Eritrea hosts regional rebels
Sunday Times, South Africa - May 11, 2007
They sip cappuccinos and gesture in debates, their papers and satellite telephones strewn on tables of hotels in Asmara, a refuge for the Horn of Africa’s dissidents and self-imposed opposition leaders.
For a diverse group of people, from Ethiopian opposition groups and deserting soldiers to Somali politicians and Sudanese rebel leaders, the Eritrean capital is a popular stopping point.
"We are the free opposition," said Sharif Saleh Mohammed Ali, a spokesman for 42 former lawmakers who fled Somalia when Ethiopian-backed government troops ousted an Islamist movement at the start of the year.
"We are now engaged in finding alternative solutions for Somalia," said Ali, who met here with top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Surrounded by colleagues wearing sharp suits and embroidered pillbox hats, Ali sits on the same couches in the state-run Embasoira Hotel that previously hosted Eastern Sudanese rebels ...