Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of meddling after deadly blasts
March 29, 2006

ADDIS ABABA -- Ethiopia on Tuesday accused its bitter archrival Eritrea of trying to foment unrest a day after one person was killed and 15 injured in a series of bombings in the Horn of Africa country.

"The wish of the Eritrean government is to see a divided or at least much weakened Ethiopia," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in a speech to parliament.

"To achieve this goal it is coordinating and mobilizing remnants of the Dergue regime, the OLF and its likes," he added, referring to the ousted regime of ex-dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam and separatist Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels based in southern Ethiopia.

Meles did not directly accuse Eritrea of planting the bombs that exploded around Addis Ababa on Monday, but he said that Ethiopia's fierce rival was actively trying to "create hopelessness" in its neighbor.

"The cardinal objective of these forces is to create hopelessness by disrupting our good governance and development efforts that would lead to the destruction of the constitutional order and the unity of the country," he said.

"They also tried to instigate conflict and bloodshed between those citizens who became instruments of these violent elements ... thereby tarnishing the image of our country and creating discord between the people and the government," Meles added, sparking the latest in a long-running volley of accusations and counter-accusations.

But Asmara rejected the accusations, saying that the claims were signs that Meles' regime was in its final moments.

"We deny this accusation. It is a schizophrenic statement from an unstable mind," Eritrean information minister Ali Abdu said via telephone from the port of Massawa.

"Eritrea has a moral obligation to support the Ethiopian people to get rid of this minority regime, but we deny any military support," to the opposition groups, Ali added.

Explosions have become common in the Ethiopian capital in recent months and authorities have heaped blame on separatist rebels from the OLF and the Somali radical Islamist group, Al Itihaad Al Islamiya.

There have also been suspicions that neighboring Eritrea, with which Ethiopia is engaged in a volatile border standoff, might bear some responsibility.

The two countries fought a war from 1998 to 2000 that cost at least 80,000 lives and tensions remain acute.

Earlier this month three grenades exploded in Addis Ababa, injuring four people. Police accused Eritrea of supplying the grenades and helping "terrorists" explode them, a charge denied by Asmara as "outrageous".

In January two grenades were thrown at a bank and a hospital, causing damage but no injuries.

Source: Middle East Times