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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Aug 16 2011 - 08:31:13 EDT
Eritrean leader in Uganda for security talks
By Max Delany (AFP) – 2 hours ago
KAMPALA — Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki on Tuesday began a three-day
state visit to Uganda focusing on regional security, which his secretive
country has been accused of destabilising by backing militants.
East African states of Ethiopia and Djibouti are leading calls for tougher
UN sanctions against Asmara over charges it supports Al-Qaeda-linked
fighters in Somalia, and the United States has thrown its weight behind that
push.
"There are serious allegations that Eritrea is supporting Al-Shebab in
destabilising the Horn of Africa region, and so we will be hoping to hear
responses to those issues," James Mugume, permanent secretary at the Ugandan
foreign ministry, told AFP.
Uganda is a key contributor of troops to the African Union Mission in
Somalia tasked with protecting the weak Somali government that the Shebab
rebels have been fighting to overthrow.
A UN report released in late July accused Eritrea of backing the Shebab
militants, but Asmara has denied accusations that it is fuelling the
conflict in Somalia.
Eritrea is seeking to end regional isolation and has applied to rejoin an
East African peace bloc, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD), four years after it pulled out.
But the bloc noted this month that Asmara was still facing serious
accusations of supporting Somalia's Islamist insurgents.
Eritrea withdrew from IGAD over the 2006-2007 conflict in Somalia, where its
arch-foe Ethiopia deployed troops to oust an Islamist movement.
Mugume hailed Issaias' visit as an important step by the small Red Sea state
to rejoin the six-member regional body.
"We will be looking at issues on how Eritrea wants to avoid the
comprehensive sanctions," Mugume said, while voicing doubt that any firm
agreement would be signed during the visit.
Eritrea has already been hit with UN Security Council sanctions. In December
2009 the world body imposed an arms embargo, travel restrictions and asset
freeze on the country's political and military leadership.
The Uganda-drafted resolution on the sanctions was backed by IGAD and the
African Union over alleged military assistance to armed opposition groups in
Somalia.
Last July the Shebab claimed responsibility for twin suicide blasts that
killed at least 76 people in Kampala, the worst attacks in East Africa since
the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi.
Issaias last month held talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during
South Sudan's independence celebration, a statement on Eritrea's information
ministry website said.
He called for the "annulment of the illegal and unjust sanctions resolution
against Eritrea," the statement said.
Eritrea has also rejected US concerns that the impoverished nation is
struggling from the extreme drought affecting some 12 million people in all
other nations across the Horn of Africa.
Instead, Asmara claims it has enjoyed a "bumper harvest" and dismissed US
concerns as "propaganda worth throwing into the dustbin of lies," in a
foreign ministry statement on Monday
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