A/A, August 18, 2008 (Addis Ababa) - The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs said some international media organizations have over the
past few days been disseminating baseless reports alleging that Ethiopian
soldiers in Somalia opened fire on a passenger bus killing 65 civilians.
Wittingly or otherwise, these media organizations have only been informed by an
Al-Shabbab website, which they took for granted to issue their fabricated
reports, the Ministry’s spokesperson’s office said Monday. The Transitional
Federal Government of Somalia and the Ethiopian army had allowed for the
establishment of an independent fact finding team comprising local residents,
which then carried out its inquiry on the spot, it said.
Accordingly, on last Friday (August 15), a remote-controlled wayside
explosive planted by Al-Shabbab militants at el-Shaabia, 18-km away from
Mogadishu on the line to Afgoye went off killing 11 civilian passengers on board
a public bus. Soldiers of the TFG and Ethiopia then took a joint counter measure
on the Al-Shabbab militants responsible for the bombing and killed five
terrorists therein. In the shootout, five civilians were killed, the
spokesperson’s news release said. Therefore, the fact-finding team confirmed
that it was the Al-Shabbab bombing of the bus that caused the deaths of
passengers, not fire from Ethiopian soldiers, it said. Leaders of the Suleyman
clan around the area also expressly condemned the terrorists.
It said, these international media organizations would do better if they
refrain from fomenting fabricated information which would do no good for the
peace and stability of Somalia. It should be noted that the Ethiopian army is
very much disciplined and adheres strictly to international conventions on war.
It said any party interested to investigate the facts on the ground may
receive the good office of Ethiopia to do so.
Source:ENA
