From: Eri News (er_news@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Oct 27 2008 - 09:57:47 EST
National News
Press Release
By Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Oct 27, 2008, 14:57
With the green light from Washington and under the cover of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Ethiopia has summoned the so-called Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia to Nairobi.
This latest US-Ethiopia venture is nothing but the continuation of the failed policies of the past two years and a prolongation of the suffering of the Somali people.
The experience of the past two years has clearly shown that the road to peace and stability in Somalia requires the immediate, unconditional and full withdrawal of the occupying Ethiopian army, which has not only exacerbated the situation but also committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Withdrawal should also include the Ugandan and Burundian troops in the country, who are not "peace-keepers" or "peace-stabilizers," but rather a party to the conflict, on the side of Ethiopia and the TFG, against the Somali people and their resistance.
With foreign troops out, the Somali people can embark on the difficult but not impossible task of finding their own solution to their problems. Although it was not without shortcomings and mistakes, the experience of 2006, prior to the full-scale Ethiopian invasion, when peace and stability had returned to much of southern and central Somalia, including Mogadishu, is a cause for hope.
The December 2006 Ethiopian invasion was launched precisely to arrest and reverse the positive developments in Somalia. Two years on, and after the loss of tens of thousands of lives, the displacement of tens of thousands, the wanton destruction of Mogadishu, the upcoming Nairobi meeting, ignoring all past lessons, seeks to justify, and perpetuate, the crimes committed against the Somali people.
It will not succeed where the US-Ethiopian invasion failed.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, October 27, 2008
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