“The agreement reached in Djibouti by the two parties is in line with our policy of orderly withdrawal,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wahade Belay on Monday. He added that Ethiopia would implement the decisions reached by the two parties in Djibouti.

However, some sections of the opposition have rejected the agreement, saying that it will not be able to bring peace and understanding among all Somalis particularly because it is not specific about the total withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia.

The spiritual leader of the former Islamic Courts Union, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, for example, has rejected the agreement and stressed that the insurgency would go on until the last Ethiopian soldier leaves Somali soil. “Nothing good has come out of the peace talks and this agreement has no benefit for Somalis; we totally reject it,” he told Shabelle radio from Asmara in Eritrea. Aweys is still a member of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS)

Ethiopian troops have been in Somalia since December 2006 to help the government fight Islamists and drive them out of Mogadishu after they had established their own rule for close to six months, particularly in the southern part of the country. But it turned out to be a temporary relief as in early 2007, Islamist fighters reorganized themselves and launched new attacks against the government and its allies.

Agreement

The signing of the agreement follows the government’s meeting demands by the opposition that it draws a schedule for the exit of Ethiopian troops from Somalia.
According to the agreement, the official ceasefire will become effective on November 5, 2008, and Ethiopian troops will begin withdrawing from various parts of Somalia on November 21, 2008. The agreement further reads that the second phase of the withdrawal will last for 120 days and that the parties will immediately form a joint security force that will work with African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu to maintain law and order. The force would also fill the vacuum left by the ultimate withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. An estimated 10,000 troops would form the joint force.

The agreement also calls on supporters of the two parties and the general public to adhere and support the ceasefire with Somali Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Abdisalam, who led the government delegation at the peace talks, pledging that the government would implement its share of the bargain.