MOGADISHU, Jan 26 (AFP) - Two Somali factions on Tuesday accused the government of Eritrea of sending five plane-loads of weapons to warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid to arm Ethiopian dissidents.

Eritrean diplomats were not immediately available to comment on the claim.

The Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) and the newly founded Digil Salvation Army (DSA), both battling Aidid's militiamen in southwestern Somalia, said the assorted weapons were flown from Eritrea to the Ballidogle airstrip 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of Mogadishu, with the latest consignment arriving Monday.

Eritrea and Ethiopia are in conflict over their border. "Eritrea wants to arm Ethiopian opposition groups through Aidid to create tensions in the Somali-dominated eastern Ethiopian region of Ogaden," RRA spokesman Mohamed Aden Qalinle said. "But Aidid is using the weapons against our people in the Bay and Bakol regions (of southwestern Somalia)," he charged.

The RRA and Aidid's faction have been fighting in those two regions since 1995. The DSA accused Aidid of training ethnic Ethiopian Oromos in the Qoryole district of Somalia's Lower Shabelle region.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of rearming the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front and the Al-Itihad al-Islam group, all fighting to overthrow the Addis Ababa government.

Aidid flew to Eritrea on Monday directly from Ballidogle on the plane that had brought in the weapons that day, the Qaran and Xogogal newspapers here reported Tuesday.

Xogogal reported on January 16 that "a Soviet-built plane flew ammunition and weapons from Yemen on Friday (January 15) to Ballidogle airport, and these were transported by trucks to south Mogadishu."

But Yemen categorically denied that it had supplied weapons to Aidid, insisting it was working for peace in Somalia.

The Xogogal reports were "mendacious allegations," a foreign ministry spokesman told the Yemeni official news agency.
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Jan 26 (BBC) - The government of Ethiopia has ordered schools and colleges in the north of the country to close, saying Eritrea is preparing a military strike.

A recent build-up of troops and artillery by both countries along the border has increased concern that the two countries may be preparing to resume fighting after a seven-month lull.

In an apparent attempt to drum up support for his country, the Eritrean president, Isaaias Afeworki, is travelling to Belgium to speak to the Belgian Prime Minister, Jean-Luc Dehaene and the president of the European Commission, Jacques Santer.

Recent mediation attempts between Eritrea and Ethiopia by the United States and the Organisation of African Unity have so far failed to solve the territorial dispute.
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Addis Ababa, Jan 26 (The Monitor) - A special committee of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is due to arrive here today to verify Ethiopia's claim that Eritrea had confiscated its goods worth $126 million in violation of international laws.

The 4-man committee comprising a diplomat, a lawyer, an economist and a shipping/transport expert from Malawi, Uganda and Zambia is scheduled to hold discussions with Trade and Industry Minister Kassahun Ayele, Transport and Communications Vice Minister Ayenew Bitewlign and other pertinent government authorities.

The delegation will also meet transitors, importers, exporters and other stake holders so as to find out the scope and financial impact of goods Eritrea had refused to release. The Ethiopian cargo has been stranded at Eritrean ports of Asab and Massawa immediately after the border dispute between the two countries flared up in June last year.

Both Ethiopia and Eritrea are members of COMESA, which Ethiopia had formally requested to pressurize its northern neighbour to comply with the international maritime and free trade laws to release its cargo and pay compensations for possible damages.