ETHIOPIAN PM HOLDS TALKS WITH SENIOR US DEFENCE OFFICIAL

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 16 --Honourable Ethiopian Prime Minster Meles Zenawi says Ethiopia-United States military ties, which are based on a common understanding and benefit dates back a long time.Meles said this here Wednesday when he held discussions with Theresa Whelan, the visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for African Affairs. The premier said Ethiopia attached prime attention to its military relations with the US and had been working in collaboration with the US in efforts to ensure peace in Horn of Africa.The negotiations underway in Djibouti among Somali parties to bring about lasting peace in Somalia were well in progress, he noted. However, he added, the situation in Somalia had not improved as expected. Hence, a meeting should be called in Kenya on the issue and members of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) should give recommendations, he said.Ethiopia will also keep on contributing its share to ensure stability in Somalia, Meles said.Whelan said the US government appreciated the role Ethiopia was playing to ensure peace in the Horn of Africa. -- NNN-ENA

Ethiopian troops to stay in Somalia, wait for AU

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. "The time for us to withdraw is fast approaching," Meles told the Ethiopian parliament in Addis Ababa.
"(But) it is not fair to abandon the AU and international community, which have taken the firm position our troops should stay at least until the African peace force is fully deployed."
Violence in Somalia has killed nearly 10,000 people and displaced more than a million since the start of last year.
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