Noose tightens on Somali rebels as defense minister welcomes foreign troops

 
Monday, 21 November 2011

Somalia’s hardline al-Shebab rebels control much of southern Somalia, but are also battling both the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and Kenyan troops in the far south. (Reuters)

inShare.0By Al Arabiya with Agencies

Somalia’s Islamist al-Shebab rebels faced growing encirclement by regional armies Monday, as the war-torn nation’s defense minister welcomed deployment of foreign forces against the fighters.

“We welcome Ethiopian troops – if they have entered Somalia – and any other country that contributes forces to fight against the Shabab militants, as long as they do not violate our sovereignty,” Hussein Arab Isse said.

Local elders at the weekend reported several convoys of Ethiopian troops moved into Somalia’s central Galgudud and Hiran regions, while witnesses said lines of trucks also crossed via Kenya into the far south.

Hardline al-Shabab insurgents control much of southern Somalia, but are also battling both the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and Kenyan troops in the far south, who crossed the border last month to attack rebel strongholds.

“We need help from the international community in the fight against the al-Qaeda linked militants,” Isse told reporters late Sunday, after returning from meetings in Ethiopia.

However, Addis Ababa has continued to deny reports of what appears to be their first large-scale troop deployment here since their 2006 U.S.-backed invasion of Somalia.

“Ethiopia has not entered Somalia ... In the past, people might have seen light reconnaissance teams and confused them with troop deployments,” Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon told AFP Monday.

But Bereket also scoffed at al-Shabab threats on Sunday that the al-Qaeda linked gunmen would “break the necks” of Ethiopian troops who crossed into Somalia.

“I know of no time when al-Shebab has been short of such braggart,” Bereket said. “Ethiopia in the past has done its job and came out as per its plan – al-Shebab knows what Ethiopia can do, so that doesn’t worry us at all.”

Ethiopia’s 2006 invasion sparked a bloody uprising, and troops pulled out three years later after failing to restore order in its lawless neighbor, which has lacked a functioning government for two decades.

Soldiers from Uganda and Burundi in the 9,700-strong Africa Union force are also fighting al-Shebab gunmen in the anarchic capital.

The decision on whether Ethiopia will send troops will be made Friday at a heads of state meeting in Addis Ababa of the regional body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

“We are waiting for what IGAD decides and without that decision, Ethiopia is not going to act unilaterally,” Bereket said.

Eritrea wants U.N. action

Meanwhile Eritrea complained to the U.N. Security Council about Kenyan allegations that it sent weapons to the rebels in Somalia, calling for an independent investigation to judge the dispute.

Nairobi has accused Eritrea of flying in weapons for al-Shabaab and foreign Minister Osman Saleh said in a letter to the Council that Eritrea was confident an investigation would find Nairobi’s “defamatory” accusations to be baseless, and urged the United Nations to take action against Kenya in the dispute.

“If, as Eritrea confidently believes, the investigation determines that there is no basis whatsoever to the very serious and harmful accusations by the government of Kenya, Eritrea calls on the Security Council to take action that would redress the injustice suffered by the people and government of Eritrea,” Saleh wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters.

“Defamation of a member state of the United Nations should not be indulged in with impunity and must not be tolerated, given its negative implications for regional peace and security,” he said in the letter, dated Nov. 16.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia, its anarchic neighbor, last month to rout the insurgents which it blames for kidnappings of Western aid workers and tourists on Kenyan soil, and frequent cross-border incursions.

Nairobi says it has credible information that consignments of arms were flown to the Somali town of Baidoa from Eritrea. Kenyan officials have said that Eritrean denials are not enough, and that it should go further and denounce al-Shabab.

Saleh’s letter to Jose Filipe Cabral, the Security Council’s rotating president for November, gave no details on who might conduct the investigation, nor did it say what action Eritrea wanted.

However, Eritrea’s envoy to the African Union said the Kenyan allegations should be publicly dismissed as a first step.

Kenyan officials have said the weapons consisted of shoulder-fired rockets, grenades and small arms munitions, and that they have been moved to areas in southern and central Somalia.

Slapped with an arms embargo, assets freeze and a travel ban for some of its officials in 2009, Eritrea faces another round of measures over charges it was aiding militants fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed Mogadishu government.

Asmara accuses Ethiopia of being behind the claims through a “frenzied campaign” to isolate and weaken its government. The neighbors fought a two-year war over disputed territory a decade ago but the frontier spat has yet to be resolved.