From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sat Jan 16 2010 - 08:27:15 EST
Eritrea disappointed with Sudan over its silence on arms embargo
Saturday 16 January 2010 04:25
January 14 2009 (KHARTOUM) - The President of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki,
rapped Sudan over its lack of support in the run-up to the imposition of
an arms embargo on the country last month. He was speaking in an
interview with Sudanese media, during which he otherwise emphasized
strong relations between the two countries.
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of
Ministers in May last year called on the UN Security Council to sanction
Eritrea over its call to overthrow the Somali government. IGAD's move
against Eritrea was backed strongly by Ethiopia and Djibouti, which lost
a strip of territory to Eritrean forces in 2008.
Then in December 2009 the Security Council imposed an arms embargo on
Eritrea over its support for Somali rebels. Under the new UN measure,
Eritrea faces an arms embargo as well as asset freezes and travel bans
on some individuals and firms including political and military
officials.
President Afwerki in his recent interview expressed some disappointment
in the lack of support that Eritrea had received from Sudan when it was
targeted by a UN Security Council Resolution. Isaias said, "Although we
were a bit surprised by the silence on the part of Sudan 's
representative to IGAD when the resolution was passed, this will by no
means mar the ties between both countries. Eritrea does not view this as
a big problem and it won't be raised as an issue in bilateral
relations."
The Eritrean and Sudanese regimes, although erstwhile enemies, now have
close relations. The Eritrean leader had welcomed his visiting Sudanese
counterpart after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest
warrant for the Sudanese leader.
Both countries are under scrutiny from international powers such as the
United States, which opposes Eritrean activities in Somalia. Afwerki in
his interview, which was paraphrased on the website of the Eritrean
Ministry of Information, highlighted this commonality.
He pointed out that "the countries of the region have lost many golden
opportunities in the past 20 years as a result of external
interferences. domestic and regional problems in the Horn region can
only be resolved through rebuffing external forces and their agents
while strengthening coordination among one another," according to the
Information Ministry.
(ST)
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