LAND FULL of VIOLENCE:U.N.: Eritrea has armed Islamic fighters

NAIROBI,Kenya-Islamic insurgents have enough surface-to-air missiles,suicide vests and explosives to sustain their war against the internationally backed Somali government, largely due to secret shipments from Eritrea, a U.N. monitoring panel said in a report.The report,obtained Thursday by The AP,said Eritrea has shipped a "huge quantity of arms" to the insurgents,known as the Shabab.The shipments continued despite U.N.efforts to bring peace to Somalia and the deployment of African Union peacekeepers.Eritrea denied providing any assistance to the Shabab,the militant wing of an Islamic group that ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year.U.S.officials believe the militants have close ties to al-Qaida.
There are more arms in Somalia now than at any time since the country's civil war broke out in 1991 and "there is no clearly established authority that has the capability of exercising control over a majority of the arms,"the report found.The Monitoring Group on Somalia was appointed by the U.N. Security Council to report on violations of the arms embargo on Somalia established in 1992.Since the start of the civil war,various clans and religious groups have struggled for power,dividing Somalia into warring fiefdoms.In December,Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia to save the U.N.-backed administration that was under attack from the Islamic group in the south. Ethiopian and government troops have since come under near daily attacks by the Shabab, and the Islamic leadership continues to operate from Eritrea.Since December,"huge quantities of arms have been provided to the Shabab by and through Eritrea,"the U.N. monitors said. Eritrea has supplied the insurgents with SA-18 surface-to-air-missiles, one of which was used to shoot down a Belarussian cargo plane on March 23, the U.N. said.
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