UN envoy calls for cease fire somalia
Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:03 pm
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
MOGADISHU, Somalia - In an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, a U.N. envoy urged the Security Council to call for an immediate halt in the fighting in Somalia or risk a broader conflict and greater instability in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation.
Failure to reach a political settlement through resumed talks between Somali Islamists and interim government forces "would be disastrous for the long-suffering people of Somalia and could also have serious consequences for the entire region," said Francois Lonseny Fall of Guinea, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for Somalia.
Fall addressed the 15-nation Security Council as Ethiopia said it was halfway to crushing Somali Islamists as its forces advanced on the religious movementÂ’s Mogadishu stronghold after a week of war in the Horn of Africa.
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SomaliaÂ’s envoy to Addis Ababa said Ethiopian troops were within 40 miles of the capital and could capture it in 24 to 48 hours.
Islamists countered that they were ready for a long war and any attempt to oust them would prove disastrous for their foes.
The Red Cross said more than 800 people had been wounded and thousands were fleeing the combat zone, with the United Nations saying the displacement could trigger an aid crisis in a region where relief resources are already stretched.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his forces supporting SomaliaÂ’s weak interim government had killed up to 1,000 Islamist fighters. There was no independent verification of that. The Islamists also say they have killed hundreds.
“We have already completed half our mission, and as soon as we finish the second half, our troops will leave Somalia,” Meles told a news conference in the Ethiopian capital.
“We will not keep a single fighter in Somalia once our mission getting rid of the terrorists is completed.”
Islamists in 'full retreat'
He said a force of between 3,000 and 4,000 Ethiopians had “broken the back” of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council around the government’s south-central base Baidoa, and the Islamists were now in “full retreat.”
Ethiopia backs SomaliaÂ’s secular interim government against the Islamists, who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June. Addis Ababa and Washington say the Islamists are backed by al-Qaida and by EthiopiaÂ’s enemy, Eritrea.
The Islamists claim broad popular support and say their aim is to restore order to Somalia under sharia law after years of anarchy since the 1991 ousting of dictator Siad Barre.
Addis Ababa fears a hard-line Muslim state on its doorstep and accuses the Somalia Islamic Courts Council of wanting to annex EthiopiaÂ’s ethnically Somali Ogaden region.
The African Union has backed EthiopiaÂ’s right to intervene. Diplomats say that, allied to WashingtonÂ’s tacit support, may embolden Meles to try to seize Mogadishu.
Somalia Islamic Courts Council spokesman Abdi Kafi said any attempt by Ethiopian forces to take Mogadishu “will be their destruction and doomsday.”
CONTINUED
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16356501/
Updated: 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
MOGADISHU, Somalia - In an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, a U.N. envoy urged the Security Council to call for an immediate halt in the fighting in Somalia or risk a broader conflict and greater instability in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation.
Failure to reach a political settlement through resumed talks between Somali Islamists and interim government forces "would be disastrous for the long-suffering people of Somalia and could also have serious consequences for the entire region," said Francois Lonseny Fall of Guinea, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for Somalia.
Fall addressed the 15-nation Security Council as Ethiopia said it was halfway to crushing Somali Islamists as its forces advanced on the religious movementÂ’s Mogadishu stronghold after a week of war in the Horn of Africa.
Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SomaliaÂ’s envoy to Addis Ababa said Ethiopian troops were within 40 miles of the capital and could capture it in 24 to 48 hours.
Islamists countered that they were ready for a long war and any attempt to oust them would prove disastrous for their foes.
The Red Cross said more than 800 people had been wounded and thousands were fleeing the combat zone, with the United Nations saying the displacement could trigger an aid crisis in a region where relief resources are already stretched.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his forces supporting SomaliaÂ’s weak interim government had killed up to 1,000 Islamist fighters. There was no independent verification of that. The Islamists also say they have killed hundreds.
“We have already completed half our mission, and as soon as we finish the second half, our troops will leave Somalia,” Meles told a news conference in the Ethiopian capital.
“We will not keep a single fighter in Somalia once our mission getting rid of the terrorists is completed.”
Islamists in 'full retreat'
He said a force of between 3,000 and 4,000 Ethiopians had “broken the back” of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council around the government’s south-central base Baidoa, and the Islamists were now in “full retreat.”
Ethiopia backs SomaliaÂ’s secular interim government against the Islamists, who hold most of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu in June. Addis Ababa and Washington say the Islamists are backed by al-Qaida and by EthiopiaÂ’s enemy, Eritrea.
The Islamists claim broad popular support and say their aim is to restore order to Somalia under sharia law after years of anarchy since the 1991 ousting of dictator Siad Barre.
Addis Ababa fears a hard-line Muslim state on its doorstep and accuses the Somalia Islamic Courts Council of wanting to annex EthiopiaÂ’s ethnically Somali Ogaden region.
The African Union has backed EthiopiaÂ’s right to intervene. Diplomats say that, allied to WashingtonÂ’s tacit support, may embolden Meles to try to seize Mogadishu.
Somalia Islamic Courts Council spokesman Abdi Kafi said any attempt by Ethiopian forces to take Mogadishu “will be their destruction and doomsday.”
CONTINUED
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16356501/