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| Africa Horn |
| Arms ban 'covers up misguided US policies' - Eritrea |
| 2008-10-09 |
| Eritrea lashed out at the United States on Wednesday for having imposed an arms ban over concerns that the Red Sea state was aiding terrorists in the region. Washington announced the ban Monday, accusing Asmara of supporting "terrorist groups" in Somalia. "This unwarranted measure is purely prompted by the frustration of the US administration with the misguided policies it has been pursuing in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Sudan," the Eritrean Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Washington has in the past threatened to add Eritrea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. "US authorities could not substantiate the unfounded accusations they leveled against Eritrea in the past as a sponsor of terrorism. In the event, they have concocted this indirect ruse as a last-ditch effort to cover up their blunder," the statement added. Ties between the two have been frosty over the past few years, with Asmara accusing the US of helping arch-foe Ethiopia to ignore arbitration rulings in its border dispute with Addis Ababa. "In our region, groups and elements that the United States often dubs as terrorists are in reality those that Washington itself, and its surrogates in the Horn of Africa, employ for subversive activities," the Foreign Ministry statement said. Last year, Eritrea banned the US Agency for International Development from operating in the country and imposed curbs on US diplomats. In response, Washington closed Eritrea's consulate in Oakland, California. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Their consulate in Oakland! That's fitting. Prolly right down there on 64th. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-10-09 09:47 |