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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Jul 25 2011 - 19:55:08 EDT
http://www.innercitypress.com/un3eritrea072511.html
As Eritrea FM Meets Ban, UN Vague on Famine & Somalia, More Sanctions Loom
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 25 -- After
Eritrea<http://www.innercitypress.com/un2eritrea072211.html>'s
foreign minister Osman Saleh Mohammed met Monday with UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, his Permanent Representative to the UN Araya Desta gave Inner
City Press a read-out of the meeting.
Ambassador Desta said that Somalia was discussed, with Eritrea explaining
its view that in Somalia there can be no military solution and all sides
have to be represented, with the solution coming from Somalis and not from
the outside.
Eritrea is accused of, but denies, providing arms to Al Shabaab. The United
States is accused of using helicopter gunships and working with “black site”
secret prisons in Mogadishu.
Inner City Press, having last week interviewed Eritrean presidential adviser
Yemane Ghebreab on video (click here to view <http://youtu.be/dLO4vzNX_kA>),
attended the delegation's photo op with Ban Ki-moon and his staff, noting
there the presence of UN deputy humanitarian chief Catherine Bragg, who
earlier on Monday briefed the Security Council about famine in
Somalia.<http://www.innercitypress.com/som1fam072511.html>
“Was famine in Eritrea discussed?” Inner City Press asked. Desta said no,
that while the Horn of Africa is suffering droughts Eritrea “had a good
harvest last year” and stored food, and according to Desta has bought food
and stored it as well.
Desta volunteered that there has been a dispute between Eritrea and UNICEF
but that his delegation told Ban that the country wants to have good
relations with the UN. An email to UNICEF spokespeople did not result in any
substantive answer on this, but if one if provided later it will be
published.
Also seen entering Ban's Eritrea meeting was a senior official of the UN
Department of Peacekeeping Operations, to whom Inner City Press afterward
asked, “So are there peacekeeping issues with Eritrea?” The response, with
laughter, was that “there are always peacekeeping issues.” But the UNMEE
mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia was dismantled years ago....
Eritrea FM shakes with Ban, Desta behind, Pascoe reaches, Bragg at right (c)
MRLee
Along with Ban's scheduler and his chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, Department
of Political Affairs chief Lynn Pascoe attended the Eritrea meeting. On the
way in he joked, “You complained no one else was present, so I came.” There
were a lot of UN officials there, perhaps as a follow up to Eritrea's
presidents request to Ban on July 8 for a longer meeting. But what was
really accomplished?
The UN Security Council's committee is slated to consider a monitoring
report and more sanctions on
Eritrea<http://www.innercitypress.com/un2eritrea072211.html>.
One purpose of the trip seems to have been to try to fend these off -- with
any success is not yet clear. Watch this site.
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