Thursday, April 24, 2008
"The measure taken was indeed shocking," the Eritrean foreign ministry said in a statement received by AFP Thursday.
The statement argued Ethiopia's decision had stemmed from the fact the U.S. has labeled Eritrea a state sponsor of terrorism, notably as "a conduit of support of Qatar and Libya to Somalia."
On Apr. 21, Ethiopia announced it was severing ties with Qatar, accusing the Arab state of supporting armed opposition groups within Ethiopia and others such as Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
Eritrea again lashed out at Addis Ababa's role in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops deployed in late 2006 to rescue an embattled Somali transitional government from an Islamist militia.
On Wednesday, Qatar's foreign ministry said it was "surprised" by Addis Ababa's "unfounded and untruthful allegations," and saw them as "a deliberate attempt to justify its own erroneous policies."
Source: AFP, April 24, 2008