ASMARA, Eritrea Apr 5 (Garowe Online) - Opposition Somali lawmakers living in Eritrea were joined by a Somali Cabinet minister and the Islamic Courts' executive chief this week, diplomatic sources said.

Hussein Aideed, the transitional government's housing minister, arrived in Asmara on Thursday without notice. No reason was given for Minister Aideed's sudden departure to Eritrea, a country that has vehemently opposed the Somali government's pro-Ethiopian policies.

Inside sources said Aideed's relations with President Abdullahi Yusuf and his Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, have been worsening since he was relocated from leading the interior ministry.

Sources said Islamist chief Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed also arrived in Eritrea to join other opposition figures, including the former parliament Speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan.

Adan leads a group of more than 40 MPs who have refused to return home until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia first.

Ethiopian troops helped the government defeat the Islamist militia late last year, but Islamist-linked insurgent attacks have threatened the government's fragile grip on power, especially in the capital Mogadishu.

Eritrea and Ethiopia, two Horn of Africa rivals, fought a bloody border war that ended in 2000 after more than 100,000 deaths.

Source: Garowe Online