By Simegnish Yekoye

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, June 8, 2007 – Weak reasons from donor countries have delayed the deployment of African Union (AU) forces in Somalia, said Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

According to Seyum Mesfin, Minster of Foreign Affairs, though a number of countries like Malawi, Burundi, Nigeria and Ghana are ready to send their troops to Somalia, enough resources could not be allocated for the deployment.

Responding to the fear raised by the Ethiopian parliament members regarding the delay of the deployment causing negative consequences on Ethiopian forces, Seyum said “we are now sending delegates to different countries to make the case for having an AU peacekeeping force right away and we are getting optimistic reactions”.

Present in Addis Ababa to attend the conference of African ministers in charge of border issues, Ambassador Said Djinnit, commissioner for peace and security under the frame work of AU, also said on Monday though there has been utmost effort to mobilize resources, The AU has not so far achieved its goal.

“But we are pleased to see some of our partners facilitating for the deployment of Burundi forces to Somalia”, Djinnit noted.

According to Djinnit, the commission for peace and security together with the AU is planning to visit Burundi to organize and prepare Burundi contingency that is expected to be deployed in a few days.

“We have an important meeting in London on 5th and 6th of June during which we are going to discuss the obstacles on the way of the deployment of Burundi contingent and the administration of Somalia in general,” said Djinnit.

“I hope this London meeting will help us mobilize resources at least for the Burundi contingent to be followed by other contingents.”

While presenting a report about Ethiopia’s economic and political diplomacy work in the past nine months to the parliament, Seyum also talked about the situation of Ethiopia and Eritrea saying Ethiopia is closely following any decisions made by UN security council in order to avoid any negative impositions on Ethiopia.

“We are explaining the cause for the disagreement between the two countries and we are telling the international community to put pressure on Eritrea,” he added.

With regard to the situation with other neighboring countries southern Sudan and Kenya Seyum noted that the conflicts at the border with those countries is caused mainly due to cattle raiding and fighting over grazing lands and that the Ethiopian government is discussing the situation with the respective governments.

Seyum also added border commissions are formed at the areas to bring sustainable solution.

“But that isn’t enough,” said Gebru G/Mariam representative of United Ethiopia Democratic Forces (UEDF). “Ethiopian pastoralists are migrating leaving their land behind. They are telling us to at least care for the land if we can’t protect them. But the federal government isn’t giving the necessary support to the regional governments to stop the situation.”

Regarding the economic diplomacy the office has done in the past nine months, the report stated that a lot of work has been done in regards to the Ethiopian Diaspora and it was managed to have 72 Ethiopians participate in different development work. A lot of mobilization work is also under way at different parts of the world for the celebration of Ethiopian Millennium, the report stated.

Source: The Sub-Saharan Informer

Home | Contact us | Links | Archives | Search