RTTNews
Friday, March 30, 2007
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(RTTNews) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the country's parliament on Thursday that Ethiopia had successfully accomplished its mission of driving out the Islamists in Somalia. He said extremists were no longer a "clear and present danger" to Ethiopia.
"After breaking the backbones of extremist forces, our defense forces have started to withdraw," Meles said. He added that more than two-thirds of the country's forces have returned to Ethiopia, but gave no figures.
Ethiopian troops helped install the government last December but have been gradually handing over responsibilities to the AU force that was deployed to Mogadishu earlier this month to try and bring stability to the city.
Currently the African Union is struggling to gather an 8000 strong peacekeeping force to fill the void left by the retreating Ethiopian soldiers.
Source: RTTNews, Mar 30, 2007