ASMARA, Eritrea Mar 17 (Garowe Online) - The spokesman for a dissident group of Somali parliamentarians said his group would not return to Somalia until Ethiopian troops first withdrew from the country.

MP Saleban Olad Robleh, speaking on behalf of 42 rebellious MPs in the Eritrean capital Asmara, said on Saturday that they would not return to Baidoa as called for by fellow lawmakers.

“It’s not probable that we will set foot in Somalia as long as there are Ethiopian soldiers in one Somali city,” MP Robleh said.

Last Thursday, some 170 legislators called for the 42 MPs in Eritrea to return home “within 30 days” or face legal measures. [ Full story]

But MP Robleh completely dismissed the 30-day ultimatum, saying only that “Ethiopia is behind the parliament’s decision.”

Robleh said a delegation led by ex-Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan would travel to London tomorrow to express their concerns over the Ethiopian presence with officials there.

The Ethiopian military said it completed the second phase of its troop withdrawal last week. Some 1,200 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda have so far arrived in Mogadishu ahead of a proposed 8,000-strong force to fully replace the Ethiopians.

Source: Garowe Online