Government dismisses reports of army infighting

Eritrea's defence minister, General Sebhat Ephrem, has dismissed allegations of infighting within the armed forces as unsubstantiated rumours, AFP reported on Thursday. The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia (UNMEE), for its part, is aware of the reports, but has been unable to confirm them. Early this week, reports in the Sudanese press and on the Eritrea opposition web site, http://www.Eritrea1.org, claimed infighting occurred between soldiers loyal to President Isayas Afewerki and those opposed to him, near the southwestern town of Guluj. It was claimed on the web site that the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice had ordered the arrest of two army brigades in Guluj. Soldiers of the two brigades, said to be sympathetic to some of Isayas's opponents were said to have resisted arrest, sparking off the fighting. "These are rumours by the opposition trying to destroy the image of Eritrea," Sebhat said. Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Legwaila Joseph Legwaila was quoted in an UNMEE press release as saying UNMEE had "investigated the reports about found nothing unusual".