Ethiopia rejects claims of withdrawing troops from Somalia

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia has disputed claims of withdrawing troops from Somalia amid an ongoing military offensive in the Tigray region, terming the reports "inaccurate and misleading" despite several senior military officials conceding that such an action was undertaken by the government.

For over a decade, Ethiopia has been supporting peacekeeping processes in the Horn of Africa nation, with at least 4,000 Ethiopian National Defense Forces [ENDF] troops serving in the AMISOM. Also, there are close to 1000 non-Amisom troops who have been working within Gedo and Baidoa.

Last week, claims emerged of Ethiopia withdrawing most of non-Amisom and AMISOM troops leaving Somalia to join colleagues in Tigray, who have been fighting the Tigray People's Liberation Front [TPLF] regional forces. The claims could not be supported independently.

But in an interview with the Voice of America, Ethiopia Ambassador to Somalia Jamaluddin Omar denied withdrawing troops from Somalia. The envoy said Ethiopia will continue assisting Somalia to stamp authority due to the resurgence of Al-Shabaab militants.

He said the two countries will continue cooperating for the sake of stability. According to him, the ENDF will closely work with AMISOM until full implementation of the Somali Transition Plan [STP] which will be fully implemented by the end of 2021.

Further, the ambassador insisted that the ENDF had not discriminated against members who come from the Tigray region, which is currently at loggerheads with the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. However, he admitted putting in place “safety guards” to avoid a repeat of the incident that reportedly happened to Northern Command.

There were claims that Tigrayans serving in AMISOM were disarmed and ordered to go back to barracks but the claims could not be independently substantiated. Reports indicated that over 250 ENDF of Tigray ethnicity were affected by the directive.

Ethiopia has also been facing accusations of supporting the Somali National Army in areas perceived to be opposition strongholds. Early this year, Jubaland leader Ahmed Islam Mohamed Madobe called for the international community to push for the withdrawal of Ethiopian non-Amisom troops from the Gedo region.

For the last one week, the Ethiopia army has been pursuing TPLF rebels in the northern part of the country with PM Ahmed terming it as a "law enforcement crackdown". The international community has called for a ceasefire despite the endless attacks from both sides.

GAROWE ONLINE