Eritrea / US Department of state Daily Press Briefing
WASHINGTON, June 26, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Taken questions
QUESTION: On this one, the U.S. Government and others have repeatedly accused Eritrea of arming and training the al-Shabaab and other insurgents in Somalia. I believe Assistant Secretary Carson has made public his desire to visit Eritrea, and there have been some issues over whether he would be granted a visa and so on. To your knowledge, has there been any break in the logjam there? And do you have any expectation that he may soon go to Eritrea, in part, to address this issue?
MR. KELLY: Well, on the specifics of Secretary Carson’s travel, I’ll have to look into that. I’m not aware of his specific plans to visit Eritrea. What I can say is that we are very concerned about the role of Eritrea. We think they are providing material support, including financing, to some of these extremist groups, most particularly al-Shabaab. We’ve taken these concerns up with the Government of Eritrea. I want to emphasize that we remain open to trying to improve relations with Eritrea, but that this country’s support, Eritrea’s support for al-Shabaab and other extremist groups is a serious obstacle to any improvement that we can make.
QUESTION: Can you particularly check on the issue of – even if he doesn’t have a scheduled trip, if maybe they’re granting a visa or made clear that they will grant a visa – the Eritreans?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. I’m not sure I can get that information, but we can check with our colleagues.
QUESTION: Thank you.
SOURCE
US Department of State
