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Ethiopia: Ex-Somali soldiers join Islamists against Ethiopia
Thu. November 02, 2006 04:26 pm. -
Bonny Apunyu
(SomaliNet) In what has been described by ex- Somali soldiers as a way of defending Somalia against Ethiopia's aggression, hundreds of former members of Somalia's army joined the Islamist movement on Thursday.
Reports reveal that several Somali ex-soldiers in their military uniforms paraded in Mogadishu and pledged to fight side by side with the Islamist troops.
Senior Islamist officials at the meeting are reported to have promised to include the soldiers in their payroll starting on Thursday.
"We are ready to take part in defending our country and we will be part of the Islamic Courts," said Lieutenant Colonel Abdi Guled.
"I present to you 692 former Somali soldiers of which 44 are senior officers," Guled added, pointing at a group of veteran fighters sitting under the harsh Mogadishu sun.
The Islamists, who took Mogadishu and a swathe of the south in June, have repeatedly accused Ethiopia of sending troops into Somalia to help President Abdullahi Yusuf's government.
The issue of foreign troops was a source of disagreement during a third round of peace talks between the interim government and rival Islamists in Khartoum this week, forcing a postponement.
It's believed that Ethiopia sent about 5,000 soldiers to help Somalia's government counter the Islamist advance. Ethiopia insists it has only several hundred armed military trainers in Somalia.
The Somali government says the Islamists, who have declared holy war on Ethiopia, want to take Somalia by force and perhaps invade ethnically Somali regions of neighbouring countries.
News Category: East Africa
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