Ethiopia breaks off diplomatic r

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Qatar surprised at rift with Ethiopia

DOHA, April 23, 2008 (AFP) — Qatar said on Wednesday it was surprised by Ethiopia's decision to cut diplomatic ties with the Gulf state, and rejected as unfounded the accusation that it sought to destabilise the Horn of Africa.

The official QNA news agency cited a foreign ministry spokesman as saying Doha was "surprised" by Addis Ababa's "unfounded and untruthful allegations," and saw them as "a deliberate attempt to justify its own erroneous policies."

On Monday, Ethiopia announced it was severing ties with Qatar, accusing the Doha government of supporting armed opposition groups across the Horn of Africa and citing Qatar's "strong ties" with Ethiopia's arch foe Eritrea.

QNA quoted the spokesman as calling on Ethiopia "to refrain from implicating Qatar in regional differences," and adding that "the Ethiopian government made similar allegations in the past, charges to which Qatar preferred not to respond in the hope that such erroneous behaviour might cease."

On Monday, the Addis Ababa government said in a statement that it had "displayed considerable patience towards Qatar's attempts to destabilise our sub-region and, in particular, its hostile behaviour towards Ethiopia.

"Qatar has now, however, become a major source of instability in the Horn of Africa and more widely," it added.

The statement accused Qatar of using its "media outlets" to undermine Ethiopia.

On April 11, the foreign ministry in Addis Ababa sharply criticised the Qatar-based news network Al-Jazeera for broadcasting TV reports on Ethiopia's restive Ogaden region.

Ethiopia imposed a news blackout on the vast area which has an ethnic Somali majority and has seen a long-running separatist rebellion by the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

"It is hard to ignore the fact that Al-Jazeera broadcasts out of Doha, the capital of Qatar. Qatar is a close ally of Eritrea. It would be totally unrealistic to imagine that any Al-Jazeera programme on Ethiopia could be anything other than seriously biased," the Addis Ababa government said.

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Regime breaks off diplomatic relations with Qatar

ADDIS ABABA, April 21, 2008 (AP) Ethiopia broke off diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday, saying the energy-rich Gulf state has become "a major source of instability in the Horn of Africa."

Wahide Belay, a spokesman for Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry, cited Qatar's relationship with archenemy Eritrea. He called Qatar a "good friend" of the neighboring Horn of Africa nation.

"Qatar has left no stone unturned to cause harm to Ethiopia's national security," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "All those who are prepared to foment instability in Ethiopia and undermine the country's security have been given support and encouragement by Qatar."

Qatar hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to calls for comment, and several ministry officials' mobile phones were turned off.

Qatar does not have an embassy in Ethiopia, and Belay said he was unaware of any aid from Qatar. Calls to Qatar's embassy in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, rang unanswered Monday.

This is not Ethiopia's first diplomatic squabble.

In September, the government ordered the Norwegian Embassy to send home six of its nine diplomats. Ethiopian officials accused the Nordic nation of interfering in its ongoing border talks with Eritrea.

Norwegian officials say they were neutral participants in the talks.

Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war.

Tensions between the two countries remain high because of Ethiopia's refusal to accept an international boundary commission's ruling in 2002 on the border demarcation which awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea.

In apparent frustration at Ethiopia's refusal to implement the ruling and the lack of U.N. action to press Ethiopia to comply, Eritrea banned U.N. helicopter flights in its airspace in October 2005. Two months later, it banned U.N. night patrols and expelled Western peacekeepers � and earlier this year it started restricting fuel supplies.

Ethiopia Breaks Diplomatic Relations with Qatar

[Ministry of Foreign Affairs / April 21, 2008 ]

The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has decided to break diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar. This decision has been taken after long observation of Qatar’s activities in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia has displayed considerable patience towards Qatar’s attempts to destabilize our sub-region and, in particular, its hostile behavior towards Ethiopia. Qatar has now, however, become a major source of instability in the Horn of Africa and more widely.

Qatar’s ostensibly maverick political alliances might be regarded as innocuous. They are not. Its image is misleading. Qatar’s activities have far reaching consequences for the whole of Africa. Indeed, the African Union needs to look into the implication of this situation for Africa Arab cooperation.

Qatar has left no stone unturned to cause harm to Ethiopia’s national security. All those who are prepared to foment instability in Ethiopia and undermine the country’s security have been given support and encouragement by Qatar. This has gone beyond Qatar’s strong ties with Eritrea. It has indeed provided direct and indirect assistance to terrorist organizations in Somalia and other areas. This has included the output of its media outlets. Qatar has become a source of support for armed opposition groups and their coordinators in neighboring countries. Whether in Somalia and in other parts of the Horn of Africa—including within Ethiopia—Qatar has been one of the most important supporters of terrorism and extremism in our sub-region. This has wider implications.

Ethiopia has raised these issues with the Government of Qatar on a number of occasions. All diplomatic efforts have been deployed to try and persuade Qatar to change its destructive activities. Qatar has, however, consistently refused to accept responsibility for activities of which Ethiopia has unequivocal evidence. Apparently blinded by arrogance, the source of which is clear enough, Qatar has remained deaf to all our efforts.

The Government of Ethiopia has reluctantly been left with no alternative than taking this now unavoidable step. We trust the Government of Qatar will speedily change the misguided policies which have led to this unfortunate situation.