NAIROBI, July 4 (Reuters) - The United States will encourage Ethiopia not to return to Somalia as it would be against the interests of both Horn of African nations, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said on Saturday.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in late 2006 to topple an Islamist movement in the capital Mogadishu. The intervention sparked an Islamist insurgency which is still raging despite the fact Ethiopian troops pulled out in January.
“The Ethiopian government continues to look very closely at developments in Somalia,” Carson told Reuters in Kenya ahead of a visit to Ethiopia on Monday.
“Given the long-standing enmity between Somalis and Ethiopians I will encourage the Ethiopians not to re-engage in Somalia. It is not in their interest to do so and their efforts might in fact prove counterproductive to the government,” he said in an interview.
Neighbours and Western governments fear that if the Somali administration is overthrown, the lawless nation will become a safe haven for al Qaeda to train militants to destabilise the region and attack developed nations.
Residents in several regions of Somalia have reported seeing Ethiopian soldiers in the past two months. Addis Ababa initially denied this but later acknowledged it had made “reconnaissance” missions. It still insists no combat troops are in Somalia.
“Ethiopia has a right to defend its borders, should do so vigorously if individuals cross into their territory, and their efforts should be directed at defence of their territory and not necessarily involvement inside of Somalia,” Carson said.
NO DECISION ON TOUGHER MANDATE
Carson held talks with senior officials from all Horn of Africa countries, including the Eritrean foreign minister, during an African Union summit in Libya this week.
Washington has accused Eritrea of supporting the hardline al Shabaab insurgents who are fighting to oust Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. It says Eritrea has aided the movement of weapons and foreign fighters into Somalia.
Carson said Eritrea strongly denied the accusations.
The rebels, who have links to al Qaeda and want to impose their own harsh version of sharia law throughout the country, control much of southern Somalia and parts of the capital Mogadishu close to the president’s palace.
A 4,300-strong African Union peacekeeping force (AMISOM) from Uganda and Burundi is protecting key sites in Mogadishu but appeals for more troops and a stronger mandate allowing them to go on the offensive have yet to bear fruit.
Carson said a battalion of soldiers from Burundi, about 800 troops, was ready to deploy as soon as an airlift is provided and that Djibouti had pledged to help with military force.
“They are a small country with a small military but they have indicated that they believe the situation is serious enough to warrant their support,” Carson told Reuters.
“They believe that it is important to support Sheikh Sharif and to prevent his government from falling and they are prepared to provide more support than they have in the past, including manpower,” he said.
Carson said Washington had yet to decide whether the AMISOM mandate should be beefed up. There had been hopes African leaders would agree to this in Libya but wording to that effect in a draft resolution was dropped.
“We will study it closely in Washington and make a determination as to whether it is in our interests to encourage an expanded mandate as this goes forward,” he said.
Washington helps fund the AMISOM force and has sent weapons to the Somali government to support its fight against the rebels. Carson told reporters it would send more.
“The United States will continue to look for ways to provide support,” he said. “This will include military support in terms of arms and munitions and material resources, but not manpower.”
- Reuters
July 5th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Woyannie mercenaries have lost their alibi for collecting donor money. Gud fella!
July 5th, 2009 at 10:11 am
It means no money the poor woyane and they have to go to their cave.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
Good job USA for telling weyane government to saty out of somilia. Weyane already have too much problems in ethiopia.
Weyane tigrain government try to divide amhara against oromo
rahel,gulto, Martha, Lettamo, Michael, aklilu, Bube, Haku, Agazi , rahel you are tigrain under cover.
you try to divide amhara against oromo. oromo against amhara.
we know who you are.
we ethiopian are not as stupid as you thing you are
you are here to confuse ethiopian.
we are comming after you soon.
promise
weyane TPLF will be put to death soon for next 200000 years
http://www.eppfonline.org/
July 5th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
Good job USA for telling weyane government to stay out of somilia. Weyane already have too much problems in ethiopia.
Weyane tigrain government try to divide amhara against oromo
rahel,gulto, Martha, Lettamo, Michael, aklilu, Bube, Haku, Agazi , rahel you are tigrain under cover.
you try to divide amhara against oromo. oromo against amhara.
we know who you are.
we ethiopian are not as stupid as you thing you are
you are here to confuse ethiopian.
we are comming after you soon.
promise
weyane TPLF will be put to death soon for next 200000 years
http://www.eppfonline.org/
July 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
Working with Issayas to dismantle woayne is pragmatic politics.
Ethiopian must understand alot of tigrain in the web site you try to redrict us from our fight against freedoun from weyane. Be carefull
Michael, GETACHEW REDA ,Lettamo, rahel,gulto, Martha, Lettamo, Michael, aklilu, Bube, Haku, Agazi , rahel mikeZ you are tigrain under cover. weyane cyber warrior.
you try to divide amhara against oromo acting as one of us.
oromo against amhara.
amhara against oromo
we know who you are.
we ethiopian are not as stupid as you thing you are
you are here to confuse ethiopian.
we are comming after you soon.
promise
weyane TPLF will be put to death soon for next 200000 years
Lets get those thigrain thugs & cadre
July 5th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
Good job Obama. Good job. Weyane is no good to somilia and no good to ethiopia as well. Good job
It is clear that the Eritrean government is supporting the al-Shabaab militia. It is not because they are in support of Islamist or extremist [elements]. They are doing this largely as a way to undermine and to pressure the Ethiopian government.
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/news/6198
http://eastafro.com/
Check Amharic Program in TV Eritrea
July 5th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
Tegaru asylum seekers pretends as Eritreans are comming to west.
Please tell the eritrean government, ethiopian and eritrean and other government that tigrain are pretending to be eritrean. Giving the eritrean government bad name.
Giving the eritrean government bad name
Using eritrean name to get asylum
rahel,gulto, Martha, Lettamo, Michael, aklilu, Bube, Haku, Agazi , rahel you are tigrain under cover. you are here to confuse ethiopian.
we are comming after you soon.
promise
weyane TPLF will be put to death soon for next 200000 years
July 6th, 2009 at 5:16 am
Don’t jump. There is no any indication that the Obama administration is disengaged with the Meles regime.
If a change is to come, it will be ONLY through a unified struggle of Ethiopians.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:53 am
we have our problem first get solution for democratic in ethiopia and stop the human cotastafi and abusing humanright to stability in horn africa somale is a country with all possible potantial to setile there problem they dont ned outsider the envolvement of ather create more unreast for the region in east africa
July 6th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
ውስጡ ሌላ ነው ኦባማ መለስን በቀዩ ስልክ ተመልስህ ግባ ነው ያለው, ምድረ ፋራ ዝም ብለህ በደስታ ክመለቅለቅ በተግስት በተምለከት ጥሩ ነው
July 6th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Good job USA, weyane is the cancer of ethiopia & horn.
Good job Obama
http://www.eastafro.com/Post/2008/10/20/amharic-music#
http://eastafro.com/
Check Amharic Program in Eritrea
July 7th, 2009 at 9:08 am
seifu,,, if i am obama completely, i will deport you to your family (arusi) ,weak up you moron!!! .we don’t need to hear your habesh mentality lower than your donkey. if you know obama and meles they have no difference,so stop roaring.