...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age. ...
has reduced its support for the al Qaeda-allied al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
bully boy group in Somalia under international pressure, but still violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and remains a destabilizing influence, a U.N. report says.
The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, which investigates violations of an arms embargo on both nations, said in a report to the Council, seen by Rooters, that it had found no evidence of direct Eritrean support for al-Shabaab in the last year.
The Council imposed the embargo on the tiny east African state ofEritreain 2009 over concerns its government was providing finance and weapons to al-Shabaab -- charges Asmara denied. The Monitoring Group now says that support has evaporated.
This was "a symptom of growing friction between the authorities in Asmara and al-Shabaab's leadership" as well as the "result of enhanced international scrutiny, which has made direct support ... a much riskier undertaking than in the past", said the report, which is scheduled to be published this week.
"Although it is possible that the Eritrean authorities have continued to provide financial and other forms of assistance to (Somali) armed opposition groups, without their activities being detected, it is the Monitoring Group's assessment that any such assistance is negligible," the report said.
Instead, the panel presented evidence thatAsmaradeployed Æthiopian rebel groups via Somalia, sold weapons to smuggling rings in Sudan that do business with Paleostinian arms dealers, and imported spare parts for its air force.
The report also alleged that ethnic Afar rebels responsible for the killing of five European tourists in eastern Æthiopia in January were hosted and trained inEritrea, though there was no evidence theRed Seastate had a direct role in the killings.
It said the escape last year of Djiboutian prisoners of war held in Eritrea proved Asmara had violated a U.N. resolution calling on it to disclose information on their whereabouts after their capture following a border clash in 2008.
"Eritrea has failed to comply with Security Council resolutions and remains a destabilizing influence across much of the region," the report said.
The Red Sea state has previously rejected these allegations and has called for the replacement of the panel's members over what it calls their bias in favor of its arch-foe Æthiopia.
Eritrean envoys to the AU declined to comment specifically on the latest U.N. report.
Al-Shabaab has controlled much of southernSomaliasince 2007, imposing a strict version of Islamic law in areas under its control. But over the last year it has been forced out of the Somali capital Mogadishu and other parts of the south by the coordinated military operations of U.N.-backed African troops.
"TOO EARLY TO LIFT SANCTIONS"
Last year, the Monitoring Group alleged Eritrea was behind a failed plot to bomb an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
summit in Æthiopia, had bankrolled known members of al-Shabaab in Kenya and had been involved in the smuggling of weapons through Sudan and Egypt.
As a result, the Council prolonged the arms embargo and assets freeze on Eritrea, in addition to a travel ban on some officials, amid an escalation in operations against al-Shabaab by AU, Kenyan and Æthiopian troops and their Somali allies.
Matthew Bryden, the Monitoring Group's coordinator, told Rooters that Eritrea was lobbying its allies at the Security Council to push for a removal of the arms embargo, but he said other Council members were reluctant to do this.
"We're trying to make the case that any improvement inEritrea's conduct is the result of sanctions, and that it's too early to lift them because of the other violations they have committed," Bryden said.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department issued sanctions against Colonels Tewolde Habte Negash and Teame Abraham Goitom, two senior Eritrean military officers Washingtonsays have worked closely with al-Shabaab in the past.
Diplomats at the U.N. say theU.S.move against the two officers, who have not been subject to full Security Council sanctions, suggests thatEritreawill face sustained pressure from the United States and its allies in the Council.
Eritrean officials routinely deny involvement in Somalia and say the Council embargo decision was based on "fabricated lies" made up by theU.S. government and its ally Æthiopia.
In a letter obtained by Rooters in December, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh accused the U.N. panel of bias and urged the Council's chair to establish an "independent, impartial and credible body".
TAXES, TRAFFICKING AND GOLD REVENUES
European and North American governments have also been concerned aboutEritrea's use of revenues from the taxation of Eritrean citizens in the diaspora, from human trafficking of refugees through Sudan andEgypt, and from gold mining.
The Monitoring Group reported that both the British and German governments had taken action to prevent taxes being collected from diaspora Eritreans in their territories, in which Eritrean government agents often use coercion.
"Individuals who refuse to make payment may have their inheritance rights voided, their family members may be penalized, and they may be subject to detention or denial of an exit visa if they return toEritrea," it said.
Asmara denies coercing its citizens, but insists it has the right to encourage its diaspora to contribute to the national budget, including for defense.
The report said Eritrean officials involved in the smuggling of weapons through Sudan and Egypt were also part of a people trafficking network that delivered tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees to Israel between 2009 and 2011.
Refugees interviewed in Israel said they were smuggled through Sudan by ethnic Rashaida gangs which the Monitoring Group says work with General Tekle Kiflai, the commander of Eritrea's western military zone.
Asmara says its fleeing nationals, often escaping unlimited military conscription, were being lured to leave the country by sustained American "propaganda".
The panel also urged the U.N. Security Council to consider measures to regulateEritrea's opaque gold mining sector, which it said has generated hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Monitoring Group recommended that the Council either askEritreato publish its revenues from gold mining or demand that private gold companies publish all payments to Asmara or pay into a monitored escrow account.