Capital - Have Ethiopian troops crossed over into Somalia ?

Ato Fiseha Shawel – No. Ethiopian troops haven't entered Somalia under any circumstances.

How successful was the Foreign Minister's recent one-day visit to Baidoa? Can you tell us exactly what happened there?

The Foreign Minister's visit was by all standards very successful. Right before the meeting, there were some misunderstandings among the top leadership of the Somali Transitional Federal Government. The good thing is that the differences were on how to mobilize the people, how to engage the international community and how to pursue and who should pursue the dialogue with the Union of the Islamic Courts. There were some minor misunderstandings on these points and so the Prime Minster was on one side while the President and the Speaker Parliament were on the other. Prior to the visit of my minister, a vote of no confidence motion was made in parliament and 139 votes were required to remove the president, but the parliament voted 126 to 88, thereby the PM was not removed.

The misunderstanding started widening, and so as close friends of Somalia and as a country that has a long relation with it, we got in touch with the leadership and offered our services to mediate, if possible. The top three leaders welcomed our offer and so our Foreign Minister went to Baidoa for a day and listened to the problems. The problem was amicably resolved and the understanding was that they will have a limited number of ministers. The ministers were to be elected on merit basis and professional capacity and also considering the clan balance of Somalia . So we can say that the visit was 100% successful.

What were the exact causes of disagreement between the president of the TFG , his prime minister, and the speaker of the house?

The misunderstanding started as the president kept insisting that he would have liked more mobilization of the people, more engagement of the cabinet with the international community. He would also have like the government structure deployed reaching to all districts and provinces.

He was of the view that things were not done to his expectation for the last two years. On the other hand, the PM says that there are limitations of resources from the international community, inability of the government to raise funds. The PM was short of a budget so he couldn't do things the way they should be. Given the current situation, normal activities of the government in Somalia are to be expected. These were the problems, but following the mediations, the problems were solved and they are ready to continue their activities.

The other problem they had was the dialogue between the TFG and UIC expected to take place in Khartoum as soon as possible. The speaker of parliament, Sheriff Hassan has a view that he should lead the delegation, whereas the PM has the view that it is the business of the executive. So in the end it was decided that either the PM or anyone whom he appoints would lead the delegation. Otherwise, I think that the situation should not be exaggerated that much. It is a minor problem and it is after all a question on how to push things from the side of the TFG . We expect the three leaders to work in harmony among themselves.

Ethiopia hasn't made a secret of who it supports in this situation. Would Ethiopia 's support to the TFG be seen as external interference and lead Somalis to regard the TFG with some reservations?

No it will not be seen as interference. By the way we had a team consisting of IGAD, AU, the Arab League and IPF go to Mogadishu , Baidowa, Kismayu and Kirkayu for a fact finding mission, see how people are doing in Somalia . The response in Southern Somalia was unanimous, that there is a government that they support and they have a parliament with its own speaker. There is no dispute in Somalia that there is a government or not, but there is a consensus. Ethiopia 's support for the TFG is in its constitution and its charter and is in line with the IGAD position, the UN Security Council, AU and the International Somalia contact group, which holds successive meetings on Somalia these days. So the position of Ethiopia in supporting TFG is absolutely in line with the wishes of the Somali people and the desires of the international community and other bodies.

It is apparent to all that Ethiopia , as a frontline state, has its national interests at stake in the events unfolding in Somalia . What do you think is the Eritrean regime's interest in Somalia ? In what ways is Eritrea supporting UIC ?

It is bizarre and very difficult to understand for any expert. It is hard to justify the involvement of the Eritrean government in supporting the UIC which is controlled by Al-Ithad, an extremist group. The Eritreans have had problems with us since 1998, as we were in a very terrible war and came out victorious. Though we wanted dialogue, the problem still stands. So the Eritrean government stared supporting the UIC , not believing that it would solve the problem of Somalia , but believing that it would create a problem for us. At the IGAD Council of Ministers meeting, the international community and everyone present there passed the message that Eritrea has nothing to do in supporting the UIC except irritating Ethiopia . We are still asking the Eritreans to resolve common problem peacefully; we are also asking not to degrade the situation in Somalia any further so that Ethiopia and Eritrea fight a proxy war in Somalia .

The people of Somalia have suffered for long, and so it is our responsibility to help them and in turn every one's interest could be protected.

Eritreans are basically engaged in supplying weapons. These weapons are not the kinds that have ever been in Mogadishu , so the Eritreans are also sending in people to train the UIC soldiers. They also provide military training for the UIC militia. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) which refused to participate in the political process according to the Ethiopian constitution is now in Mogadishu to create problems for Region 5 (Somali Region). We have also been informed of the presence of the OLF in the Somali region. The ONLF, OLF, UIC , Eritrea and criminal businessmen are trying to create fertile ground for negative activities towards Ethiopia . If possible they want to create difficulties in the Ethiopian Somali Region and create animosity between Ethiopia and Somalia .

There are those who suspect that Ethiopia is over-reacting in the Somali situation with the intention of diverting national and international attention away from internal problems. How would you respond to such views?

This is absolutely nonsense, because in the first place we have no internal problems. We had an election in 2005 where the results were announced and led to misunderstandings. Situations became tense and this led to some bad things happening. Ethiopia didn't react to the situation, rather we are being overly patient and not being rash as some might want us to be, including Somalis. There is of course, a redline that shouldn't be crossed by the Somalis. But if they try to destabilize peace in Region 5 in Puntland or Gedo area and if they provoke us in a way that would affect our national security, we will definitely react; we don't need any kind of permission from anyone to defend ourselves. But we still believe it could be solved peacefully.

Is there going to be any mission to be sent to Somalia ?

On August 15-18 2006, the IGAD Ministers of Defense will meet in Nairobi where they would approve the mission plan of the IGAD peace force. The detailed mission plan will show how many members it will have, which countries they come from, what kind of weapons they will be armed with and for how long they would stay. The committee of IGAD ambassadors will talk it over August 20-22, 2006 in Nairobi and it will be presented to the AU. The matter will then be presented to the UN Security Council where it will be approved.

We will after that move for the arms embargo to be lifted in favor of the TFG and then that will open the opportunity for international strength in terms of security and organizing itself in terms of defense and police force.

Apart from Eritrea , states such as Libya , Egypt , and Iran and as far afield as Central Asia ( Kazakhstan ) are allegedly indirect players in Somalia . Would you care to comment on that?

I also hear these rumors just like you do. So far there has been nothing to make us say that the above mentioned countries are involved in aiding the UIC . But we will continue to monitor the situation and soon we will learn the truth.

His Excellency the Prime Minister recently mentioned a red line that must not be crossed by the Union of Islamic Courts. Was he speaking figuratively or about a defined geographical area of reference? How would you evaluate the preparedness level of our armed forces in any potential conflict?

When the PM says red line, he is talking about both. Geographically, the TFG is in Baidowa and attacking Baidowa is attacking the transitional government and the consequence following that would be a direct national security threat to Ethiopia . So we will not allow this to happen and so we are in a precautionary move trying to avoid unnecessary engagement. Fortunately, they aren't attacking Baidowa so far. The other red line which they shouldn't cross is destabilization of the peace-like attacks and bombings.

The level of preparedness of our defense forces is excellent and up to the task, so we face no problems at all. But we are avoiding that at all costs.

How would UIC 's attack on Baidowa be a direct security threat to Ethiopia ?

The UIC is not pushing the agenda of the Somali people. It is an extremist organization controlled by Al-Ithad. The UIC are collaborating with Ethiopia at our expense. There are fellow Ethiopian organizations who rejected the constitution and are working with the above parties. The UIC leader has made it clear that Region 5 belongs to Somalia . They believe the expansion long abandoned during the time of Siad Bare is the right move. If he claims Jihad on Ethiopia and collaborating with Eritrea and attack the TFG , then we directly become a target. This is not acceptable to Ethiopia .

On a slightly different note but still within our turbulent region, how would you rate Ethiopia's relation with Sudan and more importantly Djibouti, given that country's present position of favoring the TFG over the UIC ?

I wouldn't say that our relationship with Sudan and Djibouti are strained at all. I myself was at the last Council of Ministers meeting in Nairobi on August 1, 2006 and there is no problem. The thing with Djibouti is that we had a slight difference on how to push the situation in Somalia . We are emphasizing the need for dialogue and agreement between the UIC and TFG but that should not be a pre-requisite to help the TFG . The TFG must be supported without any preconditions. We have to also side by side prepare for the IGAD mission plan and while the dialogue is going on, the mission should be protecting the institutions of the government. After the clashes in Mogadishu , some had the opinion that we must have the dialogue finalized first and then we continue to deploy the IGAD mission. On the council of ministers meeting, we brought up this idea and we all decided that the mission should be deployed while the dialogue goes on. Some people exaggerated some statements here and there to blow the thing out of proportion.

Al-Ithad, with links to international terrorist networks, is not a force that is large enough or adequately organized to face Ethiopian forces head on. Rather, Al-Ithad is more likely to adopt urban terrorism and hit and run attacks in the countryside. How vigilant should citizens be? How ready is the government?

The track records of the group show very well that they could opt for terrorist acts. They tried to kill our former minister H.E Abdulmegid Hussien , they blew up hotels in Ethiopia and Dire Dawa and a market in Dire Dawa where 6 people died. The group has done it before, taken responsibility for their actions and they could do that again. Who knows? They could still be behind the recent bombings in Addis Ababa . I believe that the people of Addis are up to the task in maintaining their security and reporting any strange activity. The government is also ready to tackle such potentialities.

What message would you like to give to Somalia 's hard pressed people, their ethnic brethren in Eastern Ethiopia and also the large community of exile Somalis in Addis Ababa ?

I would like to say to the Somali people that they have to reject extremism. They shouldn't allow anyone to involve themselves in such activities. Ethiopian and Somali Muslims and Christians have lived together peacefully for centuries; why should we now accept extremism. Through cooperation, anything can happen, we can make our lives better. There is no problem that can't be solved. The Somali's have suffered a lot and so they need their peace now.

Some say that war is a way of life in Somalia and that they wouldn't have a problem going to war with us. Are we in any eminent danger of going into a war?

No, I don't think so. In the first place, Somalis are peace loving people, but the only problem they have is the negative propaganda spread about them in the past 40 years due to the two regimes that tore the country apart. Somali's have now got institutions where everyone is involved and everyone is represented, so they are of no danger to us.

The only challenge they have is that they are motivated by people with personal greed or promoting someone else's agenda.