An Eritrean official accused Sudan of supporting groups with links to Al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, implicitly admitting to confrontations between the Eritrean army and these groups. The Gash district governor, Baraka Mustapha Nour Hussein, told Al-Hayat upon his return from the Sudanese city of Kasla, where he supervised the arrival of aids to those affected by Gash river's floods: "the support has nothing to do with the deteriorating relations between the two countries." Adding, "Eritrea' aids is an expression of good intentions and a confirmation of the depth of relations between the two people." After pointing to "hassles experienced by the convoy delivering the aids in some regions of Kasla," he said: "the security agencies in Sudan do not know the welfare of their own people. For it supports small, isolated, ineffective groups belonging to Al Qaeda." Excluding the possibility that "these groups might realize victory over the Eritrean army because they carry out looting and laying mines."
| Sudan ignores them because they're too inept to control them... |
On another hand, the Eritrean official accused Ethiopia of laying mines in the Shambako region, South-West of Asmara, which led to the death of six civilians," stressing, "the activities of the Ethiopian forces are restricted within the security buffer zone, from where they sneak into the areas of the peacekeeping forces." |