US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that the US will “take action” against Eritrea if it does not stop supporting militants in Somalia.

She said after talks with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, that Eritrea’s actions were “unacceptable”.

She also said the US would expand support for Somalia’s unity government.

Eritrea denies supporting Somalia’s al-Shabab militants, who are trying to overthrow Somalia’s government. Al-Shabab is growing in strength and

250,000 Somalis have fled their homes in fighting between militants and government forces over the past three months.

Wreath-laying

Mrs Clinton was holding the talks with the UN-backed Somali leader, a moderate Islamist, on the second day of her African tour.

At a joint news conference with him after the meeting, she said: “It is long past time for Eritrea to cease and desist its support of al-Shabab and to

start being a productive rather than a destabilising neighbour. “We are making it very clear that their actions are unacceptable. We intend to take

action if they do not cease.”  She added: “There is also no doubt that al-Shabab wants to obtain control of Somalia to use it as a base from

which to influence and even infiltrate surrounding countries and launch attacks against countries far and near.”  Mrs Clinton said if al-Shabab

obtained a haven in Somalia “it would be a threat to the United States”.  The US has ruled out sending its forces to fight insurgents in Somalia.

But the AFP news agency quoted a state department official as saying on Thursday that the US supply of arms and ammunition to Somalia

would be doubled from 40 tonnes to 80.  Eritrean officials have repeatedly denied supporting al-Shabab, calling the allegations a “fabrication”

of US intelligence.  Several Somali Islamist groups operated from Eritrea after being ousted from the capital, Mogadishu, when Ethiopian troops

entered Somalia in 2006.  Before the talks on Thursday, Mrs Clinton honoured the victims of the August 1998 attacks on the US embassies in

Kenya and Tanzania, in a wreath-laying ceremony in Nairobi.  More than 220 people were killed and 5,000 injured in the first major attack by

al-Qaeda on US targets.  AP news agency quoted her as saying that the embassy site was a reminder of “the continuing threat of terrorism,

which respects no boundaries, no race, ethnicity or religion, but is aimed at disrupting and denying the opportunity of people to make their own

decisions and to lead their own lives”.

Thursday, 6 August 2009