Eritrea planned massive bomb attack on African Union summit, UN says

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Source: Guardian

'Baghdad-style' car bomb attack planned in Addis Ababa, capital of neighbour and foe Ethiopia, which hosted 30 heads of state


Bombs were to be placed between the Ethiopian PM's office and a hotel where heads of state were staying in Addis Ababa Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Eritrea planned a massive attack on an African Union summit in Ethiopia in January this year that was designed to "make Addis Ababa like Baghdad", according to a new UN report.

At the time, Ethiopia claimed it had foiled the large bomb plot by its tiny neighbour and foe, the latest in a series of accusations and counter-accusations by the two governments. Now an investigation by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea suggests that the plot was genuine, and says it represented "a qualitative shift in Eritrean tactics" in the Horn of Africa.

According to the report, Eritrean intelligence services planned an operation to detonate a car bomb at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa at the end of January this year, when 30 of the continent's leaders were meeting there. Separate bombs were to be placed between the Ethiopian prime minister's office and the Sheraton Hotel, where most of the heads of state were staying, as well as in a giant open-air market in the hope of "kill many people".

"If executed as planned, the operation would almost certainly have caused mass civilian casualties, damaged the Ethiopian economy and disrupted the African Union summit," the report said.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/28/eritrea-planned-ethopia-bomb-attack