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23 January 2007
MOGADISHU (AFP) - Ethiopian troops have begun withdrawing from Mogadishu nearly four weeks after they helped oust Islamist forces from the Somali capital.
A special departure ceremony was held for the pullout of the first batch of around 200 soldiers at the former headquarters of the Somali airforce on the southern outskirts of the capital Tuesday.
"The people of Mogadishu have welcomed us and are now giving us a dignified send-off as we head back home. You can see people waving to say goodbye," said a senior Ethiopian military official who attended the send-off.
"We have always said that our aim was to withdraw our troops because we are not forces of occupation and that as soon as Somali forces are able to take care of their security, the Ethiopian forces would leave Somalia," he added on condition of anonymity.
"That time has now come as Somali forces are efficiently taking care of their own security."
The pullout was confirmed by Ethiopia's information ministry.
"We have already started to pull out our troops from Somalia," ministry spokesman Zemedkum Tekle told AFP in Addis Ababa. "The first round has already started."
Somali deputy prime minister Hussein Mohamed Aidid, who attended the ceremony, praised the role of the Ethiopians whose intervention on behalf of the interim government prompted the Islamists to flee Mogadishu on December 28.
"The heroic army of Ethiopia supported the transitional government to restore normality to the country after 16 years of violence ... I thank the people and the government of Ethiopia on behalf of my government," he told AFP.
"The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops shows that the troops did not have any political agenda, but were only interested in stabilisation."
Source: AFP