Ethiopia agreed to help Kenya and Amisom in the battle against Al-Shabaab, Dep. Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told the Amharic-language service of Fana FM on Saturday. Fana reported that:

The Kenyan army, the African Union peacekeeping force (Amisom), troops of the Transitional Government of Somalia and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamma militia are conducting military offensive against Al-Shabaab, Hailemariam told Fana.

Yet, they didn’t yet manage to wipe out Al-Shabaab from Somalia.

Thus, as per the request by IGAD, Ethiopia will provide training  and other assistances to wipeout Al-Shabaab from the region, Hailemariam said. (translation mine)  

Earlier on Friday, Aaron Maasho reported on Reuters-Africa that:

Ethiopia will deploy troops inside Somalia for a "brief period" to help Somali and Kenyan forces battling Islamist militants expand their control in southern Somalia, Ethiopian officials said on Friday.

A government official also acknowledged for the first time that a small force had already rolled across the border to carry out reconnaissance missions. Ethiopia had previously denied that scores of military trucks and armoured vehicles had moved in on Nov. 19 and 20.

"We are looking at a brief period of time, weeks. We don’t want our deployment to be used for propaganda by the extremists," the government official, who declined to be named, told Reuters after a meeting of regional leaders in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The official said Ethiopia is yet to fully deploy its troops, with the mission in its preliminary stage and only reconnaissance and liaison activities carried out so far.

An Ethiopian military official confirmed the mission would be short to avoid "negative consequences". Neither official gave any details on the size or scope of the eventual deployment.

Kenya’s incursion into southern Somalia, now in its sixth week, to crush the rebels who control much of the south and centre of the lawless country, has been plagued by heavy rains and the militants’ guerilla-tactics.

Another report from Reuters-UK on Friday claimed that:

Kenya has leaned heavily on Ethiopia to send a much larger force to join the assault against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels.

But Ethiopian troops are unlikely to stray far this time, aware that their last intervention was a rallying call for rebels, who portrayed Ethiopia as Christian invaders in a Muslim country.

Concerning the reach of Ethiopia’s involvement, the news speculated that:

"The Ethiopians understand all too well that their presence, as a Christian nation, in Somalia could be propaganda for al Shabaab," said an African Union official in Addis Ababa.

"They’re not going to repeat that mistake twice," the official said on condition of anonymity. "They will back up ASWJ, equip them, train them and not stray too far," referring to the pro-Mogadishu Sufi militia group, Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, which is also closely allied to Ethiopia.

A second AU official said Ethiopian troops might push as deep as Baidoa, about 250 km (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu with an airport, to stretch rebel lines and cut off some supply routes.

An Ahlu Sunna commander told Reuters the militia expected Ethiopia to train 4,000 fighters.

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Check the Somalia archive, and the Kenya archive for related posts.