Ethiopian force as soon as possible.

Rice said she was set to assure Somalia's new Prime Minister of her government's commitment for peace and security in Somalia and continued support to the transitional government.

She said she would encourage the PM to go ahead with forming an all inclusive cabinet.

It was not clear as to where and when exactly she is to meet the Prime Minister.

Ethiopia on Tuesday called on the international community to step up its support for an African-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops have been mired in an Islamist insurgency since last December.

"Ethiopia has single-handedly been playing its role by bearing the huge responsibility that the international community and countries failed to accomplish in collaboration or individually," a statement from Ethiopia's Information Ministry read.

Ethiopia had been counting on the deployment of peacekeepers to allow its troops to leave Somalia.

So far, only Uganda has contributed peacekeepers to the U.N.-backed African Union Mission in Somalia, and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told his parliament in November that Ethiopian forces were stuck there in the middle, "for the time being." The Secretary on her two-day visit to the capital said she has had "extensive" discussions with four of the African Great Lakes leaders on the long running conflicts.

After she met the presidents of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and a minister from Democratic Republic of Congo, Rice sought to get leaders of the region to defuse tensions in eastern DRC but made no major breakthrough.

Rice said they had agreed to "recommit" themselves to ending the lengthy conflict.

The talks came as Congo's army fought on Wednesday with a renegade Tutsi general's forces, the latest in a series of battles this week.

After about two hours of talks in Addis Ababa, there were no signs of any concrete steps and all sides appeared to reiterate previous commitments on trying to end the conflict.

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"The three-point plan which the Secretary of State summarized is a good restatement of what we have talked about before," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said at the press conference with Rice.

"But this time, with more vigor," he added.

Rice was set to have dinner with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to discuss Ethiopia's role in Somalia and the escalating border dispute with neighboring Eritrea.

there is no shift.
they just want the AU to share the Ethios plight

I dont know about that, Americans say one thing while doing something totally different all the time... Plus she seemed like she was bullshiting when she asked for more African troops... The international community is struggling to send troops to Sudan that has all the attention of the world, why spend money on stinky old Somalia?

Too little too late.

US foreign policy in Somalia has failed miserably.

Ethiopians are going to leave with their tails between their legs and a retreat will ensure that all other opposition groups in Ethiopia: Oromo Liberation Front, Gambella Liberation Front, Ogaden liberation Front, Amhara & Tigrey get emboldened.

What shift? The U.S has always said they want AU troops to replace the Ethiopians. They have been saying for 7 months now. This is what happens when reer Baadiye are introduced to world politrickking.

The U.S is just watching its back. They know there is no chance of a peacekeeping forces capable of replacing the Ethiopians materializing for Somalia yet at the same time they want to watch their back and not make themselves supportive of Ethiopia's invasion to Somalis and the world. So this is their position and HAS been their position.

the funny part is when she said she needed peace keeping Ethiopian troops to be deployed to DAfuur
http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?title= ... &tb=1&pb=1

what a joke

Rice explained the purpose of her visit yesterday,

"We do believe the Ethiopian forces should not have to stay in Somalia past a certain point, and that will require peacekeeping forces, very robust peacekeeping force, and so that will be part of my discussions here," Rice said.

She calls a cease fire, "There must not be a resumption of hostilities initiated by either side,"


If Rice’s “certain point” has not been reached why would rice call a cease fire. Could that certain point be the spreading of the resistance, the huge humanitarian crisis that developed, a Christian army bogged down in Muslim city and driving one million citizens from their homes.

Having this in mind she tells the Hawiye Prime Minster of terror government to take charge of the remaining years of terror government, to prepare a new constitution and new electoral laws

“I also encouraged Prime Minister Hussein to develop a timeline for the remainder of the transitional process by early January, including the drafting of a new constitution and electoral law as the first step in this process."


The logic of rice’s remark


Rice’s cease fire demand and the end of hostilities would not work unless the Ethiopian troops retreat at least from Hawiye territory. On a technical ground a cease fire cannot hold if Ethiopian enemy is going about their business as usual.

Again, could this be why Rice said, "The Ethiopian soldiers should not stay there in Somalia"




More important political consideration


It is the people of Hawiye that will ultimately decide how Somalia would be ruled, whether Somalia would have an Islamic state or governed by other forms of government.



Things will be clear in the near future

This is the first step. But the rapist christain Tigre Army must withdraw all Hawiye lands.


MOGADISHU, Somalia: Masked fighters occupied a key business district and residential neighborhood in the Somali capital Saturday, saying they had forced Ethiopian troops to withdraw and urging locals to return home.

Some 100,000 people have fled the 20-square-kilometer (8-square-mile) residential area surrounding Sodonka Road, a busy business area in southern Mogadishu, amid fighting in the last month between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's shaky, transitional government.

The Ethiopians gave no reason for their departure Saturday, though they had been under pressure from rights groups to vacate civilian houses.

"We are the ones who forced the Ethiopians to withdraw from the residential areas," one fighter told The Associated Press, giving his name only as Ahmed for fear of reprisals.

Another said the fighters were not insurgents or "Shabab," referring to the armed wing of an Islamic Courts group that briefly took power in parts of Somalia last year. "We are mujahedeen," he told journalists at a hastily assembled news conference, also refusing to give his name.

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"Ethiopia is the enemy of Islam. They have killed our brothers and sisters. They have destroyed our property," he said. "We killed them, but they are hiding their casualties. In the latest fighting, we have killed 350 Ethiopian soldiers."

The claim could not be independently verified, and neither Ethiopian nor Somali officials were not immediately available to comment.

Several truckloads of armed and masked fighters rolled into the area Saturday morning, followed by hundreds of residents anxious to visit their abandoned homes and take stock of their belongings.

Until Saturday, the area had been deserted apart from Ethiopian tank and vehicle patrols.

"Most of the business centers and stores along the road were unlocked, and property worth millions of dollars stolen," businessman Mohamed Osman Africa said.

"I am very happy the Ethiopians left us, and now I think about how I can bring my children back," said resident Aden Mohamud. "The real happiness will come once they withdraw from entire Somalia."

The Ethiopian troops had moved into the area in early November, following heavy fighting sparked by the murder and mutilation of some of their soldiers.

More than 100 people, mainly civilians, were killed during the fighting. Some were beheaded. Hundreds of Somalis were wounded, and hundreds of thousands fled for safety.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. An Islamist group took power in the capital of Mogadishu and parts of the south for six months last year, before being deposed by Ethiopian troops supporting the U.N.-backed government.

Many Somalis see the government as weak and corrupt, and it comes under daily attack by the insurgents, who have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency.