Thousands of Somalis welcome Ethiopian pullout

(Mogadishu, January 16,  2009 Ceegaag Online) 

About 3,000 Somalis marched through the streets of the war-scarred capital on Friday, celebrating the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and appealing for peace in a city where thousands of people have died in fighting over the past two years.

Waving twigs as a sign of peace and chanting slogans appealing for peace, the marchers from different districts and converged at the city's main football stadium, which only two days ago was a base for Ethiopian troops.

The march and rally were organized by the Council of Correction and Reconciliation, an influential group of Islamic clerics not allied to any of the Islamic groups fighting for power in Somalia. The council has in recent months been mediating among the rival groups to get them to stop fighting each other, which puts civilians in more danger.

Council head Sheik Bashir Ahmed Salad said that with the Ethiopians gone, Somalis should focus on peace.

"It is high time that all Somalis solved their differences through dialogue and in a peaceful manner," Salad told the crowd.

Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government had called in the Ethiopians in December 2006 to oust the Council of Islamic Courts, the umbrella Islamic group that controlled Mogadishu and southern Somalia for six months that year. The Ethiopian army was viewed by many Somalis as abusive and heavy-handed.

Sheik Abdiqadir Ali Omar, a member of the Council of Islamic Courts, called Friday for Islamic fighters to lay down their arms.

"Now it is time to rebuild what has been destroyed," said Omar. "It is time for the displaced people to return."

The last Ethiopian troops left Mogadishu on Thursday after a two-year deployment. Islamist militiamen from different groups took control of the bases the Ethiopians vacated. No fighting was reported Thursday or Friday, but it was not clear if this was an indication of longer-term tranquility.

On Thursday, Ethiopia's prime minister said he could not predict what would happen when his troops leave Somalia completely, but he expected the extremist Islamic group al-Shabab and others to try to seize control.

The African Union and the United States have been pushing for months for a U.N. peacekeeping force, but finding troops for a multinational force initially envisioned as a precursor to a U.N. operation has been impossible.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution expressing its intention to establish the U.N. force in Somalia, but put off a final decision for several months to assess the volatile situation and work toward strengthening the small African Union force deployed in the capital.

The approved resolution renewed the mandate of the African Union force for six months and urged African nations to strengthen it from the current 2,600 to the 8,000 originally authorized.

It said the council intended to establish a United Nations Peacekeeping Operation as a follow-on force to the African Union's, subject to a further Security Council decision by June 1.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States, which drafted the resolution, believes there must be "a comprehensive approach that addresses the root causes of instability in Somalia which includes political, economic, humanitarian and security issues."

"The resolution adopted today essentially addressed the root causes by making a clear commitment that the Security Council will assume its responsibility with regard to Somalia," he said.

The Al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, says it wants to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. The group says it will now focus its attacks on the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

The departure of the Ethiopians has raised fears of a power vacuum at a time when Somalia is also facing rampant piracy off its coast. The country has not had a functioning government since 1991 and few expect that a Somali force can establish order even with the help of a relatively moderate faction of Islamists who had agreed to share power in October.

The African Union has said the government and its Islamic allies have about 10,000 troops, but they are poorly equipped and require logistical support.

In a separate development, Somali journalist Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, who was kidnapped in August, said his captors had released him but he did not know the whereabouts of two journalists kidnapped with him. He said no ransom was paid. Elmi was kidnapped with Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian freelance photographer Nigel Brennan. Lindhout works for French TV station France 24 and Global National News of Canada, according to Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

Source: Associated Press

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