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US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia militants

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Khalid Ali
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US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia militants

Postby Khalid Ali » Fri Jul 06, 2012 2:40 pm

US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia militants

Friday, July 06, 2012

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Aboud Rogo(left) and Mohammed Kubwa in past court appearance/FILE


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on two Eritrean government officials on Thursday, saying they had assisted Islamist militants including the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab in the lawless neighboring state of Somalia.

The U.S. Treasury included the two Eritreans on a list of six people newly placed under sanctions for their role in the Somalian conflict, which U.S. officials see as a growing threat to regional stability across East Africa.

"The United States is determined to target those who are responsible for the ongoing bloodshed and instability in Somalia," Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.

The United Nations Security Council has sanctioned Eritrea for providing support to Somalia's Islamist militants, a charge the Eritrean government has strongly denies.

Eritrea, which declared independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after decades of fighting, has blamed Addis Ababa for the sanctions drive and the rivals have frequently clashed as they seek to influence events in Somalia, which has been without a central government for two decades.

The new U.S. designations block financial transactions with the specified individuals and freeze any property they have that may come under U.S. jurisdiction.

The Treasury named Col. Twolde Habte Negash, an Eritrean intelligence officer, as his government's principal coordinator for assisting armed groups including al Shabaab in Somalia since 2004.

"He reportedly provided explosives training to another armed group in Mogadishu in 2006 and he appears to have been indirectly involved in the training of al-Shabaab fighters between 2007 and 2009 at an Eritrean training camp for instruction in suicide bombing and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices," the Treasury statement said.

It also named Col. Taeme Abraham Goitom as helping to shape the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, an armed group which joined al Shabaab in 2010 and has mounted attacks against Somali government soldiers and an African Union force seeking to stabilize the country.

The U.S. sanctions list was also expanded to include Sudanese militant Abu Fahris, accused of helping foreign fighters travel to al Shabaab training camps, and Aboud Rogo Mohammed, a Kenya-based Islamic cleric who advocates radicalization and recruitment of non-Somali Africans.

Kenya-based Abubaker Sharif Ahmed, accused of recruiting young Kenyan Muslims for "action" in Somalia, was added to the list, as was Kenyan national Omar Awadh Omar, awaiting trial in Uganda on charges of helping to plan the deadly July 11, 2010 attack on fans watching a World Cup match in Kampala.

The United States and other Western powers have been backing efforts to crush al Shabaab, which remains in control of large swathes of central and southern Somalia despite the presence of African Union troops and separate military action by both Kenya and Ethiopia.

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Re: US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia milit

Postby gurey25 » Fri Jul 06, 2012 2:45 pm

no the US sanctioned Eritrea for not accepting IMF/World BANK direction of its economy and for not aligning with US foreign policy.
I.e for being sovereign and independent.

basically for giving africans and the rest of the world a bad example.

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Re: US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia milit

Postby Khalid Ali » Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:10 pm

Could be since thus far no one brought any real evidence to the table whether asmara supports AlQaeda or not

Its still doesn't add up why would a Coptic christian support islamists?

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Re: US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia milit

Postby gurey25 » Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:17 pm

no need for any evidence there is no law and order you mess with the US you are in trouble.

For example look at Iran, Iran met all the conditions of the NPT treaty that they signed.
The CIA and MOSSAD both released reports saying that Iran is NOT developing nuclear weapons,
the former IEAE director al Baradaei said that as far as he is concerned Iran is abiding by all the rules.

but Iran is now facing sanctions and is threatened everyday.

there is no diplomacy they want you to roll over and submit.

and they will break their own rules and push them aside when it suits them.

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Re: US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia milit

Postby Khalid Ali » Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:23 pm

True we know that remember how the war against sadam hussein began it all start with hans blix UN chief weapon inspector for years the state department was saying we must follow the UN resolution against weapons of mass distraction at the end there were no weapons found and they still went to war not following the rules.

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Re: US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia milit

Postby Grant » Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:44 pm

Here's what Treasury had to say:

http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/pr ... g1630.aspx

"Col. Tewolde Habte Negash

Eritrean Intelligence Officer Col. Tewolde Habte Negash funnels money to anti-Transitional Federal Government (“TFG”) groups in Somalia, including al-Shabaab.

Col. Negash was the principal architect of the Government of Eritrea’s relationship with al-Shabaab in Mogadishu in 2006 and he has been the principal coordinator of financial and logistical support to a number of armed groups, including al-Shabaab, since 2004. He has remained actively involved in Eritrean training of and support to foreign armed opposition groups since December 2009 and is reported to have traveled over land from Uganda, through Kenya, and on to Somalia in September 2009 where he met with members of al-Shabaab and other armed groups.

Col. Negash reportedly spent considerable time in Mogadishu for a period beginning in 2006 coordinating support to armed groups, including al-Shabaab. He reportedly provided explosives training to another armed group in Mogadishu in 2006 and he appears to have been indirectly involved in the training of al-Shabaab fighters between 2007 and 2009 at an Eritrean training camp for instruction in suicide bombing and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.

Col. Taeme Abraham Goitom

According to a March 2010 report issued by the UN Security Council Somalia/Eritrea Sanctions Committee’s Monitoring Group, officials of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (“ARS”) described Col. Goitom as a senior government official who played a direct role in decisions concerning key ARS appointments. The Asmara wing of the ARS was a component of the former rebel group Hizbul Islam, which joined al-Shabaab in December 2010. Under Hizbul Islam, ARS-Asmara established a serious military threat against the TFG and the African Union Mission in Somalia (“AMISOM”) forces. The Asmara wing of the ARS publicly rejected the election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and mounted sustained operations against TFG and AMISOM forces. Col. Goitom has also been reported to be an important arms trafficker in the region with clients such as the insurgents in Somalia."

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Re: US sanctions Eritrean officials for aiding Somalia milit

Postby gurey25 » Fri Jul 06, 2012 5:08 pm

Evidence is scant for his activities between 2007 and 2009
this is the time when Al-shabaab emerged.

There is nothing wrong with his actions before 2007 and they do not even deny it at all.
The ICU was the legitimate expression of the will of the somali people, and alshabaab were a tiny fringe element that came into the limelight when Ethiopia invaded the country.

Eritrea ceased all aid and weapons transfers to alshabab as early as mid 2009, after coming under the attention of the US.
This was a strategic withdrawal and they left alshbaab to their own devices.

The international arms market is a buyers market and no embargo can be enforced, why would alshabaab depend on eritrean arms when the whole world is open to them, and arms merchants and agents from all over the world would compete and bid for deals.

I can get you enough heavy machine guns e.g dshks , rpg-7s even 29s , various small arms enough to arm a hundred men within 48 hours from closing the deal
and i am not even in the arms business.


Your governments report is full of shit, and would not impress anyone outside of the US.
even your NATO allies do not believe the veracity of this report and others like it, but they will go along with it because it is US policy.


Grant what you should realize here is that facts are not important in these cases.

Most of your governments outputs to the media do not hold up under close observation,
but this is not their purpose.



anyway excuse my rant.
Eritrea is anti-somaliland so that makes me politically aligned to Ethiopia, and thus also the US
and my official reply would be , yes go get those terrorist supporting scum.

but privately i root for all those that fight domination and value their sovereignty.
and i am jealous of Eritrea for being as free from foreign control as China, India, Brazil and Iran even though it is a tiny and impoverishment African country,.


:lol:


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