 For the second time this week, a large plane arrived in the Islamists-controlled Somali capital of Mogadishu Friday, carrying an unknown cargo. But many people believe it contains weapons from Eritrea, which the Islamist leadership in Somalia denies.
A Russian-made Illuyshin-76 cargo plane touched down early Friday morning at the recently reopened Mogadishu airport. It had the same Kazakhstan Airways markings as a plane that landed Wednesday. In both cases, there was extraordinary security. Islamic militiamen sealed off all roads and prevented curious on-lookers from gathering near the facility. But some eyewitnesses said that they saw several large trucks leaving the airport in a convoy a short while after the plane landed.
| So it prob'ly wasn't delivering food aid. |
The arrival of the two planes this week is fueling speculation among Somalis that neighboring Eritrea is helping to arm Somali Islamists, who are facing a possible showdown with Ethiopian troops, believed to be protecting the country's secular and highly vulnerable interim government, which has its headquarters 250 kilometers away in the town of Baidoa.
Deputy Interim Prime Minister Ismail Hurreh in Baidoa tells VOA that his government is receiving intelligence that Eritrea is not only supplying Islamists with arms, but has also sent troops to back up the Islamic militias. "We are getting highly reliable information that a vessel has unloaded 500 Eritrean fighters along the Somali coast, and they are going to join with forces in Mogadishu," said Hurreh. "For Eritrea to simply come to Somalia to fight a proxy war against Ethiopia will fuel trouble in the whole region."
| So Somalia is now officially a proxy war. |
In Mogadishu, a spokesman for the Supreme Islamic Council that controls the capital and much of the south of the country dismissed unconfirmed reports that Eritreans are in Mogadishu and in other parts of Islamists-controlled areas of southern Somalia. The spokesman, Abdurahim Ali Mudi, also denies that the Islamists are accepting weapons shipments from Eritrea.
Mudi says there are enough weapons in Somalia, and the aim of his group is to make the country secure by taking them off the streets, not bring more weapons into the country.
| A disarmed populace is a quiet populace. |
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