From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Tue Sep 02 2008 - 05:35:54 EDT
Ethiopia Prepared To Pull Out Of Somalia
By Akwei Thompson
Washington, DC
31 August 2008
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi last week said his country is
prepared to withdraw troops from Somalia. In 2006 Ethiopia invaded
Somalia to oust an Islamist militia and re-install the transitional
government. The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops has been a key demand of
the Islamist insurgents.
Rashid Abdi is an analyst with the Brussels-based Interational Crisis
Group (ICG).From Nairobi, Kenya he told VOA's Akwei Thompson that the
Ethiopians are signaling that they are frustrated with this constant
infighting and that at some point their patience will run out.
"The recent comments made by both Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his
foreign minister that Ethiopia is "not going to stay any longer and
wants to pull out" - comes in the context of sort of a growing
frustration within the Ethiopian government," Abdi said.
The ICG analyst said the operation itself might be proving too costly
for the Ethiopians.
"Also as the prime minister himself indicated it's very costly to
maintain troops in Somalia. Ethiopia is a poor nation with a massive
population and can ill afford that kind of financial commitment," Abdi
added.
Abdi thinks Ethiopia is also discontent with the help it is getting from
the West.
"As the prime minister said Ethiopia is a convenient horse which the
West sometimes rides and flogs," he said.
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