Ethiopian troops crossing back into Somalia

(Somalia, February 03,  2009 Ceegaag Online) 

Ethiopian troops have crossed the border back into central Somalia, only days after Addis Ababa completed a military pullout from its neighbour, witnesses and officials said Tuesday.

An official for the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), the movement of newly-elected Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, said some Ethiopian troops had crossed from the border town of Ferfer to the village of Kalaber.

"The Ethiopian forces are violating the basic integrity of Somalia again and they entered the Hiran region only days after their government announced its complete withdrawal from the country," Ahmed Osman Abdalla, ICU commander in the nearby western town of Beledweyn, told AFP by phone.

"If they do not pull out of our country, we will fight them to death," he added.

Local residents said that Ethiopian forces had set up a checkpoint in Ferfer and were checking trucks and other vehicles crossing the border.

"They stopped a bus I was on in Ferfer and I could see they were checking all vehicles passing in the area," Osman Adan said.

Local elders in Beledweyn also expressed concerns over the return of Ethiopian forces in the region.

"The move shows that Ethiopia is still creating insecurity in Somalia because they sent their troops back to Somalia and they are now only 25 kilometres (16 miles) from our town," Beledweyn elder Haji Adan Mohamed said.

Ethiopian troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia in January, more than two years after invading to remove the ICU, which had taken control of large parts of the country.

Ethiopia propped up a weak transitional government and forced Sheikh Sharif into exile, but after two years of bloodshed in Somalia, more radical Islamist groups have gained influence.

Sheikh Sharif was elected Somalia's new president in Djibouti on Saturday and his erstwhile foe, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, described his victory as a positive step towards restoring peace in Somalia.

Source: AP

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