A web of nations and armed groups are fuelling Somalia's march to war, according to a UN commissioned report that offers detailed evidence of co-operation between Somali religious group and established militants.
An advance copy of the report to the UN Security Council, obtained by Reuters on Monday, paints the most comprehensive picture yet of disparate foreign interests hardening into alliances with Somalia's interim government and its powerful rivals.
It also says Iran may have sought to trade arms for uranium from Somalia or elsewhere in Africa to fuel its nuclear ambitions. Both groups vying for control of the Horn of Africa nation since religious group took the capital Mogadishu from US-backed warlords in June have extensive foreign state backing.
Ethiopia and Eritrea, backing the government and religious group respectively, are the biggest violators of a 1992 UN arms embargo on Somalia, the report says, adding they have sent in vast quantities of weapons and equipment, and provided training. "There is the distinct possibility that the momentum towards a military solution inside Somalia may spill over into a direct state-to-state conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as acts of terrorism in other vulnerable states of the region," it says.
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