From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sat Dec 19 2009 - 14:56:35 EST
Eritrea warns U.N. not to pass “ludicrous” sanctions
19 December, 2009
United Nations (Alshahid) – Eritrea has warned the U.N. Security Council
that a draft sanctions resolution would impose “ludicrous punitive measures”
on Asmara for aiding Somali rebels and might further destabilize the Horn of
Africa.
“Eritrea urges all members of the U.N. Security Council to use their
influence to ensure the rejection of this draft resolution in its entirety,”
Eritrea’s U.N. ambassador, Araya Desta, said in a letter to the 15-nation
Security Council.
“This measure risks engulfing the region into another cycle of conflict as
it may encourage Ethiopia to contemplate reckless military adventures,” he
said in the letter, dated Dec. 15 and obtained by Reuters on Friday.
“This measure risks engulfing the region into another cycle of conflict as
it may encourage Ethiopia to contemplate reckless military adventures,” he
said in the letter, dated Dec. 15 and obtained by Reuters on Friday.
The United States and other council members accuse Asmara of supplying
rebels with funds and arms as they fight to topple a fragile U.N.-backed
transitional government in Somalia, a virtually lawless Horn of Africa
nation.
Eritrea’s regional rival Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 with tacit U.S.
backing to rout an Islamic courts movement from Mogadishu. It withdrew its
troops earlier this year and denies accusations by Somalia’s rebels that
they have returned. Addis Ababa backs Somalia’s transitional government.
Uganda is credited with drafting the sanctions resolution, which would
impose an arms embargo and asset freezes and travel bans on designated
Eritrean individuals and firms. But Desta said in his letter that Washington
was its true author.
Reuters
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