Ethiopian troops cross into Somalia

By Catherine Bond
CNN Nairobi Bureau Chief

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- Several hundred Ethiopian troops have moved into northeastern Somalia's breakaway Puntland state, sources who monitor the situation said Saturday.

The presence of Ethiopian troops in the Puntland state town of Galcaio is "absolutely confirmed without a doubt," the sources told CNN. They said witnesses on the ground had seen a large number of Ethiopian soldiers -- "almost a battalion in strength," which would indicate 600-700 troops.

Somalia's central government collapsed in 1991. Puntland declared its independence from Somalia in 1998 in a move not recognized internationally.

Galcaio is the hometown of former Puntland President Abdullahi Yousef, generally regarded to have diplomatic backing from Ethiopia, the region's largest power. Yousef's rival, Jama Ali Jama, was sworn in as Puntland's new president November 14, after the former Yousef's three-year term in office expired.

The sources said Ethiopian troops had been camped in barracks outside Puntland's capital of Garowe as well, but pulled out Friday and headed in another direction.

Friday, an Ethiopian official denied the presence of Ethiopian troops in Puntland, but sources dismissed his statement.

Yousef contends that rivals in Puntland are backed by a Somali Islamic fundamentalist group, al-Ittihad, recently listed as "terrorist" by the Bush administration. Regional analysts, however, say the role of the group in Puntland's internal politics is not so clear.

Ethiopian troops moved against al-Ittihad camps in 1996 and 1997 after an assassination attempt on an Ethiopian official and bombings in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tekeda Alemu told CNN.

"The intention, we feel, was to destablize Ethiopia and to make it possible to achieve their aim in Somalia," he said. "They know Ethiopia would not allow the establishment of a Taliban-like government in Somalia, because the implication for the whole sub-region would be devastating."

At the time, Alemu said, there was little international attention to the problem.

"We took the necessary military action, and we managed to clip their wings," he said.