A new paper issued this week on the anniversary of the UN/US sanctions on Eritrea says the UN Security Council action represents “a new chapter in a long history of injustice” against this young Horn of African nation.
The findings of the 25-page document by the U.S.-based E-SMART research team confirm that there was no basis to justify the sanctions measure which covers arms embargo, travel restrictions and asset freeze on charges fabricated and orchestrated by Eritrea’s principal enemy Ethiopia and its regional and international supporters.
However, the action reveals a pattern of actions against Eritrea and the Eritrean people that usually originate in Addis Ababa and then fully executed and perpetuated by Washington. “A careful analysis of the historical records,” the paper says, “shows an unmistakable pattern of betrayals of and injustice against the people of Eritrea by the West in general and the US in particular, as well as the United Nations and the African Union (formerly Organization of African Union (OAU).” Adding, it says,”the analysis reveals in a stark way that U.S. foreign policy for the Horn of Africa has been generally devoid of fairness and justice—always skewed to favor Ethiopia, and always at the expense of the region in general, and especially Eritrea and the Eritrean people in particular.”
The sanctions measure “was not meant to bring about peace and security in Somalia or the rest of the Horn of Africa sub-region,” the research team says. “It was to ‘punish’ the young and independent-minded nation of Eritrea for refusing to accept the West’s misguided policy in Somalia.” In fact, the paper says, “the unjust decision on sanctions happened because the United States wanted it to happen and that is unfortunate because Eritreans and Eritrean Americans look up to Washington to exercise fairness and justice in dealing with the nations in this fragile and war-ravaged part of Africa.”
The team warns the repercussions of such one-sided and unjust policy can only lead to more death and destruction. “History, and particularly that of Eritrea and Ethiopia, has repeatedly shown that any big power policy devoid of balance, fairness and justice only leads to war and destruction which this sub-region of Africa has had too much of the last 60 years.”