Eritrean Government Algegedly Flies al Qaeda to Somalia

Eritrea: Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia
26 July 2007

By its letter of 27 June 2007 and pursuant to to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia, and in accordance with paragraph 3 (i) of Security Council resolution 1724 (2006), the Monitoring Group on Somalia transmitted its report to UN Security Council that was distributed on 17 July 2007. Following is an excerpt from the report regarding Eritrea:

On Arms embargo violations by Eritrea

11. Based on information reflected both in past reports and in the current report, the Monitoring Group has observed a clear pattern of involvement by the Government of Eritrea in arms embargo violations. The Monitoring Group also concludes that the Government of Eritrea has made deliberate attempts to hide its activities and mislead the international community about its involvement.

12. When using aircraft to violate the arms embargo, the Government of Eritrea has variously applied different techniques, including:

• (a) creation of business frontcompanies for the sole purpose of hiding government activity;
• (b) use of different existing, or legitimate, airline companies;
• (c) creation and fabrication of false documentation, that is, filing of false flight plans indicating flights to third countries that never took place and
• the unauthorized use of registration numbers and call signs.

The case of the IL-76 operated by Eriko Enterprise, Asmara

13. In its previous report (see S/2006/913), the Monitoring Group provided detailed information concerning an IL-76 cargo plane transporting arms and fighters from Eritrea to Mogadishu (paras. 43-53). When presented with the foregoing information by the Monitoring Group, the Government of Eritrea denied that the flights had taken place.

14. During the current mandate, the Monitoring Group obtained a copy of the contract of sale (annex I) of the IL-76 aircraft to a company in Eritrea.

A person intimately familiar with the transaction confirmed the information contained in the previous report of the Group added that the company that had purchased the aircraft was a front for the Eritrean Government.

The person also indicated that a downpayment of US$ 200,000 had been paid by Eritrean diplomats based in a Gulf country to the seller of the aircraft.

The case of the Boeing 707 of Aero Geom Aviation Ltd, operated by Fab Air

15. During the current mandate, the Monitoring Group received information that in November and December 2006 a Boeing 707 aircraft, using registration number 9G-OAL, call signs FBA2515 and FBA2516, and owned by Aerogem Aviation Ltd, based in Ghana, departed from the airports of Asmara and Assab, Eritrea, destined for Somalia (see annex II).

Furthermore, reported to be on board the aircraft, and intended for delivery to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), were a variety of arms.

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