The Ethiopian troops who helped install Somalia's fledgling government in Mogadishu, its capital, began to pull out on Tuesday, officials from each country said.
Many Somalis say they now fear that a power vacuum will form and that the country will slip back into the lawlessness that has dominated it for much of the past 16 years.
"Why can't they stay?" asked Muhammad Omar Ali, a milkman in Mogadishu, as he watched truckloads of Ethiopians chug away. "They're leaving us to the bandits."
Ethiopia played a pivotal role in rearranging Somalia's internal politics last month when it sent tanks, jet fighters and thousands of troops to vanquish an increasingly aggressive Islamist movement that ruled most of south-central Somalia.
After routing the Islamist army, the Ethiopians paved the way for Somalia's transitional government, which until then was weak and divided, to take control of the country.
But the Ethiopians always insisted that they would not stay to police Somalia.
And though several African countries have mused about sending peacekeepers to help quell Somalia's volatile mix of warring clans, well-armed thugs and now a growing insurgency, a comprehensive peacekeeping force may be months away.
On Tuesday, 200 Ethiopian soldiers held a short goodbye ceremony at a defunct Somali air force base.
"We have arrived in Mogadishu in support of the transitional federal government troops," an Ethiopian commander said.
"We have successfully completed our mission. We respect the order of the Ethiopian government to withdraw from Somalia."
Some Somalis cheered.
Others said the equivalent of good riddance.
"Our enemy is finally leaving the country," grumbled Muhammad Gedi Nur, who was selling second-hand clothes on the street.
"Now we can bring back Islamic law."
Remnants of the Islamist army are suspected of the increasingly frequent attacks on transitional government soldiers and Ethiopian troops.
Despite the limited withdrawal that began on Tuesday, Ethiopian officials have reassured Somalia's leaders that many troops would remain until international peacekeepers arrive.
Western diplomats have expressed hope that the surrender to Kenyan authorities last week of Sheik Sharif Ahmed, a moderate leader of the Islamist forces, could be another solution.
As a well-respected figure among the Islamists and the influential Hawiye clan, he could help end the insurgency.
On Tuesday US diplomats said they were eager to talk to him.
"The US ambassador to Kenya plans to meet with Sheik Sharif later this week," the embassy said. "The ambassador will urge Sheik Sharif to counsel his supporters not to carry out violence and to support the development of an inclusive government."
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS