Eritrea denies arming Somali rebels against Kenya
Wed Nov 2, 2011 12:46pm GMT
NAIROBI Nov 2 (Reuters) - Eritrea denied on Wednesday media reports that said it had delivered weapons in the past few days to Somalia's al Shabaab rebels who are fighting Kenyan troops in the south of Somalia.
"The government of Eritrea states categorically that these accusations are pure fabrications and outright lies as Eritrea has not sent any arms to Somalia," Eritrea's foreign ministry said in a rare statement.
The Red Sea state, accused in a U.N. report earlier this year of bankrolling the Islamist militant group and destabilising the wider region, rarely makes comments on its policies.
Eritrea said the accusations were based on a campaign of misinformation to undermine the country.
A Kenyan military spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday two consignments of arms had been flown into central Somalia, but declined to speculate where the cache had originated from.
(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Mark Heinrich)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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