Ethiopia: New York Times Reports a Fabrication - Official

By Namrud Berhane

Addis Ababa, 24 February, 2007 - According to the New York Times Ethiopia had been a staging point for a U.S. covert operation in Somalia and its airstrip was used for the air raids conducted by American warplanes.

The paper, which said it obtained its information from unnamed US officials, also claimed that the U.S. had deployed "members of a secret American Special Operations unit, Task Force 88, in Ethiopia and Kenya, and [that they had] ventured into Somalia.

"This is simply a total fabrication," Bereket Simon, special adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, told the Associated Press.

Earlier, the reports were that the US had used its base in Djibouti to conduct the air strikes which, according to officials of both Ethiopia and the United States, were aimed at suspected Al-Qaeda members responsible for the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Other targets were hardline leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts such as the Afghan-trained young leader of the militant Shabbab wing, Aden Hashi Ayro.

Whether those strikes had accomplished their mission still remains unverified.

Meanwhile in Somalia, as part of a bid to restore order in his country, the interim President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed told journalists Thursday that he will convene a reconciliation congress within two weeks. The congress will be open to all clans in the country, according to the president.

"We will start at national level and go down to local and regional levels ... down to grassroots. Our people fought hard, we slaughtered each other ... we have to discuss how to forget and forgive," President Yusuf told Reuters during an interview.

Yusuf's decision comes two days after the UN Security Council approved a resolution that allowed the African Union (AU) to establish a stabilization mission that consists of 8,000 troops drawn from the continent.

"We will start at national level and go down to local and regional levels ... down to grassroots. Our people fought hard, we slaughtered each other ... we have to discuss how to forget and forgive."

As per the request of the Security Council to the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a technical assessment team is expected to arrive in the region soon.

Yusuf's government is carrying out a disarmament program in Mogadishu with the help of Ethiopian troops.

Previously, Yusuf had successfully negotiated with Mogadishu warlords to disarm their militia and submit them to the national army.

The president expressed also his intent to close down the gun markets in his country.

"Disarmament has started. Up until now it is voluntary. We have completely disarmed former warlords and we will continue to disarm the population, on a voluntary basis for the time being. But if (people) won't disarm voluntarily we will do (it) by other means," Yusuf told Reuters.

In the meantime, Ugandan defense officials have arrived in Somalia to facilitate the arrival of their 1,500 strong force.

"We expect the troops to be here in two weeks," Hassan Abshir Farah, who represented the Somali government at one meeting, told the Associated Press.

Talks were held in the southern town of Baidowa on Thursday. The five-member Ugandan mission then traveled to Mogadishu, on Friday for further talks with Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle to assess bases for the AU peacekeepers, their arrival date and stabilization of the country, Jelle is reported to have said.

Burundian and Nigerian troops are also expected to arrive shortly in Somalia.

The AU has so far obtained USD 70 million from the US, European Union and Britain for the financing of the peace support mission.

Source: The Reporter ( Addis Ababa)