MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Witnesses on Tuesday reported that Ethiopian troops have returned to Somalia, just over a week after pulling out of the country. The Ethiopian government denied the claim.
At the same time, the newly elected Somali president told fellow African leaders he wants to improve relations with Ethiopia, a significant change in approach for a man who has in the past characterized the neighboring country as an enemy of Somalia.
Farhan Dheere, a resident of the Somali town of Kalabeyrka, a few miles (kilometers) from the border, said Ethiopian troops in 17 military vehicles arrived on Monday and set up a checkpoint.
Truck driver Botan Ali said his vehicle was searched by Ethiopian troops in Kalabeyrka on Tuesday and Somali militiamen working with the Ethiopians demanded he pay some money that they described as "tax."
Ethiopian Communication Affairs Minister Bereket Simon denied there are any Ethiopian troops in Somalia. Click on 'Read More'.
"We're within the bounds of Ethiopian territory and we have no intention of crossing" the border, Bereket told The Associated Press.
Sheik Abdurrahman Ibrahim Ma'ow, the chairman of the Council of Islamic Courts in the central Somali region of Hiran, said the Ethiopians have moved further inland. Kalabeyrka is in the Hiran region.
"We, the authorities in the region, will not accept it. If they do not leave within 24 hours we will fight with them," Ma'ow told the AP by phone.
In his first speech to his fellow African leaders, Somalia's new president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, said his country will lay aside its decades-long animosity for Ethiopia. It is unclear if he was aware of reports of Ethiopian troops being in his country.
"I have a commitment to create a peaceful life for my people," Ahmed said, speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. "I will do my best to create a good relationship between Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti. I think all of them, they are doing well to create a peaceful life in the Horn of Africa. And we have to respect each other and to respect our sovereignty."
Ahmed also said his government will play a role in combating piracy off the coast of Somalia. The coastline of the lawless Horn of Africa nation has become a haven for pirates, who last year seized more than 40 vessels.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 after Somalia's weak government asked for help to oust an Islamic group. Ahmed was a key leader of that group but since his election Saturday as president he has vowed to part with his former extremist allies and pursue a moderate Islamic policy.
On Jan. 25, the last Ethiopian troops withdrew after an unpopular two-year deployment.
Somalia and Ethiopia have been rivals for decades, and fought in the late 1970s over a southeastern region of Ethiopia populated principally by people of Somali origin.
Arid, impoverished Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a socialist dictator and then turned on each other.
Associated Press writer Anita Powell in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.
