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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Uganda invites Eritrean tyrant for visit |
| 2011-08-12 |
| Uganda has invited Eritrea's leader, President Isaias Afewerki, accused by the West of stoking Somalia's Islamist insurgency and destabilizing east Africa, to a state visit next week. Eritrea rejoined the East African bloc IGAD last month, four years after it walked out on the body in protest at arch-foe Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia to oust an Islamist administration with ties to al Qaeda. "Eritrea is one of the strategically vital countries to the stability of the region, especially in the Horn of Africa and the wider global agenda," Uganda's State House said late on Thursday. In late July, a U.N. Monitoring Group report said that Asmara had bankrolled al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants in Somalia. Al Shabaab claimed they were behind a twin suicide bomb attack on Kampala last year. Experts say that Isaias has become diplomatically isolated. Leader of one of the world's most reclusive states, Isaias seldom makes state visits. The U.N. has imposed a travel ban and an asset freeze on Eritrean political and military leaders, as well as an arms embargo on Eritrea. Asmara denies violating an arms embargo on Somalia, and accuses the United States and Ethiopia of "irresponsible interference". |
| Posted by:ryuge |