Eritrea slams Kofi Annan after 'spies' expelled
By Andrew Cawthorne
| September 7, 2006
Unmee patrol in southern Eritrea
NAIROBI - Eritrea said on Thursday five United Nations security staff expelled this week were spies and challenged the world body's secretary-general, Kofi Annan, to "put his house in order" before criticising the Horn of Africa state.
In a further deterioration of already dire relations with the United Nations, Eritrea on Tuesday told the five men - from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Liberia, and Trinidad and Tobago - to leave within 24 hours.
"I think they have left by now," Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters in Nairobi by telephone.
"They were engaged in spying and recruiting for the purpose of subversive actions."
He said their actions took place both inside and beyond the capital Asmara, and involved "trying to establish a radio network", but declined to give more details of the case.
Their expulsion came just days after Asmara also said it had arrested some UN staff working for a peacekeeping mission on charges of people smuggling. It was not clear what their nationalities were or whether they would be tried.
The United Nations runs a peacekeeping mission monitoring Eritrea and Ethiopia's 1000km border amid continued tensions following a 1998-2000 war between the two countries that killed some 70 000 people.
It also has various aid operations in Eritrea.
Long suspicious that the international community favours its bigger neighbour Ethiopia, Eritrea is particularly furious with the United Nations for failing to enforce the ruling of an independent border commission at the end of the war.
The commission awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has refused to comply with that.
A statement from Annan on Wednesday called for the Eritreans to rescind their moves against the UN staff, provide "urgent clarification" of "the unsubstantiated allegations", and end its "pattern of hostility" against the world body.
Last year, Asmara expelled Western UN peacekeepers and slapped a ban on the mission's helicopter flights.
Information Minister Abdu said Annan had no right to point the finger at Asmara.
"It is better if he can put his house in order first," he said.
"Instead of fulfilling its mandate and obligations here, it is engaged in illegal things.
"If he (Annan) is saying we should turn the other cheek when we have already been slapped on one, he should know that only happens in the other world, not the real world."
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Additional reporting by Jackie Frank in Washington.
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| Unmee patrol in southern Eritrea |
"I think they have left by now," Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters in Nairobi by telephone.
"They were engaged in spying and recruiting for the purpose of subversive actions."
He said their actions took place both inside and beyond the capital Asmara, and involved "trying to establish a radio network", but declined to give more details of the case.
Their expulsion came just days after Asmara also said it had arrested some UN staff working for a peacekeeping mission on charges of people smuggling. It was not clear what their nationalities were or whether they would be tried.
The United Nations runs a peacekeeping mission monitoring Eritrea and Ethiopia's 1000km border amid continued tensions following a 1998-2000 war between the two countries that killed some 70 000 people.
It also has various aid operations in Eritrea.
Long suspicious that the international community favours its bigger neighbour Ethiopia, Eritrea is particularly furious with the United Nations for failing to enforce the ruling of an independent border commission at the end of the war.
The commission awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has refused to comply with that.
A statement from Annan on Wednesday called for the Eritreans to rescind their moves against the UN staff, provide "urgent clarification" of "the unsubstantiated allegations", and end its "pattern of hostility" against the world body.
Last year, Asmara expelled Western UN peacekeepers and slapped a ban on the mission's helicopter flights.
Information Minister Abdu said Annan had no right to point the finger at Asmara.
"It is better if he can put his house in order first," he said.
"Instead of fulfilling its mandate and obligations here, it is engaged in illegal things.
"If he (Annan) is saying we should turn the other cheek when we have already been slapped on one, he should know that only happens in the other world, not the real world."
--------
Additional reporting by Jackie Frank in Washington.
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© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
