Kofi Annan, UNSG, Unfit For Leadership!
By: Ogbazgy Abbay Asmerom
October 6, 2004
This article has four parts:
Part
I
Part II PartIII
Part
IV
You are dancing on the scale of justice! Your vacillation, wavering, and determination not to find a final solution to the Border Demarcation Impasse has a grave consequence. Your legacy is questionable! Your honesty is not pure!
It appears your credibility is hanging on the balance. You are not honoring the office of the SG. At this time, peace-loving Eritreans have come to admire Boutros Ghali, your predecessor and the indefatigable Egyptian diplomat, for his determined position in the legal conclusion of Eritrean independence. He made sure that the Eritrean referendum of April 1993 was a fair and legally binding referendum. Hence, under his watch Eritrea became the 193rd nation of the world community! For that, Eritreans are grateful for his contributions to the worldwide recognition of Eritrean independence!
You have deviated from the norms of diplomacy and have concocted your own shortsighted and blind vision for the Demarcation of the border. Unexpectedly, in order to please your client, Ethiopia, you have chosen a Special Envoy, Lloyd Axworthy of Canada. The Algiers accord does not stipulate to have a Special Envoy selected to resolve the Border Issue! >From where did you get that idea? Did you consult some clairvoyants? What did your fortuneteller tell you to do?
President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea has repeatedly told you the appointment or anointment of Lloyd Axworthy will not change the dynamics of the landscape. He has no magic box to resolve the issue. Eritrea has no need for an envoy to resolve the Demarcation Impasse! Its need is the implementation of the decision. That is the truth! That is justice! No more! No less!
Many Eritreans have written to you, appealed to you, and pleaded with you and sought your leadership to find a final solution to the demarcation impasse. Nevertheless, you did not seem to care and did not consider their pleas. In fact, you gave them a deaf ear. It should not be that way! Where is your accountability! To whom are you listening?
The Eritrean authorities have repeatedly told you that there is no provision for a Special agent or envoy in the Algiers Agreement. His appointment is a moot issue. Why do you repeatedly report about his need? You have confused the situation in your mind and unfortunately, you also have confused the members of the Security Council. They, unfortunately, are rubber-stamping your disconnected semi-annual Report.
How is it possible that a decision can be made in three minutes? On September 14, 2004, the 15 members of the Security Council met for three short minutes, from 10:14 am - to 10:17 am, to read your Report of September 2, 2004. Can a decision of a greater importance be decided in three minutes? Where is the thinking? Where is the deliberation? What a travesty of justice! It is unfortunate, due to such unbalanced decisions; the world is in a big mess! Carnal minds produce cannibalized decision!
You and the 15 members of the Security Council are responsible for the demarcation impasse! It appears the 15 members do not understand the gravity of the situation! They repeatedly say both countries must comply with the decision of the Border Commission! Eritrea has complied. It is not on the wrong side of the fence! Ethiopia has refused to comply! Who is the party that is not cooperating? Is it too difficult for you and the 15 members to understand the position taken by the Ethiopian government? Ethiopia has chosen the law of the jungle! By their indecisiveness and inaction, the 15 members seem to allow a bigger fish eat a smaller fish! Know this; the age of Darwinism is over! Eritrea will not allow itself, nor will its children allow her, to be eaten up by a bigger fish!
The Eritreans want the border to be demarcated according to the ruling of the Border Commission. Outside of that arrangement, there is no incentive for the Eritreans to negotiate with the Ethiopians. How do you expect the Eritreans to trust the Ethiopians? You speak of confidence building! Confidence building does not come in a vacuum! The Ethiopians have betrayed the trust of the Eritreans! How can you trust a thief not to rob you at night, when you clearly know that he has robbed you during the day?
Every sensible Eritrean knows the deepest intentions of the dubious Tigrians and Ethiopians. The prize of the concocted border war or Badme war was the capturing of Aseb, an Eritrean seaport! It is no secret the Tigrians and Ethiopians needed an outlet to the Sea. The convenient place was Aseb. In fact, the world community gave them 72 hours to accept the cease-fire of 2000, hoping that Aseb would be captured. The Deputy Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, Tekeda Alemu, assured his Ethiopian nationals in the Diaspora that Aseb was going to be captured in a few days in May 2000. He was salivating for the final conclusion of the border war, which was the coveted Eritrean seaport! That hope did not materialize! Tigray and Ethiopia did not gain access to the Eritrean seaports!
Had Aseb been captured, the world community would not have uttered a word! It would have been ruled "a reality on the ground or new facts on the ground." What did the UN do, 40 years after the capture of the Golan Heights, the West bank, and the Gaza Strip? So far, nothing has been done! Because of that, justice is crying in the Middle East! Because of that, the Middle East is burning daily!
To Be Continued.........