(SomaliNet) Eritrea was on Thursday accused by a United States(US) top diplomat for Africa, of attacking its neighbour Ethiopia through proxies in Somalia. The US envoyÂ’s accusations echoes a statement made by Ethiopian prime minister to his parliament. However, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi E Frazer, said that both Ethiopia and Eritrea should show restraint to avoid taking Somalia's conflict regional. On Thursday, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told his parliament that Somalia's Islamic radicals have been parading near the border and if they continued and threatened national security, Ethiopia would have the right to defend itself. The Ethiopian premier said "jihadists," or Muslim militants, from Indonesia, Pakistan, several Arab and African countries were working in Somalia alongside the Islamic movement, which controls much of southern Somalia and has sidelined the country's internationally recognised but weak government.
Ethiopia backs the Somali government, and Ethiopian premier, Meles, accepted it for the first time on Thursday saying he had sent troops to support it. Meles said it was just a few military trainers.