| Somalia: Islamists - There is No Government, But There is Ethiopia That Administers Part of Somali
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| Date: |
On 11/01/2006 at 08:49 AM |
| Soure: |
IRIN News |
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Ibrahim Hassan Addow, the head the of Islamic Courts foreign affairs department, has told Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu in an interview that the Islamists had issued a statement informing the Arab League that is arbitrating the talks and international organizations, including International Contact Group for Somalia that they would not sit with the government as long Ethiopian troops are in Somalia.
Addow said Ethiopia was in complete control of the Somali government. "There is no government, but there is Ethiopia that administers part of Somalia. Ethiopia also controls IGAD and Kenya and Uganda back up Ethiopia with its bad intentions against Somalia", Addow stated.
Somalia had no effective national government since 1991 when tribal warlords overthrew former president Siyad Barre and then turned against one another flinging the country into chaos.
Asked if Eritrean troops fight along the Islamic Courts forces, Addow denied that any Eritrean troops are in Somalia. "There are no Eritrean troops helping us or providing us with arms".
United Nations has, in its latest report about Somalia, declared that there are nearly 8,000 Ethiopian troops and 2,000 Eritrean troops in Somalia, a report both countries denied.
Ethiopia previously admitted that about 200 of its troops went in Somalia to protect the tenuous government against the powerful Union of Islamic Courts, while Eritrea, which long had conflicts wars with Ethiopia, has entirely rebuffed that it has troops in Somalia or backs the Islamists up militarily.
Many analysts fear that Somalia will be a proxy war of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The federal government's delegation did not yet comment on the Islamic Courts' condition over the talks.
The Courts also demanded that Kenya should stay away from the mediation of the Somali peace talks as they accused Kenya of being biased with the federal institutions.
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:: Gumii Bilisummaa Oromiyaa ::
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