Summary on U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea Current Report!

Aigaforum July 22, 2012 (New York)-The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea presented the (annual report) few days ago. According to the report Eritrea has failed to comply with Security Council resolutions and remains a destabilizing influence across much of the region. The Monitoring Group has further confirmed that Eritrea continues to violate resolutions 1844 (2008) and 1907 (2009) by deploying Ethiopian armed opposition groups via Somali territory. In October 2011, the report illustrates, a combined group of fighters from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was intercepted in central Somalia, en route to Ethiopia, by local Somali militia. Both groups had been hosted and trained in Eritrea prior to their deployment and their senior leaders remain based in Asmara. Moreover, the Somali facilitators engaged to assist their movement and provide them with weapons have long been employed by Eritrea and the ONLF for this purpose, and are known to provide weapons and other support to Al-Shabaab.


The Monitoring Group further reported that it obtained credible information and firm evidence of Eritrean support to the following Ethiopian armed opposition groups: Ogaden National Liberation front (ONLF), Oromo Liberation front (OLF), Tigrayan People’s Democratic Movement (Demhit) Gimbot Sabat (G7), Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF).

Regarding Ginbot Sebat the report narrates that its new recruits receive political indoctrination from G7 Deputy Chairman Andargachew Tsige, before being introduced to Eritrean Colonel Fitsum Yishak ‘Lenin’ for training in the use of handguns, explosives and counter-surveillance, which they said lasted two months. The report also confirms that the Eritrean authorities have continued to violate the arms embargo through the smuggling of weapons and ammunition for commercial sale via Sudan. It also asserts that the Eritrean authorities continue to rely heavily on extraterritorial taxation among Eritrean diaspora communities to generate hard currency.

Finally the report recommends the following:

• The Security Council should consider requesting briefings from the Governments of Egypt, Eritrea, Israel and Sudan on the issue of arms and human trafficking between the four countries, as well as an ‘Arias Formula’ briefing from non-governmental organizations with relevant expertise.
  
  
• In light of new information provided by the Monitoring Group in this report, the Security Council should consider renewing its decision that Eritrea shall cease using extortion, threats of violence, fraud and other illicit means to collect taxes outside of Eritrea from its nationals or other individuals of Eritrean descent, and remind Member States of their obligation under paragraph 11 or resolution 2023 (2011).
  
  
• Either the Government of the State of Eritrea should voluntarily subscribe to a transparent framework for the management of its mining revenues, or that Member States should impose mandatory disclosure requirement on mining companies and correspondent banks handling Eritrea revenues.
  
  
• The Government of the State of Eritrea should immediately provide, either to the Government of the State of Qatar, or to the International Committee of the Red Cross, all available information relating to the status of Djiboutian prisoners of war in its custody, or Djiboutian military personnel reported missing in action following the hostilities of June 2008.