Ethiopia’s foreign minister on Thursday urged Somalis to support African Union peacekeepers deploying to boost a weak government in the face of deadly insurgency. This comes as Ethiopian troops scale down operations.
”I am urging the Somalis to work closely with AU troops to bring lasting peace,” Seyoum Mesfin said shortly before leaving Somalia after a two-day visit to Ethiopia’s war-fractured neighbour in the Horn of Africa.
Mesfin said Addis Ababa would go on helping Somalia President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and his government until they can exert control across the country, where Ethiopia’s military went into action last December to help Somali fighters rout a powerful Islamist movement.
The Ethiopian minister added that he was encouraged by the government’s efforts to stabilise the blood-soaked capital, including the deployment of at least 4 000 Somali troops to bolster the efforts of AU peacekeepers who have begun to arrive.
”The situation in Somalia is very encouraging and most people are willing to work together. Everybody I met promised to support peace,” he said after two days of talks with top officials, including Yusuf.
Insurgents have increased attacks on the Somali and foreign troops since joint Ethiopia-Somali forces ousted the Islamist movement in January. Violence since in Mogadishu has killed dozens of civilians and driven thousands from their homes.
The first contingents of AU troops from Uganda, who started flying in on March 6, have also been attacked, as insurgents have vowed to drive out the peacekeepers.
Ghana President John Kufuor, who currently chairs the AU, said on Wednesday in London that the pan-African organisation was disturbed that such violence greeted its first peacekeepers in Somalia.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Ugandan troops on Thursday claimed they had now secured the support of Somalis in Mogadishu, where armed militias serving rival clans have a reputation for shifting loyalties.
”We have the support of the Somali people,” Captain Paddy Ankunda said.
About 1 200 Ugandan troops arrived in Mogadishu last week.
The AU aims to deploy about 8 000 troops with a six-month mandate to enable Ethiopian forces to leave and Somali forces to take over security.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi deployed his forces into neighbouring Somalia late last year, accusing the Islamist movement that had taken control of Mogadishu in June of threatening his own country’s national security.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. — Sapa-AFP