WASHINGTON, October 26, 2006 – The United States on Thursday urged Eritrea and Ethiopia not to stoke up tensions in neighboring Somalia but adopt a "constructive approach" to the shattered Horn of Africa nation.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was closely watching what was happening in Somalia, where the interim government accused Islamists of abducting three lawmakers on Thursday.

The Islamists, who seized the capital Mogadishu in June and now control other key areas, denied abducting the parliamentarians and said they were trying to protect them from Ethiopian troops.

The Islamists have accused Ethiopia of sending troops to protect the interim government, and declared holy war against Ethiopia this month. Addis Ababa denies any incursion, except for several hundred armed military trainers it sent to Somalia.

Many fear the standoff could lead to a regional war, pulling in Ethiopia and its rival Eritrea, which denies U.S. charges of sending weapons to the Islamists.

Asked about the latest regional tensions, McCormack urged interested parties to calm the situation.

"We would hope that countries in the region would try to play a positive role, take steps to reduce the existing tensions and to not take any steps that would aggravate what is already a very tough, sad situation," said McCormack.

Earlier this month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, told reporters while in Kenya that Eritrea was supplying weapons to the Islamists, a claim the Eritrean government dismissed as "pure fabrication."

Asked whether the United States believed Ethiopia and Eritrea were playing a negative role, McCormack said he was not making a "value judgment" at this point, but he pointed to underlying tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

"When you add Somalia into the equation and each of Ethiopia's and Eritrea's various perceived equities with the various groups in Somalia, then it becomes very complex, a complex situation, and one that could be quite tense."

The United States does not have an embassy in the war-torn African country.

While backing the weak interim government, Washington has been reevaluating its approach to Somalia and trying to decide whether to deal with the Islamists. Last month, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya met one of the more moderate Islamist leaders in Sudan.

Source: Reuters