Eritrea behind AU summit attack plot - U.N. report
28 June, 2011 | By David Clarke (Reuters)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eritrea was behind a plot to attack an African
Union summit in Ethiopia in January and is bankrolling al Qaeda-
linked Somali rebels through its embassy in Kenya, according to a U.
N. report.
A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia and Eritrea said the Red
Sea state's intelligence personnel were active in Uganda, South
Sudan, Kenya and Somalia, and that the country's actions posed a
threat to security and peace in the region.
of fear, represents a qualitative shift in Eritrean tactics," the report
obtained by Reuters said.
The plan was to attack the AU headquarters with a car bomb as
African leaders took breaks, to blow up Africa's largest market to
"kill many people" and attack the area between the Prime Minister's
office and the Sheraton Hotel -- where most heads of state stay
during AU summits.
The U.N. said while past Eritrean support for rebel groups in both
Somalia and Ethiopia had to be seen in the context of an unresolved
border dispute with Addis Ababa, the new approach was a threat to
the whole of the Horn and east Africa.
"The fact that the same Eritrean officers responsible for the planning
and direction of this operation are also involved, both in supervisory
and operational roles, in external operations in Djibouti, Kenya,
Uganda, Somalia and Sudan implies an enhanced level of threat to the
region as a whole."
Asmara has repeatedly denied any involvement in funding rebel
groups in the region. In June, it rejected claims it had anything to do
with the Addis Ababa bomb plot as "nonsensical remarks" with no
legal basis.
Eritrea's U.N. Ambassador Araya Desta said the U.N. report claims
were "ridiculous and absurd", and said that all the allegations in the
report had come from Ethiopian officials and the Ethiopian military.
"Eritrea has never, never participated in any terrorist acts ... There is
no reason why we should send people to bomb the African Union,"
Desta told Reuters.
"We renewed our membership in the African Union this year, and,
while our representatives are in Addis Ababa, to bomb the African
Union? This is ridiculous and absurd," he said.
The U.N. has slapped an arms embargo on the Red Sea state, as well
as a travel ban and an assets freeze on Eritrean political and military
leaders who it says are violating an arms embargo on Somalia.
"MAKE ADDIS ABABA LIKE BAGHDAD"
Ethiopian intelligence officials uncovered the plot to set off multiple
bombs in Addis Ababa at the AU summit, an event typically attended
by more than 30 African leaders, in January this year.
The U.N. report said all but one of the people arrested received all
their training and orders directly from Eritrean officers. The other
detainee was also in regular contact with an Ethiopian rebel group, the
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
"Although ostensibly an OLF operation, it was conceived, planned,
supported and directed by the external operations directorate of the
Government of Eritrea, under the leadership of General Te'ame," the
report said.
The equipment seized included C4 plastic explosives in food sacks,
gas cylinders, detonators and a sniper rifle.
General Te'ame told one of the plotters that the plan was to make
"Addis Ababa like Baghdad", according to the report.
However, in an interview with U.N. investigators, one of the men
arrested, Omar Idriss Mohamed, said the aim was not to kill African
leaders but to show them that Ethiopia was not safe.
"By so doing, some people may start to listen to what Eritrea is saying
about Ethiopia. Some Arab States will be sympathetic to this view,"
he was quoted as saying.
According to the U.N. report, Omar is an OLF member who was
approached by the Eritrean security services though Colonel
Gemachew. Omar, who visited Eritrea in 2009 and 2010, became the
Addis team leader for the plot.
The U.N. report included a letter from Romania confirming a sniper
rifle found in the possession of one of the bomb plotters had been sold
to Eritrea in 2004.
The report included slips showing payments to the plotters in Addis
Ababa through money transfers. The plotters told the U.N. that an
Eritrean colonel had arranged for the transfers via intermediaries in
Sudan and Kenya.
Ethiopia routinely accuses Asmara of supporting rebel groups. In a
shift of policy, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared in April it would
support Eritrean guerrillas fighting to overthrow President Isaias
Afewerki.
The report also included copies of payments slips from Eritrean
officials in Kenya's capital Nairobi to known members of Somali rebel
group al Shabaab. It said the payments were to the tune of $80,000 a
month.
"The Monitoring Group has obtained documentary evidence of
Eritrean payments to a number of individuals with links to al
Shabaab," the report said.
"The documents obtained were received directly from the embassy of
Eritrea in Nairobi, including payment vouchers marked 'State of
Eritrea'," the report said.
"The embassy of Eritrea in Nairobi continues to maintain and exploit a
wide network of Somali contacts, intelligence assets and agents of
influence in Kenya."
Eritrea's UN envoy denied his country was involved in helping al
Shabaab and suggested the payment slips could have had the names
falsified.
(Additional reporting by Barry Malone in Nairobi and Patrick
Worsnip in New York; Editing by Giles Elgood and Elizabeth
Fullerton)
Courtesy
28 June, 2011 | By David Clarke (Reuters)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eritrea was behind a plot to attack an African
Union summit in Ethiopia in January and is bankrolling al Qaeda-
linked Somali rebels through its embassy in Kenya, according to a U.
N. report.
A U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia and Eritrea said the Red
Sea state's intelligence personnel were active in Uganda, South
Sudan, Kenya and Somalia, and that the country's actions posed a
threat to security and peace in the region.
- "Whereas Eritrean support to
foreign armed opposition
groups has in the past been
limited to conventional military
operations, the plot to disrupt
the African Union summit in
Addis Ababa in January
2011, which envisaged mass
casualty attacks against
of fear, represents a qualitative shift in Eritrean tactics," the report
obtained by Reuters said.
The plan was to attack the AU headquarters with a car bomb as
African leaders took breaks, to blow up Africa's largest market to
"kill many people" and attack the area between the Prime Minister's
office and the Sheraton Hotel -- where most heads of state stay
during AU summits.
The U.N. said while past Eritrean support for rebel groups in both
Somalia and Ethiopia had to be seen in the context of an unresolved
border dispute with Addis Ababa, the new approach was a threat to
the whole of the Horn and east Africa.
"The fact that the same Eritrean officers responsible for the planning
and direction of this operation are also involved, both in supervisory
and operational roles, in external operations in Djibouti, Kenya,
Uganda, Somalia and Sudan implies an enhanced level of threat to the
region as a whole."
Asmara has repeatedly denied any involvement in funding rebel
groups in the region. In June, it rejected claims it had anything to do
with the Addis Ababa bomb plot as "nonsensical remarks" with no
legal basis.
Eritrea's U.N. Ambassador Araya Desta said the U.N. report claims
were "ridiculous and absurd", and said that all the allegations in the
report had come from Ethiopian officials and the Ethiopian military.
"Eritrea has never, never participated in any terrorist acts ... There is
no reason why we should send people to bomb the African Union,"
Desta told Reuters.
"We renewed our membership in the African Union this year, and,
while our representatives are in Addis Ababa, to bomb the African
Union? This is ridiculous and absurd," he said.
The U.N. has slapped an arms embargo on the Red Sea state, as well
as a travel ban and an assets freeze on Eritrean political and military
leaders who it says are violating an arms embargo on Somalia.
"MAKE ADDIS ABABA LIKE BAGHDAD"
Ethiopian intelligence officials uncovered the plot to set off multiple
bombs in Addis Ababa at the AU summit, an event typically attended
by more than 30 African leaders, in January this year.
The U.N. report said all but one of the people arrested received all
their training and orders directly from Eritrean officers. The other
detainee was also in regular contact with an Ethiopian rebel group, the
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
"Although ostensibly an OLF operation, it was conceived, planned,
supported and directed by the external operations directorate of the
Government of Eritrea, under the leadership of General Te'ame," the
report said.
The equipment seized included C4 plastic explosives in food sacks,
gas cylinders, detonators and a sniper rifle.
General Te'ame told one of the plotters that the plan was to make
"Addis Ababa like Baghdad", according to the report.
However, in an interview with U.N. investigators, one of the men
arrested, Omar Idriss Mohamed, said the aim was not to kill African
leaders but to show them that Ethiopia was not safe.
"By so doing, some people may start to listen to what Eritrea is saying
about Ethiopia. Some Arab States will be sympathetic to this view,"
he was quoted as saying.
According to the U.N. report, Omar is an OLF member who was
approached by the Eritrean security services though Colonel
Gemachew. Omar, who visited Eritrea in 2009 and 2010, became the
Addis team leader for the plot.
The U.N. report included a letter from Romania confirming a sniper
rifle found in the possession of one of the bomb plotters had been sold
to Eritrea in 2004.
The report included slips showing payments to the plotters in Addis
Ababa through money transfers. The plotters told the U.N. that an
Eritrean colonel had arranged for the transfers via intermediaries in
Sudan and Kenya.
Ethiopia routinely accuses Asmara of supporting rebel groups. In a
shift of policy, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared in April it would
support Eritrean guerrillas fighting to overthrow President Isaias
Afewerki.
The report also included copies of payments slips from Eritrean
officials in Kenya's capital Nairobi to known members of Somali rebel
group al Shabaab. It said the payments were to the tune of $80,000 a
month.
"The Monitoring Group has obtained documentary evidence of
Eritrean payments to a number of individuals with links to al
Shabaab," the report said.
"The documents obtained were received directly from the embassy of
Eritrea in Nairobi, including payment vouchers marked 'State of
Eritrea'," the report said.
"The embassy of Eritrea in Nairobi continues to maintain and exploit a
wide network of Somali contacts, intelligence assets and agents of
influence in Kenya."
Eritrea's UN envoy denied his country was involved in helping al
Shabaab and suggested the payment slips could have had the names
falsified.
(Additional reporting by Barry Malone in Nairobi and Patrick
Worsnip in New York; Editing by Giles Elgood and Elizabeth
Fullerton)
Courtesy
| All rights reserved. |
| Ethio Quest News Together We Can Make It! |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Zersenay Tadese " He became the first person in Eritrean sporting history to win an Olympic medal.. More |
| Eritrea |
| Perpetuating Tyranny Under Mantel of Youth Festival "...Latest one out of such arsenals that tyrant Afawerki deploys in order to draw gullible youth to his indoctrination camp (aka Sawa) is the annual pilgrimage to SAWA" More |
| Protesters: Refugee status in Israel, democracy in Eritrea By BEN HARTMAN (The Jerusalem Post) Eritrean leader fears US plans to kill him: cable By Aaron Maasho (Reuters) Every September, We will Remember By Daniel G. Mikael Report: Eritrea May Become Failed State Selah Hennessy Eritrea spurs insecurity in the Horn of Africa By Jonathan Manthorpe (Vancouver Sun) Opposition conference in Ethiopia vowes bring democracy to Eritrea By Tesfa-Alem Tekle (Sudan Tribune) Eritrea: Springboard for Terror By Ryan Mauro Eritrea: What the Book of Martyrs Doesn’t Say Yosief Ghebrehiwet (Part I) Ethiopia: Iranian Friends Strategy Page Did You Enjoy the Show? Human Rights Concern - Eritrea U.S. condemns Eritrea for "destabilizing" role Reuters Eritreans rally against UN sanctions BBC Deconstructing UNSC Resolution 1907 - The Smart Sanction on the Eritrean Regime [Part I] By Seyoum Tesfaye |
| Refugee voices: Looking for hope in Ethiopia "...I don't want to take any chances. They took our property before. How can we believe that they will... More |
| Is Eritrea hiding a looming humanitarian crisis? (Nazret) Nabro Volcano Erupts Again Thursday By Mark Dunphy (Irish Weather) Ash Cloud Spreads From Erupting Nabro Volcano In Eritrea By Mark Dunphy (Irish Weather) Eritrea Detains Four Antipiracy Contractors By Geffrey Gettlman (New York Times) Eritrea to U.N.: Take This Aid And Shove It By George Russell (FoxNews.com) Fox News Gets It Wrong On Eritrea Awate Eritrea tyrant's paranoia costs nation vital UN Aid Berhane M Tekeste (Eritrea Daily) Ethiopia warns of action against Eritrea By Aaron Maasho (Reuters) Eritrean Strongman Isaias Afwerki: Still The Regional Spoiler Awate |
| Eritrean Independence: Is It Worth All the Sacrifice? (1) by Yosief Ghebrehiwet |
| Related Stories |
| Previous Stories |
