WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The first departure by Ethiopian troops from Somalia is adding to the pressure get an African Union peacekeeping force into Mogadishu to maintain security.
A statement from the Ethiopian foreign ministry Tuesday said their military, in booting Islamic extremists from Mogadishu at the end of last year, had acted to remove a "clear and present danger to Ethiopia's security.
"That mission has now been completed," the statement said. The Shabelle Media Network reported from Mogadishu that Ethiopian Gen. Seum Hagoss said about 50 truckloads of troops along with tanks and armored vehicles were on their way home and said the pull-out would be complete within a matter of weeks.
Hussein Mohammed Farah Aided, the deputy prime minister of Somalia's internationally backed but internally weak Transitional Federal Government, which was installed by the Ethiopian military, told reporters Tuesday the first peacekeepers would arrive in three days, Shabelle said.
That prediction was not in line with the projections of analysts.
David Shinn, a former senior U.S. diplomat in the region who now follows events there from a teaching post at George Washington University told United Press International last week that it would take a minimum of two months to arrange troop numbers, logistics and funding for a serious force.
Jendayi Frazer, the State Department official in charge of relations with the region, suggested last week that an early deployment of a small, symbolic force might precede the arrival of serious numbers of peacekeepers.
Uganda and Malawi are the only countries to have pledged forces so far, though Shabelle quoted Aideed as saying that Nigerian troops would also be among those arriving this week and that three other countries including Libya and South Africa would be contributing.
