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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Aug 19 2011 - 07:57:28 EDT
Eritrea rejects charges it supports Somali rebels
(AFP) – 17 hours ago
KAMPALA — Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki rejected Thursday accusations
by a UN monitoring group that he backs Somalia's extremist Shebab rebels and
that his country was behind a bombing plot on Addis Ababa.
"It is very sad that all these fabrications have made their way into the
minds of many," Issaias told reporters in Kampala at the end of a three-day
state visit.
The leader of the secretive Horn of Africa state said the Al-Qaeda-inspired
Shebab rebels were being used by those who want a divided Somalia, but did
not elaborate on who they were.
"I don?t want to talk about Shebab. You get this out of your mind," said
Issaias. "Somalia is not Shebab. This obsession with Shebab is what is
causing the problem there."
"Shebab is serving the interests of those who want to maintain the
disintegration of Somalia," he added.
Issaias was in Uganda for talks on regional security with his counterpart
Yoweri Museveni.
Uganda has sent thousands of troops for the African Union force protecting
the Somali government that the Shebab insurgents have been fighting to
overthrow.
Issaias's visit came at a time when Eritrea's arch-foe Ethiopia and Djibouti
are leading East African calls for tougher United Nations sanctions against
Eritrea over terror charges.
Last month, the UN Monitoring Group on Eritrea and Somalia said Asmara was
behind a plan to bomb an African Union summit in January in the Ethiopian
capital Addis Ababa. It also accused Eritrea of backing the Shebab.
However, Museveni said he took Issaias's word that Eritrea was not backing
the Somali rebels.
"Eritrea is not supporting Al-Shebab.... I accept it because he told me,"
Museveni told reporters. "He is an honourable comrade and not someone who
has just walked out of the slum."
At the start of his visit Tuesday, the Eritrean leader said he had drawn
lessons from his talks with Museveni. He said on Thursday that he did not
seek the talks due to pressure over the recent accusations.
"No pressure can be exerted on Eritrea on fabricated lies, no one will care
about that. This is sickness in my opinion," Issaias said.
He dismissed as "an illusion or a delusion" the theory that he had come to
Kampala to ask Museveni to "save his neck."
Eritrea has however recently sought to end its regional isolation and
applied to rejoin the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, an East
African regional bloc, four years after it pulled out.
IGAD noted this month that Asmara was still facing serious accusations of
supporting Somalia's Islamist insurgents but has not so far taken a decision
on whether to allow Eritrea to re-join.
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