- Title: [SW News](Al-Hayat) Interview With H.E. Meles Zenawi
- Posted by/on:[AMJ][Tuesday, December 26, 2000]
AL-HAYAT
, Saturday 23 December 2000, Issue 13800, page 5.
www.alhayat.com
The
following is excerpt of an interview Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister
of Ethiopia gave to Al-Hayat newspaper.
Q.
Why
didn’t Ethiopia give its full recognition to the transitional
government of the Somali president Abduqassim Salat Hassan?
A.
We
have supported all the resolutions that were taken lately in Khartoum
during the IGAD summit conference. I must also stress that we had a
role in reaching an agreement that allowed the president of the
current government in Mogadishu to take up the Somali seat on
condition that he must have some specific qualifications.
First:
whether this government will use the cover of
international legitimacy to take the rest of the country by force or
whether it would resolve the problem by peaceful means. The IGAD
summit has announced that it is incumbent upon the government to
pursue peaceful solutions and president Salat has accepted that.
Second:
would
the transitional government use international legitimacy to starve the
regions that it does not control. We consider that to be against the
interest of the Somali people themselves. IGAD has confirmed that all
the Somali regions must receive humanitarian assistance. These were
the points of consideration in the Somali issue.
Q.
You
deal with Somaliland in northern Somalia as a de facto state. Don’t
you think that contradicts your support to President Salat and would
hinder his efforts to reunite Somalia?
A.
We
do not recognise Somaliland as an independent state as we clearly
repeated on many occasions. We have a de facto relationship
with all, and we are not the only country that has this type of
relationship. We have no other options with regards to our contacts
with Somaliland. It (Somaliland) is on our border. Do we pretend that
it does not exist? This issue is not one of establishing a de facto
relationship but of how to deal with it. We … this relationship in
order to encourage peaceful reconciliation in Somalia, and we use all
the influence available to us with other concerned parties to bring
peace. We have put a lot of efforts with all the other Somali groups
in the border regions to participate in the Arta peace conference in
Djibouti and we encouraged them. Some of these groups participated and
others refused and it is not possible for us or others to impose on
them by force. We are still using our influence for the benefit of
peaceful reunification of Somalia.
Q.
To
what extent do the activities of the Islamic groups in Somalia affect
the stability of Ethiopia and have you discussed this issue with the
Somali president as his opponents in his country accuse him of
supporting these groups who have succeeded in putting a large number
of their supporters in the parliament?
A.
The
manner in which Somalia wants to manage its affairs is not part of
our concern. What concerns us first and last is what the government
and the different parties and organisations do inside Ethiopia. Some
of the extremist organisations did not limit their activities inside
Somalia and went to destabilise the stability in Ethiopia. Our
problem with the Islamists is not one of faith. We are a secular
democratic state in which all minorities live in freedom. What
worries us is the presence of tens of well-trained terrorists, and
that is enough to destabilise the security and stability of
Ethiopia. We discussed this with the president of the transitional
government in Somalia and he assured us that he is not one of them
(extremist Islamists) and that he will fight any organisation that
destabilises the regions. We have no problem if he keeps his promise
in these regards.
_________________________________________________________________________
HESHIISKII
UU MADAXWEYNE C/QAASIM LA SAXIIXDAY DOWLADDA ITOOBIYA OO BURBURAY
25
Dec 2000 at 14:58
| (SomaliNet)
Wasiirka gaashaandhigga ee dowladda KMG ah
ee Soomaaliya C/laahi Boqor Muuse ( King
Kong ) ayaa u sheegay Raadiyah Banaadir ee
Magaalada Muqdisho in uu burburay heshiiskii
uu kal hore magaalada Addis Abeba ee dalka
Itoobiya ku kala saxiixdeen Madaxweynaha
Soomaaliya C/qaasim Salaad Xasan iyo
Ra’iisul wasaaraha dalka Itoobiya Melles
Zenawi.
C/laahi King Kong wuxuu sheegay in
itoobiya ay caadeysatay inay faragelin
joogto ah ku sameyso arrimaha Soomaaliya,
isagoo xusay inay dhawaan hub iyo rasaas
kala duwan soo siisay hoggaamiye kooxeedyo
Soomaaliyeed si ay uga hor yimaadaan
xukuumadda cusub ee KMG ah.
“U dulqaadan meyno arrimaha ay
xabashidu nagu heyso,waxaana u sheegeynaa
Qaramada Midoobay, Urur goboleedka IGAD,
Jaamacadda Carabta ,Ururka Islaamka,Midowga
Yurub iyo dhammaan kuwa kale ee caalamiga ah
in Itoobiya ay go’aansatay inaysan
Soomaaliya degin ,oo aysan yeelan dowlad la
aqoonsan yahay ” ayuu yiri Wasiirka.
Maxamed Muxiyaddiin Cali - Muqdisho
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Defence
minister receives Egyptian army general
BBC Monitoring
Service - United Kingdom; Dec 23, 2000
Text
of report by Somali newspaper Ayaamaha on 23 December
The
minister of defence, Abdullahi Boqor Muse, has requested the
Egyptian government to assist the country in rebuilding its armed
forces.
The
minister made the request when he held talks with an Egyptian army
general, Mamduh Qutub. The talks took place at Ramadan Hotel,
Mogadishu, the day before yesterday [21 December]
Source:
Ayaamaha, Mogadishu, in Somali 23 Dec 00 p 3
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