From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Aug 10 2009 - 05:50:15 EDT
Eritrea rebuffs 'smear campaign'
Monday, 10 August 2009 10:14 UK
Eritrea has strongly denied allegations that it supports Islamist
insurgents in neighbouring Somalia.
Salih Omar Abdu, its ambassador to Kenya, says the accusations,
repeatedly made by the US and the African Union, are a "smear campaign".
He says Eritrea is in favour of a united Somalia whose government
represents all of its people.
Somalia is nominally ruled by a UN-backed government but insurgents
control large parts of the country.
Last week US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Africa,
warned that the US would "take action" against Eritrea if it continued
to support the militants.
She said Eritrea was destabilising Somalia and its actions were
"unacceptable".
Moral obligation
But in an interview with the BBC's Network Africa programme, Mr Abdu
dismissed the claims.
"This is a smear campaign against Eritrea under the pretext that Eritrea
supplies arms, ammunitions and finances [to insurgents]," he said.
"But unfortunately this is not the case and Eritrea does not tolerate
being an instrument to any country or any government."
He said his country had a "moral and legal obligation to support the
Somalis", but had no right to "bring or establish a government for the
Somalis".
"We believe in a united Somalia. Not like our neighbours who want to
sub-divide it into cantons. Let the Somalis solve their problems
themselves."
Analysts say several militant groups operated from Eritrea after being
ousted from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, when Ethiopian troops entered
Somalia in 2006.
The main insurgent group is al-Shabab, which is extending its influence
in the south of the country.
About 250,000 Somalis have fled their homes in fighting between
militants and government forces over the past three months.
There are growing fears that Somalia - which has been without an
effective central government since 1991 - risks becoming a haven for
terrorists.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8192882.stm
Map
<http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46165000/gif/_46165772_som_clin_0
608.cmp.gif>
Somali insurgents in Mogadishu, Juily 2009
<http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46182000/jpg/_46182556_-1.jpg>
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