Ethiopia is trying to save face after defeat

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Ethiopia is trying to save face after defeat

 

Ethiopia dismisses reports of major Somali losses

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By Aaron Maasho

 

ADDIS ABABA, March 11 (Reuters) - Ethiopia rejected on Sunday reports that dozens of its soldiers had been killed and two captured by Islamist rebels during fierce fighting in Somalia, branding them as "false."

The rebels, residents and government officials said there were sustained clashes on Saturday between Ethiopian soldiers and al Shabaab near the strategic town of Baidoa and in another small town some 130 km (81 miles) away.

 

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for killing scores of Ethiopians and capturing two while the governor of the region, based in Baidoa, said it was the al Qaeda-allied rebels who had been routed.

 

"They engaged our troops after regrouping in tiny pockets outside our area of control," Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told Reuters. "Al Shabaab rebels sustained heavy casualties and have retreated ... the battle scene is littered with the bodies of dead enemy combatants.

 

"It's a statement of survival, a desperate attempt. All claims are false," he said.

 

Ethiopia sent its forces into the neighbouring Horn of Africa nation in late 2006 and quickly ousted an Islamist administration from the capital Mogadishu.

 

But the presence of the foreign soldiers fueled an insurgency that mushroomed into al Shabaab. Now under pressure, the group at one time controlled much of the capital Mogadishu and large parts of southern and central Somalia.

 

AUDIO RECORDING

 

The Ethiopians pulled out of Somalia in early 2009, but returned again in force late last year to open another front against al Shabaab after Kenya sent its soldiers into the south of the anarchic country.

 

The Ethiopians seized Baidoa last month and a number of other strategic towns near its border in the latest incursion.

 

"They are hiding their casualties just to deceive the Ethiopian civilians whose sons were killed by al Shabaab. They will express grief for the dead who never come back, however you deny their deaths," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military operation, told Reuters.

 

He said the two captured Ethiopian soldiers would soon be shown to the media.

 

Al Shabaab broadcast a recording on the Internet on Saturday which it said was the voice of a soldier captured during hours of fighting in the small town of Yurkud on Saturday.

 

In the recording, a man speaking in the Ethiopian Amharic language, said in a trembling voice that his name was Abera and he had been captured in battle with another man called Tadesse, and that "many of my friends died in the fight".

 

It was impossible to confirm the authenticity of the audio recording. Both names are common in Ethiopia.

 

Al Shabaab, a group that has been fighting to topple the Western-backed government and wants to impose its own harsh version of Islamic law, is holding two Kenyan government officials it seized in a cross-border raid. (Additional reporting by Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Writing by David Clarke; Editing by Karolina Tagaris).

 

Source: Reuters

[Che -Guevara]

LOL...sii fiican baa loo karbaashey shalay.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Hada waxay is leeyihin ceebta ino qariya but body bags will be heading back to addis ababa tallow taa sidee loo qarin:D Allahu Akbar Walilahil Xamd

[Che -Guevara]

^They will probably saying missing in action and presumed dead. Majority of the soldiers were 'disposable' Oromo anyway. No Tigray dies in these wars.

[Dabrow]

LOL good news.

[Raamsade]

They are 85 million Ethiopians and over 500,000 Ethiopians are in the army, so killing 40 or 50 here and there will not make an iota of difference. Hundreds are born each day. The useful question is: has Alqaacida/Alshabaab gained more territories as a result of this engagement? The answer is no.

[NASSIR]

Lol@disposable Oromo.

[OdaySomali]

I hear around 40 of the invading xabashis were killed...

[Mario B]

We need to build our Somali Army ASAP, then maybe 1000 Djiboutian army can remain in Somalia for training purposes, why is the Somali government only training 1000 troops a year? at this rate i'll take decades to have a national army. :mad:

[Dabrow]

Mario B;802383 wrote:

We need to build our Somali Army ASAP, then maybe 1000 Djiboutian army can remain in Somalia for training purposes, why is the Somali government only training 1000 troops a year? at this rate i'll take decades to have a national army. :mad:

Bro....you are assuming that Somali people are allowed to have a army?. Well thats not the case.

[Mario B]

Dabrow;802410 wrote:

Bro....you are assuming that Somali people are allowed to have a army?. Well thats not the case.

The world wants a proffessional Somali Army not some militia loyal to whichever Clan it came from.

[Dabrow]

Mario B;802435 wrote:

The world wants a proffessional Somali Army not some militia loyal to whichever Clan it came from.

LOL...do you think most somalis wants some clan- militia army? Your post dont say anything really.

[Mario B]

Dabrow;802437 wrote:

LOL...do you think most somalis wants some clan- militia army? Your post dont say anything really.

SL army is clan militia, PL army is clan outfit too, the same logic applies to Galmudug. The precedent has already been set. I also dont speak for most somalis, I also believe that no one is stoping Somalia from reconstituting it's army, the rest of the world just don't want to fund it, rightly so...I believe we should pay for our own Army.

[Somalia]

Dabrow;802410 wrote:

Bro....you are assuming that Somali people are allowed to have a army?. Well thats not the case.

[Dabrow]

Mario B;802442 wrote:

SL army is clan militia, PL army is clan outfit too, the same logic applies to Galmudug. The precedent has already been set. I also dont speak for most somalis, I also believe that no one is stoping Somalia from reconstituting it's army, the rest of the world just don't to fund it, rightly so...I believe we should pay for own Army.

I agree with this but there are no funds for an army and we also have widespread corruption problems.Until we solve this it might take a decade to have a somali army. But the problem is we will have to depend on AMISOM and xabashis and thats will only fuel Alshabab more.