BBC News Online: World: Africa

Ethopia 'training Somali militias'

The transitional government in Somalia has repeated accusations that Ethiopia has sent troops across the border to train militia groups opposed to it.

The interim Somali Prime Minister, Hassan Abshir Farah, speaking at a news conference in the capital, Mogadishu, also accused Ethiopia of dispatching troops to Garowe to support the ousted leader of the north-eastern Puntland region, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf.

Meanwhile, a leader of one of the armed groups opposed to the transitional Somali government, the Rahanwein Resistance Army, has been quoted as saying that Ethiopian troops are helping to train their forces, but he said this was for demobilisation purposes.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service