Focus on Eritrea as Somalia and Ethiopia Appeal for Action

By Abdulaziz Billow Ali

African leaders have condemned Eritrea for what they termed as “unfolding destabilizing nature” in the East African region. African Union leaders in their final day in Addis Ababa, said that the Afewerki’s regime is still busy with its negative activities in destabilizing regional peace and security. The governments of Djibouti and Somalia yesterday told the AU summit that, despite the imposed sanction on Eritrea, the Red Sea nation in defiance to the UN resolution, has continued to send insurgents via their territories.

The two countries urged the international community to establish strong organization for the enforcement of the sanctions to block the defiant acts of the Eritrean government. Just a day before the AU summit kicked off in Ethiopia, Eritrea had already warned that its issues were not to be discussed there and asked the AU to respect it as a member. “Should Ethiopia refuse to agree, Eritrea calls on the AU to stop holding further summits in Addis Ababa” Eritrean government statement said. The statement accused rival Ethiopia of obstructing Eritrea’s rights to take part in AU summits and other AU meetings that are held in Addis Ababa.

The sanctions have also laid travel ban and an asset freeze to Eritrean military and government officials. Last December, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea for illegally supplying arms to the suspected Al-Qaeda linked Islamist insurgent of Al-Shabaab, who are battling the internationally recognized transitional government of Somalia.