Hailemariam Desalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Ethiopia will not
withdraw its troops from Somalia in the wake of the deadly attacks in
Kenya, the Prime Minister said Friday. PHOTO | AFP
Ethiopia will not withdraw its troops from Somalia in the wake of the deadly attacks in Kenya, the Prime Minister said Friday.
"There
is no reason we are withdrawing at this time, we will fight al Shebab
to the maximum possible," Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Deslaegn
told reporters.
Al Qaeda-linked Shebab extremists
claimed responsibility for the attack in an upscale shopping centre in
Nairobi last month that left at least 67 people dead.
Hailemariam
said Shebab militants pose a threat to the region and that Ethiopia
would support African Union (AU) and Somali troops in the country as
long as the threat persists.
"Our security forces are
also going to continue with their support to AMISOM and the Somali
defence force and they will stay there until we are assured that al
Shebab is not a threat to the region," he said, referring to the AU
mission in Somalia.
Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in November 2011 to help support the country battle Shebab militants.
Hailemariam did not say how many Ethiopian troops are in Somalia, only that the number is "quite enough".
In July, Ethiopia announced it was starting to pull its troops out of some parts of Somalia, where it has secured key towns.
Ethiopia
is a key regional ally for conflict-wracked Somalia. In September,
Ethiopia mediated negotiations between Somalia's federal government and
the semi-autonomous state Jubaland, which was folded into the Somali
federal system.
The 17,700-strong AMISOM force has
clocked major successes against Shebab in recent months and controls
parts of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu and the key
port city Kismayo.
However, key Shebab strongholds
remain, including rural southern and central Somalia, while another
faction has dug into remote and rugged mountains in the northern,
semi-autonomous Puntland region.
Somalia has been
ravaged by conflict since 1991 but a new UN-backed government took power
last year, ending eight years of transitional rule by a
corruption-riddled administration.
SOURCE: DAILY NATION
SOURCE: DAILY NATION
