Shabait.com (Asmara)
1 August 2007
editorial
Asmara — To determine the success or failure of an organization, one has to refer to the objective for which that organization was founded in the first place. As is generally known, the founding objectives of the UN are to maintain international peace and stability, uphold international laws and principles as well as ensure the implementation of treaties and agreements between member states, coordinate international cooperation in resolving economic, cultural and social problems of the peoples of the world and secure the basic human rights and freedom of the people. However, due to its basic structure, voting procedures in adopting resolutions as well as the role of its sponsors, the UN had been unable to accomplish even the objective of the first chapter in its Charter, i.e. maintaining world peace and stability. This had been mainly because the real decision makers behind the scenes violate or uphold the UN Charter whenever it suits them.
For instance, Articles 41 and 42 of the 7th chapter of the UN Charter clearly state that punitive measures will be taken on any member state that disrupts the peace and stability of others or invades sovereign states. In principle all member nations are expected to respect and observe the UN Charter in its totality. However, the laws of the UN are now being manipulated to suit the geo-political interests of the world superpowers. At the time Iraq had invaded Kuwait, Articles of the UN Charter that condemn such actions had been reiterated ad nauseam ad infinitum. But when the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, the relevant Articles were left unmentioned. When Ethiopia at the beginning of this year invaded defenseless sovereign Somali territories, it was conveniently forgotten that the UN Charter condemns such blatant and illegal violation of the territorial integrity of member states. Ever since the establishment of the UN, the double standards exhibited by the driving forces behind the organization starting from the Korean War to the recent aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia, are beyond measure.
It is to be recalled that in 2004, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1559 and called for Syria to 'withdraw its troops from Lebanese territories and respect Lebanese sovereignty'. The reason why a similar measure or resolution was not taken in the case of Somalia is a vivid example of the double standards of the powers in control of the UN. At a time when Ethiopian troops, armed to the teeth with tanks and other innumerable armaments, are establishing permanent bases in different parts of Somalia, arming warlords and subjugating the Somali people to terror and mayhem, the UN, overpowered by its real leaders, chose to remain silent. On the contrary, the organization not only gave the invading troops carte blanche to do as they please by coining them as 'peacekeeping forces', but had the audacity to accuse states that opposed the invasion of 'smuggling in arms' to Somalia.
The primary cause of instability all over the world in general and in the Horn region in particular is hence the double standards applied by the forces controlling the UN. Because if the world body had truly represented the interests of all member states equally, then instead of unjustly accusing member states that call for the prevalence of the rule of law, it would have called for "Ethiopian invading troops to immediately withdraw from Somalia", just as it did in the Lebanese case. Of course this would be if the UN did not tantamount to US itself!
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