Ethiopia Woyanne has announced that it will withdraw its troops from Somalia by the end of December, two years after it invaded to oust Islamic insurgents who controlled the shattered country.

Ethiopia’s Woyanne decision prompted a meeting of regional foreign ministers this weekend to discuss the Somali crisis. The country is mired in chaos, the western-backed Transitional Federal Government is in disarray, and an ultra-militant band of Islamic fighters known as the Al-Shabaab has steadily seized more territory.

“This week, Ethiopian Woyanne troops have begun to make preparations for their withdrawal,” Ethiopia’s Woyanne Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. “This has not, however, prevented continuing clashes with Al-Shabaab forces.”

Ethiopia Woyanne invaded on Christmas Eve 2006 with the backing of the United States, an ally of Ethiopia’s Woyanne Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. While the troops routed the Islamic Courts Union, the Ethiopians Woyanne have not stopped rampant piracy or the rise of Al-Shabaab.

More than a third of Somalia’s 9 million people now need food aid to survive. Pirates have blocked many aid shipments and frequent kidnappings mean that the country is a virtual no-go zone for foreign aid workers.

A peacekeeping mission from the African Union is supposed to take over from the Ethiopians, but that force has struggled to get off the ground. Of an expected 8,000 troops, only 3,400 have been deployed.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has rejected American calls for a UN force to be deployed in Somalia.

“If there is no peace to keep, peacekeeping operations are not supposed to be there,” he said last week.