In a letter dated January 4. 2012, the Government of Eritrea (GoE) has once again shown its proactive stance against any potential backdoor sneak-attack like we have witnessed in the past. The letter to the Chairman of the Security Council Committee highlights 3 items that Eritrea wants the UNSC to address NOW before they somehow sneak their way into the UN floor and maliciously spread like a virus by Susan Rice into the "Blue" section, or in layman's term into the Death Row. So from Eritrea's part, this can be considered a stoke of genius and a very smart move because first, the UNSC should address this issues in a timely manner; and second, this new Eritrea's proactive stance, instead of the old reactive stance, would essentially shut off the backdoor ports like a Firewall so that malicious viruses like "Susan Rice -2012" and others would not be able to sucker-punch Eritrea any more. For those of you in the IT field, consider the 3 items in the letter as the latest "Microsoft Critical Updates" that need to be applied to protect critical systems from being compromised.
This is extremely important, especially if one looks at item number one in the letter. Eritrea complained vehemently to the Chairman of the UNSC that its National Security would be severely compromised if the so-called UN Monitoring Group is seeking to "deepen its knowledge of Eritrea's military intelligence services" in the name of the "arms embargo." A quick glance at the latest sanction text doesn't mentions anything close to what the Monitoring Group is seeking to do, so the first question that comes to mind immediately would be does the Monitoring Group have the mandate to delve inside our military intelligence? A follow-up question would then be what does the Monitoring Group want to do with that kind of information? We are not that naïve, so the Chairman of Security Council SHOULD (and MUST by law) address Eritrea's serious concern immediately.
For the record, this is not the first time Eritrea has written a letter to the UNSC. In a letter dated December 19, 2011, Eritrea has also submitted a 13-page letter to the President of the SC, H.E Mr. Vitaly Churkin, mainly highlighting United State's illegal and unjust manners to circumvent conventional UN mechanisms in order to enforce by any means necessary a sanctions on Eritrea not only once but twice. Eritrea also highlighted the Monitoring Group's report as a full of "fallacy and unfounded accusations heaped" against Eritrea and it urged the UNSC to "establish an independent, impartial and credible body" in place of the current one. It is not known if the UNSC responded to this 13-page letter, and I don't know how they will respond to the latest later but regardless how one sees it, Eritrea has now clearly placed the ball on UNSC's court.
So now, since the GoE has become very proactive and transparent in dealing with the UN, it is incumbent upon us in the Diaspora to do our own share by also demanding the UNSC to respond to Eritrea's several letters in a transparent and legal manner, including the letter Eritrea sent regarding the Qatari Peace Initiative in November, 2011, which Djibouti is trying to undermine and delay its implementation in order to make Eritrea look bad at the UN.
In this regard, I am hoping that we in the Diaspora follow this progress very closely and seriously and to do our due diligence to compliment GoE's proactive diplomacy in dealing with the UN. Hopefully, the MeKete and Youth organizations can use this new development as a stepping-stone to build a solid wall that can defend Eritrea from any illegal future sanction.
Recently, my delegation has been made aware of the contents of the
November 2011 Report of the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group which was
circulated to members of the Security Council Committee on 9 December
2011. I am obliged to write this letter to Your Excellency to address
the issues raised in that report, and to protest against, the strident
demeanor that the Eritrea Somalia Monitoring Group has chosen to
assume in discharging its duties.
There are three items that merit serious examination in the section
that concerns Eritrea.
1. In the opening paragraph (Page 4), the Monitoring Group openly
admits that "it is in the process of deepening its knowledge of
Eritrean military intelligence services with a view to better
understanding training and procurement activities that may represent
violations of the arms embargo". Eritrea maintains that this conduct,
which does not only impinge on its sovereignty but is also fraught
with dangerous consequences to its national security, cannot be within
the purview of the Monitoring Group. Eritrea barely needs to mention
that the "findings and reports" of the Monitoring Group are, almost
invariably, first provided to Eritrea's avowed enemies and cannot, in
any case, be kept "confidential or off-limits" to these forces. On a
more general level, the statutory authority, structure, accountability
and modus operandi of intelligence services are not matters that are
indiscreetly available in the public domain in any sovereign country
for reasons that are too obvious to merit clarification. In the event,
the Monitoring Group cannot request Eritrea to provide it with, or
collect through its own devices, such sensitive and classified
information even with the flimsy caveats that it has invoked to
burnish its wayward conduct.
Furthermore, this strident conduct amplifies, once again, the lack of
professionalism, impartiality and judicious judgment that has
characterized the work of the Monitoring Group in its crusade against
Eritrea.
2. The Monitoring Group accepts at face value the accusations made by
the Government of Kenya and states that it is "seeking to
independently verify" the information that "three aircraft, allegedly
carrying weapons from Eritrea, had landed in the AI-Shabaab controlled
town of Baidoa during the first week of November". The qualification
notwithstanding, the bias of the Monitoring Group in this instance is
again evident. The Monitoring Group cannot be oblivious to the fact
that Eritrea has lodged a strong protest against the unfounded
accusation by Kenya and expressly asked the UN Security Council to
investigate the whole affair. It may also be relevant to note that the
Government of Kenya has throughout maintained that its information
comes from "secondary sources". The Monitoring Group omits this
information as it is singularly obsessed with tarnishing the image of
Eritrea and as it knows that first impressions tend to stick even if
corrections are made later. In any case, it is not within the
tradition of the Monitoring Group to acknowledge errors or the fallacy
of wrong accusations in its subsequent reports.
3. The Monitoring Group also talks about new evidence that "Eritrea
continues to host, train, and equip members of armed opposition groups
from other countries in the region, notably Ethiopia". This assertion
is presumably corroborated by "captured ONLF and OLF fighters ... in
late October/ early November". The Monitoring Group states that it
"has confirmed that these fighters were trained in and deployed from
Eritrea by air and sea in violation of resolutions 1844 (2008) and
1907 (2009)". The Monitoring Group does not however indicate in its
report when these presumed trainings took place and when and where
these fighters were deployed. Furthermore, the Monitoring Group fails
to mention, let alone investigate and fully report, terrorist attacks
that two Ethiopian-based subversive groups (the "Eritrean Salvation
Front ESF" and, the "Red Sea Afar Democratic Organisation (RSADO)"
perpetrated in Eritrea at the end of November/early December. In the
same vein, it keeps silent and ignores the "conference" of subversive
groups that Ethiopia convened in Awasa in the same month in pursuit of
its campaign of destabilization and "regime change" in Eritrea. In an
address to the "conference" on November 22nd, Mr. Redwan Hussein, a
member of the Political Bureau of the ruling Ethiopian party, the
EPRDF, and an advisor to Ethiopia's Prime Minister, chastises the
"opposition parties for not achieving much in the past years",
welcomes "the timely convening of the conference to formulate new
strategies of struggle to topple the Eritrean government" and
reassures them that "Ethiopia will provide them with all the support
they need to achieve the goals of their struggle". All these
activities and events which were widely publicized by Ethiopia and are
in the public domain constitute violations not only of the United
Nations Charter but also Security Council resolutions 1907 and 2023.
In view of these additional facts, the Government of Eritrea once
again calls on the UN Security Council Committee to define in a more
exhaustive and precise manner the ground rules that govern the
functions of the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Osman Saleh
Minister
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Received on Wed Jan 11 2012 - 10:07:08 EST
