From: Eri News (er_news@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Dec 23 2009 - 14:15:43 EST
PRESS RELEASE
The UN Security Council has today passed a shameful resolution
imposing sanctions against Eritrea. The unjustifiable measures
imposed on Eritrea include: an arms embargo; the inspection and
seizure by Member States in their territory of such cargo to and from
Eritrea; and, the imposition of a travel ban, and the freezing of
assets of, Eritrea’s political and military leadership who may be
blacklisted by a Committee.
As Eritrea has strongly emphasized in the past weeks, this brazen act
is neither based on fact nor on the provisions of international law.
It constitutes a travesty of justice and amplifies the dangers
inherent in a unipolar world.
The fact of the matter is this resolution was originally conceived
and feverishly executed by the United States. Britain, and especially
Uganda, were co-opted as sponsors of the resolution for purposes of
deceitful packaging. The US Mission to the UN further tried to invoke
a resolution of the African Union to disguise the real culprit. But
in the end, this cover did not work. As it happened, the US
Ambassador to the UN was ultimately forced to come out of the closet
and cajole UN Member States to adopt the resolution willy-nilly.
Setting aside the misguided policies of the US Administration in the
Horn of Africa region and the loathsome personal agenda of the US
Ambassador to the UN who could not hide her obsession to “punish
Eritrea” and “break its arrogance”, what are the accusations leveled
against Eritrea? How do these accusations square with the provisions
of the UN Charter? Does the
heavy-handed process pursued in this case conform to the modalities
and precedents of the UN Security Council in imposing sanctions
against a Member State?
1. It must be stressed that the accusations against Eritrea for
involvement in Somalia have never been substantiated or verified.
Many Member States objected to the draft resolution in the early days
precisely for these reasons though they acquiesced to US pressure
later. The Somalia Monitoring Group had previously accused Eritrea
for “supplying arms to those opposing the TFG”. This clause was later
dropped quietly and the revised version indicts Eritrea for
“providing political, financial, and logistical support to armed
groups engaged in undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia”.
As pointed out earlier, these allegations were, again, not explained
or substantiated. Indeed, how can Eritrea provide logistical support
to armed groups in Somalia when it does not have a contiguous border
with that country? The allegation of financial support is equally
tenuous. Eritrea has neither the political will nor the financial
clout to bankroll armed groups in Somalia. As for the accusations of
political support, it is well-known that Eritrea has not recognized
the TFG for cogent and well-thought out reasons. This was also the
case with the externally established previous TFGs installed in
Mogadishu without the consent of the Somali people. Eritrea’s
impartial and balanced position emanates from its profound desire to
contribute to a durable and sustainable solution to the crisis in
Somalia. These political considerations aside, the fundamental legal
issue at hand is whether this matter of purely sovereign national
jurisdiction can be misconstrued as a subject of UN Security Council
concern. Is it the mandate of the Security Council to punish any
Member State on account of the political views it holds or the
diplomatic choices it makes? Has the Security Council ever imposed
sanctions against one or more countries because they have not
recognized Kosovo, Abkhazia, or South Ossetia? Does controversy on
matters of this nature empower the UN Security Council to take
punitive measures against a defenseless country arbitrarily?
2. The resolution refers to the “decision of the 13th Assembly of
the African Union in Sirte, calling on the Council to impose
sanctions against Eritrea”. Again, this assertion is replete with
distortions and half-truths. As underlined earlier, the resolution
was co-sponsored by Uganda in its individual capacity. It was not
tabled, but on the contrary, vehemently opposed by Libya which is the
current Chair of the AU and a non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council. More importantly, the UN Security Council’s function is not
to rubber-stamp resolutions adopted by a regional organization when
invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter to impose sanctions against a
Member State but to do so independently and only on the basis of
incontrovertible facts and law.
3. In a feat of unprecedented cynicism, the UN Security Council
Resolution recommends other punitive measures against Eritrea on
account of the U.S. fabricated “border dispute with Djibouti”. For
seven long years now since the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission
gave its final and binding Award on the border dispute between
Eritrea and Ethiopia in April 2002, the Security Council has refused
to shoulder its responsibilities to ensure the respect of the
arbitration decision in accordance with the provisions of the Algiers
Peace Treaty that was largely drafted and explicitly guaranteed by
this same body. This has encouraged Ethiopia to violate its treaty
obligations, the UN Charter and international law to continue its
occupation of Badme and other sovereign Eritrean lands. This same
Security Council is now singing to a different tune, simply because
it is played by Washington, to threaten Eritrea with punitive measure
for a non-existent border conflict.
Security Council Resolution 1907(2009) is thus not based on law and
incontrovertible facts. The United States has simply employed its
preponderant influence to ram through unjustifiable sanctions against
a small country. What is shameful is that the United States has been
allowed to use the platform and authority of the United Nations to
perpetrate injustices against the people and Government of Eritrea;
for the second time in recent history. What is shameful is that other
major powers in the UN Security Council cannot go beyond expressing
their disappointment, mostly in private meetings, to check the
excesses of Washington. What is shameful is that the United States
can turn the tables and victimize an innocent nation for the very
crimes that it is responsible for in the first place. Because the
truth is, the United States is mostly responsible for the mayhem and
suffering that is bedeviling Somalia today. Indeed, it is common
knowledge that as intractable as the Somali crisis is, there were
real hopes of a turnaround for the better in 2006. For reasons that
defy reason, the Bush Administration then acted to roll back those
promising developments to instigate and support Ethiopia’s invasion
of Somalia. That single debacle claimed the lives of thousands of
innocent Somalis, made half a million people homeless and aggravated
the humanitarian crisis in Somalia to unprecedented levels. But then,
the Security Council is not taking action on the basis of justice and
legality. It is taking action on the basis of the existing power
balance in a largely unipolar world. This does not bode well for
international justice and peace. This is why today is a shameful day
for the United Nations.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara
23 December 2009
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