Ethiopia withdraws troops from Somalia
Somalia-Ethiopia, Politics, 1/6/2009

Ethiopian troops, who have been propping up Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) over the past two years, are implementing their plan of withdrawal from the Horn of Africa nation, a government official has confirmed

"The process has been started, but it will take some more days," Bereket Simon, public relations advisor to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, told Xinhua in Addis Ababa on Friday.

Bereket said he didn't know how many days the process will take to bring all Ethiopian troops back home. But, "we have already started to implement our withdrawal plan," he added.

The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops comes at a time when Somalia is in a deepening political crisis. Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned this week, saying that he cannot execute his duties as president.

The international community is worrying that there would be a dangerous security vacuum in Somalia's capital Mogadishu and other big cities after the withdrawal of up to 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers.

On Friday, over twenty trucks full of Ethiopian soldiers and their belongings were moving along the road linking the southern town of Baidoa and the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.

"The soldiers waved to the displaced people in the Elasha camps," said Muse Farah, an eyewitness in the camps along the road between Mogadishu and Afgooye, 30 km northwest of the capital.

Ethiopian troops, whose presence in Somalia has been unpopular with most Somalis, have been preparing for withdrawal since the Ethiopian government announced, in a letter sent last month to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations, its decision to pull its troops out of Somalia by the end of last year.

Ethiopia said it will finally withdraw its troops from Somalia during the first week of this month after a number of previous deadlines failed because of logistical difficulties.

Ethiopian troops have since been setting up bases along the road between Mogadishu and the southern town of Baidoa, the seat of the Somali parliament.

The route is a possible exit for Ethiopian troops who have remained deployed in Somalia after they crossed into the country in late 2006 to help Somali government forces oust an Islamist administration that run much of south-central Somalia.

However, the insurgents have since been carrying out daily attacks on the Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government forces as well as the 3,400 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi in Mogadishu.

The insurgents have gained ground and are now in control of almost all of central and southern Somalia while the Somali government only controls Mogadishu and Baidoa.

Previous Stories:
  UN staffer abducted in Somalia   (6/23/2008)
  Talks begin between Somali government and opposition   (5/13/2008)
  Opportunity for lasting Somalia peace must be seized: Ban Ki-moon   (3/18/2008)
  Ethiopian troops said to have crossed into Somalia   (7/3/2006)

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