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On Thursday the BBC new reported Ethiopian troops on Somali soil. More than 100 Ethiopian military trucks were seen crossing into Somalia at Baidoa, the base of the weak interim government.(Scroll down for map of conflict area). It is reported that they have made this move to protect the weak interim government in Somalia from being taken over by the Islamist faction.
“We have seen Ethiopian soldiers in a convoy,” Baidoa resident Shukri Abdirahman told AFP news agency.
“This is the first time that Ethiopian troops have been openly seen in Baidoa,” another resident said. Witnesses say they are now in a government compound.
Ethiopia’s Information Minister Berhan Hailu told Reuters news agency in Addis Ababa that they would use “all means at our disposal to crush the Islamist group if they attempt to attack Baidoa”.
On Friday Yahoo News reported: Somali Islamists declare holy war against Ethiopia The Islamist faction weighed in here:
“The Ethiopians have invaded our country and we must force them out of the country and this will be a holy war of Jihad,” added Aweys, who is the supreme leader of Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).
Aweys is a hardline cleric designated a terrorist by the United States for suspected links to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
The Islamist militia, who have taken control of the capital Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia, have demanded the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopians who according to eyewitnesses sent more military vehicles into Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government, overnight.
The most recent addition to the saga, from the BBC news on Saturday reported Ethiopia ’seizes new Somali town’ . Several hundred Ethiopian soldiers were reported seen at the airstrip in Waajid early on Saturday. The news story shed further light on the reasons for this conflict.
Ethiopia has been a long-term ally of President Abdullahi Yusuf. UIC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has accused him of being “a servant of Ethiopia”.
A UN report earlier this year said that Mr Aweys [the Islamic militia leader] had been getting significant military aid from Ethiopia’s rival, Eritrea – a claim Eritrea has denied.
The above map,(courtesy multimap.com, edited) shows the location of this conflict. As you can see, it is more than 300 miles away from Addis Ababa. At this time there are no indications that this conflict poses any threat at all to visitors in Addis. This news is shared here solely for adoptive families interested in staying informed of any news that involves Ethiopia.
Thanks for the update. We are following it, but still planning to travel soon.