Kofi Anan’s Disservice to the Peoples of Eritrea
and Ethiopia
By: Huriy Ghirmai
November 11, 2005
While Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian security forces indulged in the killing of
innocent people in full view of the world, Kofi Anan’s concern lay elsewhere.
In the last month or so, his overt partisan role in the present crisis between
Eritrea and Ethiopia has become louder and clearer than ever. This of course
reflects rather badly on him and the United Nations.
The Secretary General’s error of judgement will no doubt have significant repercussions
on the peoples of both Eritrea and Ethiopia. As it is now, he has failed to
condemn the atrocities being committed against the people by the Tigrean ethno-national
regime lording it over in Ethiopia. In this regard, he has failed the people
of Ethiopia in a way that history will not forget.
Following instructions coming directly from Meles Zenawi, the security forces
have mowed down many innocent Ethiopians including children as young as 11.
It has been widely reported that police and members of the army were tossing
grenades to disperse crowds. All in all so far, over a hundred people have been
killed in Addis Ababa and other parts of the country.
In a way that many of us will never understand, Kofi Anan seems to be serving
as a foot soldier of Meles Zenawi’s warped agenda. The Ethiopian Prime Minister
is of course still the same man who has stood on the wrong side of international
law for some time now. He has not only reneged on the Algiers Peace Agreement
with Eritrea but also stolen the sham elections in Ethiopia.
Kofi Anan seems to be solidly intent on giving the Ethiopian government a hand
by providing a cleverly orchestrated subterfuge. Knowing full well that the
spectacle of innocent people being machine-gunned in the streets of the capital
were enough to grab the attention of even the most cold-hearted person, Kofin
Anan has cynically concocted a diversion.
Totally out of the blue, as if the rejection of an internationally brokered
deal by an arrogant Ethiopian government was not enough transgression that threatened
peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia, he preferred to huff and puff about the
flight ban on the UN by Eritrea. He bemoaned the situation in a language that
belied the solid facts that cannot be distorted easily.
The EEBC decision was, is and will still be final and binding and no amount
of spin will change that. Ethiopia’s rejection of the agreement is illegal and
stands to make a mockery of international rule of law. If, as Kofin Anan warns,
there is a looming war, it is only because the Ethiopian government has defied
the rule of law. When the world asks as to what went wrong, then the blame will
land fair and square not only at the foot of the Ethiopian government but also
the United Nations.
The UN, through the Security Council, was mandated to take action where one
of the parties to the Algiers Agreement refused to abide by the final and binding
decision of the Boundary Commission. As provisioned by the Agreement, the UN
could empower the UN Security Council to take appropriate action by invoking
Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Yet the UN has sat idle for the past three years
instead of taking firm measure against Ethiopia.
Any piece of law is just a string of dead words if a body that claims to uphold
it is not willing to enforce it. If member nations of the United Nations are
seen to flout the very principles on which the UN is founded upon with unwavering
impunity, then anarchy becomes the byword. But worse still, when the UN takes
a partisan role instead of enforcing the rule of law, the world we live in becomes
a dangerous place. As well as Eritreans, Ethiopians should take heed against
the setting of such dangerous precedent.
Kofi Anan, whether deliberately or not, has lent Meles Zenawi a hand in hoodwinking
the world about what really is going down in Ethiopia. Instead of alerting the
world as to the atrocities committed in the city streets of Ethiopia, he rather
craftily created a diversion with his claptrap about an impending war between
Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Let it be known that Eritrea does not want war with Ethiopia. The peoples of
Eritrea and Ethiopia will gain nothing from a resumption of a war that has already
claimed many lives and caused incalculable material destruction. Eritrea knows
this full well.
Kofi Anan rather unscrupulously, seems to have stolen the show, if one is permitted
to put it that way. The world, instead of focussing its attention on the slaughter
of innocents in Ethiopian cities and villages, has been made to talk about a
crisis that never was.
All Ethiopians should realise this. In the final analysis, they have been victimised
not just by Meles Zenawi but also Kofi Anan’s indifference to their plight.
The Secretary General, just like he has failed the people of Eritrea, has failed
the Ethiopian people as well. One only hopes that he shall one day be brought
to book for failing his office and the peoples of both countries.