Eritrea dismissed on Tuesday allegations by the top US diplomat on Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, that it was trying to destabilise Somalia as a way of hurting its arch foe Ethiopia. | “The Eritrean government is not disposed to reply to such a statement by an amateur diplomat that does not reflect the US administration’s official stance.” |
“The Eritrean government is not disposed to reply to such a statement by an amateur diplomat that does not reflect the US administration’s official stance,” a statement posted on the government Web site said. Frazer met members of Somalia’s Ethiopian-backed interim government on Saturday and urged them to open the political process to all Somalis who renounced violence and extremism. The New York Times quoted her as accusing Eritrea of destabilising Somalia, and said it was widely known that Eritrea “would do anything” to hurt its arch foe Ethiopia. Eritrea also said it had held talks with a former leader of Somalia’s Islamists, ousted late last year in a swift offensive by Ethiopian and Somali government forces. Asmara said in a separate statement on its www.shabait.com Web site that Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki that Somalis would never submit to Ethiopian “invaders”. |