UN accuses Eritrea of aiding Somali rebels

NAIROBI, Sunday

Eritrea continued to support last year armed Islamist groups fighting the Somali government in violation of an arms embargo and new UN sanctions, UN experts concluded in a report.

In 2009 “the government of Eritrea has continued to provide political, diplomatic, financial and allegedly — military assistance to armed opposition groups in Somalia,” said the UN’s Monitoring Group on Somalia.

The support violated a 2008 UN Security Council resolution that tightened an arms embargo and other bans on armed groups in Somalia, said the panel in a report to be presented this week to the UN Security Council.

“By late 2009, possibly in response to international pressure, the scale and nature of Eritrean support had either diminished or become less visible, but had not altogether ceased,” it said.

The UN Security Council in December last year slapped an arms embargo and sanctions on Eritrea for aiding Somali rebels.

“Eritrea — once a major sponsor of armed opposition groups — appears to have scaled down its military assistance while continuing to provide political, diplomatic and possibly financial support,” the report said.

Political support

It had concentrated this political support on Islamist insurgents with the Hezb al-Islam group of Hassan Dahir Aweys, whom Eritrea helped to return to Somalia in April 2009 after he had taken over as leader, the UN group said.

But in 2008 it established direct links with other armed opposition groups, including the Shabaab and the Ras Kamboni militia, with average monthly payments of 40,000 to 50,000 dollars going to each, the report said.

The following year these financial contributions were directed mainly to Mukhtar Robow, one of the main leaders of the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab.

Meanwhile, the UN group also concluded the Somali government’s military forces are ineffective and corrupt.
Remain ineffective

“Despite infusions of foreign training and assistance, government security forces remain ineffective, disorganised and corrupt,” the UN’s Monitoring Group on Somalia said. The UN group said “the military stalemate is less a reflection of opposition strength than of the weakness of the Transitional Federal Government.”

It described government forces as “a composite of independent militias loyal to senior government officials and military officers who profit from the business of war and resist their integration under a single command.” The UN group said last November the government had about 2,900 operational troops, although it could also count on the support of some militias Mogadishu thought to number between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters. (AFP)