WORLD ALERT: Ethiopian/AU troops illegal stay in sovereign Somalia; 1 million people displaced
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The time for Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia is fast approaching, but they will stay until an African Union peacekeeping force is fully deployed, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Thursday.
Ethiopian soldiers are in Somalia supporting its U.N.-backed interim government, which has struggled to impose control in the face of a Iraq-style insurgency by Islamist rebels.
Some 3,000 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi are in the capital Mogadishu — part of a planned 8,000 strong AU mission.
Violence in Somalia has killed nearly 10,000 people and displaced more than a million since the start of last year.