Eritrea urges East African nations not to send 2,000 more troops to Somalia
By APFriday, July 9, 2010
Eritrea urges no more African troops for Somalia
NAIROBI, Kenya — Eritrea’s information minister is calling for the East African bloc of nations to halt plans to send more troops to Somalia, saying it will only increase the chaos there.
Ali Abdu says past military interventions have failed in Somalia and there is no reason to believe a new one will succeed.
The East African bloc of nations known as IGAD decided this week to deploy 2,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to aid about 6,000 others from Burundi and Uganda already in Mogadishu.
Abdu told The Associated Press by phone Friday that the call for more troops is being pushed by his country’s archrival, Ethiopia, “because it wants a disintegrated and weak Somalia.”
Eritrea does not recognize the Somali government and withdrew from the bloc.
