The U.N. Security Council was set to impose sanctions on the Horn of Africa state of Eritrea because of aid it has given to Islamist insurgents in Somalia and threatening neighboring Djibouti, council members say.

The santions would include an arms embargo asset freezes and travel bans on Eritrea as well as individuals and companies to be designated by an existing sanctions committee.

The United States and other nations accuse Eritrea of supplying al Shabaab rebels with funds and arms as they fight to topple a fragile U.N.-backed transitional government in Somalia, a state that has been virtually lawless for 18 years.

Demands

The Ugandan-drafted resolution demands that Asmara "cease all efforts to destabilize or overthrow, directly or indirectly" the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia.

It urges member states to conduct inspections on their territory, including  seaports and airports, of "all cargo to and from Somalia and Eritrea". And it presses Eritrea to withdraw troops immediately from disputed territories along its frontier with Djibouti and engage in diplomatic efforts to settle their long-running border dispute.

The text further calls on all member states, in particular Eritrea, to stop  "arming, training and equipping armed groups that aim to destabilize the region or incite violence and  civil strife in Djibouti." UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon needs  to report within 180 days on  Asmara's compliance with the provisions of the resolution.

Eritrea denies allegations

In a letter sent this month to Security Council chair Michel Kafando, Eritrea's UN ambassador Araya Desta urged all  members, "to use their influence to ensure the rejection of this draft  resolution in its entirety."

He accused Washington of being, "the main architect of this resolution,"  which he said, "has no factual or legal justifications.  "The UN Security Council cannot penalize Eritrea for its views simply  because (Asmara) does not toe or conform to Washington's policy choices and  preferences," Desta charged.

Both the AU and the east African Inter-governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) bloc, which groups Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan  and Uganda, have been calling since July for UN sanctions against Eritrea for backing Somali rebels.

Tensions on the border

The United States has blamed Eritrea for fanning the violence in Somalia, a country that has not known peace for nearly two decades. A UN monitoring group has detailed how Asmara supplies arms and cash to Somali opposition forces.

On Eritrea's border dispute with Djibouti, the draft reiterates the  Security Council's call in Resolution 1862 adopted in January that Asmara pull out its forces and all their equipment from disputed territories and ensure  that no military presence or activity is pursued in the area. That resolution had given Eritrea five weeks to pull out.

The dispute over the Ras Doumeira promontory on the shores of the Red Sea  last flared up in June 2008 after previous clashes in 1996 and 1999. 

This dispute is assumed to have a great strategic significance because both France and the  United States have bases the former French colony. The US has more than 1,200  troops stationed in Djibouti, which hosts an anti-terrorism task force in the  Horn of Africa.
 

source: Reuters/AFP