Peace Negotiations Watch- Volume V, Number 17, July 26, 2006

SomaliaEthiopia Enters Somalia to Back GovernmentAssociated Press, 7/20/06Hundreds of Ethiopian troops in armored vehicles rolled into Somalia on Thursday to protecttheir allies in this country's virtually powerless government from Islamic militants who controlthe capital. The move could give the U.S.-backed Somali government its only chance of curbingthe Islamic militia's increasing power. But Ethiopia's incursion could also be just the provocationthe militia needs to build public support for a guerrilla war. "We will declare jihad if theEthiopian government refuses to withdraw their troops from Somalia," a top Islamic official,Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, told The Associated Press.The neighboring countries are traditional enemies, although Somali President Abdullahi YusufAhmed has asked Ethiopia for its support. Thousands of Somalis have taken to the streets inrecent weeks to denounce witness accounts of Ethiopian troops along the border. The UnitedStates urged Ethiopia to exercise restraint and said the U.S., European Union, African Union,Arab League and others in an international contact group on Somalia will meet soon to considerthe volatile situation. "We are watching the situation very closely," State Department spokesmanSean McCormack said Thursday in Washington. "We would urge the Ethiopian government toexercise restraint."Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictatorMohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country intoarmed camps ruled by violence and clan law. The government, which includes some warlordslinked to the violence of the past, was established with the support of the United Nations to helpSomalia emerge from anarchy. But the body wields no real power, has no military and onlyoperates in Baidoa, about 100 miles east of the Ethiopian border. The Ethiopians, wearing theirnational military uniforms, deployed Thursday at the airport outside Baidoa and set up a fencedcompound near the transitional president's home in the city, witnesses said.The Islamic militia of the Supreme Islamic Courts Council stepped into the power vacuum inrecent months, seizing the capital of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia. On Wednesday,the militia reached within 20 miles of Baidoa, prompting the government to go on high alert. Themilitia began pulling back Thursday as more than 400 Ethiopian troops entered Baidoa. Thesoldiers smiled and waved to residents before setting up their camp, according to the witnesses,who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.The United States has accused the Supreme Islamic Courts Council of links to al-Qaida thatinclude sheltering suspects in the deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya andTanzania. In a recent Internet posting, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden urged Somalis tosupport the militants and warned nations not to send troops here. The Islamic militia has installedstrict religious courts, sparking fears it will become a Taliban-style regime.Ethiopia's defense, foreign and information ministries repeatedly denied Thursday that theirtroops had crossed into Somalia. Ismail Hurreh, one of Somalia's deputy prime ministers, also