Thursday, November 10, 2011

Eritrea Tries to Ward Off United Nations Sanctions Over Somalia

Somalia: Eritrea Tries to Ward Off Sanctions

8 November 2011

Eritrea is frantically trying to resolve the current diplomatic row with Kenya in order to escape proposed UN sanctions, its envoy to Kenya has said.

As a result, the country is dispatching its Foreign minister to Nairobi to convince Kenya, which has accused Eritrea of arming the Al-Shabaab, "to stop the suspicions."

The Horn of Africa nation is also exploring the possibility of President Isaias Aferwerki addressing the UN Security Council but countries like the US have opposed such a move.

The Eritrean Ambassador to Kenya Beyene Russom told the Nation that its Foreign minister has put aside all engagements to attend to the 'misunderstanding' with Kenya.

"He will definitely come but I don't have the details of his itinerary," said Mr Russom. The envoy has also visited the ministry of Foreign affairs three times, including on Tuesday.

UN sanctions

Rival Ethiopia has been calling for tougher action against Eritrea for several months after its neighbour was linked to a plot to bomb an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

This call was intensified after a report by the UN Monitoring Group accused Eritrea of multiple violations of resolutions 1844 and 1907 by allegedly fanning bloodshed in Somalia.

Last month, Ethiopia drafted the sanctions resolution , a move that was supported by Kenya.

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