Replies

UN chief rules out Somalia force
BBC
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The time is not right to send United Nations peacekeepers to Somalia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said.

On Tuesday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a UN force to be sent to the conflict-hit nation.

But Mr Ban said the situation in Somalia was too risky and there was no peace to keep.

There was also very limited world support for a multinational stabilisation force, he added, with few countries prepared to take part.

He had contacted 50 nations - but none had agreed to lead such a force and only one or two were willing to send troops, he said.

Somalia has not had an effective national government for 17 years, leading to a collapse of law and order.

Ethiopia-backed government forces have been fighting Islamist insurgents for the last two years, but the Ethiopian troops are due to pull out next month - leaving only the 3,200-strong African Union peacekeeping force behind.

The danger of anarchy in Somalia was "clear and present", Mr Ban said, and action must be taken.

But he said conditions were not in place for sending peacekeepers...

Instead, he said, more efforts were needed on an inter-Somali peace process and to bolster the current African Union force.

Somalia: Explosion Hits Ethiopian Vehicle
Shabelle Media Network via AllAfrica.com
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Afgoi &emdash; Big blast targeted to the Ethiopian troop's vehicle has badly damaged an Ethiopian vehicle in Afgoi district in lower Shabelle region, our reporter Hasan Mayow told Shabelle on Wednesday morning.

The explosion has caused the collapse of the Ethiopian truck and other casualties.

The damaged vehicle has come out first from the Ethiopian base in Afgoi and was passing around the Itop factory when the explosion happened.

But after the blast the Ethiopian troops have extended and strengthened the security of that area and halted the movement and transportation of the area where the accident happened and began search operations over there.

"Big blast has taken place at Afgoi district this morning and one Ethiopian vehicle was badly inflicted in that zone. Witnesses told to Shabelle.

Reports from Lafole Residences also say that at least two other blasts happened there recently.

The explosions are always targeted to Ethiopian troops by the Islamist groups who are against to the presence of the Ethiopian troops in Somalia.

Somalia: Land Mine Kills Ethiopian Soldier
Shabelle Media Network via AllAfrica.com
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Somalia &emdash; A land mine explosion has killed an Ethiopian Soldier in Lafole Village 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Mogadishu residents said on Wednesday.

"The land mine went off after the Ethiopian soldier tried to remove it," a resident said.

Residents say Ethiopian soldiers exploded three land mines in the area but they failed to explode the fourth one which killed the soldier.

Locals in Afgoi district say Wednesday morning blast burnt Ethiopian truck and inflicted casualties to the Ethiopian soldiers.

The Ethiopian troops entered in Somalia in 2006 to help the weak transitional government of Somalia.

The prolonged Ethiopian occupation displaced millions of civilians and killed thousands.

Somali Reports: Fighting in Mogadishu Kills 10
VOA News
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Somali news reports say at least 10 people have been killed during fighting between Ethiopian troops backing the government and Islamist insurgents in the capital, Mogadishu.

Witnesses say mortars landed in areas filled with civilians, and that several people also were wounded.

A spokesman for the al-Shabab insurgents said one of their top commanders, Abdullahi Salad Farah, was killed, but that many Ethiopian soldiers died as well...

Islamists, who control the southwestern city of Kismayo, have confiscated trucks carrying food aid. They say the aid discourages farmers from cultivating.

Fighting over the last two years involving Ethiopian-backed government forces and a variety of Islamist groups looking to impose Islamic law has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced at least a million others.