This week the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (PICT) of Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, published a research paper on terrorism. The paper, authored by Shanaka Jayasekara, details Eritrea’s direct and indirect involvement in aiding terrorists in the Horn of Africa and as far as Sri Lanka. Excerpts:

Since the United Nations arms embargo on Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa has evolved into a major hub for the informal arms trade.

In opposition to Ethiopian military support to the Transitional Government in Somalia, the Government of Eritrea is accused of providing material support to the Islamist rebels in Somalia led by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

The Islamic Courts Union which controls areas in Southern Somalia is a constituent member of the Union of Islam (Al-Ittihad al Islamiya) headed by Hassan Dahir Aweys having close affiliations with the Al Qaeda.
The Bakaaraha arms market near Irtogte in South Mogadishu is considered the central distribution point for the informal arms trade in the Horn of Africa.

A report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia under Security Council Resolution 1724 (2006), dated 18 July 2007, provides explicit evidence of Eritrean involvement in the transport of weapons to Somalia.

The report provides evidence relating to the purchase of cargo aircraft by Eriko Enterprises in Asmara which is believed to be a front company of the Eritrean government to make regular weapons deliveries to Somalia.

The same company is also referred to by Times online in a February 2007 article in which it claims to have evidence that General Tambi, of the Eritrean Defence Forces, used Eriko Enterprises to charter several Antonov and Ilyusion transport aircraft from Aerolift Aviation to move large quantities of men and material to Somalia.

Times online, in its article entitled Arab states trained Al-Qaeda men to fight in Somalia, writes, “Hundreds of Islamist fighters were flown, with Eritrean assistance, from Somalia to Syria and Libya for military training. Others were taken to Lebanon to fight with Hezbollah… The clandestine operation to smuggle the fighters out of Somalia began in July 2006."

The online British news provider also published its interview with Evgueny Zakharov, the owner of Aerolift, a company based in Johannesburg but registered in the British Virgin Islands.

 “We transported lots of men in uniform Arabian men with masks.
“They were disciplined men and although none of them had rank badges there were obviously people in charge. They got on the aircraft as if they had done it many times before,” Zakharov told The Times online.

Zakharov says his involvement began after he was approached by Eritrean General named Tambi.
“Tambi offered to buy Zakharov’s Ilyushin 76 transport aircraft carrying the Kazakhstan registration number UN 76496 for $1.5m (£770,000), even though the normal price for an aircraft of that vintage and condition is just $1m.”
Zakharov went ahead despite the unusual contract conditions that stipulated secrecy. He insisted the contract should specify that the new owners were not to use the aircraft to make arms flights.

However, he said last week that the Ilyushin made three sanctions-busting arms flights to Somalia from the Eritrean port of Massawa, bringing out the masked men on the return legs. “I do not know who they were but you can draw your own conclusions,” he said.

Zakharov’s revelations came as western security services continued their investigation into foreigners suspected of fighting on behalf of Islamic forces in Somalia and of joining Al-Qaeda last year. Among them are British, American and French Muslims.

Significant numbers of foreigners went to Somalia, western intelligence officials have found, after the radical Islamic Courts Union (ICU) movement seized power from a weak UN backed government, established links with Al-Qaeda and allowed Somalia to be used as an Al-Qaeda terrorist training ground like Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Zakharov believes that one of the reasons the Eritreans wanted to use the Ilyushin in the clandestine operations was that the freighter’s registration began with the letters UN and therefore might have been mistaken for a United Nations aircraft.

When Zakharov discovered the Eritreans’ real use of the plane was for arms shipments and for flying the masked men from Somalia, he cancelled the contract. Zakharov said he first grew suspicious when he found that the seven-man crew was each being paid £2,500 bonuses for every flight.

Tambi is reported to have denied all knowledge of the deal.
However, The Sunday Times said it had a copy of the contract signed in Moscow and Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, between Aerolift and Eriko Enterprise of Asmara on July 21.

Eritrea has emerged as a major transshipment point and sanctuary for key players in the informal arms trade.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elelam (LTTE) established a presence in Eritrea primarily to operate in the informal arms market. It is believed the LTTE maintains regular interactions with many armed groups, including groups affiliated to the Al Qaeda operating in the Eritrean Network.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee report dated 15 December 2006, explicitly stated that the Government of Eritrea provides direct support to the LTTE. The Eritrean connection is extremely important to the LTTE, in fact LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran sent a personally signed fax to President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea on 24 May 2006, communicating directly with a Head of State. President Afwerki, prior to the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993, led the Eritrea People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) a rebel movement for the independence of Eritrea.

The UN report also indicates that most of the weapons flights to Somalia originate from the port city of Massawa in Eritrea.

The report documents several Aerogem Aviation aircraft operated by Fab Air making regular deliveries to Somalia.

The LTTE shipping fleet is known to have a presence in several East African ports.
In fact, on 23 May 1997, the LTTE vessel MV Limassol took delivery of a consignment of Mortars from Zimbabwe Defence Industries at the Port of Beira in Mozambique.

The sea access from Massawa port in Eritrea provides convenient shipping facilities for the LTTE to transport weapons to international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka.