From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Feb 03 2010 - 14:09:36 EST
IGAD: A communiqué devoid of any legality
03/02/2010
The IGAD Council of Ministers has issued a communiqué on Somalia and Eritrea
following a meeting convened in Ethiopia this weekend. Apart from its
ill-advised content which can only exacerbate the crisis in Somalia and
hamper the objectives of peace and security in the Horn of Africa, the IGAD
Communique is devoid of any legality for the following procedural and
substantive reasons:
i) Four members of IGAD, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda are
direct protagonists in the conflict in Somalia in one form or another.
Ethiopia is culpable for a flagrant invasion of Somalia in December 2006
under the instigation of the United States and the intermittent incursions
thereafter. The other countries have not only endorsed Ethiopia’s invasion
of an IGAD Member State but have also sent troops to Mogadishu in
contravention of UN Security Council resolution 1725(2006) that barred
neighboring countries from involvement in any eventual peacekeeping force in
Somalia.
ii) Somalia’s seat in IGAD had remained vacant for most of the 19 years
since the country was sadly embroiled in the crisis that continues without
let up. It appears that the TFG has now been accorded a seat in IGAD. But in
view of the political realities in Somalia(the entities in Puntland,
Somaliland etc and the situation in Mogadishu), this short-sighted decision
does not only provoke issues of legality but does not augur well for a
healthy process of nation reconciliation in Somalia.
iii) As communicated to the government of Eritrea by Dr. Mustafa Osman
Ismail, the Special Advisor to the President, the government of Sudan does
not support UN Security Council Resolution 1907 imposing sanction on
Eritrea.
iv) Eritrea suspended its membership in IGAD in early 2007 in the wake of
Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia and the moral failure of IGAD to condemn the
acts of aggression against a fellow Member State.
v) As is well known, Ethiopia continues to occupy sovereign Eritrean
territories in violation of international law and its treaty obligations.
vi) In light of these facts, any decision of those States in respect of
Somalia does not have validity, as they cannot cast their votes as impartial
or neutral parties. In the same breadth, these countries cannot indict
Eritrea on account of events in Somalia. These countries, which shoulder
primary responsibility for the cause and exacerbation of the crisis in
Somalia do not indeed have moral, political or legal authority to indict or
punish Eritrea.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara
3 February 2010
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