afrol News, 14 July - Eritrea has rejected media reports alleging that it has been supplying Somalia’s insurgents with both weapons and human resources.

Last week, the African Union leadership pleaded with the United Nations to slap Eritrea with sanctions for allegedly aiding Islamist insurgency seeking to overthrow the fragile Somali Transitional Government.

The Eritrean government denounced reports as an insult to the government, further saying they are meant to frustrate the government’s efforts of helping the sister country. Eritrea has however admitted to giving Somalia political support.

A statement released by the AU summit in Libya appealed to the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on all outside actors including Eritrea, which provide support to armed groups in the war torn Somalia.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has warned that any party breaking the arms ban in Somalia will have to face serious sanctions, saying the ban is now being monitored by a UN group, which will report back to the Security Council later this month.

“Sanctions will be applied on any country violating the embargo depending on the findings of the monitoring group,” the UN said in a statement.

The UN said sanctions would have a number of negative effects on Eritrea because they harm the local economy, which would negatively impact the ordinary citizen and civilian population.

Reports have said Eritrea which has been on Ethiopia’s neck since the early 1990’s has been backing Somalia rebels to topple the government which the Ethiopian troops fought hard to outs in 2006.

Eritrea has been a menace in the Horn of Africa having been involved in two serious conflicts on border demarcation with its neighbours.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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