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Ethiopian Foreign Minister Says Troops Will Stay

Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
NEWS
29 May 2007
Posted to the web 29 May 2007

By Aweys Osman Yusuf
Mogadishu
Ethiopian foreign minister, Seum Mesfin, revealed that the thousands of
Ethiopian military forces backing the tenuous Somali transitional government
would not be withdrawn immediately, saying they rescued the Somali population
from Islamic hardliners.
He made the remarks following his arrival in Mogadishu in early this week while
he witnessed the resetting up of Ethiopian embassy in the war-torn country.
"Many Somali officials, civil society members and tribal elders asked that we
should not leave Somalia while it is still vulnerable and we are determined to
make sure that Islamists do not come back and traumatize the population," he
said.
The Ethiopian embassy was reopened closer the president's compound where
security is heavily fortified. Prime minister, Gedi, said Ethiopia sacrificed
to save Somalia and enable the Somalis to have an affective central government
since the ouster of former president, Siad Barre, in 1991.
Mesfin said he would prefer that Ethiopia should not be seen as an occupant
force but force that saved the Horn of African nation from the hard-handed of
the radical Islamists.
He reiterated that Ethiopian troops would not be pulled out of Somalia until
both Somali and Ethiopian forces make sure that their military operations
against the routed Union of Islamic Courts and international terrorists in the
country did not end in failure.
"We need to be certain that such Islamic elements will not disturb either the
Somali government or the Somalia population," he said.

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