Ethiopianization ኢትዮጵያናይዜሽን: 05/12/11

Thursday, May 12, 2011

NATO intercepts military cargo ship bound for Eritrea - UN

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(Source: Sudan Tribune)By Sudan Tribune
May 12-- -- NATO Naval forces have reportedly captured a heavy weapon carrying cargo ship destined to Eritrea in the international waters of the Indian Ocean.

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance between the US and various European countries. It is currently engaged in the bombing of Libya.

A UN monitoring group report this week revealed that the cargo originally shipped from North Korea was carrying 15 tonnes of rockets, surface to air missiles and explosives worth $US15 million.

In December 2009, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions against Eritrea, which include an arms embargo, travel restrictions and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders for an alleged involvement in training and supplying weapons to Al-Qaida and links Somali Islamic rebels.

After the UN Security Council passed the resolution against the red sea nation, the Southern Red Sea and the Indian Ocean have increasingly been monitored by multi-national naval forces mainly from the US, France and Germany, to maintain security and international law in the waters.

The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group have been accusing the Government of Eritrea being a regional destabilising factor by its continued political, financial and allegedly military assistance to armed opposition groups in Somalia.

There are allegations that Eritrea has been importing arms from Eastern Europe and Asia.

Ethiopia has recently threatened to attack Eritrea to stop an alleged continued terrorist acts and the armies of both sides have remained on high alert then after. Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia, making its larger neighbour landlocked, in 1993 following 30 years of struggle however the two neighbours fought a 1998-2000 war over their disputed border that killed over 70,000 people.

Capital FM Kenya: Kenya, Ethiopia leaders in talks after killings

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President Kibaki with Ethiopian PM Zenawi/ PPS

KAMPALA, Uganda, May 12 - President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday held crisis talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi over the recent attacks in Turkana.

At the meeting held in Kampala, Uganda, the leaders agreed that a joint ministerial group of the two countries should meet and urgently resolve border issues that have emerged after the conflict pitting the Turkana and Merille peoples.

"They underscored the importance of harmonious co-existence among communities living along common borders," a statement from the Presidential Press Service said.

The leaders also directed that the joint ministerial meeting should seek ways of restoring any beacons that may have been destroyed along the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

Militia from Ethiopia's Merille tribe last week attacked and killed 38 people in Turkana.

Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Osman Warfa said trouble started when four Merille tribesmen ambushed a group of fishermen near Lake Turkana and killed their leader.

"In the commotion that ensued, unknown Turkana persons in quick retaliation shot the four Merille militiamen dead," he said.

As a result, some members of the Dasenach Merille community escaped from Turkana village and ran towards the Ethiopian direction for their safety.

"On their way to Ethiopia, it is alleged that they met a group of Dasenach Merille who were escorting a group of Turkana community members who had gone to Siees village to purchase food. Word reached them that their colleagues had been killed by Turkanas at the Todonyang Mission compound; that is when they turned against the Turkanas they were escorting and killed nine men, 10 women bringing the total number of Turkanas killed to 20," the Assistant Minister said.

Both of the two communities from the two countries are semi nomadic who are known to co-exist but they often clash and resort to gun fights to settle their differences.

Kenya has formally written a protest letter to Ethiopia over the attacks and reports of tampering with border beacons along the common border.