1549 BST: Fulham boss Roy Hodgson says he will do everything possible to keep highly-rated defender Brede Hangeland at Craven Cottage this summer. (Press Association).
1522 BST: AC Milan have told Chelsea that midfielder Andrea Pirlo is not for sale and that he will finish his career at the Italian club. (AFP)
1505 BST: Fulham have agreed a fee with Golden Arrows for Kagiso Dikgacoi and are now awaiting just a work permit for the South Africa midfielder. (Press Association)
1141 BST: Real Madrid say they have wrapped up their summer spending spree with the transfer of Xabi Alonso from Liverpool, ruling out a move for Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery or Valencia forward David Villa. (Associated Press)
1038 BST: Hull City will try and tempt Cardiff City with a £3.5m offer for striker Ross McCormack. (Wales Online)
1013 BST: Bayern Munich have dismissed speculation that striker Luca Toni is to join West Ham on loan. Full story: The Sun
0928 BST: Bolton manager Gary Megson says he is prepared to listen to offers for defender Danny Shittu. (Bolton Evening News)
Keep an eye on the gossip column throughout the day for updates and breaking news during the transfer window.
TRANSFER GOSSIP
Liverpool are expected to use some of the £30m they gained from the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid to make an £18m offer for Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani.Full story: The Independent
Standard Liege midfielder Steven Defour is also linked with a move to Anfield and his agent Paul Stefani says he would not turn down a move to Liverpool. Full story: The Independent
Italian side AC Milan are preparing a £31m bid for Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas.Full story: The Sun
Darren Bent's transfer to Sunderland has still not been completed, despite the Tottenham striker passing a medical on Monday. (Daily Star)
Sunderland, meanwhile, are set to sign Lyon defender John Mensah on a season-long loan deal. Full story: The Sun
The Black Cats are also keeping tabs on Tottenham centre-back Michael Dawson.Full story: The Sun
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has failed with a £5.5m bid for Sevilla centre-back Federico Fazio. Full story: The Sun
Wenger says he will wait to sign Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh on a free transfer next season, rather than improve his £6m offer for the striker this summer. (Daily Mirror)
Tottenham hope to sign Blackburn defender Christopher Samba for £10m to help ease their defensive crisis.Full story: The Sun
Manchester United will use their friendly with Valencia to run the rule over midfielder David Silva and forward David Villa. (Daily Star)
Stoke City want to take injury-prone Everton striker James Vaughan on loan. Full story: Daily Mail
Hull are set to sign Villarreal striker Jozy Altidore and have agreed a £3m deal for Stoke midfielder Seyi Olofinjana. (Daily Mail)
Burnley are in talks with Independiente winger Fernando Guerrero. (Daily Mail)
South African midfielder Kagiso Dikgacoi claims he has secured a move to Fulham from Golden Arrows after impressing on trial at Craven Cottage.Full story: The Independent
Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies has told Hamilton Accies they must make a substantial offer for midfielder Craig Bryson. (Various)
Hamilton have been busy making offers for Killie's Bryson, Motherwell's Jamie Murphy and Inverness midfielder Dougie Imrie - all of which have been rejected. (Scottish Daily Express)
Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee is ready to sell one of his top players to raise cash to bolster his squad. (Various)
Watford have joined Romanian side Unirea Uriziceni in the chase for Morton Jim McAlister. (Scottish Daily Express)
Southampton are interested in signing former Birmingham defender Radhi Jaidi. (Daily Mirror)
Ipswich are set to sign Watford striker Tamas Priskin in a £1.2m deal. (Daily Mirror)
Bristol City have told striker Lee Trundle that he is surplus to requirements at Ashton Gate. (Daily Mirror)
OTHER GOSSIP
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has agreed a new three-year contract at the club worth over £100,000 a week. Full story: The Sun
Newcastle defender Sebastien Bassong has been fined two weeks wages for refusing to travel to play in a friendly at Dundee United, adding to speculation he may be about to leave for Tottenham.Full story: Daily Mail
Crystal Palace have been banned from signing players due to a dispute over unpaid bonuses and signing-on fees from last season.Full story: Daily Mail
AND FINALLY
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has written off Liverpool's title chances, claiming he has more chance of achieving a hole in one in golf. Full story: The Sun
Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham is being considered for a goodwill ambassador's role at former club Manchester United when he hangs up his boots.Full story: The Sun
Meanwhile, Beckham and his wife Victoria are in negotiations to buy a £10m luxury home in Chelsea, sparking rumours of a move to the west London club. Full story: The Sun
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is being haunted by a vacuum cleaner that keeps turning itself on. Full story: Daily Star
Northampton's players will turn out for free on the opening day of the season with their wages being split between the club's eight nominated charities. (Daily Star)
It has been revealed that Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez suffered his recent heel problem after slipping in the shower. Tevez is in danger of missing the start of the season. Full story: The Guardian
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Charity warns on Zimbabwe cholera
 The UN has warned the total number of cases could reach 60,000 |
The international medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres, predicts that the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe will last well into 2009.
Manuel Lopez, the head of MSF in the country, told the BBC the epidemic was still at a critical level and would not subside until the rains end in March.
Even then, he said, the lack of clean drinking water means that cholera will be endemic in Zimbabwe.
The disease has claimed 1,123 lives and infected more than 20,000 people.
Mr Lopez says so many clinics and hospitals have closed that large sections of the population have no access to medical care.
"The ministry of health has declared a national emergency," said Mr Lopez.
"So it is very clear that the situation is very, very critical in terms of health people's access to health care."
Latest UN figures include a new outbreak of hundreds of cases in Chegutu, near the capital Harare, which has been worst hit by the disease.
MSF says that when it arrived in Chegutu 10 days ago, it found the local facilities completely overwhelmed.
Patients were lying on the floor, some next to dead bodies, sanitation services were non-existent, and there was no water and no food to be found.
"The situation was absolute chaos," said Luis Maria Tello, the MSF Emergency Team Medical Coordinator.
"There were no beds and patients everywhere. People were dying of thirst because there was no water."
The disposal of the dead was one of the first priorities set by the emergency team.
"Dead people were lying everywhere," said Mr Tello.
'War words'
The easily preventable disease has spread because of the collapse of health services and water sanitation in Zimbabwe.
The UN World Health Organization has said the total number of cases could reach 60,000 unless the epidemic is stopped.
 South Africa's Red Cross is rushing much-needed medicine to Zimbabwe |
A week ago Mr Mugabe said the outbreak had been "arrested".
He claimed Western powers wanted to use an epidemic as an excuse to invade Zimbabwe and topple him.
Meanwhile, South African ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma said in a radio interview there was no reason for sending troops to Zimbabwe.
"Why military intervention when there is no war?" he told South Africa's 702 Talk Radio.
"We should be pressurising them to see the light."
Zimbabwe claimed earlier this week that Botswana, which has joined growing international calls for Mr Mugabe to quit, was hosting military training camps for MDC rebels.
But the current chairperson of the the Southern African Development Community, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, said on Wednesday: "We never believed that."
$30 million aid for zimbabwe
South Africa said on Sunday it would only hand over $30 million in agricultural aid to Zimbabwe after a unity government is formed, denying a Zimbabwe media report it had reversed a decision to hold back the help.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Insurgents attack AU Peacekeepers in Mogadishu
One civilian was killed and five others injured as Islamist insurgents attacked African Union (AU) peacekeepers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Eyewitnesses say the insurgents aimed artillery fire at a base occupied by Ugandan AU troops, and the six victims were inadvertently struck by stray gunfire. The clash came only two days after two AU peacekeepers and three Somali civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion targeting a new contingent of AU troops arriving from Burundi. [PE]
Thursday, October 16, 2008
EU plans more help for mothers
The European Commission is unveiling plans to extend the minimum maternity leave across Europe from 14 to 18 weeks.
Nancy Godfroid wants more flexible rules to improve work-life balance
The plans are meant to offset falling birthrates across the EU.
For Nancy Godfroid, it would be a dream come true. It's 0730 and Nancy has to take her four-year-old son Anthony to school in a leafy district of Brussels.
She is the sort of woman that an ageing Europe needs, with a full-time job in a bank and another baby due later this month. You could say she has it all - but that's not what she thinks.
"The rules should be more flexible," Nancy Godfroid said, "in terms of the number of weeks you can take before and after birth.
"If I give birth earlier than expected, I lose part of my leave. I'd also like to have more time to breast-feed."
More safeguards
The existing EU law, which dates from 1992, provides for a minimum 14 weeks of maternity leave throughout Europe, including two compulsory weeks before the birth.
Nancy's situation is like that of many mothers across the EU
The new rules say women should be entitled to at least 18 consecutive weeks' maternity leave, six of which should be taken after birth. The rest would be taken before or after labour, as the mother chooses.
Under the proposals, the 27 EU countries would guarantee that women won't be sacked during or immediately after maternity leave. Governments would be free to offer new mothers more time off, but would have to pay them at least as much as sickness leave.
Across Europe, there are wide differences in the amount of leave and pay for mothers-to-be. In Belgium, it is 15 weeks; in France, 16; in Britain it is 26, while in Bulgaria you can take almost a year.
In Germany, which has one of the lowest birthrates in the EU, women are entitled to the minimum 14 weeks, but with full pay.
EU sets example
But Katharina von Schnurbein is lucky. Because she works for the European Commission, she gets 20 weeks on full pay.
Katharina enjoys generous terms as an EU employee
"I think we set a good example," said Ms Von Schnurbein, who is the social affairs spokeswoman for the European Commission.
She is also the highly pregnant poster-girl for the new directive on maternity leave. Just hours before she starts hers, she argues that giving women across Europe more support would make more of them choose to have babies and go back to work.
"It makes sense to see this not only as spending," Ms Von Schnurbein said, "but also as an investment in the future, to see how we can enable women to have a career, to have children and have the number of children they want."
The European Commission may want a better balance between work and family life, but that costs money.
Countries like Germany and Belgium would have to give women longer maternity leave, Britain and Bulgaria would have to pay them more while they stay at home looking after their babies - at least as much as normal sickness pay.
Liliane Volozinskis, from the European Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represents 12 million companies, says the price would be high for business and women themselves.
"It could create reluctance from small employers to hire women," she said, "because particularly in difficult economic situations you need to have people coming as soon as possible on the labour market."
Some, like the Czech Republic, also object to what they say is European Commission interference in their social welfare systems.
But if a majority of EU governments and the European Parliament agree, the new rules for maternity leave could be in place by 2011. That may encourage others to follow Nancy's and Katharina's example.
Nancy Godfroid wants more flexible rules to improve work-life balance
The plans are meant to offset falling birthrates across the EU.
For Nancy Godfroid, it would be a dream come true. It's 0730 and Nancy has to take her four-year-old son Anthony to school in a leafy district of Brussels.
She is the sort of woman that an ageing Europe needs, with a full-time job in a bank and another baby due later this month. You could say she has it all - but that's not what she thinks.
"The rules should be more flexible," Nancy Godfroid said, "in terms of the number of weeks you can take before and after birth.
"If I give birth earlier than expected, I lose part of my leave. I'd also like to have more time to breast-feed."
More safeguards
The existing EU law, which dates from 1992, provides for a minimum 14 weeks of maternity leave throughout Europe, including two compulsory weeks before the birth.
Nancy's situation is like that of many mothers across the EU
The new rules say women should be entitled to at least 18 consecutive weeks' maternity leave, six of which should be taken after birth. The rest would be taken before or after labour, as the mother chooses.
Under the proposals, the 27 EU countries would guarantee that women won't be sacked during or immediately after maternity leave. Governments would be free to offer new mothers more time off, but would have to pay them at least as much as sickness leave.
Across Europe, there are wide differences in the amount of leave and pay for mothers-to-be. In Belgium, it is 15 weeks; in France, 16; in Britain it is 26, while in Bulgaria you can take almost a year.
In Germany, which has one of the lowest birthrates in the EU, women are entitled to the minimum 14 weeks, but with full pay.
EU sets example
But Katharina von Schnurbein is lucky. Because she works for the European Commission, she gets 20 weeks on full pay.
Katharina enjoys generous terms as an EU employee
"I think we set a good example," said Ms Von Schnurbein, who is the social affairs spokeswoman for the European Commission.
She is also the highly pregnant poster-girl for the new directive on maternity leave. Just hours before she starts hers, she argues that giving women across Europe more support would make more of them choose to have babies and go back to work.
"It makes sense to see this not only as spending," Ms Von Schnurbein said, "but also as an investment in the future, to see how we can enable women to have a career, to have children and have the number of children they want."
The European Commission may want a better balance between work and family life, but that costs money.
Countries like Germany and Belgium would have to give women longer maternity leave, Britain and Bulgaria would have to pay them more while they stay at home looking after their babies - at least as much as normal sickness pay.
Liliane Volozinskis, from the European Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represents 12 million companies, says the price would be high for business and women themselves.
"It could create reluctance from small employers to hire women," she said, "because particularly in difficult economic situations you need to have people coming as soon as possible on the labour market."
Some, like the Czech Republic, also object to what they say is European Commission interference in their social welfare systems.
But if a majority of EU governments and the European Parliament agree, the new rules for maternity leave could be in place by 2011. That may encourage others to follow Nancy's and Katharina's example.
Budget fears dominate EU summit
Anxiety about national budgets dominated an EU summit where the rescue and supervision of banks vied with climate change as the most pressing issue.
The severity of the financial crisis has had an impact on the EU's ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which look likely to be watered down under pressure from a new "eastern bloc", along with Italy.
The billions of euros required to adapt large enterprises to the emissions targets threaten to put further strain on budgets already groaning under the weight of bank bail-outs and rising unemployment.
Poland, heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations, teamed up with seven other former communist countries to demand a reassessment of the burden imposed by the targets.
Then Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, struck a protectionist note, saying Italian firms were "in no state to take on costs like those we thought about last year".
Fiercely debated
The European Commission will now look at the specific problems that some countries face in meeting the targets. But it is determined - along with the French EU presidency - to clinch a deal on the targets before next year.
The proposed changes to the EU's pioneering Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be fiercely debated in the European Parliament and by ministers, who are supposed to hammer out a deal strong enough to inspire the rest of the world. The EU is gearing up for major international talks next year on climate change.
For those who want the European Union to walk with power and purpose on the world stage this summit is both triumph and tragedy
BBC's Mark Mardell in his blog
Mardell's Europe
One of the parliament's chief negotiators on the climate package, Green MEP Satu Hassi, urged EU leaders to "keep firm with the commitments already given".
"The financial crisis does not blow away climate change," she said, adding that the crisis "teaches us that early action is always wiser than emergency action".
Yet in the absence of a clear roadmap on the climate package, EU leaders were keen to show a united response to the banking crisis.
The turmoil in Wall Street, with the freezing of inter-bank lending, triggered emergency bank bail-outs by individual European governments before the 15 eurozone countries announced a joint multi-billion-euro plan to recapitalise banks and guarantee loans.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown basked in his fellow Europeans' praise for showing the way, with his rescue plan for British banks, estimated to be worth £500bn (641bn euros).
But, in contrast with his famously low-key appearances at EU summits, he joined the chorus of calls for more co-ordinated EU action.
'Crisis cell'
The EU plans to set up a "financial crisis cell" - a rapid response team tasked with co-ordinating EU action in any future financial crises. Any member state in trouble will be able to trigger the new alert system. The idea is to prevent any country's state intervention harming the interests of another EU member.
But France's President Nicolas Sarkozy also stressed the need for global solutions, to refashion the world's financial system and make it "fit for the 21st century".
He and commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will meet US President George W Bush on Saturday to prepare for a global crisis summit - a "G8 plus", including emerging powers like China and India.
President Sarkozy wants a tighter rein on the financial sector
Mr Sarkozy's priority is tighter financial supervision, with action on hedge funds, tax havens, executive pay and ratings agencies.
Maintaining the international competitiveness of European industry is looming as the next big challenge, once some stability returns to the banking system.
Mr Sarkozy says he wants to see the same joint EU effort applied to that problem as to the banking crisis.
Energy security is highlighted as another EU priority in the summit conclusions - though it was overshadowed by the urgent economic and climate agenda.
The fuel protests across Europe earlier this year - triggered by surging oil prices - and worries about the reliability of Russian gas supplies made energy security a pressing issue.
The EU wants to diversify its sources of supply, make the energy market more transparent and improve the Baltic region's pipeline network.
As for the Lisbon Treaty, which dominated the last EU summit in Brussels, the Irish government has pledged to come up with a plan by December. But the bank crisis has forced the EU's controversial institutional reforms onto the back-burner.
The severity of the financial crisis has had an impact on the EU's ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which look likely to be watered down under pressure from a new "eastern bloc", along with Italy.
The billions of euros required to adapt large enterprises to the emissions targets threaten to put further strain on budgets already groaning under the weight of bank bail-outs and rising unemployment.
Poland, heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations, teamed up with seven other former communist countries to demand a reassessment of the burden imposed by the targets.
Then Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, struck a protectionist note, saying Italian firms were "in no state to take on costs like those we thought about last year".
Fiercely debated
The European Commission will now look at the specific problems that some countries face in meeting the targets. But it is determined - along with the French EU presidency - to clinch a deal on the targets before next year.
The proposed changes to the EU's pioneering Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be fiercely debated in the European Parliament and by ministers, who are supposed to hammer out a deal strong enough to inspire the rest of the world. The EU is gearing up for major international talks next year on climate change.
For those who want the European Union to walk with power and purpose on the world stage this summit is both triumph and tragedy
BBC's Mark Mardell in his blog
Mardell's Europe
One of the parliament's chief negotiators on the climate package, Green MEP Satu Hassi, urged EU leaders to "keep firm with the commitments already given".
"The financial crisis does not blow away climate change," she said, adding that the crisis "teaches us that early action is always wiser than emergency action".
Yet in the absence of a clear roadmap on the climate package, EU leaders were keen to show a united response to the banking crisis.
The turmoil in Wall Street, with the freezing of inter-bank lending, triggered emergency bank bail-outs by individual European governments before the 15 eurozone countries announced a joint multi-billion-euro plan to recapitalise banks and guarantee loans.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown basked in his fellow Europeans' praise for showing the way, with his rescue plan for British banks, estimated to be worth £500bn (641bn euros).
But, in contrast with his famously low-key appearances at EU summits, he joined the chorus of calls for more co-ordinated EU action.
'Crisis cell'
The EU plans to set up a "financial crisis cell" - a rapid response team tasked with co-ordinating EU action in any future financial crises. Any member state in trouble will be able to trigger the new alert system. The idea is to prevent any country's state intervention harming the interests of another EU member.
But France's President Nicolas Sarkozy also stressed the need for global solutions, to refashion the world's financial system and make it "fit for the 21st century".
He and commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will meet US President George W Bush on Saturday to prepare for a global crisis summit - a "G8 plus", including emerging powers like China and India.
President Sarkozy wants a tighter rein on the financial sector
Mr Sarkozy's priority is tighter financial supervision, with action on hedge funds, tax havens, executive pay and ratings agencies.
Maintaining the international competitiveness of European industry is looming as the next big challenge, once some stability returns to the banking system.
Mr Sarkozy says he wants to see the same joint EU effort applied to that problem as to the banking crisis.
Energy security is highlighted as another EU priority in the summit conclusions - though it was overshadowed by the urgent economic and climate agenda.
The fuel protests across Europe earlier this year - triggered by surging oil prices - and worries about the reliability of Russian gas supplies made energy security a pressing issue.
The EU wants to diversify its sources of supply, make the energy market more transparent and improve the Baltic region's pipeline network.
As for the Lisbon Treaty, which dominated the last EU summit in Brussels, the Irish government has pledged to come up with a plan by December. But the bank crisis has forced the EU's controversial institutional reforms onto the back-burner.
Mandela's jail overrun by rabbits
South Africa's Robben Island is to be closed for two weeks while authorities cull rabbits that have overrun the site where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
Mandela's jail overrun by rabbits
South Africa's Robben Island is to be closed for two weeks while authorities cull rabbits that have overrun the site where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
Somali Islamists threaten Kenya
Somali Islamists say they will attack Kenya if it goes ahead with plans to train 10,000 government troops.
"We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula has been quoted recently offering the training to beleaguered government forces.
The warning comes as insurgents have again battled government troops and peacekeepers in the capital, Mogadishu.
At least five people have been killed, residents and doctors say.
A witness told the BBC there were clashes near an African Union peacekeeping base at the strategic K-4 junction and that mortars were used.
The Islamists have increasingly targeted the AU peacekeeping force in recent months, as well as the government and their Ethiopian allies.
The K-4 junction is strategically placed in the south of the city linking the airport and the presidential palace, and some AU peacekeepers are based there.
The witness said he could see houses on fire, and heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.
The government is recognised by the international community but correspondents say it only controls a few patches of the country.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Ethiopian troops helped the government push Islamist forces from control of central and southern Somalia in late 2006, triggering an insurgency.
The US supports Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia and accuses the Islamists of links to al-Qaeda.
The US says they are sheltering al-Qaeda operatives who attacked Israeli targets in Kenya in 2002.
'Threat'
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia would review its position in the coming months, but would stay longer if Somali politicians showed "readiness for peace".
Even if Ethiopian troops left, he said, they could still return if the powerful Islamist militia al-Shabab threatened to take power.
Civilians have fled the fighting in Mogadishu in huge numbers
"Whenever there's a threat posed, we will come back to break their backs," he said.
"Any government is preferable to the Shabab. It's in the interest of Ethiopia and the Somali people to prevent them from coming to power."
More than three million people - almost half of Somalia's population - need food aid, according to the UN.
Aid agencies recently estimated that 1.1 million people had been uprooted from Mogadishu over the last nine months.
Last weekend, Burundi deployed more than 800 peacekeepers to Somalia, boosting the strength of the AU force to just over 3,000.
But the mission, which is made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi, remains well below the force of 8,000 that the AU originally said it would send.
Mr Meles said Ethiopian troops would remain in Somalia "at least until the African peace force is fully deployed."
"We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula has been quoted recently offering the training to beleaguered government forces.
The warning comes as insurgents have again battled government troops and peacekeepers in the capital, Mogadishu.
At least five people have been killed, residents and doctors say.
A witness told the BBC there were clashes near an African Union peacekeeping base at the strategic K-4 junction and that mortars were used.
The Islamists have increasingly targeted the AU peacekeeping force in recent months, as well as the government and their Ethiopian allies.
The K-4 junction is strategically placed in the south of the city linking the airport and the presidential palace, and some AU peacekeepers are based there.
The witness said he could see houses on fire, and heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.
The government is recognised by the international community but correspondents say it only controls a few patches of the country.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Ethiopian troops helped the government push Islamist forces from control of central and southern Somalia in late 2006, triggering an insurgency.
The US supports Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia and accuses the Islamists of links to al-Qaeda.
The US says they are sheltering al-Qaeda operatives who attacked Israeli targets in Kenya in 2002.
'Threat'
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia would review its position in the coming months, but would stay longer if Somali politicians showed "readiness for peace".
Even if Ethiopian troops left, he said, they could still return if the powerful Islamist militia al-Shabab threatened to take power.
Civilians have fled the fighting in Mogadishu in huge numbers
"Whenever there's a threat posed, we will come back to break their backs," he said.
"Any government is preferable to the Shabab. It's in the interest of Ethiopia and the Somali people to prevent them from coming to power."
More than three million people - almost half of Somalia's population - need food aid, according to the UN.
Aid agencies recently estimated that 1.1 million people had been uprooted from Mogadishu over the last nine months.
Last weekend, Burundi deployed more than 800 peacekeepers to Somalia, boosting the strength of the AU force to just over 3,000.
But the mission, which is made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi, remains well below the force of 8,000 that the AU originally said it would send.
Mr Meles said Ethiopian troops would remain in Somalia "at least until the African peace force is fully deployed."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)