NATO intercepts military cargo ship bound for Eritrea – UN

May 11, 2011

NATO  Naval forces have reportedly captured a heavy weapon carrying cargo ship destined to Eritrea in the international waters of the Indian Ocean.

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance between the US and various European countries. It is currently engaged in the bombing of Libya.

A UN monitoring group report this week revealed that the cargo originally shipped from North Korea was carrying 15 tonnes of rockets, surface to air missiles and explosives worth $US15 million.

In December 2009, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions against Eritrea, which include an arms embargo, travel restrictions and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders for an alleged involvement in training and supplying weapons to Al-Qaida and links Somali Islamic rebels.

After the UN Security Council passed the resolution against the red sea nation, the Southern Red Sea and the Indian Ocean have increasingly been monitored by multi-national naval forces mainly from the US, France and Germany, to maintain security and international law in the waters.

The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group have been accusing the Government of Eritrea being a regional destabilising factor by  its continued political, financial and allegedly military assistance to armed opposition groups in Somalia.

There are allegations that Eritrea has been importing arms from Eastern Europe and Asia.

Ethiopia has recently threatened to attack Eritrea to stop an alleged continued terrorist acts and the armies of both sides have remained on high alert then after. Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia, making its larger neighbour landlocked, in 1993 following 30 years of struggle however the two neighbours fought a 1998-2000 war over their disputed border that killed over 70,000 people.

Source : sudantribune