WikiLeaks to release 1395 cables from U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia

The whistleblower website WikiLeaks began releasing 251,287 United States embassy cables on Sunday, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain, according to the website. It has thus far posted 220 documents but none on Ethiopia at this time.

The website said it has 1,395 cables that originated from U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and a total of 1623 records on Ethiopia. Of the 1,395 cables that originated from the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, 162 are marked "Secret" and 612 are marked "Confidential" and the rest as "Unclassified". The cables, which date from 1966 up until the end of February this year, contain confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries throughout the world and the State Department in Washington DC.

The released documents thus far are sending shockwaves around the globe. Here is one regarding Yemen and Eritrea. (NZT)

In a leaked cable from U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh told General Patraeus that Eritrea was one of those countries "working against" Yemen. Here is what the cable message said,

The leaks have also shown how the Gulf states pressed the US to bomb Iran , a revelation which could ignite a civil unrest between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the middle east .

The US Gov. said that it regrets the release of the sensitive documents which could damage relations with friendly countries in the Muslim World.