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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Jun 30 2011 - 16:54:55 EDT
http://www.panapress.com/iGAD-ministers-recommend-more-targeted-sanctions-against-Eritrea--15-781458-30-lang2-index.html
IGAD
ministers recommend more targeted sanctions against Eritrea
30 june 2011 07:30:04
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (PANA) - East African foreign ministers have
called for more targeted sanctions against Eritrea for supporting extremists
to destabilize the region, according to a communiqué issued here.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers
met on the sidelines of the AU Executive Council meeting in Malabo,
Equatorial Guinea, and urged the AU and the UN Security Council to endorse
further sanctions.
The meeting also called for specific measures targeting the huge foreign
currency transfers from Eritreans in the Diaspora, to cut off funding to the
government of Isaias Aferwerki, whom the region accuses of destabilization.
The current UN sanctions mainly target the President and his inner circle.
The IGAD and the AU have in the past sought a no-fly zone over Somalia to
block flights from Eritrea.
Eritrea has long been viewed as Ethiopia’s arch-rival in East Africa. The
two countries split after a vicious war and later fought battles over the
strategic town of Badme, that allowed Ethiopia access to the Red Sea port.
But failure to effectively end the crisis between the two countries has been
a source of dispute in what is popularly known as the “no-war-no peace”
standoff, which has been marked with a vicious exchange of war rhetoric
between the two neighbours.
The latest crisis point between the two states is Somalia, where Eritrea has
been engaged in a form of proxy war with Ethiopia, which is intent of
helping put in place a stable government that guarantees peace and stability
in the country (Ethiopia).
Eritrea is widely believed to be sympathetic to the extremist groups in
Somalia and has been accused of supplying arms and foreign Jihardist
fighters flocking into Somalia.
IGAD’s efforts to keep Eritrea under check materialized when the UN Security
Council, acting on the recommendations of the Assembly of AU Heads of State
and Government, imposed sanctions on Eritrea.
Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn,
who chaired the IGAD ministerial meeting, called for action by AU and the UN
Security Council over Eritrea’s alleged destabilization efforts in the Horn
of Africa region.
The Ministers, drawn from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia and
Somalia, condemned the activities of Eritrea, saying the country was
actively involved in destabilizing the region by supporting extremists and
subversive elements.
“We call on the UN Security Council to take appropriate measures to ensure
that the regime in Asmara desists from its destabilization activities in the
Horn of Africa region,” the IGAD Communiqué added.
Meanwhile, an IGAD Heads of State Summit has been slated for 4 July, but the
venue is yet to be announced.
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