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Aweys Osman Yusuf
01 February 2007
Addis Ababa 31, Jan.07 ( Sh.M.Network) - The Ethiopian military troops formally handed over piles of weapons seized form the defeated Islamists to the transitional government in Kismayu, about 500 km (310 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday.
Ethiopian and Somali government troops are positioned in Kismayu and Somalia’s southern border along with Kenya.
An occasion ceremony for the hand over took place in the port town of Kismayu where government officials have participated. Weapons and ammunitions of various types were exhibited at the ceremony today.
The Ethiopian troops in Somalia have begun leaving, as African peacekeepers
are due to ashore Somalia by mid February.
Col. Feygo, a government officer, said the government promises that the arms
would not go back to the hands of the civilian population.
The arms being transferred to the government were seized from the routed Islamists during the deadly skirmishes in which the Ethiopian and government troops drove the Islamic Courts Union out of Somalia late last year.