Photo Credit: Reuters Alertnet/STR
www.alertnet.org
01/02/2007

A Somali government soldier stands guard as officials address civilians at the "Garden of hope" in Kismayu. Ethiopian troops will stay in Somalia for another few weeks to help the victorious government pacify the Horn of Africa nation after a two-week war to oust militant Islamists, Addis Ababa said on Tuesday.

Fighting in Somalia in the aftermath of the Ethiopian military intervention on behalf of the transitional government is driving Somalis to attempt to flee southern Somalia into Kenya. In recent days Kenya has forcibly returned about 400 Somali asylum seekers and is denying access to others seeking to cross the border. While Kenya has every right to monitor its borders and assure that the flow of asylum seekers does not include armed individuals, the forced return and the virtual closure of its border violates international refugee law.