More war brewing for the Horn
It seems that Ethiopia and Eritrea are getting ready to go at each other once again.
Ethiopia and Eritrea, stubbornly hostile neighbors for years, are possibly weeks away from a renewed border war that could engulf the volatile Horn of Africa region, according to a report released Monday by a foreign policy research group.
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Eritrea, a tiny country with one of the largest armies in Africa, has about 12,000 troops near the disputed border, as well as 4,000 positioned inside a demilitarized zone that was established by a peace agreement that ended a 1998-2000 border war, according to U.S. government estimates cited in the report.
On its side of the border, Ethiopia, a U.S.-backed military powerhouse, maintains an estimated 100,000 troops who have been carrying out large-scale training exercises in recent months.
Ethiopia also has been building up its air force and jamming Eritrean radar, according to a U.S. government source, who speculated that Ethiopia may strike by air in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, hoping to topple the government there.
As noted, there is a link to proxy wars between the two countries funding and supporting insurgent groups in each others territory, as well as the big link with the fighting in Somalia, which Ethiopia invaded with US backing.
It makes one wonder if the US military support to Ethiopia, meant to be used to fight the Islamists of Somalia, may be being diverted to build up the forces for a war with Eritrea. Not unlike the fact that Musharraf in Pakistan has used the military aid the US has given him to bulk up his conventional forces facing India's rather than supply the troops he sends into Waziristan.
It would be par for the course in the way the US picks its allies these days.
