SOMALIA'S RESPONSE TO ETHIOPIA'S PROTEST TO ISLAMIC

MEETING

January 27, 1981

Source: Radio Mogadishu

Welcome to our commentary tonight, read to you by Dr Abd ar-Rahman Muhammad Salah. Ethiopia has tody been proved to be a tool of imperialism - that is the topic of our commentary.

Ehtiopia has lodged a protest to the Islamic conference in Saudi Arabia attended by Islamic kings, presidents and representatives. Its protest [is that] the WSLF, Somali Abo and Eritrean Liberation Fronts should not be mentioned at the conference. Ethiopia, by refusing to accept these issues shows that it still pursues the long-abandoned policy of colonialism.

Ethiopia has made it a habit to accuse and condemn Somalia of expansionism and other such things without any foundation. Let us clarify this. It has been Somalia's fundamental principle not to claim other nations' territories. It is known that expansionism has been Ethiopia's policy for a long time. Ethiopia during Menelik's rule conquered territories of other nationalities. This is today the root cause of the struggles and wars in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is also today the cause and the plotter of the troubles in the NFD [Northern Frontier District - Kenya's North-Eastern Province]. This it did only to mar the

relations between the Kenyan Government and the SDR. However, it is the Somali Government's hope that Kenya understands what Ethiopia is [words indistinct].

It is interesting to ask why Ethiopia is so reluctant to discuss the WSLF and the causes of the other Fronts struggling for self-determination. Is it not because Ethiopia does not want the world to know of its colonialist policy? Somalia is only concerned that the peoples of Western Somalia, Abo and Eritrea realize their independence [words indistinct]. Stability for Ethiopia is unattainable as long as it continues to colonize these people. The SDR will continue to give assistance to all peoples fighting against this colonialism. The [word indistinct] Islamic countries attending the conference will be shocked at those opposing the idea of supporting the Muslim masses and their just struggles. . .

Ethiopia has up to now not learnt a lesson from colonial history, the lesson being that colonialism never triumphs.

Source: Radio Mogadishu