Asmara — The following is a statement by the Eritrea Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the UN Security Council's recent announcement of sanctions.
The UN Security Council has today passed a shameful resolution imposing sanctions against Eritrea. The unjustifiable measures imposed on Eritrea include: an arms embargo; the inspection and seizure by Member States in their territory of such cargo to and from Eritrea; and, the imposition of a travel ban, and the freezing of assets of, Eritrea's political and military leadership who may be blacklisted by a Committee.
As Eritrea has strongly emphasized in the past weeks, this brazen act is neither based on fact nor on the provisions of international law. It constitutes a travesty of justice and amplifies the dangers inherent in a unipolar world.
The fact of the matter is this resolution was originally conceived and feverishly executed by the United States. Britain, and especially Uganda, were co-opted as sponsors of the resolution for purposes of deceitful packaging. The US Mission to the UN further tried to invoke a resolution of the African Union to disguise the real culprit. But in the end, this cover did not work. As it happened, the US Ambassador to the UN was ultimately forced to come out of the closet and cajole UN Member States to adopt the resolution willy-nilly.
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Setting aside the misguided policies of the US Administration in the Horn of Africa region and the loathsome personal agenda of the US Ambassador to the UN who could not hide her obsession to "punish Eritrea" and "break its arrogance", what are the accusations leveled against Eritrea? How do these accusations square with the provisions of the UN Charter? Does the heavy-handed process pursued in this case conform to the modalities and precedents of the UN Security Council in imposing sanctions against a Member State?
1. It must be stressed that the accusations against Eritrea for involvement in Somalia have never been substantiated or verified. Many Member States objected to the draft resolution in the early days precisely for these reasons though they acquiesced to US pressure later. The Somalia Monitoring Group had previously accused Eritrea for "supplying arms to those opposing the TFG". This clause was later dropped quietly and the revised version indicts Eritrea for "providing political, financial, and logistical support to armed groups engaged in undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia". As pointed out earlier, these allegations were, again, not explained or substantiated. Indeed, how can Eritrea provide logistical support to armed groups in Somalia when it does not have a contiguous border with that country? The allegation of financial support is equally tenuous. Eritrea has neither the political will nor the financial clout to bankroll armed groups in Somalia. As for the accusations of political support, it is well-known that Eritrea has not recognized the TFG for cogent and well-thought out reasons. This was also the case with the externally established previous TFGs installed in Mogadishu without the consent of the Somali people. Eritrea's impartial and balanced position emanates from its profound desire to contribute to a durable and sustainable solution to the crisis in Somalia. These political considerations aside, the fundamental legal issue at hand is whether this matter of purely sovereign national jurisdiction can be misconstrued as a subject of UN Security Council concern. Is it the mandate of the Security Council to punish any Member State on account of the political views it holds or the diplomatic choices it makes? Has the Security Council ever imposed sanctions against one or more countries because they have not recognized Kosovo, Abkhazia, or South Ossetia? Does controversy on matters of this nature empower the UN Security Council to take punitive measures against a defenseless country arbitrarily?
2. The resolution refers to the "decision of the 13th Assembly of the African Union in Sirte, calling on the Council to impose sanctions against Eritrea". Again, this assertion is replete with distortions and half-truths. As underlined earlier, the resolution was co-sponsored by Uganda in its individual capacity. It was not tabled, but on the contrary, vehemently opposed by Libya which is the current Chair of the AU and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. More importantly, the UN Security Council's function is not to rubber-stamp resolutions adopted by a regional organization when invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter to impose sanctions against a Member State but to do so independently and only on the basis of incontrovertible facts and law.
3. In a feat of unprecedented cynicism, the UN Security Council Resolution recommends other punitive measures against Eritrea on account of the U.S. fabricated "border dispute with Djibouti". For seven long years now since the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission gave its final and binding Award on the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia in April 2002, the Security Council has refused to shoulder its responsibilities to ensure the respect of the arbitration decision in accordance with the provisions of the Algiers Peace Treaty that was largely drafted and explicitly guaranteed by this same body. This has encouraged Ethiopia to violate its treaty obligations, the UN Charter and international law to continue its occupation of Badme and other sovereign Eritrean lands. This same Security Council is now singing to a different tune, simply because it is played by Washington, to threaten Eritrea with punitive measure for a non-existent border conflict.
Security Council Resolution 1907(2009) is thus not based on law and incontrovertible facts. The United States has simply employed its preponderant influence to ram through unjustifiable sanctions against a small country. What is shameful is that the United States has been allowed to use the platform and authority of the United Nations to perpetrate injustices against the people and Government of Eritrea; for the second time in recent history. What is shameful is that other major powers in the UN Security Council cannot go beyond expressing their disappointment, mostly in private meetings, to check the excesses of Washington. What is shameful is that the United States can turn the tables and victimize an innocent nation for the very crimes that it is responsible for in the first place. Because the truth is, the United States is mostly responsible for the mayhem and suffering that is bedeviling Somalia today. Indeed, it is common knowledge that as intractable as the Somali crisis is, there were real hopes of a turnaround for the better in 2006. For reasons that defy reason, the Bush Administration then acted to roll back those promising developments to instigate and support Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia. That single debacle claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Somalis, made half a million people homeless and aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Somalia to unprecedented levels. But then, the Security Council is not taking action on the basis of justice and legality. It is taking action on the basis of the existing power balance in a largely unipolar world. This does not bode well for international justice and peace. This is why today is a shameful day for the United Nations.
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the saction that was imposed against the people and govern.of Eritrea is an injustice commited against the already bleeding and starfing region of east africa.I wonder what the very countries that created the disaster in somalia ,and the horn want from eritrea.i think eritrea stands for the justice,and good and evil can't go together,and remember always the evil is a looser and the good always prevails. Will the U.nation retract this injustice,check and investigate the countries responsible for disaster that is happening in somalia.For your information,if you ask the somali people ,not the few people that was brought to somalia to represent the somalis are reallly selrcted and supported by the u.s. financialy and politically and in that case they didn't represent truely the somali people,second ,if you ask the majority of the somalis:who is responsible for this twenty(20)yrs ca'os or disaster the answer they will give you is automaticaly number one Ethiopia Number two the U.S.A, plus the countries so called IGAD including Uganda who sent their merceneries to somalia in support of Ethiopia invation of somalia and every body arround the world knows this that Ethiopian and Ugandan soldiers killed thousands of somali people and even rapped women and girls.therefore,i ask the U.Nation which countries should and put into sanction.Ethiopia or eritrea.i will say Ethiopia for the very reason that ethiopia invade somalia inorder to hide the massacre they commit aginst the people of the somalia.
An advice to my fellow eritreans,your brave people survived for the last 80years of ethiopian colonization and the brutality they have commited against your country and people,therefore,this tiime the injustice that have been imposed against your country is a grave injustice .
An advice to African countries,ereterians are innocent and are commited to african ideals .the sanction that the u.n. imposed upon is false,so they have the right to support Eritrea. s
we have to think rationally in any condition as human being. it is clear for anyone the strategy of Eritera's gov't(make a point not the people). being in times of where the world is rushing day and night for dev't and peace as nothing else can keep this world to be suitable for living, the Eritera's gov't is out of game and rather on the destruction side. so one important thing is to think, the people of eritera, rationally and try to avoid the evil thought of your Gov't as the power should be on the people not on the Gov't. this gov't is behaving like those old gov't who ruins every other things to announce their strength on earth. this is old fashined and uncivilized way of thinking.