NAIROBI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Kenya expelled an Eritrean diplomat for security reasons a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Asmara of destabilising the region by supporting Somali rebels, Kenyan media said on Saturday.
Speaking in the Kenyan capital on Thursday, Clinton warned that the United States would take action against Eritrea if it did not stop backing hardline insurgents in Somalia including the al Shabaab group.
Western security agencies say Somalia is a haven for extremists planning attacks in the region and beyond.
Australian police said this week they had uncovered a plot to attack a Sydney army base by men they said had links to al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.
Quoting officials, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper said the Kenyan government had deported the Eritrean diplomat on Friday.
"There are two cases involving Eritreans who were deported on security-related grounds," the paper quoted an immigration department spokesman as saying. Kenyan government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Nation did not name the envoy, and said the other Eritrean was a businessman who was expelled a month ago.
The paper said that hours after the diplomat had been deported, Eritrea's Foreign Minister Osman Saleh arrived in Nairobi unexpectedly seeking a meeting with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.
It said Osman held talks with his Kenyan counterpart Moses Wetangula, but it was not clear whether he met Kibaki.
Eritrea denies supporting militants in Somalia, and in turn accuses the United States of causing more bloodshed in the failed Horn of Africa nation by sending tonnes of weapons and ammunition to the Somali government.
Violence in Somalia has killed more than 18,000 people since the start of 2007 and driven another million from their homes. (Writing by Daniel Wallis; editing by Michael Roddy).
Source: Reuters, Aug 08, 2009
