Eritrea warns Somalia over cooperation with Ethiopia

July 2, 2007 (MOGADISHU) — The government of Eritrea has warned the Somali Transitional Federal Government to be vigilant about the Ethiopian army intervention in Somalia, although Somali government considers this intervention as military cooperation.

The Eritrean government said that the Somali government actually does not know how it is going to perform its duties in the future, after it had been involved in fighting its rivals by cooperating with the Ethiopian forces.

Asmara has bitterly condemned the soft and sweet words used by the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, to persuade the international community when he was wending his troops into Somalia. It further said Ethiopia is doing job on behalf of the USA in Somalia after its intervention since early this year.

The Eritrean statement comes at a time the Somali Parliament Speaker, Sheikh Aden Mohammed Nur, also known as Sheikh Aden Madobe, accused the Eritrean president of undermining the stability of Somalia and creating chaos.

The Somali Speaker added that his government is holding high-ranking Eritrean military officials, who were fighting alongside the Union of Islamic Courts militia. He said this is clear evidence of how Eritrea is determined to see instability continue in Somalia.

(ST)