afrol News, 27 November - The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has backtracked his statement to declare war on jihadist elements of Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts. He now claims that his earlier war threats were just a response to the Islamists' repeated jihad declarations against Ethiopia.

Mr Meles had previously said his country was ready to wage war on the Islamist movement. This threatened the Islamists to the extent that they called for the intervention of the United States.

But in an interview with foreign journalists today, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi now has detailed that Ethiopia's response to the repeated declaration of war by the UIC should not be considered as a declaration of war against the jihadist elements of Somalia since the country is committed enough to patiently exhaust all the peaceful means of solving the problem.

Mr Meles said his report to the parliament during the regular question time was only a response to the repeated declaration of war by the jihadists and clearly stipulates that Ethiopia doesn't rush into declaring war.

He confirmed that Ethiopia has been attacked by the jihadists but that his government would not return fire for fire now because it has not reached to that level yet. But he did not rule out a revenge on the jihadists. PM Meles said the revenge, although he would not tell its exact nature, would happen when peaceful options are exhausted.

"Ethiopia is not going to wait for the permission of anybody to take the necessary defensive measures the respect of its sovereignty when it is at stake," Prime Minister Meles emphasised.

He said due to the reluctance of the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo on Somalia, the regional body Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) was unable to send troops to the troubled country with two governments.

The United States issued Kenya with travel alert after it had unveiled letters calling for the assassination of 17 prominent Kenyan and Somali nationals involved in the Somali peace process.

The US embassy spokesperson in Nairobi on Friday confirmed that the travel alert was prompted by the letters. "We have seen those letters and they were sufficiently alarming to cause us to issue the advisory," said embassy official Jennifer Barnes.

The letters - written in Arabic and English - were said to have been signed by Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of the military wing of the Islamist movement. They outline a strategy to resist the entry into Somalia of a proposed Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) peacekeeping force.

The letter detailed "the training of 50 Al-Shabab Mujahidin to execute suicide explosions in prominent landmarks in Ethiopia and Kenya and to preposition explosives in designated places nearly one month prior to carrying out these explosions in strict accordance with the instructions of the Executive Committee of Al-Shabab Mujahidin."

One of those named as target for elimination, Kenya's ambassador to Somalia, Mohamed Abdi Afey did not take the matter seriously.

"We are aware of those letters and Kenyan authorities are studying them. However, I must stress that we have embarked on constructive dialogue with the Union of Islamic Courts. Kenya's role in this process is positive. We want to see a stable Somalia and do not see any reason why anyone involved in the process would want to harm any Kenyan," he told 'Sunday Nation'.

Meanwhile, however, 'The Nation' reported about an uprising by ethnic groups of Somalis in Ethiopia and Kenya who urged elite forces within a militia called Al-Shabab Al Mujahideen to mass along the Kenya-Somali border.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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