On Monday this week, the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed a letter to the United Nations Security Council. It was its usual attempt to deny any report of its activities in continuing its repeated efforts at destabilization in the region. It is after all only a few days ago that tourists in the Afar Regional State of Ethiopia were killed, injured, and kidnapped with the direct involvement of the Eritrean regime.

A group of 27 tourists travelling in the Afar Regional State were attacked by gunmen
last Tuesday at around three in the morning. Five European tourists were killed, four injured and two tourists and two Ethiopians were kidnapped.

There can be no doubt of Eritrea’s responsibility for January 16th attack, which claimed the lives of five tourists in Eastern Ethiopia close to the border with Eritrea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The Eritrean regime is continuing to recycle its accusations against the world at large, producing what is by now almost pro forma invective against what it calls Eritrea's 'sworn enemies'.

Last week the Kenyan forces captured Fafadun, killing Al-Shabaab’s commander in Gedo, Sheikh Hussein Hassan. Sheikh Hussein was one of those who went for training with the Taliban in the mid 1990s, and he is said to have been a close aide of Sheikh Ali Dheere and Al-Shabaab’s Emir, Abdi Godane. He has been replaced by Sheikh Mohamed Bishaar who is reportedly building up forces for a counter-attack on the town at Taraqa, 15 kilometres outside Fafadun bringing in reinforcements from Bardheere 70 kms away.

As we have pointed out last week, for the New Year, President Isaias Afeworki gave a lengthy briefing on a wide range of issues to his people. In addition to his marathon lecture on far-flung issues of the world at large, of little or no relevance to Eritreans' central concerns of how their affairs are actually managed by the small cabal of trouble-makers that surround their ‘dear leader', he did also find time to talk at length on regional as well as domestic issues.

The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has appealed to the US Government over the decision by a U.S. Bank to close down its money transfer services to Somalia from the US. Sunrise Community Banks, a group of businesses providing money transfers between Minnesota, the home of the largest Somali community in the US, and Somalia, ended the service on December 30th over fear that it risked violating U.S. regulatory and anti-terrorism finance laws.

Mauritanian authorities have exposed a Mossad network in the country involved in the assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud Mabhouh and the outburst of the Ethiopian plane in Lebanon where a Hezbollah target was on board.

The United Arab Emirates will host an experts meeting in February aimed at seeking a local solution to Somalia's instability, Kenya's ministry of foreign official said on Saturday.

President Isaias has finally provided his promised long-overdue interview to the local media. The announcement by the Eritrean media of "an up-coming extensive briefing" by the 'dear leader' was first made a month ago and the interview was originally slated to be conducted in the second week of December. It was going to be extensive indeed.