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Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Jan. 2 that his country's forces will withdraw from Somalia within weeks and called for an international peacekeeping force to replace them. Though Germany, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, convened European members of the International Contact Group on Somalia to discuss the issue Jan. 3, no peacekeeping force appears to be in the works. Thus, Ethiopia will have to continue occupying Somalia to keep the Supreme Islamic Courts Council (SICC) from returning to power. As a result, Ethiopia's government and its troops in Somalia are likely to face fresh guerrilla campaigns.
Ethiopia was prompted to intervene in Somalia when Addis Ababa grew concerned that the SICC represented a clear and present danger to the survival of the Ethiopian regime and Ethiopia's territorial integrity. Ethiopia's conventional campaign led to the capture of the Somalian capital of Mogadishu on Dec. 28 -- a day after SICC fighters, who had controlled the city since June, abandoned it.
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