Countries from the Horn of Africa at a UN-sponsored meeting have pledged to fight terrorism and transnational organised crime which, they said, posed a threat to the region. They made the pledge at a workshop on "International Cooperation on Counter-Terrorism and the Fight against Transnational Organized Crime," in Khartoum, Sudan which ended on January 19. Experts from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda - members of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and observers from Algeria and Egypt joined the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help IGAD members with the ratification and implementation of a dozen international legal instruments against terrorism. The "Khartoum Declaration" also called on UNODC and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) to develop joint technical assistance programmes on counter-terrorism while fully respecting human rights. It encouraged the IGAD Member States to use the assistance of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to ensure an adequate exchange of information in the area of counter-terrorism and transnational organized crime.
| Sounds absolutely ducky... |
However, the dictatorship of Sudan, together with Ethiopia and Yemen have already formed a secret alliance between their security forces aimed primarily at the small African state of Eritrea with which all three states have a history of problems. Informed sources indicate that the alliance had decided to use the UN sponsored meeting as a venue to give further cover to their ultimate objectives, which is to suppress the pro-democracy rebellions in the area.
| ... the blame for which they've been trying to hang on Eritrea. Couldn't be them, of course. Certainly not Sudan... |
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