http://www.innercitypress.com/unsanc1reuters071713.html
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 17 -- The dysfunction of the UN's sanctions
committees is exemplified by the current Eritrea report. There was no
consensus on releasing it, as some argued there was no
evidentiary
support for its claims. But it was, predictably, leaked to Reuters
which rather than put it online cherry picked its view.
We have previously noted that since Reuters bureau chief Louis
Charbonneau has been conclusively shown to have leaked to a UN
official an anti-Press document that was labeled and promised to be
internal to the ostensibly independent UN Correspondents Association,
him reporting leaks that go the other way must be seen in that context.
See document here, story here, audio of Charbonneau here.
But tellingly the country at issue, Eritrea, tells Inner City
Press it has not been provided with a copy of the report. That is
dysfunction.
For once with a country mentioned (and slandered, it says) in
sanctions reports is a member of the Council: Rwanda. And the
questions it has asked, for example of Department of Peacekeeping
Operations
chief Herve Ladsous, have not been answered.
But at least Rwanda is in the room. Eritrea is not. Given that
imbalance, Inner City Press will for now publish this from the
Eritrean Mission to the UN:
Eritrea has not yet received the report although it is, and remains,
a concerned State. This regrettable pattern has almost become a norm
as Eritrea continues to be denied full and timely access to the
periodic reports submitted by the SEMG. The situation further
provokes an important question: why resort to elaborate measures of
preventing timely and full access to the accused party if the
contents of the report are indeed a result of rigorous, verifiable
and professional investigation?
The report failed to produce material evidences that establish
Eritrea's support for armed groups in Somalia in violation of the
relevant UNSC resolutions. This fact is critical because Eritrea’s
alleged acts of stoking instability in Somalia were the 'principal
justifications' for the original imposition of the sanctions still in
place.
The Group failed to respect its mandate: On several occasions,
Eritrea and many members of the Council have expressed their serious
misgivings on the proclivity of the SEMG to exceed its mandate and
probe into matters outside its purview in the course of preparing its
periodic reports. This unwarranted demeanor is again manifested in
the SEMG’s current report. A case in point is unsolicited analysis of
the internal
political situation in Eritrea and issue human trafficking. The
Group’s tendency to overstretch its mandate on Eritrea goes contrary
to its willingness to investigate Ethiopia’s low-intensity war
against Eritrea aimed at “regime change”.
· Failure to respect minimum evidentiary standard: As usual it relies
on sources such as “defectors”, “unnamed diplomats”, and “authorities
in an East African country”.
a. Although the report does not provide any material evidence of
Eritrea extending financial and/or military support to Al-Shebaab or
any other armed group in Somalia. It nonetheless insinuates the
existence of a continuing threat to peace and security in Somalia by
misconstruing incidental contacts that may have been historically
cultivated with certain individuals. Eritrea supports earnestly the
efforts of the Government of Somalia to stabilize the country.
Eritrea upholds the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of
Somalia and supports the Federal Government. It encourages all
Somalis to engage in constructive dialogue and national
reconciliation, and opposes all negative intervention in the internal
affairs of the country. Yet, the report speculates, in disparaging
tones, that Eritrea’s relations with the Federal Government of
Somalia must be based on ‘tactical considerations’. This is
presumptuous and raises serious questions on the manner and substance
of the SEMG's judgment and conclusions
b. The report also accuses Eritrea of possible violation of the arms
embargo. The conclusion is predicated on the fact that the central
government garage enjoys business relations with several countries.
The
government garage mentioned in the report houses civilian
transportation vehicles as well as construction and agricultural
machineries. Naturally, it has cultivated, throughout the past years,
technical cooperation arrangements with several companies based in
different countries in order to ensure and enhance the government’s
efforts to build its infrastructure. These technical cooperation
arrangements have no military components whatsoever. The SEMG has not
produced any contract that the government garage has executed anytime
in the past for the purchase of weapons for or on behalf of Eritrea.
Accordingly, there are no grounds for the SEMG to recommend “an
import notification of certain categories of civilian equipment and
spare parts" on the central government garage. Eritrea discerns in
this recommendation another malicious attempt to impede its
development efforts.
· The sanctions were imposed hastily and are totally unjustified. And
now there is absolutely no basis to maintain them. The main original
reason for their imposition was Eritrea’s presumed support to Al-
Shabaab, which has long been proven to be non-existent. On Djibouti,
Eritrea remains committed to the facilitation of the State of Qatar
on all aspects of the differences between the two neighbors. The
time, therefore has come, if it is not overdue, to lift the unfair,
unjust and counterproductive sanctions on Eritrea. Sanctions are
supposed to be an extreme measure and there is no legitimate reason
for this extreme measure to continue to be imposed on Eritrea. The
arms embargo on Eritrea contravenes its inalienable right to self-
defense when its territories remain occupied in breach of
international law and relevant provisions of the UN Charter. Its
economic implications on a country that is making modest but solid
economic and social progress cannot be understated.
NOTE: Beyond publishing the above provided by the Eritrean mission,
we question: when it is shown that the major Western wire service's
representative has gotten so close to the administration he is
supposed to cover that he leaks documents to the authorities, what
happens?
Charbonneau immediately gave to the UN's top accreditation official
an internal document that he and the other Executive Committee
members had promised three minutes before would remain only inside
UNCA. Click here for document, here for story.
Click here for audio of the UNCA Executive Committee meeting
where Charbonneau said the document would remain only within UNCA --
three minutes before he sent it to the UN's top accreditation
official with the notation, "you didn't get this from me."
Watch this site.
Received on Wed Jul 17 2013 - 21:05:58 EDT