Further fighting will mean only more sorrow for the people of both eastern African counties, they said. It also could backfire on Ethiopian leaders, who feel threatened by Islamic extremists battling Somalia’s transitional government.
Government troops backed by Ethiopia were converging yesterday on Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, setting the stage for a bloody confrontation.
"The warlords are not the victims, the Ethiopians are not the victims," said Mahdi A. Taakilo, a Somali who is president of Helping Africans in a New Direction on Columbus’ North Side.
"The mothers, fathers and kids are suffering from this," Taakilo said. "The international community needs to rescue these people. These people are dying without reason."
The U.S. State Department said yesterday that Ethiopia has "genuine security concerns" about the rise of Islamic forces in its neighbor to the east.
Defeating the militias, however, is only an excuse for Ethiopia to gain more power in Somalia, said Mussa Farah, a Somali and president of the Columbus nonprofit Horn of Africa. Farah does not support the Islamic Courts militia; he favors cooperation among them, the U.N.-supported transitional government and Ethiopia.
The Islamic Courts were losing popularity in Somalia, Farah said. But Ethiopia’s military involvement will force Somalis to unite with Islamists, despite ideological differences, based on their historic distrust of Ethiopia, he said.
The disdain for Ethiopia, combined with the ability of the militias to restore order and some services to areas of Somalia they control, could earn them favor among Somalis, the immigrants said.
Border disputes between Ethiopia, which is divided between Christians and Muslims, and Somalia, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, have erupted several times over the past 42 years.
After Somalia’s 1991 civil war caused the government to collapse, Columbus became home to an estimated 45,000 Somalis, this nation’s second-largest population. Local leaders say at least 10,000 Ethiopians live here.
Ethiopia sent troops across the border because the nation believed its livelihood and national integrity were in danger, said Reynoldsburg resident Aklog Biru, a board member of the Ethiopian Community Organization.
However, the fighting will not benefit either nation, said Biru, 57.
"I’m sad and very hopeful that things might improve. It has been going on for too long and people are tired of it," he said.
Issues including democracy, development and health care need the attention of Ethiopia’s resources, Biru said.
"Ethiopia has other problems it can tackle like poverty and AIDS and ignorance and things like that, and now wars," said Biru, who thinks there is a better way than violence for the countries to resolve conflict. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees released a statement yesterday saying the conflict could displace more people and overtax the relief system.
This year, drought, floods and fighting between Islamists and the government already have sent Somalis fleeing to refugee camps. Floods killed more than 100 people in Somalia last month.
Flooding in Ethiopia in August killed more than 600 people. And a shortage of food and poverty continue to plague that nation.
Farah predicted that fragile social and economic conditions in Ethiopia won’t allow that country to keep its forces in Somalia for long.
"When you have a fire burning in your own home, you can’t start a fire in another country," he said.
Although Somali and Ethiopian immigrants in central Ohio are frustrated with the politics of eastern Africa, that won’t cause division here, Farah said.
"This will not have an impact," he said of the fighting. "We are friends and we will be keeping our friendships."
Information from the Associated Press was included in this story. [email protected]
Source: Columbus Dispatch, Dec 27, 2007