ETHIOPIA´S RELUCTANCE TO INTERVENE IN SOMALIA´S CRISIS UNTIL UN´S MANDATE
Kanini Evans Kariuki
June 29, 2009
ALTHOUGH the Somali President Sheikh Sharif, Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament and the Prime Minister, sought the intervention of the IGAD group headed by Ethiopia and Kenya, both states had demonstrated sympathy and support for the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
Ethiopia pulled out from Somalia after it had experienced disapproval of the majority of the Somali´s, and the resistance of the remnants of the United Islamic Courts headed by the current President and his faction which was based in Asmara, Eritrea, were against Ethiopia´s support of the Abdulahi Yusuf´s TFG.
It is strange that President Sharif is now inviting Ethiopia to defend him, and has already dispatched his Finance minister to persuade the Ethiopians to deploy their forces in Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaab group and the Muslim party, who had already besieged the capital from inland and the TFG in a tiny area inside the Somalia Capital city, Mogadishu.
Ethiopia recalls how President Sharif and his group ridiculed the Ethiopians in front of the international community and incited Somali´s to confront the Ethiopian forces.
Ethiopia felt the deep hatred and/or seeds of discord the Sharif group had sown among the Somali´s, and in the human rights organizations which had accused Ethiopian forces of violating human rights during their presence in Somalia.
Realizing this, the Ethiopians told the Sharif´s administration to act according to the international laws which stipulate that any intervention of the Ethiopian forces in Somalia has to be processed through the African Union and the Security Council.
Ethiopia wants to acquire a proper legitimacy in sending forces to Somalia as well as financial and logistics support although the presence of Al-Shabaab in Somalia may impose a threat on the security of Ethiopia and the whole region.
Ethiopia requires the United Nations mandate and nothing can happen before the Security Council approves foreign forces to be deployed in Somalia;however,the waiting period for the mandate will be a great setback to the Sharif's regime because of the threat and the danger from the opposition group.
It is obvious that the appeal made by President Sharif and the TFG has fallen on deaf ears except for the consolation of the American gesture of providing Russian –made armaments and 10million dollars for military support .
A press statement was issued by the Somali parliament in a rejoinder to the parliamentarians allegedly fleeing from Mogadishu.
The statement indicated that over 340 Members of parliament are in Mogadishu, 30 in Punt land, 15 in Somali land, 10 in Hiran, Somalia Central, while the rest are on vacation , sick leave and official missions or visits abroad.
Those who were in Nairobi were on their way to Punt land, Somali land or missions overseas, while some of them are undergoing medical treatment in Nairobi, Kenya´s capital city.
Nairobi is the connecting center for the Somali officials and business community proceeding abroad or coming from there, on their return to Somalia.
Somali´s feel that the Americans are not genuinely supporting the TFG and they assume that the TFG and the opposition groups should finish each other in the raging civil war.
If the assumption is wrong, why does the current American administration through the UN mandate not request the deployment of peace-enforcing forces from Muslim countries in order to dispel Al-Shabaab´s claims that the Americans are destroying Somalia, and the Europeans are engaged in looting of the Somali marine resources and dumping of toxic waste?
Ethiopia pulled out from Somalia after it had experienced disapproval of the majority of the Somali´s, and the resistance of the remnants of the United Islamic Courts headed by the current President and his faction which was based in Asmara, Eritrea, were against Ethiopia´s support of the Abdulahi Yusuf´s TFG.
It is strange that President Sharif is now inviting Ethiopia to defend him, and has already dispatched his Finance minister to persuade the Ethiopians to deploy their forces in Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaab group and the Muslim party, who had already besieged the capital from inland and the TFG in a tiny area inside the Somalia Capital city, Mogadishu.
Ethiopia recalls how President Sharif and his group ridiculed the Ethiopians in front of the international community and incited Somali´s to confront the Ethiopian forces.
Ethiopia felt the deep hatred and/or seeds of discord the Sharif group had sown among the Somali´s, and in the human rights organizations which had accused Ethiopian forces of violating human rights during their presence in Somalia.
Realizing this, the Ethiopians told the Sharif´s administration to act according to the international laws which stipulate that any intervention of the Ethiopian forces in Somalia has to be processed through the African Union and the Security Council.
Ethiopia wants to acquire a proper legitimacy in sending forces to Somalia as well as financial and logistics support although the presence of Al-Shabaab in Somalia may impose a threat on the security of Ethiopia and the whole region.
Ethiopia requires the United Nations mandate and nothing can happen before the Security Council approves foreign forces to be deployed in Somalia;however,the waiting period for the mandate will be a great setback to the Sharif's regime because of the threat and the danger from the opposition group.
It is obvious that the appeal made by President Sharif and the TFG has fallen on deaf ears except for the consolation of the American gesture of providing Russian –made armaments and 10million dollars for military support .
A press statement was issued by the Somali parliament in a rejoinder to the parliamentarians allegedly fleeing from Mogadishu.
The statement indicated that over 340 Members of parliament are in Mogadishu, 30 in Punt land, 15 in Somali land, 10 in Hiran, Somalia Central, while the rest are on vacation , sick leave and official missions or visits abroad.
Those who were in Nairobi were on their way to Punt land, Somali land or missions overseas, while some of them are undergoing medical treatment in Nairobi, Kenya´s capital city.
Nairobi is the connecting center for the Somali officials and business community proceeding abroad or coming from there, on their return to Somalia.
Somali´s feel that the Americans are not genuinely supporting the TFG and they assume that the TFG and the opposition groups should finish each other in the raging civil war.
If the assumption is wrong, why does the current American administration through the UN mandate not request the deployment of peace-enforcing forces from Muslim countries in order to dispel Al-Shabaab´s claims that the Americans are destroying Somalia, and the Europeans are engaged in looting of the Somali marine resources and dumping of toxic waste?
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