Kenya, Ethiopia support Somalia force
AFP | August 30, 2006
In talks also aimed at easing cross-border tension between their two nations, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the regional peacekeeping mission should go ahead as planned.
They also urged the continuation of a strained Arab League-mediated dialogue between the Somali transitional government and the Islamists, set to resume in Sudan later this week.
"The two leaders reiterated their support for the decision of the IGAD summit to deploy a peace operation in Somalia," Kibaki’s office said in a statement referring to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.
The seven-member regional bloc has adopted African Union-endorsed plans to send a nearly 7,000-strong mission to Somalia, where a weak transitional government is facing growing threats from newly dominant Islamists.
Kibaki and Meles said the force was needed "to safeguard the gains achieved in political settlement in that country" following the creation of the transitional government two years ago in Kenya aimed at ending years of chaos in the lawless state.
The mission aims to shore up the government’s limited authority, which has been jeopardised by the rise of the Islamists who seized Mogadishu from warlords in June and have rapidly expanded their territory in southern Somalia.
IGAD has called for Ugandan and Sudanese troops, the vanguard of the force, to be in place by the end of next month, but it is fiercely opposed by the Somali Islamists who have vowed to resist the deployment of any foreign troops.
The proposed IGAD force has also split the bloc with some members - notably Ethiopia’s arch-foe Eritrea, which has been accused of funnelling arms to Muslim militia in Somalia - adamantly against the plan.
Kenya and Ethiopia are both wary of the Islamists’ rise and Meles, who discussed the matter with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala on Monday, has been accused of sending troops to Somalia to back the government.
In Kampala, Meles repeated Addis Ababa’s long-standing denials of having deployed troops to Somalia, but admitted that some Ethiopian "trainers" had been sent at the request of Somali authorities.
Museveni said Monday that Kampala remained committed to contributing troops to the mission but first wanted an urgent regional summit to further consider the force.
Kibaki currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the IGAD executive council but yesterday’s statement from his office made no mention of such a summit.
Kibaki has offered to assist the Arab League in mediating an end to the dispute, which is expected to be a key agenda item at the upcoming talks in Khartoum, a much-delayed second round between senior officials of the government and Mogadishu’s Islamic courts.
The meeting is set to begin at the weekend and Kibaki and Meles urged the two sides "to pursue the path of dialogue in a spirit of accommodation in resolving the Somalia problem once and for all," the Kenyan statement said.
In Nairobi en route to Khartoum the head of the Somali government delegation, parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, expressed hope yesterday that the process would succeed.
"This an opportunity for the Somali people to come together in search of peace," he said. "We should not waste effort and expense without any credible dialogue which is essential is we are to resolve our conflict."
Islamist officials who are already in Khartoum, said they were ready to meet the government but not until the some sticking points are resolved.
"There are two irreconcilable issues: the governments constant demand for foreign troops ... and the transitional charter which we do not recognise," said an official.
Somalia has been without a functioning central government since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the country in chaos.
In addition to Somalia, the two leaders sought to easing mounting tension along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border, where at least 100 people have been killed in tribal attacks over the past three months.
They "underscored the need to continue working closely for the enhancement of security along the common border," the statement said.
The Nairobi meeting came in the aftermath of the latest in a series of increasingly bloody cross-border cattle raids and counter-attacks in which 18 people, including 17 Ethiopian gunmen, were killed on Sunday.
The largely unpatrolled frontier has been the site of frequent clashes over cattle and resources that have been exacerbated by the effects of a killer drought.
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In talks also aimed at easing cross-border tension between their two nations, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the regional peacekeeping mission should go ahead as planned.
They also urged the continuation of a strained Arab League-mediated dialogue between the Somali transitional government and the Islamists, set to resume in Sudan later this week.
"The two leaders reiterated their support for the decision of the IGAD summit to deploy a peace operation in Somalia," Kibaki’s office said in a statement referring to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.
The seven-member regional bloc has adopted African Union-endorsed plans to send a nearly 7,000-strong mission to Somalia, where a weak transitional government is facing growing threats from newly dominant Islamists.
Kibaki and Meles said the force was needed "to safeguard the gains achieved in political settlement in that country" following the creation of the transitional government two years ago in Kenya aimed at ending years of chaos in the lawless state.
The mission aims to shore up the government’s limited authority, which has been jeopardised by the rise of the Islamists who seized Mogadishu from warlords in June and have rapidly expanded their territory in southern Somalia.
IGAD has called for Ugandan and Sudanese troops, the vanguard of the force, to be in place by the end of next month, but it is fiercely opposed by the Somali Islamists who have vowed to resist the deployment of any foreign troops.
The proposed IGAD force has also split the bloc with some members - notably Ethiopia’s arch-foe Eritrea, which has been accused of funnelling arms to Muslim militia in Somalia - adamantly against the plan.
Kenya and Ethiopia are both wary of the Islamists’ rise and Meles, who discussed the matter with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala on Monday, has been accused of sending troops to Somalia to back the government.
In Kampala, Meles repeated Addis Ababa’s long-standing denials of having deployed troops to Somalia, but admitted that some Ethiopian "trainers" had been sent at the request of Somali authorities.
Museveni said Monday that Kampala remained committed to contributing troops to the mission but first wanted an urgent regional summit to further consider the force.
Kibaki currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the IGAD executive council but yesterday’s statement from his office made no mention of such a summit.
Kibaki has offered to assist the Arab League in mediating an end to the dispute, which is expected to be a key agenda item at the upcoming talks in Khartoum, a much-delayed second round between senior officials of the government and Mogadishu’s Islamic courts.
The meeting is set to begin at the weekend and Kibaki and Meles urged the two sides "to pursue the path of dialogue in a spirit of accommodation in resolving the Somalia problem once and for all," the Kenyan statement said.
In Nairobi en route to Khartoum the head of the Somali government delegation, parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, expressed hope yesterday that the process would succeed.
"This an opportunity for the Somali people to come together in search of peace," he said. "We should not waste effort and expense without any credible dialogue which is essential is we are to resolve our conflict."
Islamist officials who are already in Khartoum, said they were ready to meet the government but not until the some sticking points are resolved.
"There are two irreconcilable issues: the governments constant demand for foreign troops ... and the transitional charter which we do not recognise," said an official.
Somalia has been without a functioning central government since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the country in chaos.
In addition to Somalia, the two leaders sought to easing mounting tension along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border, where at least 100 people have been killed in tribal attacks over the past three months.
They "underscored the need to continue working closely for the enhancement of security along the common border," the statement said.
The Nairobi meeting came in the aftermath of the latest in a series of increasingly bloody cross-border cattle raids and counter-attacks in which 18 people, including 17 Ethiopian gunmen, were killed on Sunday.
The largely unpatrolled frontier has been the site of frequent clashes over cattle and resources that have been exacerbated by the effects of a killer drought.
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