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| Africa Horn |
| 2007-01-03 |
| Mogadishu, Somalia Ethiopian troops will stay in Somalia for another few weeks to help the victorious government pacify the Horn of Africa nation after a two-week war to oust militant Islamists, Addis Ababa said on Tuesday. Tightening the net on defeated Somali Islamic Courts Council (Sicc) fighters fleeing south, neighbouring Kenya said it had sealed its long and porous north-eastern border. A triumphant Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose intervention turned the war against the Islamists, said his forces would only remain "for a few weeks" while the interim government pacifies the chaotic nation. "It is up to the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force in Somali without delay to avoid a vacuum and the resurgence of extremists and terrorists," he added. Uganda has offered a battalion, while the Somali government says Nigeria may also give troops to an African peacekeeping mission already endorsed by the United Nations before the war. Ethiopian planes, tanks and troops helped the Somali government drive out the Islamists from Mogadishu last week. The administration broke out of its provincial outpost to end six months of Islamist rule across much of the south. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 It's only a quagmire if their American Troops. |
| Posted by: Spomort Greling4204 2007-01-03 10:25 |