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ADDIS
ABABA, June 04, 2009 (AFP) — Ethiopia has undertaken military
reconnaissance operations in violence-wracked nearby Somalia, but is not
planning to re-deploy, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
"We have no plans to go back to Somalia... (but) there are
reconnaissance missions," Information Minister Bereket Simon told
reporters.
Ethiopian troops rolled into Somalia in late 2006 to buttress an
embattled transitional government against radical Islamist insurgents.
But it has repeatedly rejected accusations from local Somalis that it
crossed back into the country last month in the wake of renewed fighting
which has killed more than 200 people in one month.
"We haven't entered Somalia. But when there is a threat you can send
scouts, and reconnaissance missions. That is normal," Bereket said
without giving details.
This is the first time the authorities in Addis Ababa acknowledge the
existence of military activities in Somalia since its troops pulled out
at the start of the year.
Witnesses have in recent weeks reported seeing Ethiopian troops inside
Somalia, mainly around Beledweyne, a regional capital located near the
border.
"We stood by on our borders following closely the situation," added
Bereket.
Ethiopia's entry into Somalia in 2006 was backed by an six-country
regional bloc under the aegis of the Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) and with the backing of the African Union.
Source: AFP, June 04, 2009
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