By Tsegaye Tadesse (Reuters)
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi said on Wednesday he would keep troops inside neighbouring Somalia until "jihadists" were defeated.
In a move supported by the United States but providing a target for militants, Meles sent thousands of troops into Somalia in late 2006 to help the nation's struggling government topple an Islamist movement that had captured most of the south.
Since then, allied Ethiopian Woyanne-Somali troops have faced near-daily attacks in an insurgency drawing comparisons with Iraq and undermining stability across east Africa.
"When we exit from Somalia, it will be at the time when we are convinced that there is no imminent danger to our country," Meles told [the fake] parliament. Ethiopians are anxious about the financial and human cost of their intervention.
Both Ethiopia, which is the Horn of Africa's main military power [with 6 million starving children] and sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous nation, and Washington say Somali insurgents have links to al Qaeda.
"Ethiopian Woyanne forces did not enter Somalia to control the country, but to make sure that extremist forces will not be in power in that country," Meles added lied.
"The Islamic Courts Union in Somalia declared jihad against Ethiopia twice along with all sorts of anti-peace forces… It was our responsibility to resolve the huge wave of jihadists."
Meles, and U.S. officials, say foreign militants have poured into Somalia to join the conflict. The Ethiopian leader has in the past said Ethiopia has about 4,000 troops in Somalia, but locals say the real number is far higher.
REBELS "NEUTRALISED"
During a question-and-answer session in the Ethiopian legislature, Meles made no reference to an explosion that killed five people late on Tuesday in Addis Ababa.
Authorities said the blast on a minibus, the latest in a string of such explosions in the Ethiopia capital, was caused by "terrorists" but did not elaborate.
In the past, it has blamed neighbour and foe Eritrea for fomenting trouble inside Ethiopia, an accusation Asmara derides as a smokescreen to distract attention from internal problems.
Meles said Ethiopian Woyanne troop presence in Somalia was enabling the government to negotiate with clan leaders and hopefully bring reconciliation to a nation mired in conflict since the 1992 toppling of a military dictator.
Turning to domestic affairs, he said Ethiopian rebel group the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which operates in a region on the border with Somalia, had been largely "neutralised" by a military offensive going on for a year.
"There is no organised ONLF operation in the Somali region. It has been neutralised," he said. "There may be a few individuals and we are picking them one-by-one."
The ONLF denies that, saying despite a campaign of terror in the region, the army has not defeated it.
(Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on th e top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (nairobi.newsroom@reuters.com; +254 20 2224 717)
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Weyanes forces are like bulls they can't ask why. So that they have to die in the somalis land.If they come back to Addis they will kill us. Let them die in somalia.
Bravo Somali brothers.
Good work,
May 21st, 2008 at 9:48 AM
Mwles is a proffesional lier & the parlammant is just a collection of puppets
May 21st, 2008 at 10:17 AM
The dedeb of Dedebit wanted to stay in occupied Somalia because his masters have told him to that or they will not protect him from the inevitable rage that is sure to fell on him from the combined Eritrean and Ethiopian forces. Mark my word. The Weyanes are finished in spite of what appears to be some promise from the State Department people. Speaking about the SD, has anybody heard from the Jenjawit Freezer? Just wondered if they may have told her to get a hike and I hope that hike is not towards the Horn of Africa. God forbid, we can do without such irresponsible and undiplomatic diplomat.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:43 AM
Ya,
Ethiopia shouldn´t leave Somalia until UIC, Shaabia, and Elias K. go to hell. Elias K….hope to meet you and the old Drs. in Sheraro while fighting for the ginbot 7 front.
May God give Elias internal peace!!
cheers
Meles Zenawi
May 21st, 2008 at 12:43 PM
Well i agree with Legese Zenawi staying in Somalia means geting $100,000,000.0 USD from USA for the woyane ruling mafia. Woyane will do any thing to make money that is their best talent
Hodam Agazi
May 21st, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Let Meles stay in Somalia.Take it from me,that`s good for the people of the horn.He`s being weaken and at the end of the day will be defeated.His bluster and claims of victory in Somalia and Ogaden are not supported by the reality on the ground.His troops are having nightmare and he`s in a state of woolgathering or having his dream in aret kilo.What a shame!
May 21st, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Any ethiopian are welcome to die in Somalia. Somali nationalist forces are growing each day and become stronger and stronger each day. Soon meles weyane forces will be forced to leave.
As long as the soul of a Somali yearns.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 AM
Meles Zinawi needs to be in Somalia because his regime is receiving financial support from the Bush administration to be there. But the Bush administration ends in 6 months, and with the US military debacle in Iraq and Zinawi's failure to secure Somalia and the US’s failure to discover the presence of terrorists or terrorist training camps in Somalia, and now with the little matter of a widespread famine inside Ethiopia being well reported in the US media, there is no way that Meles Zinawi can count on US backing of his illegal brutal occupation of Somalia beyond the end of the Bush’s White House.
Make no mistake. Zinawi and his mercenary troops will leave Somalia in defeat. Besides, given Barack Obama's strong condemnation of John McCain's use of lobbyists in his camp while these lobbyists continue lobbying on behalf of foreign dictators, suggests that dictators and their lobbyists may not be warmly welcomed in the White House after the end of Bush administration.
In the next six months, Zinawi can count on Jendayi E. Frazer's aggressive ,and at times, slavish support of the Zinwi regime. No doubt that she will continue spouting that “Zinawi is a loyal friend of the US, faithfully working in the name of US's War on Islamic Terror”. But, Jenadayi E. Frazer’s sad and forgettable career will end with the rest of George W. Bush's regime. I urge our good Ethiopian friends to continue exposing the names of US based lobbyists working on behalf of the Zinawi regime. Peace and solidarity.
Amina Mire
http://www.somalidiasporaalliance.com/articles/jendayi.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24731042/
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 AM
The demise of the brutal woyanaetplf regime is quite near. It is approaching at a resonable speed picking up a lot of traffic tickets in its way to a terrible downfall, now is the time to keep an exray eye on the robbers chiefly because they are trapping themselves as they are walking lame.
when the time comes, these thives will be arrested and sent to the prison they belong to.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:19 PM
There is no doubt in the minds of millions of Somalians that the invading forces of woyanaetplf will definitely be defeated in shame and force them to pack their stolen possession from Ethiopia to where they belong to.
Today, to be specific, as we speak, the woyanae invading forces are licking hot and sour dust in somalia and are left face down on the streets of Moqakishu with no chance their body being collected and sent to the mothers whose children are forcefully serve and die for the robbers.
The invading tplfwoyanae forces must leave Somalia and Ethiopia.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:50 PM