War of words between Eritrea and Sudan intensifies

ASMARA, Oct 21 (AFP) — Relations between fractious neighbours Asmara and Khartoum reached a new low this week after Eritrea claimed to have uncovered a Sudanese-backed plot to assassinate President Issaiais Afeworki.

Its announcement that it had arrested a “terrorist” cell allegedly deployed to attack civilians as well as kill Afeworki sparked a furious reaction from Sudan.

Khartoum called for an investigation into the claim, which it said was “a prelude to a plan for launching an attack on the Sudan.”

“We expect Eritrea to start aggression but we will reply to such an act,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail was quoted as saying by the state-run SUNA agency.

The African neighbours have for years traded accusations of supporting one another’s rebel groups.

Nevertheless, according to a diplomat in the Eritrean capital who asked not to be named, “I have never heard such strong accusations from Asmara against Khartoum.”

Earlier this week, the Eritrean foreign ministry condemned the alleged plot as “the latest terrorist foray” and “a continuation of the terrorist attacks against civilians in the town of Barentu last May, which was sponsored by the Sudanese regime.”

Five people were killed and 25 injured in an explosion in the western town on May 25.

A month later, a Sudanese-born Eritrean appeared on television here claiming responsibility for the attack and saying it had been ordered by a radical Islamist group based in Sudan.

“Lately, the Khartoum regime has been hurling its baseless accusations day-in day-out that Eritrea is deploying troops on the eastern Sudanese borders to cover up its naked terrorist plans,” Asmara insisted in its statement.

Strained relations between the neighbouring states worsened considerably in 2002, when Khartoum accused Asmara of supporting an offensive by Sudanese rebels on its territory. The states’ border has since been closed.

Sudanese opposition groups, some of them armed, occasionally hold meetings in Asmara.

Since the end of 2002, Eritrea has been denouncing the “terrorist” nature of Sudan, while Khartoum has accused Asmara of giving material support to rebels who rose up in the west Sudan region of Darfur in February 2003.

Asmara has said several times that it supports the Darfur rebels politically but does not give them logistical support.

Another cause of tension is Sudan’s good relationship with Ethiopia, which fought a border war with Eritrea between 1998 and 2000. The peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia has stalled since Addis Ababa’s rejection in September 2003 of the border demarcation ruling of an independent commission.

“It is difficult to know if the war of words which Eritrea has with Sudan and Ethiopia will harden into actual conflict,” said a diplomat in Asmara who asked to remain anonymous.

Sudan is currently under strong international pressure to stop the fighting and ease the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.