The oromo support UIC against ethopia
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:48 am
Djibouti (HAN) July 25, 2006 - Ethiopian forces battled to take over a second Islamist stronghold in southern Somalia on Tuesday and an Ethiopian commander estimated at least 20 Islamist Militia had been killed in the fighting. Calling Balidoogle a major Islamist center, Ethiopia's army said battle wagons and troops had sealed off the town and were engaged in sporadic firefights with the hold-outs.
"The intention is not to occupy Somalia, it's a limited operation," Ethiopian Brigadier-General told HAN. "In the last 24 hours we killed roughly 20 to 30 Islamist Al-Itihad terrorists."
Somali Islamist Militia leader said at least seven of its men had been killed over the past day, but did not say where. The group said in a statement that fighting with Ethiopian forces continued on Bay's outskirts and in the surrounding area.
Sources in the foreign observer said it was difficult to know which side controlled which parts of the town and that some civilians were feared trapped by the crossfire in Bay area.
U.N. special envoy to Somalia Francois Lonseny Fall (L) and Somalia's Chairman of the Islamic Courts Union Shariif Sheikh Ahmed walk out of a meeting in Mogadishu July 25, 2006. Mogadishu's Muslim rulers on Tuesday blamed Ethiopia's 'invasion' of Somalia for stalled peace talks with the fragile interim government as a U.N. envoy struggled to kick-start negotiations. (HAN photo)
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the chairman of the Ifka-Halan Islamic court speaks during an interview inside a mosque in southern Mogadishu in December 2005. The supreme leader of Somalia's Islamic courts union has rejected peace talks with the government unless Ethiopia withdraws its troops from the lawless country.(AFP/File/Ali Musa Abdi)
Somalia could become Ethiopia's "graveyard" if it intervenes against a burgeoning Islamist movement, an Ethiopian rebel group warned on Tuesday.
"Unless Ethiopia pulls out of Somalia, the Somali people will be an angry, hungry lion, and the last thing they want is to be poked and provoked by Ethiopia," Lencho Bati, spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), told Reuters.
Witnesses and regional experts say thousands of Ethiopian troops have recently crossed the border to thwart an expansion by the Islamists and protect the fragile interim government based in the provincial town of Baidoa.
"Somalia will be the graveyard of the Ethiopian regime," Lencho added in a rare interview by the insurgent group based in the southwest Oromia region of Ethiopia.
He denied the OLF was supporting the Islamists.
"This accusation comes from the warlords as well as the Ethiopian ruling clique," he said, referring to Somali warlords ousted from Mogadishu and other towns in battles with the Islamists who secured the capital early in June.
"We have historical, geographical and social relations with the Somali people," he added. "We never sided with any faction against the other, but we stood by the people of Somalia."
The OLF says it has been fighting a series of Ethiopian governments for its community's rights since 1974.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government denounces the group as terrorists in league with other national rebel movements and neighboring Eritrea, with whom Ethiopia has a border dispute.
Lencho declined to comment on OLF numbers. Oromia makes up a large swathe of Ethiopia with an estimated 30 million people.
The OLF spokesman, on a visit to Nairobi, said fears Somalia's Islamists wanted a Taliban-style state were exaggerated.
"In the Horn of Africa, Islam is more of an identity than a political phenomenon," Lencho said. "There is no fear of Somalia being a Taliban like state. Islam is not the enemy of Ethiopia."
Ethiopia fears both a hardline Muslim state on its borders and possible Islamist aspirations to claim its southeastern, ethnically Somali region. Africa's second most populous country might also worry that a hardline Muslim state on its borders could stoke religious tensions in a country that is half Muslim and half Christian. Lencho accused Meles' government of trying to maintain control of Somalia's future.
"Ethiopia's objective is clear -- to prevent the reconfiguration of the Somali state," he said. "And if the Somali state is reconfigured then (Ethiopia wants) to create a client state that is micromanaged and maneuvered by Ethiopia." Sources, Jack Kimball, HAN Reporters and ENA
"The intention is not to occupy Somalia, it's a limited operation," Ethiopian Brigadier-General told HAN. "In the last 24 hours we killed roughly 20 to 30 Islamist Al-Itihad terrorists."
Somali Islamist Militia leader said at least seven of its men had been killed over the past day, but did not say where. The group said in a statement that fighting with Ethiopian forces continued on Bay's outskirts and in the surrounding area.
Sources in the foreign observer said it was difficult to know which side controlled which parts of the town and that some civilians were feared trapped by the crossfire in Bay area.
U.N. special envoy to Somalia Francois Lonseny Fall (L) and Somalia's Chairman of the Islamic Courts Union Shariif Sheikh Ahmed walk out of a meeting in Mogadishu July 25, 2006. Mogadishu's Muslim rulers on Tuesday blamed Ethiopia's 'invasion' of Somalia for stalled peace talks with the fragile interim government as a U.N. envoy struggled to kick-start negotiations. (HAN photo)
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the chairman of the Ifka-Halan Islamic court speaks during an interview inside a mosque in southern Mogadishu in December 2005. The supreme leader of Somalia's Islamic courts union has rejected peace talks with the government unless Ethiopia withdraws its troops from the lawless country.(AFP/File/Ali Musa Abdi)
Somalia could become Ethiopia's "graveyard" if it intervenes against a burgeoning Islamist movement, an Ethiopian rebel group warned on Tuesday.
"Unless Ethiopia pulls out of Somalia, the Somali people will be an angry, hungry lion, and the last thing they want is to be poked and provoked by Ethiopia," Lencho Bati, spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), told Reuters.
Witnesses and regional experts say thousands of Ethiopian troops have recently crossed the border to thwart an expansion by the Islamists and protect the fragile interim government based in the provincial town of Baidoa.
"Somalia will be the graveyard of the Ethiopian regime," Lencho added in a rare interview by the insurgent group based in the southwest Oromia region of Ethiopia.
He denied the OLF was supporting the Islamists.
"This accusation comes from the warlords as well as the Ethiopian ruling clique," he said, referring to Somali warlords ousted from Mogadishu and other towns in battles with the Islamists who secured the capital early in June.
"We have historical, geographical and social relations with the Somali people," he added. "We never sided with any faction against the other, but we stood by the people of Somalia."
The OLF says it has been fighting a series of Ethiopian governments for its community's rights since 1974.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government denounces the group as terrorists in league with other national rebel movements and neighboring Eritrea, with whom Ethiopia has a border dispute.
Lencho declined to comment on OLF numbers. Oromia makes up a large swathe of Ethiopia with an estimated 30 million people.
The OLF spokesman, on a visit to Nairobi, said fears Somalia's Islamists wanted a Taliban-style state were exaggerated.
"In the Horn of Africa, Islam is more of an identity than a political phenomenon," Lencho said. "There is no fear of Somalia being a Taliban like state. Islam is not the enemy of Ethiopia."
Ethiopia fears both a hardline Muslim state on its borders and possible Islamist aspirations to claim its southeastern, ethnically Somali region. Africa's second most populous country might also worry that a hardline Muslim state on its borders could stoke religious tensions in a country that is half Muslim and half Christian. Lencho accused Meles' government of trying to maintain control of Somalia's future.
"Ethiopia's objective is clear -- to prevent the reconfiguration of the Somali state," he said. "And if the Somali state is reconfigured then (Ethiopia wants) to create a client state that is micromanaged and maneuvered by Ethiopia." Sources, Jack Kimball, HAN Reporters and ENA
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