Peter Martell
Sunday, April 22, 2007
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ASMARA (AFP) - Eritrea has pulled out of the east African peacemaking bloc, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), illustrating a regional fallout in the resolution of the escalating conflict in Somalia. In a statement posted on the country's official Web site late Saturday, the foreign ministry said it had "suspended" its membership in the Djibouti-based seven-nation body because of its failure to promote peace and security in the region.
The pullout exposes festering tension between Asmara with its archfoe Ethiopia and IGAD over the management of the conflict in Somalia, where fighting between Ethiopian forces and Islamists insurgents in Mogadishu has claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands since January.
"The government of Eritrea was compelled to take the move due to the fact that a number of repeated and irresponsible resolutions that undermine regional peace and security have been adopted in the guise of IGAD," it added.
"As such, the Eritrean government deemed it fit not to be party to developments that hold one accountable both legally and morally," the statement added.
IGAD succeeded the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development that was earlier created in 1986 by six drought-stricken east African countries to coordinate development in the region.
In 1996, the regional leaders adopted a resolution that created IGAD and widened its mandate to include fostering regional security by creating a mechanism to prevent and resolve disputes.
Eritrea, a small nation on the western banks of the Red Sea, joined the IGAD soon after its inception in 1993.
The IGAD, comprised of Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia, is credited with efforts that ended 21 years of fighting between the Khartoum government and ex-southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
It also chaired peace talks that resulted in the creation of a government in Somalia in 2004, although the administration has failed to exert its control across the country.
But Asmara has been at odds with IGAD since the bloc approved the deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia to help the Ethiopia-backed government of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
Last year, the IGAD summit tasked its current chairman Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, to oversee the resolution of the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea that forced them to a devastating war between 1998 and 2000.
But Asmara has rejected the mediation of Kenya, accusing it of being biased towards Ethiopia and told the east African nation to stop "meddling."
Eritrea accused Kenya of supporting the invasion of Ethiopian forces in Somalia and condemned the move.
At an IGAD ministerial meeting in Nairobi earlier this month, Ethiopia and Eritrea wrangled over the presence of foreign troops in Somalia, widening the rift between the two impoverished Horn of Africa nations.
"That government [Kenya] should cease playing the role of a messenger for the invading forces in the Somali issue," an Eritrean statement said.
In addition, Asmara has demanded Kenya to secure the release of three of its nationals - believed to be journalists with the state media - who were allegedly arrested by Kenyan forces during the war between Ethiopian forces and Somalia Islamists.
The trio is believed to have ended up in Ethiopian jails.
Eritrea has rejected widespread claims that it was arming the Somalia Islamists while Addis Ababa has justified its intervention, saying the Islamists posed a threat after they declared a holy war on Ethiopia.
Analysts have expressed fears that Ethiopia and Eritrea, still at odds over their unresolved 1998 to 2000 border conflict, may fight a proxy war in Somalia.
Source: AFP, April 22, 2007