Eritrean president backs Somali opposition alliance

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki, seen here in May 2007, has pledged support for an anti-Ethiopian alliance formed this week in Asmara by Somali opposition figures.

ASMARA (AFP) — Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki has pledged support for an anti-Ethiopian alliance formed this week in Asmara by Somali opposition figures, a state-run newspaper said Saturday.

"The Eritrean people's support to the Somali people is consistent and historical, as well as a legal and moral obligation," Issaias said in an interview published by the Eritrea Profile newspaper.

Issaias also warned that Ethiopia -- Eritrea's arch-foe -- would be defeated in Somalia where its troops are backing the government against an insurgent alliance, and justified the near-daily attacks against government targets in Mogadishu.

"The Somali people's opposition to the invader is a legitimate right of self-defense," he said, warning external forces are "doomed to end up in fiasco."

At the close of a nine-day congress on Friday, the new grouping -- the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) -- elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as its chairman.

Ahmed was a senior official of the Islamic Courts Union which briefly controlled large parts of Somalia before being ousted ealry this year by Ethiopian troops.

Since then, Mogadishu has been rocked by relentless violence blamed on members of the defeated Islamist movement.

The troubled Horn of Africa country has had no central authority since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991 and has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.

Source: AFP, Sept 15, 2007