Somalia dismisses Ethiopian charge over Mombasa attacks

Mogadishu- Somalia (PANA) -- Somali National Transitional Government President Abdikassim Salad Hassan has condemned attempts by Ethiopia to link the recent terrorist attacks in Mombasa with Somalia.
   Speaking Monday at a press conference here, Hassan strongly denied the statement by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi claiming terrorists who attacked Paradise Hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa were from Ras Kiamboni, a small island in southern Somalia.
   The president said Zenawi's statement showed how cruel his government was against Somalia as "he is lobbying for international attacks against Somalia.
"   "The investigation to know those behind the attack is going on and there was no need for Ethiopia to issue such statement accusing Somalia to be a place where the attack was organized.
This is unfair and it can make the results of the investigation not to be trusted.
"   Hassan charged that Ethiopia does not want the Transitional Government of Somalia to succeed and that was why Ethiopians always spread propaganda against Somalis.
   He requested Prime Minister Zenawi to respect the agreement signed early this year between the two governments in Durban, South Africa, to stop hostilities and propaganda against each other.
   Last week Zenawi said terrorists who carried out the attacks on Mombasa were from Ras Kiamboni in Somalia.
   Meanwhile, the Jubba Valley Alliance that controls the southern part of Somalia, including Ras Kiamboni Island, has refuted the Ethiopian allegation.
   A press release issued by the Alliance and signed by its foreign secretary, Abdirashid Askar, said Ras Kiamboni was not a terrorist hideout.
The statement said even the United States knew that there was no terrorist activity in Ras Kiamboni and that was confirmed by an American official for Somali affairs in Nairobi, Glenn S.
Warren, who visited the island recently.
Despite statements of denial about terrorist activities in Somalia, the U.
S.
government suspects a Somali Islamic group of Alitihad had links to the terrorist attacks on Mombasa.