Som@li Posted January 22, 2007 Ethiopians could pull out in two weeks, says Somali envoy to UAE By Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporter Amb.Hussain Bullaleh. Dubai: The security situation in Somalia is under control and Ethiopian troops could withdraw from the country in less than two weeks, a top Somali diplomat said. African Union forces are expected to replace Ethiopian troops in Somalia "in two weeks or less" following the reinstatement of the Transitional Government there, Hussain Bullaleh, the Somali ambassador to the UAE told Gulf News. "Ethiopian troops could pull out in the next two weeks to ensure that there is no vacuum in Somalia," he said. "Eight thousand African [union] troops will come and there is no room for Ethiopia to be there." Ambassador Bullaleh was speaking to Gulf News on Saturday at an event organised by the Somali embassy in Abu Dhabi to show solidarity with the transitional government, which was attended by the wife and two daughters of the Somali President Abdullahi Yousuf Ahmad. The ambassador said that the Union of Islamic Courts had been "partly destroyed", and that any remaining members had either left the country or were "hiding in the countryside". He discredited reports of the Islamic Courts waging a guerrilla war on the government, saying cases of unrest were not uncommon "when you don't have a government or an organised police force for so long". He stressed that a comeback by the Union was unlikely. "They have very feeble support [in Somalia] and especially the capital. The [transitional] government has tremendous credibility with the people there," he said. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Som@li Posted January 22, 2007 Ambassador Bullaleh was speaking to Gulf News on Saturday at an event organised by the Somali embassy in Abu Dhabi to show solidarity with the transitional government, The event took place in Sharjah. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
