Desperadoes and their Midnight Resolutions
Ghidewon Abay Asmerom
July 12, 2012
des.per.a.do: "a reckless or desperate person, especially one ready
to commit any illegal act." Last week, one paragraph from Osman
Saleh's, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State Eritrea, letter to
Mr. Jean Ping, Chairman of African Union Commission, from February
20, 2012 stood out and caught my attention. It is the first paragraph
on Page 2. Part of it reads:
"After two days of intensive and extensive sessions, when most Heads
of State and Heads of Delegation had gone back to their respective
countries or had left the meeting Hall to their Hotels at the late
hour of the Assembly's closing session, to be precise on 30th January
at 11:30 pm., when the last agenda item of the Assembly ... started
to be discussed...."[1]
This immediately rang a bell. This "midnight affair" is not in fact a
new one or an exception; it had been the preferred maneuver when it
comes to passing sanctions against Eritrea. As villains try to sneak
in at night, those who are colluding to get Eritrea, the
"desperadoes", favor moving quietly like the proverbial "Thief in the
Night". A "Thief in the Night" is an English metaphor (of Biblical
origin) for "an event no one sees coming." Actually, Susan Rice and
her IGAD gang like to strike around midnight, or on the eve of major
holidays. There could be plenty of these examples, but for now five
should suffice. Here they are in reverse chronological order.
1. New York, USA: July 3, 2012
------------------------------
On Tuesday July 3, "the UN Sanctions Committee included the personal
details of two Eritrean military officials in its new list of persons
allegedly 'associated with terrorist activities' in Somalia". As
everyone knows, July 3 was the Eve of the recent July 4th,
Independence Day for the USA. As the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Press Release from July 6 noted, "The circulated document
does not indicate who the plaintiffs are. Nor does it establish the
veracity of the allegations. It merely tries to ensure, through what
is known as a 'silent motion', to validate the accusations 'unless
there is an objection from a member State of the Sanctions Committee
within 48 hours'".[2]
The plan here was to move quietly and list two Eritreans without any
deliberations and giving as little time as possible. In this case,
because the UN was closed for the 4th of July Holiday, the time was
only 24 hours. This is half of the normally required time of 48 hrs.
Things didn't go as planned; some members objected and the next move
we read was of the unilateral action by the U.S. Treasury Department
against the two Eritreans. In addition one should ask "why this move
and why this timing, particularly when the justification is based on
the Monitoring Group's Report not of 2012 but that of March 2010, and
on alleged contacts between 2004 and 2006? May be the upcoming
Monitoring Group's Report doesn't have any evidence linking Eritrea
to Somalia! Otherwise, wouldn't it be better and more credible to use
a 2012 Report than one from 2010? This can only be a midnight act of
desperation.
2. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: January 30, 2012
------------------------------------------
What transpired here was what we read in the opening quotation of
this article. The Eritrean complaint mentioned above adds: "in
violation of the procedure and normal practice of the Union, an
agenda item which was not included in the draft decision and
declaration of the Assembly and which was never raised and discussed
by the PRC, and the Executive Council was introduced to the Assembly
by the Ambassador of Djibouti."[3] In other words, a phrase to
condemn Eritrea was stealthily inserted and passed in the absence of
those African leaders who were feared will challenge the illegal
move. This is one more midnight act of desperation.
3. New York, USA: December 5, 2011
----------------------------------
Technically speaking this one was not a "midnight affair", but it
fits the pattern. Take a look. Last year (2011), as Susan Rice was
orchestrating another sanction based on a draft resolution authored
by Ethiopia and later incarnated as Gabon's draft resolution,
President Isaias Afwerki requested, as early as October, to address
the Security Council on the impending sanctions resolution. He sent a
letter to this effect and Nigeria's Ambassador, who was then holding
the Security Council presidency in October, wrote back saying: "the
request was received and was being discussed". Many Council members
were in support of hearing from President Isaias as well. For example
Inner City Press quoted the South African Permanent Representative to
the UN, Ambassador Baso Sangqu, saying: "I don't [see] there [is]
anything wrong with hearing from the President of Eritrea."
Portuguese Ambassador, Joao Maria Cabral, who happened to be
November's Security Council President, for his part was quoted saying
"if a country which is on the Security Council's agenda asks to be
heard, it should be. You can discuss the format, but the country
should be heard. In fact Inner City Press reported that several
Council members had admitted to it that "only the US -- is opposed to
Afwerki speaking to the Council". When US-UN Ambassador Susan Rice
was asked what the US-UN Mission position was on President Isaias'
request to address the UNSC and why, she explained her position with
these attention-grabbing words:
"We had the foreign ministers come in July. That was sufficient drama
for my taste. I think if one comes, they'll all come. I'm not sure
what we'll hear that's much different. I think any time you bring
together leaders at that level with the degree of tension that exists
between them. It's not going to promote improved relations or greater
peace and stability. So I think we have to be very cautious about it
and thoughtful about it." [4]
Many say deceit and hypocrisy are part of the art of diplomacy, but I
don't think anyone has read hypocrisy and deceit so thinly veiled as
in the above quoted statement of Susan Rice. Here is a person who had
long and hard tried to pit Eritrea and Ethiopia against each other
(e.g., her complicity in the bombing of Asmara, Eritrea's capital,
June of 1998 escalating the border war into the skies) was now
claiming she was trying to prevent the triggering of another war.
Doesn't this make you throw up? In any case, because Rice was so
concerned that Isaias and Meles might slug it out in front of the
Security Council members, she unilaterally decided to deny Eritrea
the right to address the council until Resolution 2023(2011) was set
in blue. That is, until the text of the Resolution was finalized and
no change can be made to it. The U.S. did issue visas, but not until
it was technically impossible for the President of Eritrea to make it
to New York. The visa was issued on Friday (Dec. 2) around 5 pm,
practically leaving no time for flight-over permissions over several
air spaces to be secured, while the vote on Resolution 2023(2011) was
scheduled for Monday Dec. 5. Again, the design here was to rush to a
vote before Security Council members (particularly those feared to be
independent) got a chance to hear from the country whose fate was on
their agenda. Finally, when the kangaroo court hearing of Dec. 5
ended, except in the capitals of the Security Council members from
the Americas, in all other capitals was past the usual business
hours, giving Ambassadors no time to consult with their capitals
before their vote at 3:00 p.m. This too is midnight act of
desperation. We have to remember that some aspects of Resolution 2023
(2011), particularly the one that aimed cutting off Eritrean
remittances, had been a target in Susan Rice's cross hairs for over
thirteen years by then. She was not going to let anything get along
her way. Such is the meanness and vindictiveness of the good Ambassador.
4. New York, USA: December 23, 2009
-----------------------------------
What happened at this time is also well known. Rice pushed Resolution
1907(2009) through the UNSC on December 23, the eve of Christmas Eve.
It was not accidental, but part of her well choreographed move to
punish Eritrea without giving members time to debate or deliberate on
the issue. It was rushed as Council members were rushing to their
Christmas and end of the year break. This midnight act of desperation
had also another sinister dimension for the rush. The Security
Council presidency of December 2009 was under Burkina Faso, a
malleable African member of the Council, past this narrow window in
January of 2010 the Council presidency was passing to China, a
country that doesn't dance to Rice's tune. This makes Resolution 1907
(2009) a perfect example of midnight resolution of desperation.
To get her way Susan Rice had intimidated and arm-twisted every
member of the Security Council, particularly the pliable African
members. Here is Rice's cable sent from, the US UN Mission, to
Washington. It shows as Yamamoto advised Meles in another cable, if
the joint US-Ethiopia project of sanctioning Eritrea was to succeed,
it must be masked by an African face. Rice's tactic was sanctioning a
Black nation, sponsored by Black Members of the Security Council,
supported by a Black US Ambassador to the UN, and under the first
Black U.S. president stands no chance of being challenged by any non-
black nation. This is exactly what she 'reminded' President Yoweri
Museveni of Uganda when she was urging him to sponsor 1907(2009):
"Rice reminded Museveni that past experience suggested that the UNSC
would not block a resolution led by African members and supported by
the African Union. She shared the U.S. read that, if Burkina Faso and
Uganda co-sponsor this resolution, the British will support, the
French will 'keep their heads down' and will not block."[5]
One might not like Susan Rice, but one has to give it to her. She is
a conniving genius. It is not for naught Peter Rosenblum wrote in
2002 that some people who knew her were referring to her and another
TPLF groupie, Gayle Smith, as the "Thelma and Louise"[6] of U.S.
foreign policy. Rice was bestowed with this dubious "honor" for the
diplomatic blunders, not least the escalation of the Eritrea-Ethiopia
war, she made during the Clinton Administration. She was then
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. After this diplomatic
blunder, Rosenblum wrote, no one hoped to see Rice "back in high
policy positions at the State Department anytime soon". However,
thanks to Obama, not only is Rice back in high policy position, but
she also has a cabinet-level position giving her an equal, if not
more, power to influence US foreign policy as Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. True to character, she is now abusing her position
left and right.
5. Sirte, Libya: July 3, 2009
-----------------------------
This happened during the 13th Ordinary Meeting of the African Union
Heads of States. As it was January 2012 in Addis Ababa, so it was in
2009 at Sirte, Libya three years earlier. A motion for the African
Union to call on the UN Security Council to sanction Eritrea was
tabled "at the wee hours of the night when most of the members of the
Union were not present". The Chair objected the motion saying "there
was no enough time or no enough Heads of States to debate it and it
should be postponed". At that time, those in the audience, tell that
the Ethiopian Prime Minister began screaming and yelling and was in
an emotional outburst, if you like in a child-like "temper tantrum".
As was in the plan, Djibouti and Kenya joined the drama and the rest
is history.
In conclusion, why do these desperadoes want to act like a "thief in
the night" when it comes to passing sanctions against Eritrea? It
could only be out of one reason and one reason alone. They don't have
evidence that can withstand a day light and an open debate and
hearing. What they want to pass as evidence is a tall tale collection
of phantom witnesses, phantom armies, phantom planes, ..., etc. And
as we all know ghosts do not like operating in a day light. This is
the only explanation. When people are desperate, particularly when
they know they have no facts to back their allegations, they are
forced to turn into "thieves in the night". This is what we have
witnessed from Sirte to New York to Addis Ababa: midnight
desperations. Let's make it clear, the whole issue against Eritrea is
a collusion of desperadoes that are desperate to push their agenda in
the dark.
End Notes
--------------------
1. Osman Saleh, Eritrea's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Letter to Jean
Ping, AU Commission Chair, February 2, 2012.
http://www.dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/jun-dec12/0355.html
2. Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. July 6, 2012.
http://www.dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/jun-dec12/0362.html
3. Osman Saleh, Eritrea's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Letter to Jean
Ping, AU Commission Chair, February 2, 2012.
http://www.dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/jun-dec12/0355.html
4. Matthew Russell Lee. US Opposes Eritrea President Meeting Security
Council, Rice Tells Press Why, Inner City Press. November 3, 2011.
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc2afwerki110311.html
5. US-UN cable, New York.Tue, 29 Sep 2009
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/09/09USUNNEWYORK861.html
6. P. Rosenblum. Irrational Exuberance: The Clinton Administration in
Africa. Current History, May 2002, 195-202.
Rosenblum writes Thelma and Louise are "the characters from the 1990
film by the same name who liberate themselves from the world of male
dominance and leave a trail of destruction before they drive off a
cliff together". He continues:
"Rice proved herself brilliant, over time, in working the machinery
of government. But along the way she burned bridges liberally,
alienating and often antagonizing many potential allies. Neither she
nor Smith was known for admitting error or even uncertainty. Many
people they feuded with have since come to respect them, but they are
not hoping to see them back in high policy positions at the State
Department anytime soon. Susan Rice seems not to have convinced
colleagues that her real interest was Africa, or even foreign policy."
Received on Thu Jul 12 2012 - 20:58:02 EDT
