The UN Second Injustice On Eritrea
By: Berhe Habte-Giorgis
December 21, 2005
Kofi Aanan and the UN Security Council have failed Eritrea for the second
time. They have refused to force Ethiopia to implement the "FINAL AND BINDING"
decision of the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission. By doing so, they have allowed
Ethiopia to continue occupying sovereign Eritrean territory with impunity. The
U.N. military force (UNMEE), in a sense, has become protector of Ethiopia's
illegal acts. This is the U.N.'s Second Injustice against Eritrea. The First
Injustice federated Eritrea with Ethiopia. As a result, Eritrea had to endure
fifty years of tyranny and thirty years of armed to struggle to reverse this
injustice.
As the nascent country tried to put its people on a fast track to development
and progress, in a sordid rerun of history, Ethiopia launches a war to reverse
Eritrean independence. Failing to achieve its goal, the government in Ethiopia
embarked on a "No war no peace" strategy. The goals remain the same,
only the approach changes.
The conduct and words of the Secretary General of the U.N., Kofi Aanan, are
unbecoming of a person in that position. On more than two occasions he has used
disparaging remarks against Eritrea. In one instance, he said that Eritrea is
a poor country that cannot afford a war, implying that it should accept any
deal that Ethiopia is willing to offer. On another occasion, he plainly said
that Eritrea, after all, is a country that is not at peace with its neighbors.
These are words used by the Ethiopian Prime Minister and Foreign minister, ad
nausea. The purpose is to make Eritrea look like a trouble maker and does not
deserve to be heard. In making these statements Kofi Aanan played advocacy role
for the Ethiopian leaders. Undoubtedly, he exceeded the boundary of his authority.
After all, Eritrea is a U.N. member country that pays its dues regularly, and
Kofi Aanan is an employee of member countries, including Eritrea. His words
and deeds in dealing with member countries have to be proper. We have seen him
how he behaves when dealing with the powerful countries.
Kofi Aanan, by not presenting the demarcation case to the U.N. Security Council,
despite the myriads of communication from the Eritrean Government, has provided
tacit support for the "no-war-no-peace" strategy followed by Ethiopia.
The "No-war-no-peace" language is a euphemism for war by other means
against Eritrea. It aims at weakening the government, the economy, and the people's
resolve to resist Ethiopia's schemes against the country.
Kofi Aanan has undermined the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission's mandate to
demarcate the border. Consequently, he has obstructed the implementation of
the U.N Charter and the Algiers Agreement. A head of an organization that subverts
a unit operating under his purview is not fit to be a leader of the organization.
Failing to get any support for its program, the Border Commission had to fold
its tent and abandon the project.
If the U.N. was a properly functioning organization, impeachment proceedings
against Kofi Aanan would be the logical consequences of his failure to perform
his duty. However, history shows that he is the global "Teflon" guy.
He got rewarded by promotion to secretary general for his failures in the past.
The most outrageous of them all is failing to act to save save close to a million
Tutsis in Rwanda when he was the head of peace keeping operations. Recent investigative
commission reports of maladministration and cronyism in the U.N. is ignored.
The Iraq food for oil program scandal, although it stops short of indicting
Aanan, casts heavy ethical failings. But still the man keeps trudging on, doing
more harm than good.
By the time Aanan leaves office, the only thing we remember of him will be one
of an inept international servant of the big nations. The memory he will have
of Eritrea will be one of a country that challenged him to perform to the call
of the position he held. It will be a memory of one of his major failures that
he will prefer not to remember. So would Haile Selassie, Mengistu Haile Mariam,
and soon Meles Zenawi - only if they could.