Ethiopian troops to pull out of Somalia by early 2009: UN

[Abu_Salamah]

NAIROBI (AFP) — Ethiopian troops are to pull out of Somalia by early next year under a deal signed Sunday in Djibouti by the Somali government and the Islamist opposition, a UN spokeswoman said here.


The accord was signed by the government and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) at UN-sponsored talks in Djibouti, said Susannah Price, spokeswoman for the top UN envoy to Somalia.


Both sides agreed that Ethiopian troops would initially pull out of areas in Mogadishu and the central town of Beledweyne on November 21, leaving them under the control of African Union troops in Somalia (AMISOM).


The agreement said that "the second phase of Ethiopian troop withdrawal should be completed within 120 days," though Price was unable to say when exactly the 120-day countdown would begin.


Sunday's agreement resurrected a June 9 ceasefire deal agreed between the government and ARS, an opposition umbrella group dominated by Islamists and based in the Eritrean capital of Asmara.


Its implementation had been delayed after fighting flared up across the Horn of Africa nation.


A string of previous peace initiatives and truce deals have failed to stabilise the country, which has been plagued by an uninterrupted civil war since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre.


Ethiopian forces have been in Somalia since they deployed alongside beleaguered Somali government troops in 2006 and succeeded in ousting Islamists from south and central Somalia where they had imposed Sharia law.


Islamists insurgents have waged a guerrilla war since then, which according to international rights groups and aid agencies has left thousands of civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands, mainly in the capital Mogadishu.



http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...6p-7DVVmAkca_w

[Abu_Salamah]

Somalia's interim government and one of the main opposition groups have agreed to observe a ceasefire agreed in June during UN-brokered talks in Djibouti.

The ceasefire will come into effect next month and Ethiopian troops backing the government will start to withdraw.
The government and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) say they will form a unity government.

Other groups - including Islamist militias - continue to fight against the transitional government.

They will not observe a ceasefire until Ethiopians leave the country.
The Djibouti agreement is, potentially, extremely significant.
Somalia's transitional federal government and the Islamist ARS have signed what the UN calls a "ceasefire-observance agreement" - a carefully worded reference to an earlier ceasefire that never came into effect.

Unity government
The new accord sees Ethiopian troops leaving strategic areas of Somalia, and has them replaced first by African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi, and then later by a joint "police force".
But significantly, they have also agreed to form a "unity government" including politicians from both sides.

The emphasis, however, is on the agreement's potential.
The sticking point in the past has been over the presence of the Ethiopians, so their departure would open new room for a more comprehensive peace plan.

But there are three other armed groups opposing the current administration, and this deal does nothing to include them.
Until they are brought into the process, diplomats say it is hard to see an end to Somalia's troubles.

A separate process about to get under way in Nairobi brings together six East African countries under the regional group known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).

They are due to hold a summit in Nairobi later in the week, ahead of an extraordinary meeting of the Somali parliament.
The two processes have not been co-ordinated, but they could still complement one another.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7691959.stm

[abumuwahid]

Is Islamic Courts Ikhwani by any chance?

[Abu Bakr as-Somali]

Sharif's a whore for the west, he doesn't represent anyone except the Jahil League of Extraordinary Jahileen.

[Abu_Salamah]

Is Islamic Courts Ikhwani by any chance?

I was going to ask the same question.

May Allah grant victory to the shabaab

[abumuwahid]

Sharif's a whore for the west, he doesn't represent anyone except the Jahil League of Extraordinary Jahileen.

As soon as he was given safe passage by the Kenyans to Yemen and then to Eritrea by the Yemenis, I knew that there was something wrong with him. Before then I was unsure of him but gave him the benefit of the doubt.

[Abu_Salamah]

Only quote which came to mind.

And likewise, the Tawaghit in every time and place
Will never show pleasure with Islam
Nor will they cease their hostilities towards it
Nor establish conferences for it and spread it in books and magazines
or build colleges and universities for it
Unless it is a blinded, crippled from the religion
With both wings clipped and cut off
Far removed from their current situation

Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi- May Allah protect him

[Abu_Salamah]

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s transitional leaders made important concessions toward peace on Sunday, agreeing to accept insurgent troops within their ranks and detailing a plan for a phased pullback of Ethiopian soldiers, currently the most powerful force in the country.

This agreement could be an important step for chaotic Somalia, where thousands of civilians have been killed this year in vicious urban combat between, on one side, the Ethiopian troops and militia members loyal to the Somali government and, on the other, a determined Islamist insurgency. The recent fighting has compounded the country’s dire humanitarian problems, with millions of people on the brink of starvation.

In a document signed in the neighboring country of Djibouti, Somalia’s transitional government agreed to police the country jointly with an insurgent militia. Equally important, the government committed to have Ethiopian troops “relocate,” starting Nov. 21, from critical urban areas, including strategic sites in Mogadishu, the bullet-pocked capital.

Ethiopian troops are reviled by many Somalis, yet without their firepower, the transitional government would quickly collapse. Until now, the government had been vague about when the Ethiopians would pull back.
In turn, one insurgent group, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, agreed to respect a cease-fire and to stop waging its guerrilla war.

“Some very important principles have now been established,” said a statement issued by Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the top United Nations diplomat for Somalia. “The challenge is to ensure that concrete action is taken.”

But several major problems remain. For starters, the most fearsome wing of Somalia’s Islamist insurgency, the Shabab, has shunned the peace talks and vowed to fight on. The Shabab is a multiclan army of committed jihadists who have used suicide bombs, assassinations and high-tech weaponry in an attempt to overthrow Somalia’s weak transitional government and turn Somalia into an Islamic state. The United States considers the Shabab a terrorist organization.

Another problem is that the insurgent group that did sign the agreement is riddled with internal divisions and therefore may no longer have the street credibility to get its fighters to lay down their arms. After 17 years of chaos, since the central government collapsed in 1991, Somalia is still full of armed groups and war profiteers who see little to gain from peace or stability.

[Daniel]

Let this "opposition" group make an agreement with the Ethiopians and the apostates, that isn't going to stop the mujahidin from fighting the enemies of Allah. They will not stop until every last Ethiopian crusader is sent either to the grave or back to his own land in humiliation.

[as-Saabiraat wal Qaanitaat]

subhaan Allaah!You know, the Ethiopian govt is run by the kuffaars the soldiers however, are not all kuffaars meaning some are Muslims and most of them are brain-washed to believe the are doing the right thing by fighting Somalia. May Allaah grant all Muslims VICTORY! May Allaah guide those who are in darkness; fighting against their brothers in Islaam. May Allaah bring some sense to the corrupt govt of Somalia and all other Muslim countries. This agreement may be made, but the enemies of Islaam will continue to try their best to destroy Islaam until Allaah destroys them!