22 February, 2007, Asmara, Eritrea
From The Economist print edition

A small country that can help or hinder progress towards peace in the Horn

WHEN Ethiopia invaded Somalia at the same time as Somalia's Islamists were getting arms from (among others) Eritrea, there were fears that the war in the Horn of Africa might spread. Eritrea has long been at daggers drawn with Ethiopia, and fought a bitter war with it between 1998 and 2000 over a disputed border. But so far the latest war in the region has been contained. This week the UN Security Council authorised the African Union to send peacekeepers to Somalia for at least six months. Ethiopia, meanwhile, has emerged as the Horn's top dog.

A slap in the face of Eritrea, then? It has long given aid to a variety of Ethiopian rebels in the hope that Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's leader, would fall. Eritrea's policy of helping Somalia is part of the same game. But the government in Asmara, Eritrea's capital, was also wary of getting sucked too far in. Its economy is in a shambles. It could not afford another war.

In November a UN report said that Eritrea had almost 2,000 soldiers inside Somalia, a claim strongly denied in Asmara. More likely, Eritrea's government was acting as a middleman and conduit for Arabs and others wanting to help Somalia's Islamists, who took over most of the south and central parts of Somalia last summer. In return, Eritrea probably got a lot of Arab cash and petrol to keep its economy afloat.