Move at U.N. to sanction Eritrea over Somalia links

By Louis Charbonneau | November 20, 2009

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A draft U.N. Security Council resolution calls for an arms embargo against Eritrea and travel bans and asset freezes for members of its government and military for aiding Islamist insurgents in Somalia.

The resolution, obtained by Reuters on Thursday, was drafted by temporary Security Council member Uganda and has been circulated to other members of the 15-nation panel, U.N. diplomats said.

The United States and other council members accuse Eritrea of supplying al Shabaab rebels with money and weapons as they fight to topple the fragile U.N.-backed transitional government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the official leader of the virtually lawless Horn of Africa nation.

The fighting in Somalia has killed nearly 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven 1.5 million from their homes.

Among the measures called for in the draft is a ban on all sales to Asmara of "weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts."

The draft also calls for a ban on providing Eritrea with "technical assistance, training, financial and other assistance, related to the military activities."

The Security Council, African Union (AU) and United States have all warned Asmara against destabilizing Somalia. Eritrea denies supporting al Shabaab and has said that the threat of U.N. sanctions is of "no concern at all."

A U.N. arms monitoring body -- which was set up to record violations of a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia -- has said Asmara was sending plane- and boatloads of munitions to Somali rebels, as well as providing them with logistical support.

It was not clear when the council would vote on the resolution. Diplomats said it would need to be revised if it was to avoid a veto from China and Russia, which dislike sanctions in general.

The resolution would authorize U.N. member states to inspect "all cargo to and from Somalia and Eritrea" via land and sea if there were grounds to suspect that the cargo included banned items.

It would also impose a travel ban and freeze the assets of the "Eritrean political and military leadership" and other Eritrean individuals and firms suspected of supporting the hard-line Islamist rebels.

Somalia has been mired in chaos for nearly two decades and there is little sign the latest attempt to establish central government is proving any more successful than the 14 previous efforts since a dictator was ousted in 1991.

(Editing by David Storey)

Swedish newspapers publish appeal for reporter jailed in Eritrea

STOCKHOLM (DPA) - More than 90 Swedish newspapers united Thursday in publishing a joint appeal on behalf of a Swedish-Eritrean journalist held in Eritrea for eight years without trial. Dawit Isaak was arrested on September 23, 2001 after the Eritrean government's moved to shut down independent newspapers.

Thursday's publication marked Isaak's brief release on November 19, 2005 - but he was arrested a few days later.

The appeal calling for the release of Dawit Isaak was written by Peter Englund, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy that awards the coveted Nobel Prize for Literature.

"Censorship oozes an acid that dissolves the system it is aimed at protecting. And sooner or later all dictatorships fall. All of them," Englund wrote in the appeal.

Broadcaster SVT and its commercial rival TV4 also published the text on their web sites, and Englund's fee was to be donated to Isaak's family, who live in Sweden.

Stockholm tabloid Expressen's editor-in-chief Thomas Mattsson took the initiative to approach Englund to write the appeal published in 91 newspapers and other web sites.

"The wide publication is a very strong statement," Mattsson said.

Mattsson said information suggested Isaak was held in Eritrea's harshest prison.

Earlier this year almost 210,000 people in Sweden, which has a population of around 9 million, signed a petition for his release.

Isaak became a Swedish citizen in 1992 after seeking asylum in 1987. Isaak lived in the west coast city of Gothenburg until 2000 when he returned to Eritrea to work for the independent weekly Setit.

In May, President Isais Afeworki told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that Eritrea had no plans to release Isaak stating that he had made "a big mistake and he is accountable for what he did."

Afeworki declined to detail the nature of Isaak's alleged crime, and ruled out a trial.

Swedish newspapers have campaigned for Isaak's release as have human rights advocacy groups such as Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Swedish Journalists' Union.