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Crashing Insurgent Stronghold Crucial for Somalia Peace Eritrea IGAD Exit
Hardly Surprising

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
April 26, 2007
Posted to the web April 26, 2007

By Abera W. Kidan
Addis Ababa
Amid the escalating war in Mogadishu prompting UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki-Moon
to call for an immediate cease fire, Ethiopia said there was no way back from
driving the insurgents out of their strongholds.
Ethiopia also said in order that peace and stability prevail in Somalia, it was
imperative that these international terrorist groups leave the country through
a military operation.
"The Somali problem basically is a political one for which an all inclusive
political dialogue is the solution, but that is impossible as long as the Al-
Qaeda, Eritrea-backed international terrorist group calling itself Al-Shabat
still operated in Somalia," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told a press conference
on Tuesday.
The Mogadishu operatives were there under the misguided belief that was
possible to drive the TFG and their Ethiopian allied forces and the African
Union peacekeeping force, anything that was done in Somalia for the interest of
peace and security, before they could continue to persue their terrorist
agenda.
Meles said supporting the transitional government of Somalia bring peace to
Somalia constituted Ethiopia policy in Somalia.
He said that was the consensus he reached with President Abdullahi Yussuf
during his visit here over the weekend.
The prime Minister, who spoke at length on current major concerns in the
region, particularly on issues surrounding Ethiopia's involvement in Somalia,
accused Eritrea of state-sponsored terrorism and of perusing an agenda of
destabilizing the horn.
Meles said his government was trying to make it difficult for Eritrea to take
the option it has taken-destabilizing through sending elements Ethiopia and the
horn.
He said putting Eritrea's accomplices "out of the game" will leave Eritrea with
one option: aggressing Ethiopia on its border.
But Meles said that wouldn't be viable as far as the rogue state was concerned.
He said the lesson the Eritrean government had to take from the 2000 border war
with Ethiopia, coupled with the possible condemnation from the international
community would make Eritrea to stay where it is, forcing the country to
refrain from indulging in war with Ethiopia or perpetrating terrorist acts.
In what was seen as a sign of the deteriorating relations with the region,
Eritrea said on Sunday it had suspended its membership of the IGAD-
Intergovernmental Authority for Development- over Somalia dispute.
Early last week, east African states backed Ethiopia and the transitional
government of Somalia in a rift with Eritrea that is being played out through
Somalia's crisis.
Meles said Eritrea's exit was hardly surprising because the ideals and goals of
the East African Block were not in conformity with that of a reclusive, rogue
state persistently perusing an agenda of terrorism and destabilization.
He said he thought Eritrea suddenly realized the east African block was not for
it.
"Eritrea was a mis-fit" Meles said.
Meles said the recent Afar hostage drama, which ended with the release of the
eight Ethiopians, was reflective of the already established fact that Eritrea
was committed to terrorism in the region.
He said though the news of their safe release was good news, the knowledge that
they, and the five Europeans released earlier, were held hostage by Eritrea was
inconceivable.
He said one could not expect that from a internationally recognized, UN-member
state.


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