The deputy prime minister of Somalia’s transitional federal government (TFG), Hussein Mohamed Farah Aideed, has accused Ethiopian troops of committing “genocide” against the Somali people during recent bouts of heavy fighting with warlords and Islamists in the capital, Mogadishu.
Such an accusation coming from a high-ranking Somali official such as Aideed -- son of the late Mohamed Farah Aideed, a powerful Somali warlord in the Nineties -- goes beyond typical opposition propaganda and could create pressure for a formal international investigation into the recent death and destruction in Mogadishu.
Ethiopia has dismissed Aideed’s allegation as an absolute fabrication. In a recent statement, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tekede Alemu said such accusations were “expected from someone with no interest in peace and stability in Somalia”.
Alemu said Ethiopian troops and Somali forces had been “sitting ducks” during four months of mortar attacks to which they did not respond, and that it was only when extremists began shooting down aircraft serving African Union troops that they responded with force.
Aideed is a member of the dominant Hawiye clan from southern Somalia, and has vowed to fight attempts by the TFG and Ethiopian troops to secure control of the country. The government accuses the clan of harbouring Islamists, who earlier last year took control of much of the country before being pushed back by Somali forces and their Ethiopian allies. The Hawiye deny that they are working with the Islamists and accuse government forces of being exclusively from the president’s clan, the Darood, and are trying to disarm them.
Aideed was initially one of the staunchest supporters of Ethiopian involvement in Somalia, and even called for the unification of the two countries when Ethiopian troops first arrived in Mogadishu last December. But now he is accusing Ethiopian troops of “war crimes” and calling on them to leave.
“We condemn the brutal occupation of Ethiopia in Somalia and call for its immediate withdrawal from sovereign Somali territory,” Aideed said in a joint communiqué with two other opposition groups.
Aideed, who is currently in Eritrea -- Ethiopia’s long-time foe and the centre of opposition to Ethiopia’s presence in Somalia -- expressed fears that his country was turning into “another Iraq”.
Ferocious violence between anti-Ethiopian forces and Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu last month claimed the lives of more than a thousand people. Thousands more were wounded and tens of thousands displaced.
Last week, the European Union called for an investigation into the excessive use of force by Ethiopian troops. But, so far there has been little movement towards an international investigation because of the complexity of the conflict and the fact that some view the Ethiopian engagement in Somali as a necessary part of Washington’s expanded war on terror.
Jama Ahamd, a lawyer in Mogadishu, told the Mail & Guardian that the campaign against international terror often clouded excesses by military personnel, adding that it would be difficult to charge anyone for what has happened in Somalia in this age of “inhumanity and impunity”.
According to some analysts in Mogadishu, the shaky ceasefire currently in place in the capital is untenable, and there is little prospect of any of the belligerents withdrawing soon.
In the meantime, civilians are bearing the brunt of the death and destruction in the urban warfare -- and they place blame on all sides in the power struggle.
Zaynab Hassan, the mother of a six-month-old baby killed by shrapnel, said she holds the Ethiopian government, which she views as an occupying force, and clan insurgents responsible for her loss. Her views seems to by fairly representative of Somali residents caught in the crossfire of a battle they never wanted.
She says she wants justice from the United Nations, but first and foremost she wants protection -- which she believes is only possible through international intervention not directly connected to the United States-led war on terror.
Such an accusation coming from a high-ranking Somali official such as Aideed -- son of the late Mohamed Farah Aideed, a powerful Somali warlord in the Nineties -- goes beyond typical opposition propaganda and could create pressure for a formal international investigation into the recent death and destruction in Mogadishu.
Ethiopia has dismissed Aideed’s allegation as an absolute fabrication. In a recent statement, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tekede Alemu said such accusations were “expected from someone with no interest in peace and stability in Somalia”.
Alemu said Ethiopian troops and Somali forces had been “sitting ducks” during four months of mortar attacks to which they did not respond, and that it was only when extremists began shooting down aircraft serving African Union troops that they responded with force.
Aideed is a member of the dominant Hawiye clan from southern Somalia, and has vowed to fight attempts by the TFG and Ethiopian troops to secure control of the country. The government accuses the clan of harbouring Islamists, who earlier last year took control of much of the country before being pushed back by Somali forces and their Ethiopian allies. The Hawiye deny that they are working with the Islamists and accuse government forces of being exclusively from the president’s clan, the Darood, and are trying to disarm them.
Aideed was initially one of the staunchest supporters of Ethiopian involvement in Somalia, and even called for the unification of the two countries when Ethiopian troops first arrived in Mogadishu last December. But now he is accusing Ethiopian troops of “war crimes” and calling on them to leave.
“We condemn the brutal occupation of Ethiopia in Somalia and call for its immediate withdrawal from sovereign Somali territory,” Aideed said in a joint communiqué with two other opposition groups.
Aideed, who is currently in Eritrea -- Ethiopia’s long-time foe and the centre of opposition to Ethiopia’s presence in Somalia -- expressed fears that his country was turning into “another Iraq”.
Ferocious violence between anti-Ethiopian forces and Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu last month claimed the lives of more than a thousand people. Thousands more were wounded and tens of thousands displaced.
Last week, the European Union called for an investigation into the excessive use of force by Ethiopian troops. But, so far there has been little movement towards an international investigation because of the complexity of the conflict and the fact that some view the Ethiopian engagement in Somali as a necessary part of Washington’s expanded war on terror.
Jama Ahamd, a lawyer in Mogadishu, told the Mail & Guardian that the campaign against international terror often clouded excesses by military personnel, adding that it would be difficult to charge anyone for what has happened in Somalia in this age of “inhumanity and impunity”.
According to some analysts in Mogadishu, the shaky ceasefire currently in place in the capital is untenable, and there is little prospect of any of the belligerents withdrawing soon.
In the meantime, civilians are bearing the brunt of the death and destruction in the urban warfare -- and they place blame on all sides in the power struggle.
Zaynab Hassan, the mother of a six-month-old baby killed by shrapnel, said she holds the Ethiopian government, which she views as an occupying force, and clan insurgents responsible for her loss. Her views seems to by fairly representative of Somali residents caught in the crossfire of a battle they never wanted.
She says she wants justice from the United Nations, but first and foremost she wants protection -- which she believes is only possible through international intervention not directly connected to the United States-led war on terror.
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