Monday, November 27, 2006
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ASMARA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it was temporarily suspending visa services in Eritrea until the Red Sea state let its new consular officer enter the country.The current U.S. consul is set to leave Eritrea early next month, but in a sign of worsening diplomatic relations the U.S. embassy said it had been unable to get a visa for her replacement.
"The bottom line is we need someone to provide these services. We can't do the work if we don't have the personnel," U.S. embassy spokeswoman Carol Herrera told Reuters.
Eritrean government officials were not immediately available for comment.
In a statement, the embassy said the suspension would begin on Dec. 4 and would end "as soon as possible" after Eritrea's government issued its officers with the necessary visas.
Ties between Washington and Asmara have become frayed in recent weeks after the United States accused Eritrea of sending arms to the Islamist movement in neighbouring Somalia.
Eritrea has denied the allegations, and in turn accuses the United States of favouring Horn of Africa rival Ethiopia in a dispute over the two countries' border that has simmered since a 1998-2000 frontier war that killed more than 70,000 people.
Ethiopia backs the Somali Islamists' rivals in the country's weak transitional government, and Asmara says the U.S. charges are aimed at creating a "pretext" for Ethiopia to invade Somalia.
Source: Reuters, Nov 27, 2006