ERITREA - HESAYS..

Eritrea on Saturday emphatically denied that one of its diplomats and another national had been deported from Kenya for security reasons.

Ambassador Salih Omar Abdu however confirmed the country’s Foreign Minister was in Kenya to deliver a special message to President Kibaki, just two days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed to act on Eritrea for allegedly supporting Somalia insurgents.

Mr Abdu said: “None of the Eritrean embassy staff has been deported for the last two and half years that I have been in the country and before.”

Immigration public communications officer, Mr E Njeru, said, “There are two cases involving Eritreans who were deported on security related grounds.” But Mr Abdu said the reports were “groundless and baseless.”

The envoy denied Mrs Clinton’s remarks that Eritrea was backing al-shabaab militias who are fighting the Somalia government and said Eritrea was not involved in efforts to destabilise the Ethiopian administration.

Although the Horn of Africa country with 5.5 million people sympathises with Somalis and wants their government reconstituted through comprehensive political reconciliation, the envoy said it had nothing to do with the al-shabaab.

Al-shabaab, which is believed to enjoy the backing of some foreigners, has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands in its efforts to over-throw Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed government.

“Apart from Sheikh Ahmed who stayed in Eritrea for two years and hosting of conferences to try and bring peace to Somalia, Eritrea does not host the fighters,” the envoy said.

He added that Sheikh Ahmed’s rival, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys also stayed in Eritrea. “Al-shabab has never stepped in Eritrea,” he said.

According to the envoy, the Oromo Liberation Front that is fighting the Ethiopian government is “struggling for self-determination.”

Mr Abdu accused Ethiopia of occupying Eritrea’s land, even after the latter fought for independence for 30 years and engaged in another war with it in 1998.

He said Eritrea severed links with Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) for “blessing” the invasion of Ethiopian forces to Somalia despite a UN security council resolution that countries bordering it should not engage there.