Ethiopia says preparing to pull troops out of Somalia
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA | Apr 23, 2013 3:51pm EDT
(Reuters) - Ethiopia will withdraw its troops from Somalia soon, its prime
minister said on Tuesday, voicing frustration with the Mogadishu government
and African Union peacekeeping forces that are also battling Islamist
militants there.
After waging an ill-fated war in Somalia in 2006-2009, Ethiopia in 2011 once
again rolled troops into Somalia to fight al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab,
opening a third front alongside Kenyan troops and an African Union mission.
At the time Ethiopia pledged to stay in the war-ravaged country until Somali
government could ratify a new constitution and its ragtag military was able
to fend off the Islamist threat on its own.
However, last month Ethiopian troops unexpectedly withdrew from Hudur, the
capital of Bakool province near the Ethiopian border, enabling al Shabaab to
retake the dusty town.
Hailemariam Desalegn, who replaced Ethiopia's long-serving Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi in September, stopped short of announcing a full withdrawal but
voiced concern with the pace of progress in Somalia, recovering from two
decades of civil war.
"It has taken them (African peacekeepers and Somalia) a year already and
they repeatedly assure us each month but fail to deliver so we pulled out,"
said Hailemariam, referring to pledges by African Union's Amisom force to
replace Ethiopian troops.
"The main issue now is to accelerate our complete withdrawal towards our
border. This is what we are fulfilling," he told Ethiopia's parliament.
Hailemariam said Addis Ababa was paying for its military mission in Somalia
from its own coffers and Western diplomats say financial issues are one of
the main reasons behind Ethiopia's discontent, along with strained relations
with Mogadishu and Amisom.
African countries which sent troops into Somalia under the Amisom banner are
compensated by the African Union but Ethiopian troops do not operate within
that framework.
Al Shabaab has been greatly weakened since late September when Kenyan troops
forced it to withdraw from the port of Kismayu, its last major urban
stronghold.
But analysts say they doubt Ethiopia is set for a full withdrawal and
Hailemariam suggested Ethiopia could continue its fight against al Shabaab,
but in other parts of Somalia.
"Somalia is one of Ethiopia's main security interest zones, so I don't think
they would change policy drastically," said one Nairobi-based Western
diplomat.
"It's in Ethiopia's own interest that Somalia stays in tact and that gains
achieved are not lost once again."
(Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
(Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan agreed on Tuesday to open 10 crossings
along their joint border to boost travel and trade after a thaw in relations
between two sides that had come close to war.
Highlighting the volatile situation along the 2,000-km (1,200-mile)
boundary, Sudan's army and rebels fought a battle in a state bordering South
Sudan.
Sudan closed the border after South Sudan's secession in 2011 - hitting
traders and communities on both sides.
Almost a year after the split, border skirmishes brought both countries
close to full-blown war over unresolved disputes about oil, territory and
other issues.
But the African neighbors agreed last month to resume cross-border oil
flows, following talks brokered by the African Union.
Both sides said they would open 10 road, rail and Nile river crossing, eight
of them immediately, in fresh AU talks in Ethiopia on Tuesday.
One crossing will link South Sudan's Unity state with Heglig, home to an
oilfield vital to Sudan's economy which South Sudan's army briefly occupied
last year.
Sudan's army and a rebel group said on Tuesday they had fought in southern
Darfur, a region bordering South Sudan, the scene of a decade-long
insurgency by non-Arab tribes.
Army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid told state news agency SUNA his forces had
killed several rebels, among them three commanders, and destroyed 15 of
their cars during a five-hour battle. A number of soldiers were also killed,
he said.
A spokesman for a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army said it had
beaten the army and killed more than 70 soldiers.
Events in Darfur are hard to verify due to severe travel restrictions for
foreign journalists.
Sudan has in the past accused South Sudan of backing rebels in Darfur and
two border states, claims denied by Juba.
Landlocked South Sudan shut down its 350,000 barrel-per-day crude output in
January last year in a row over how much it should pay to send the oil
through Sudan to the Red Sea.
The agreement to resume oil flows gave a lifeline to both countries'
struggling economies which rely on foreign currency from oil sales and
pipeline fees to import food and fuel.
Sudan expects the first oil cargo from South Sudan to arrive next week,
state media said on Monday.
South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in July 2011 under a 2005 peace
deal which ended one of Africa's longest civil wars. The two remain at
loggerheads over control of disputed territories such as the border region
of Abyei.
(Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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Received on Thu Apr 25 2013 - 13:43:01 EDT
