Eritrea accused of supplying arms

Mogadishu faction leader Usman Hasan Ali Ato has accused the Eritrean government of supplying weapons to Somalia’s Transitional National Government (TNG), AFP reported on 7 July. Ato told AFP that “Eritrea is supplying an assortment of weapons that would ignite renewed bloodshed in Somalia, and this has already hampered efforts for reconciliation”. Ato is one of the main southern faction leaders opposed to the TNG, and is a prominent member of the opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC).

Ato accused Eritrea of violating the UN arms embargo on Somalia, imposed in 1992 because of the civil war, and said Eritrea had been involved in Somalia’s internal politics ever since the outbreak of its war with Ethiopia in 1998, AFP said. Ato also accused Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti of supplying weapons to the TNG.

A senior official in the TNG’s defence ministry denied the accusations. The source told IRIN that the TNG “did not receive any sort of weapons from Eritrea”. Eritrean Embassy spokesman Temedhin Temariam also denied the accusations, saying that “Eritrea is interested in resolving the Somali problem not adding to it. We have not given weapons to any group.”