Eritrea on Friday rejected fresh UN allegations that it is the main arms supplier to Islamist insurgents in Somalia in violation of a 15-year UN embargo and demanded to see the evidence.
In a report to the Security Council, a UN panel of independent experts described Eritrea as "the principal clandestine source and conduit for arms supplies" to the Somali Islamist insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare with Ethiopian-backed government troops.
The experts said they had "observed a clear pattern of involvement by the government of Eritrea in arms embargo violations" and concluded Eritrean capital Asmara "has made deliberate attempts to hide its activities and mislead the international community about its involvement."
They said Asmara tried to cover its tracks through creation of business front companies, use of different existing or legitimate, airline companies, "filing of false flight plans indicating flight to third countries that never took place and the unauthorized use of registration numbers and call signs."
Asmara rejected the latest UN allegations as "a big lie" designed to mask UN failure to halt the war in Somalia and active US involvement that critics blame for fanning bloodletting.
"These allegations are not new and we know where they are coming from. The UN is acting as a megaphone of the United States," said Ali Abdu, Eritrean Information Minister. "These allegations are aimed at fabricating a pretext for the Ethiopian and American invasion of Somalia, and the massacre of the Somalia people."
The report also accused Ethiopian troops of using white phosphorous bombs against the Islamists in an April 13 battle that left 15 insurgents and 35 civilians dead. Apparently was not an isolated incident.
The UN report, covering the period from last November to late June this year, said that Somalia "is literally awash with arms," more so that at any time since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Siad Barre that plunged the country into instability.
Earlier this year, Ethiopia-backed Somali government troops ousted an Islamist militia which had briefly taken control of large parts of the country on the Horn of Africa.
The insurgents have since launched almost daily guerrilla attacks against the Somali transitional government, as well as the Ethiopian and Africa Union troops protecting it.
The UN report warned that although the rebels have lost a portion of their arsenal, they "have considerably more hidden in caches for future use."
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS