http://eritreanamerican.org/node/73
OEA Calls on the UN Security Council to lift 5-year old Unjust Sanctions
December 23, 2014
Your Excellency,
As members of the Organization of Eritrean Americans (OEA) we would like
to call upon you to lift the two UN Security Council Resolutions 1907
(2009) and 2023 (2011) imposed to sanction Eritrea and the people of
Eritrea based on charges fabricated and orchestrated by its archenemy
Ethiopia.
Though the pretext for the unjust sanctions was to "serve" peace and
security in Somalia, as the past five years have made it clear,
punishing innocent Eritrea based on false premises has neither brought
peace to Somalia nor security to the Horn of Africa. The very forces
that orchestrated lies against Eritrea are still wreaking havoc in the
region. Former Assistant Secretary for African Affairs and veteran
Ambassador Herman Cohen, who has had many years of experience and
intimate knowledge of the region, said it well last year: "Those of us
who know Eritrea well, understand that the Eritrean leadership fears
Islamic militancy as much as any other country in the Horn of Africa
region."
In short, there was no, and there still is no "intelligence, real or
fabricated", that links Eritrea to Al Shabab or any form of extremism in
the region other than that what the Ethiopians provided the
Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group. And with the Somalia-Eritrea
Monitoring Group we are talking of a group that has lots of problems
when it comes to credibility. As Ambassador Doctor Mashabane of South
Africa put it in 2011, this is a group that cannot "execute its
responsibilities and mandate with professionalism, impartiality and
objectivity." This is a Monitoring Group that is influenced left and
right "by political considerations outside of its mandate". The
disgraceful exits of Dinesh Mahtani (its financial expert), earlier this
fall, after he was caught red-handed advocating for regime change in
Eritrea on behalf of the UN, and before that the firing of coordinator
Matt Bryden for his dubious behavior as a monitor, are two cases that
show this monitoring group has completely lost its legitimacy as an
impartial UN investigative body.
As the leaked U.S. diplomatic cables clearly show, Resolution 1907
(2009) was incubated in the U.S. and hatched in Ethiopia. Eritrea was
supposedly punished for helping Somalia insurgents with weapons, yet the
UN's own report admits that: "Eighty percent of ammunition available at
the Somali arms markets was supplied by TFG and Ethiopian troops, ...'.
The monitoring committee received details of some 25 military flights by
Ethiopia into Somalia and knew that Ethiopian troops had brought
military equipment into the country to arm 'friendly clans."
The same is true with Resolution 2023 (2011). It was adopted under the
false accusations of Ethiopia and Kenya against Eritrea. On the
accusation from Ethiopia, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, said the
day Resolution 2023 (2011) was adopted on December 5, 2011 that "the
Security Council was not presented with convincing proof of Eritrea's
involvement in that incident. We have not seen the results of any
investigation of that incident, if indeed there was one." On the
accusations from Kenya, the UN Monitoring group itself admitted that the
"[Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group] has found no evidence to
substantiate allegations that Eritrea supplied Al-Shabaab with arms and
ammunition by air in October and November 2011. No evidence to
substantiate the allegations that one or more aircraft landed at Baidoa
International Airport between 29 October and 3 November 2011, or that
Eritrea supplied Al-Shabaab in Baidoa by air with arms and ammunition
during the same period."
Surely, the United Nations Security Council, as an organ established to
maintain peace and security in the world, should never punish nations
and people based on what it knows too well is based on fabrications.
Eritrea, as a nation that has faced its fair share of destabilization
attempts by foreign religious extremists, is the most reliable partner
the UN can have for peace and security in the Horn of Africa. It
deserves the Security Council's encouragement and positive engagement,
definitely not sanctions based on lies. Thus, it is time that you take
the lead in the UN Security Council to terminate these illegal sanctions
against the hard working people of Eritrea.
There was no rational justification to impose the sanctions in the first
place, and there is even less rational explanation to maintain them now.
The fact that the SEMG (Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group) has come out
in the open and admitted that there is no credible evidence that links
Eritrea to Somalia in its past three reports is another reason to do
away with them. Thus we feel the immediate and unconditional lifting of
these sanctions is long over due.
In addition, the UN Security Council, as one of the guarantors of the
Algiers Agreement, has an obligation to compel Ethiopia to immediately
and unconditionally vacate the sovereign Eritrean territories it is
illegally occupying, including the town of Badme. No nation, large or
small, should be allowed to get away with breaking international law and
UN Security Council Resolutions.
Furthermore, the OEA is convinced that a long-term and fruitful
relationship between Eritrea and the other nations in the region is
essential for maintaining peace and security, and fighting off poverty
and extremism in the Horn of Africa. Therefore, we ask you and the other
members of the UN Security Council to do what is moral and ethical by
lifting these unjust sanctions.
Received on Wed Dec 24 2014 - 06:03:38 EST