Ethiopia, as a member of the IGAD countries which sponsored the Embagathi process, remained committed to the letter and spirit of the agreements and has continued to respect the outcome of that process. Period. Indeed, Ethiopia ought to be commended for the honorable role it has played in this regard, together with some other IGAD countries.
On July, 2006, Abdalle Hirrad wrote the following:
The TFG ought to recognize the two facts that: (a) the people of Somalia are by their historical nature not receptive to Ethiopia and can not immediately accept it as an ally; and that (b) the more the TFG is associated with Ethiopia as a political bed-fellow, the more it will lose public support; especially if it deploys Ethiopian troops for support.
Both the TFG and the Islamists must come to realize that with the option of war there will be no winners.
(THE DIFFICULT CHOICES FACING THE TFG
July, 2006)
And now, he says this:
After 16 years of chaos, anarchy and lawlessness, there has been enough proof that Mogadishu required an overwhelming force to pacify and ensure the security in its surroundings.
It can be said that, the international community, perhaps, unable to conceive any new post-war ideas and plans towards Somalia, has been repeatedly reiterating pre-war buzz words and sound bites, calling for “reconciliation between all sides to the conflict”. It has never been understood in full, which “sides” were meant, given that there has been no organized opposition to speak of, after the fall of the UIC.
That is 180 degree turn. To me, that sounds like "bigotry."
Mr. Abdiqassim Salad Hassan took office as the head of the previous TNG in the year 2000. Abdiqassim Hassan, by the way, is an ally of the Islamists, if not a senior member among them. He happens also to be a distant cousin of both Hassan Dahir Aweys of Al-Itihad—the current supreme leader of the Islamists in Mogadishu—and Yusuf Garad of the BBC . By the Somali political logic, this means a lot.(THE DIFFICULT CHOICES FACING THE TFG
July, 2006)
If the above is true, and knowing that the author is Somali, then it begs the question if the author's relationship to A.Yussuf puts a question mark on his writings.