Ethiopia says it foiled Eritrean attack on African Summit

Feb 1, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia’s government said Thursday it had foiled a bomb attack by bitter rival Eritrea against an African leaders summit.

African leaders held an annual African Union meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Ethiopia’s capital.

“The terrorist attacks had been planned to be carried out during the 8th African Union Summit,” said a statement from security and anti-terrorism department of Ethiopia’s federal police.

Police apprehended the alleged masterminds of the alleged attack “just ahead of the summit,” the statement said, without saying how many suspects were detained or identifying them.

There was no immediate way of independently verifying Eritrea’s involvement. Eritrean officials were not immediately available for comment on the allegations.

“We have presented the explosives for display to the public,” government spokesman Zemedkun Teckle said, referring to a device shown on the state-owned television station’s evening news broadcast.

“Information was attained prior to the African Union summit that senior Eritrean government officials were involved in secretly placing explosives in Addis Ababa,” Zemedkun said.

Cmdr. Demsash Hailu, the federal police spokesman, said authorities were investigating and would release more details Friday.

The AU meeting — attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, several Africa leaders and representatives of the Arab League and European Union — discussed a peacekeeping mission to Somalia.

Both Ethiopia and Eritrea are accused of backing rival sides in Somalia.

Ethiopia often has accused Eritrea of planting bombs in its territory and supporting rebels groups fighting low-level insurgencies against the government. Ethiopia also claimed it killed Eritrean troops fighting in Somalia alongside an Islamic movement that Ethiopian forces.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki did not attend the AU summit, because it was held in Ethiopia.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but their border was never settled. The two countries fought a bitter territorial war between 1998 and 2000, cutting relations shortly before. U.N. peacekeepers now patrol the border region.

(AP)