Eritrea, Djibouti concerned over possible military strikes

Eritrea and Djibouti have both expressed concern over the prospect of US military strikes against Somalia. Djibouti's Minister of State for International Cooperation Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said his country would not be party to any military attack against Somalia or any Arab country. In an interview with the Egyptian news agency MENA, he stressed that the Somali question was first and foremost an Arab issue. "Any action against a country under the claim of fighting terrorism should be taken under an international mandate and by convening an international conference...[it] should not be taken unilaterally," he said. He described the Somali warlords as "opportunists" who were "trying to exploit the current international atmosphere to play the political role they have been deprived of". "They have become highway robbers and nobody in the world should listen to them," he added. "Asked whether Djibouti will use its good relations with Ethiopia to persuade Addis Ababa to change its attitude towards the Somali issue, the minister said Djibouti is exerting continued efforts to persuade our brothers in Ethiopia to adopt a more moderate and flexible attitude towards the transitional government in Somalia," MENA reported. Eritrea, meanwhile, expressed "apprehension" over any action that may be taken against Somalia "in the name of fighting terrorism". According to Eritrean radio, the remarks were made by Foreign Minister Ali Sayyid Abdallah on Wednesday during a meeting with the US ambassador Donald McConnell. He reminded the ambassador that "the government in Somalia has declared its condemnation of terrorism and vowed to cooperate", and he urged the US to look at the issue "seriously". The ambassador was delivering a message from US Secretary of State Colin Powell informing Eritrea that it had become a beneficiary of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), the radio said. AGOA, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on 18 May 2000, offers incentives for African countries to continue efforts to open their economies and build free markets.