In the African country of Eritrea, there were peace talks mediated by the United Nations between Somalia’s interim government and the opposition forces. At the current state, the interim government of Somalia is weak and depends on assistance from Ethiopia’s military forces.
Somalia is still waiting for the full deployment of the 8,000 strong force from the African Union. Forces from Uganda and Burundi have been deployed several months ago. Ethiopia’s forces are not able to pull out of the country or the interim government will fully collapse.
But, the city of Mogadishu has remained calm for the week during the peace talks. Violence once again erupted on Friday with the death of at least eight people. On Saturday, eight more people have been killed. Three students were killed on sight by Ethiopian forces according to witnesses.
“They were in school but carried no books. I think the soldiers suspected them (of being insurgent),” said Ismail Hussain, one of the witnesses.
In the case of the peace talks, not much was accomplished. The opposition wants Ethiopian forces to leave the country. At the same time, the International Red Cross says that a humanitarian crisis is still present. The group says that the humanitarian crisis in Somalia is the worst of them all.
Coming from the International Red Cross, it says a lot. Zimbabwe is dealing with a humanitarian crisis of its own due to the post-election violence. Sudan still has its humanitarian crisis. Kenya is recovering from the humanitarian crisis as a result of the post-election violence.
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