Eritrea accused of attacks

2006-10-19 22:07

Anthony Mitchell

Nairobi - A United States top diplomat for Africa accused on Thursday Eritrea of attacking its neighbour Ethiopia through proxies in Somalia, echoing a statement made by Ethiopian prime minister to his parliament.

Assistant secretary of state for African affairs Jendayi E Frazer, however, said that both Ethiopia and Eritrea should show restraint to avoid taking Somalia's conflict regional.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told his parliament on Thursday that Somalia's Islamic radicals have been massing near the border and if they continued and threatened national security, Ethiopia would have the right to defend itself.

Meles said "jihadists," or Muslim militants, from Indonesia, Pakistan, several Arab and African countries were working in Somalia alongside the Islamic movement, which controls much of southern Somalia and has sidelined the country's internationally recognised but weak government.

Ethiopia backs the government, and Meles acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that he had sent troops to support it, saying it was just a few military trainers.

Meles portrayed neighbouring Somalia as a proxy battleground with his old rival Eritrea, accusing his northern neighbour of allying with both the Islamic militia in Somalia and with rebel groups inside Ethiopia.

Somali peace talks to be held in Sudan

"Eritrea is quite clearly attacking Ethiopia on another front. We have pretty clear evidence that it is a fact they are shipping arms into Somalia," said Frazer.

"Eritrea has always said it is against extremist governments so it is going against its natural interest to be shipping arms to the (Islamic) courts."

Frazer was speaking at the end of a meeting of the US-led International Somalia Contact Group, held to encourage Somalia's transitional government and the Islamic movement to remain committed to Arab League-mediated peace talks set for October 30 in Sudan.

"The role of Eritrea in arming the (Islamic movement) and Ethiopia with the threats of intervention are unfortunate because it brings the conflict in Somalia to a regional dimension," said Frazer.

"We have called on both countries to show restraint and act responsibly."

In his speech to the Ethiopian parliament, Meles said: "There is danger looming. The jihadists are massing their forces near our borders.

"If this activity continues, and is found to threaten our national security, then our defence forces will have the right and obligation to defend (the country).

However, that does not mean that we will declare war."

Radicals train assassins

Earlier on Thursday, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf told Frazer and the other diplomats in Nairobi that the Sudan talks are in jeopardy because his government has lost confidence in Arab League's mediation.

In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, Yusuf also said that the radicals have trained assassins to kill 16 high-ranking officials, including him and the prime minister, using suicide and other methods.

Islamic officials were not immediately available for comment.

Yusuf, whose signed statement was read by foreign minister Ismail Mohamed Hurre, said that this information was based on documents and interrogation of suspects caught after a September 18 car bomb attempt on his life.

- SAPA