Eritrea rejects sanctions call over Somalia
ASMARA has dismissed a renewed threat of sanctions over charges it is arming insurgents in Mogadishu.
Britain was the latest country to join the condemnation, telling the United Nations (UN) Security Council last week it was ready to punish Eritrea for its alleged role in Somalia.
Asmara rejected the move and said any evidence brought against it had been fabricated.
"The accusations have no bearing whatsoever with the facts. They are completely baseless," Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters.
"If it (Britain's move) is underpinned by the ulterior political motivations of that country, then it is unacceptable and illegal by all standards."
Britain's move follows months of diplomatic threats against the Red Sea state.
The UN Security Council, African Union (AU) and United States have all warned Asmara against destabilising Somalia.
A UN arms monitoring body, which was set up to record violations of a 1992 arms embargo on the country, said Asmara was sending plane- and boatloads of munitions to Somali rebels, as well as providing them with logistical support.
The AU wants the United Nations to impose a sea blockade and a no-fly zone to stop people and weapons reaching Somalia.
Somali insurgent groups including al Shabaab, which Washington accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in the region, are fighting against the fragile UN-backed government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
The fighting has killed nearly 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes.
While the move towards sanctions appears to be gaining momentum, top Eritrean officials say they are not cowed.
"The threat of sanctions are of no concern at all to Eritrea," said Ali.
Eritrea and Ethiopia are accused of waging a proxy war in Somalia over a frontier dispute. The two countries fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed more than 70,000 people.
UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah at the Third Joint Security Committee meeting In Nairobi on Monday, urged the Horn of African nation leaders to pursue peace and reconciliation to avert chaos in the country.
He stressed the need for Somali leaders to continue their commitment to dialogue and work together more closely to achieve peace and stability.
Meanwhile, pirates off Somalia's coast are becoming increasingly sophisticated and even an international naval force has done little to combat the scourge off the Horn of Africa, the Somali police chief has said.
Somalia, which has had no functioning central government since 1991, is unable to police its 1,900-mile (3,060-kilometre) coastline, allowing gangs to target ships throughout the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, said Abdi Hassan Awaleh, commissioner of the Somali Police Force.
"I can't say that up to now there has been any progress about piracy," Awaleh told reporters at an Interpol conference in Singapore. "The Somali government is fragile. The police have no power to chase or control such a long coastline."
Pirates have successfully hijacked 34 ships worldwide so far this year, mostly off the Somali coast, compared to 49 during all of last year, said Mick Palmer, Australia's Inspector of Transport Security, who has been conducting an inquiry on global piracy for Australia for the last nine months.
Experts estimate each successful hijack costs shipping companies about $7 million in ransom and other fees, and nets significant bounty for the pirates that has lured organised crime syndicates, Palmer said.
"There's clear evidence of increasing organization in the activities of the pirates," Palmer said. "Their weaponry continues to get more sophisticated, and their attacks are happening farther out at sea."
He added that pirates are getting better at locating ships.
The U.S., China and Russia have sent military vessels to the Gulf of Aden this year to protect shipping lanes. Each year, some 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
The European Union says it has foiled 100 pirate attacks since sending a flotilla of eight navy frigates and three maritime surveillance planes to the region in December.
"We need a joint effort from Somalia, neighboring countries, the international community and Interpol," Awaleh said. "The international community is trying. They spent a lot of money, but the result is very little."
Interpol, which is holding its annual meeting this week, is helping to prosecute captured pirates by identifying them with its international fingerprinting database and facilitating intelligence-sharing, said Jean-Michel Louboutin, Interpol's executive director of police services.
