webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2011
All rights reserved
From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sat Apr 16 2011 - 11:21:02 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-15/ethiopia-plans-to-increase-support-to-eritrean-rebel-groups-ministry-says.html
Ethiopia Plans to Increase Support to Eritrean Rebel Groups, Ministry Says
By Jason McLure - Apr 15, 2011 1:51 PM ET
Ethiopia will increase support to Eritrean rebels seeking to overthrow the
government of President Isaias Afewerki, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said.
“In the past, Ethiopia has given refuge to some opposition groups and some
limited support to the Eritrean resistance,” the Addis Ababa-based ministry
said in an e-mailed statement today. “Now support to the opposition will be
strengthened further.”
The two countries fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people,
according to Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Relations between
the two countries have remained tense as each backed opposing factions in
nearby Somalia’s civil war. Skirmishes between Ethiopian and Eritrean troops
occasionally break out along their 912-kilometer (567-mile) border.
Ethiopia has previously accused Eritrea of supporting Ethiopian rebels and
of attempting to disrupt last year’s parliamentary elections. Three calls
made to Eritrea’s Ministry of Information after business hours were not
answered.
“In light of Eritrea’s continuing nefarious campaigns, Ethiopia will
continue to work to force the regime to change its policies,” the statement
said. “Failing that it will be prepared to change the government itself
through any means at its disposal.”
Afewerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi led allied rebel groups
that overthrew Ethiopia’s Communist Derg regime in 1991. Eritrea, formerly
an Ethiopian province, won independence after a 1993 referendum.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Accra at
jmclure@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Barden at
abarden@bloomberg.net.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----