From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Mar 12 2010 - 08:49:24 EST
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031201181.html
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*U.S. report accuses Eritrea of systematic abuses
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By Jeremy Clarke
Reuters
Friday, March 12, 2010; 6:03 AM
ASMARA (Reuters) - The United States has intensified its criticism of
Eritrea, saying the Red Sea state systematically abuses human rights and is
a destabilizing influence in the Horn of Africa.
In its annual human rights country report, released late on Thursday, the
U.S. State Department accused Eritrea of sponsoring terrorism in the Horn of
Africa, and acting as a source and conduit for arms to insurgents in
Somalia.
It said Asmara oversaw unlawful killings by its security forces, routine
beatings and torture, arbitrary arrests, and severely restricted freedom of
speech, the press, assembly, association and religion.
"(Throughout 2009) consistent and systemic gross human rights violations
persisted unabated at the government's behest," the report said.
Citing a June report by the U.N. Munitions Monitoring Group, it said the Red
Sea state was guilty of sponsoring terrorism in the Horn of Africa.
The State Department report went on: "The government acted as a principal
source and conduit for arms to antigovernment, extremist, and insurgent
groups in Somalia."
Asmara says there is no concrete evidence for the allegations, accusing
Washington of inventing statistics and interfering in the region, and blames
years of intrusive U.S. foreign policy as a cause of the conflict in
Somalia.
RELATIONS STRAINED
Ties between the United States and Eritrea have been severely strained by a
series of accusations and counter-accusations.
In February, the U.S. embassy suspended its consular services and last week
issued a travel warning, referring to a rise in anti-U.S. sentiment among
Eritreans. Eritrea then accused Washington of trying to create chaos in the
country..
Asmara has still not officially recognized the U.S. ambassador and the
state-owned media are running a sustained campaign against what they say are
decades of U.S. persecution.
The United States sees Eritrea as an enemy in the fight against Islamist
radicalization, alleging support for the al Qaeda-linked Somali militant
group al Shabaab.
U.S. prosecutors said this week an Eritrean arrested in Nigeria was brought
to New York to face charges after receiving bomb-making training from al
Shabaab.
The United States bankrolled Eritrea's regional rival Ethiopia during its
long occupation of Eritrea, a memory that still rankles among Eritreans when
ties with Washington start to go cold.
The occupation ended in the early 1990s when the outnumbered Eritreans
fought Ethiopia and won independence.
(Editing by David Clarke and Andrew Dobbie)
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