Tuesday, August 16, 2011
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