Ethiopian PM slams opposition’s rejection of resolution on Somalia

Nov 30, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has criticized the stand of opposition political parties against the terms of the authorization given by the parliament to attack Somali Islamists.

“No citizen with a clear conscience should stand a passive observer in the face of a strategy put up from Asmara to Mogadishu to create mayhem in Ethiopia”, Meles said during a Parliamentary session held here on Thursday to endorse the resolution on the danger posed against Ethiopia by extremists in Somalia.

“Is it right to not find anything wrong until attacks reach Addis Ababa,” questioned the Prime Minister. “Some oppositions may not feel being attacked until the attackers make their way to Addis. Having been enduring absence of peace from attacks by the encroaching assailants, the victims – the Ethiopian Somalis – could not agree to refuse to see.”

Meles described as imprudent and a historic mistake the expressed stand of some opposition parties that they would neither put nag against, nor give support to the measures of self-defence the Ethiopian government is to take.

Meles said it is the parliament that should decide whether to take measures of defence, and decision for does not mean that the government will go for it outright. “We shall take all avenues to peace even in the face of attacks until all options are exhausted.”

The majority of the opposition forces objected the vote in favour of the l authorization of military action fearing that government would engage the country in a war that may be used by the government to divert the attention from internal problems.

Prof Beyene Petros, a representative of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), one of the main parliamentary opposition parties, said the resolution would allow the government to take action that may put the country into a quagmire that would be difficult to come out from.

The Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) also opposed the resolution by its leader Bulcha Demeksa.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) has also opposed the resolution. Party representative Temesgen Zewdie said that given the seriousness of the issue, the time allotted for deliberation among members of the house is short. The party also called for the intervention of international arbitrators.

But the EDUP-MEDHIN (United Ethiopian Democratic Party-Medhin) expressed full support to the resolution. "After a thorough discussion on the issue, we accepted the resolution as a declaration of self-defence," said party leader, Lidetu Ayalew.

US Administration to prevent a war between the Ethiopian government and the Islamic courts militias circulated Friday a draft resolution that would authorize a regional force to protect Somalia’s weak U.N.-backed transitional government and threaten Security Council action against those who block peace efforts and attempt to overthrow it.

The draft would authorize the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a seven-nation East African group, and the African Union to deploy "a protection and training mission in Somalia" - and it would lift an arms embargo on Somalia to allow that force to be armed.

(AP)