21 May 2009
A group of East African states has called for air and sea blockades of Somalia to prevent outside forces – including the Eritrean government – from sending weapons and fighters to support rebels trying to overthrow the Somali government.
The group, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), has launched what is, in the language of diplomacy, a harsh attack on Eritrea for its support of hard-line Islamist militants fighting the transitional federal government of Somalia.
A meeting of IGAD's council of ministers held in Addis Ababa on Wednesday issued a communiqué saying that it "condemns… in the strongest terms possible all the individuals, organizations and countries in particular the Government of Eritrea and its financiers who continue to instigate, recruit, train, fund and supply the criminal elements in and or to Somalia."
It called for sanctions against Eritrea and condemned its government for backing attacks on African Union peacekeepers in Somalia.
IGAD comprises the governments of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. The Eritrean government was not listed as being represented at Wednesday's council meeting. Among those who did attend the meeting was Jean Ping, who chairs the African Union Commission.
The council called on the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone to prevent arms, ammunition and "personnel from [the rebels']… foreign backers" from being flown into Somalia. It singled out the following airports as those which needed to be blockaded: Kismayo, Baidoa, KM 50, Balidoogle, Waajid, Hudur, all airports in Gedo Region, Isaley and Johwar.
The council also urged the blockading of ports, particularly Kismayo and Merka, and asked the international naval forces which have been deployed against pirates in the region to enforce the blockade.
Read the full text of the IGAD council of ministers resolution>>
Security Council Accusation "Baseless Slander," Says Eritrea>>
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Where was the AU (OAU) or the UN when Eritreans were being massacred in droves & Eritrea was being turned into Armagedeon with Western & Eastern arms supplied to Ethiopia? How is that the UN or AU, didn't had the moral fiber to stand up for millions of Eritreans & Eritrea, and now consider themselves to have legal authority, moral obligation, political clout or any form of legitmacy to preach to Eritrea & Eritreans? HELL NO,,,, From Eritreans & Somalis, the UN & AU need to learn the basic values of mankind & the honor of friendship rooted in war & hardships, molded to fruitaion to victory. Therefore, If Eritreans stood up for our Somali brothers, it's because our Somali brothers were THE ONLY ONE, who stood up with us during our 50 years war of independence. SO WILL ERITREANS!!!! THEREFORE, JUST LIKE ERITREA, SOMALIA WILL OVERCOME ALL ODDS!!! By the way, 1. Where was the AU, UN, etc when Ethiopia occupied Somalia for over three years? 2. Wasn't the governmnet in Somalia installed by Ethiopia, why do the Somalis have to live with it, when they can form one of their own on their own terms?
The blood thirsty, life time dictators, mafia thugs & clowns of the AU were too busy messing around with Ethiopian street girls in the hotels of Addis Ababa (the headquarters of the AU), when Ethiopia invaded, occupied & looted the Somalia & massacred it's unarmed defenseless civilian families for more than three years. How is that these AU mafia thugs, all of the sudden earned the moral fiber, qualification & aptitude to preach to the world about Islamic or Christian insurgency, when these mafias could careless to lift a finger for a member state (Somalia) being invaded & occupied for three years by another member state (ethiopia)? What do the AU life time dictators, mafia thugs & clowns, who prosecuted & massacred more starving Africans in their own homelands than the Somali civil war, know anything about moral obligation to stand up & root for Somalia & peacefully resolve the Somali civil war, when they can not solve the wars in their own homelands? I suspect the AU mafias are paid, bribed handsomely to cover up for Ethiopian defeat & retreat from Somalia, by accusing anything & everything on sight? It's time for cry wolf,,, or they are just following orders from their former-slave-masters in America?
AU should not mind him ,how can Africa progress if we have presidents like Isaias Afrwerki,who think only about himself,he is selfish UN should listern to AU and take action so that Somalia people would be free,they have been in this situation for long .They should even stop him from traveling .
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