Ethiopia says troops to stay in Somalia (Reuters)

TSEGAYE TADESSE

May 21, 2008 at 5:00 PM EDT

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Wednesday he would keep troops in neighbouring Somalia until “jihadists” were defeated, in remarks likely to harm the chances of U.N.-brokered peace talks.

In a move supported by the United States but providing a target for militants, Mr. Meles moved thousands of troops into Somalia in late 2006 to help the nation’s struggling government topple an Islamist movement that controlled most of the south.

Since then, allied Ethiopian-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,” Mr. Meles told 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 and sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous nation, and Washington say Somali insurgents have links to al-Qaeda.

“Ethiopian forces did not enter Somalia to control the country, but to make sure that extremist forces will not be in power in that country,” Mr. Meles added. “It was our responsibility to resolve the huge wave of jihadists.”

Mr. Meles, and U.S. officials, say foreign militants have poured into Somalia to join the conflict.

Critics say the threat is exaggerated to justify Ethiopia’s desire to be the dominant power in the Horn of Africa.

Mr. Meles has in the past said Ethiopia has about 4,000 troops in Somalia, but locals say the real number is far higher.

The military presence is a major stumbling block to peace talks the United Nations is trying to broker for Somalia and which tentatively began in Djibouti at the weekend.

“Meles’ latest statement poses a threat to the talks. It will harden positions,” said one analyst, who asked not to be named. “One of the main contentious issues at the talks was the withdrawal of the Ethiopians ... This is not good.”

During a question-and-answer session in the Ethiopian legislature, Mr. Meles made no reference to an explosion that killed six people late on Tuesday in Addis Ababa.

The blast, on a minibus, left body parts in the street. One victim was an American-Israeli professor.

Authorities said the explosion, the latest in a string of such blasts, was caused by “terrorists” but did not elaborate.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in Washington confirmed that a U.S. citizen was killed in the blast. “Apparently there was an explosion on a minibus that this person was on,” he said.

Asked if foul play was suspected, Mr. McCormack said: “It sounds like there is something more than just a faulty gas line.”

In the past, Ethiopia has blamed neighbouring Eritrea for fomenting trouble inside Ethiopia, an accusation Asmara derides as a smokescreen to distract attention from internal problems.

Turning to domestic affairs, Mr. Meles said Ethiopian rebel group the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which operates in a region near Somalia, had been largely “neutralized” by a military offensive going on for a year.

“There is no organized ONLF operation in the Somali region. It has been neutralized,” he said. “There may be a few individuals and we are picking them one-by-one.”

The Ogaden National Liberation Front denies that.

“ONLF is effective and operational in the countryside,” spokesman Abdirahman Mahdi said. “The prime minister’s statement is very ridiculous, far from reality, bordering on delusional.”