From BBC:US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that the US will "take action" against Eritrea if it does not stop supporting militants in Somalia.
She said after talks with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, that Eritrea's actions were "unacceptable".
She also said the US would expand support for Somalia's unity government.
Eritrea denies supporting Somalia's al-Shabab militants, who are trying to overthrow Somalia's government.
Al-Shabab is growing in strength and 250,000 Somalis have fled their homes in fighting between militants and government forces over the past three months.
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My Comment: Eritrea is not paying attention to Hillary Clinton. Their allies are winning in Somalia, and what the U.S. says will not be taken seriously.
However .... if the U.S. starts to send weapons to Ethiopia and to the central government in Somalia .... that will get their attention.
3 comments:
Since it is fair to say that Eritrea's reason for getting involved in this mess is to hurt Ethiopia, is it your opinion that Clinton should push Ethiopia to end the occupation of Eritrean territories?
My bet is that this is the surest way of getting their attention.
Anonymous ... you do have a good point. Ethiopia and Eritrea have been in conflict with each other since Eritrea gained independence, and there is no "love" between each other. I am sure that the U.S. is aware of what a quagmire this is, and will only refrain itself by giving weapons to the African forces that are authorized to be in Somalia, and some to the Somali Government itself.
As to Hillary Clinton's threats against Eritrea .... to me this is just bluff .... and if I was an Eritrean, I would not take them seriously.
Bluff or no bluff, it is clear that Eritrea vs Ethiopia is the Gordian knot in the Horn of Africa.
A thirty year war for independence, followed by five years of peace and then ten years of war and hostilities. Neither country is going to back down with history like this.
The point, however, is that arming the Somali government isn't going to bring peace to Somalia, not as long as there is a proxy-war to be fought.
What would be the cost for Clinton leaning hard on Ethiopia to end the occupation? It just doesn't make sense not solving the one issue that has been defining intra-regional relations for the last decade.
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