In January, the investigation triggered a political crisis that brought down the Western-backed government of Saad Hariri, who had been prime minister since 2009.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but this type of attack is regularly blamed on Taliban insurgents seeking to overthrow the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The magazine also receives funding from the Palestinian Authority, the Western-backed Palestinian government in the West Bank.

News of the agreement immediately drew fresh threats from al-Shabaab, which has been fighting Somalia's Western-backed government since 2007.

The Islamists were briefly battling with Ethiopian troops who had intervened to take back Somalia for a weak Western-backed interim government.

The Russian government has repeatedly accused Georgia of offering a safe haven to the insurgents and the Western-backed Georgian government has consistently rejected Russian allegations.

They are backing demands for the Western-backed government to give in to the formation of a government of national unity and early parliamentary elections or quit.

Kenya accused Eritrea in November of delivering weapons to the Shabab, a Qaeda-linked rebel group battling to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government.

Two weeks ago, that all changed after Ethiopian-led troops routed the Islamist forces and helped bring the Western-backed transitional government to Mogadishu.

By nighttime, however, only several thousand demonstrators remained, smoking water pipes, playing music and vowing to stay, some in tents, until the Western-backed government fell.