Jeddah, June 23: As violence rages in the Horn of Africa nation, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called, for an urgent international action against rebels in Somalia.
“It has become inevitable that the international community should intervene immediately to support the transitional government, re-establish order and lighten the suffering of innocent civilians,” OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement cited.
Ihsanoglu called on OIC member-states to help the Somali government, assuring it of the organization’s “unshakeable support.”
He also condemned the rebels’ attacks as “terrorist acts contrary to Islam’s principles of peace and reconciliation.”
Somalia has sunk into deadly violence between government troops and hardline militants from Al-Shaabab group its Hizbul Islam allied militia seeking to unseat the Somalia government.
The six-week fighting killed around 300 people and displaced more than 125,000, according to UN figures and casualty tolls compiled by AFP.
The Somali government late Saturday declared a state of emergency, amid calls for foreign intervention against the Islamists.
“Today the Somali cabinet has unanimously declared that the country is in a state of emergency,” a cabinet statement said.
Parliament speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Madobe also called on neighboring countries to step in militarily to rescue the Somali government.
“The government is weakened by the rebel forces. We ask neighboring countries — including Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen to send troops to Somalia within 24 hours.”
“We’ve been forced to make this request because of the escalating violence. Those fighting the government are being led by a (former) Pakistani army general, they are burning the flag and killing people.”
Kenya said on Friday it would not sit by and allow the situation in its neighbor to deteriorate further because it would destabilize the region.
Rebels warning
But Al-Shaabab group vowed a deadly fighting against any country sending troops into Somalia.
“We tell our enemy that we do not fear any invasion from outside,” Shabaab’s Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told a press conference.
“We forced Ethiopia to withdraw from Somalia early this year and we shall do the same again.
“We, the Somali young mujahideen, shall fight against any troops deployed here to help the government until our last holy fighter passes away. This is a clear signal that the so called government established by the enemy had totally failed.”
Shaabab has emerged during its fighting against the western-backed interim government and its Ethiopian allies who invaded Somalia late in 2006 to topple the Islamic Courts.
But the group has rejected the election of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as Somalia’s president, launching deadly attacks against his government.
Ethiopia said that it would only send troops into Somalia under a mandate from the international community.
“Any further action from Ethiopia regarding Somalia will be done according to international community decision,” Communications Minister Bereket Simon told AFP.
He stressed Addis Ababa’s support to the Somali government.
“We have supported them in the past and we will continue. An unstable Somalia is a danger for everyone,” he said.
“We are following the situation very closely and wait for any answer from the international community.
-Agencies