UNSC rejects alternative mechanism, calls for speedy demarcation
By: Sophia Tesfamariam
January 8, 2004

I read the UN Security Council Press Release (UNSC SC/7972 AFR/807) dated January 7, 2004 concerning the Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict and compared it with the UN news report posted on the same day under the headline "Security Council urges political dialogue between Ethiopia and Eritrea". I found the latter to be eisegetical and misleading. The person who wrote the report is not mentioned in the dispatch, nevertheless, whoever he/she is, compromising professional journalism, he/she has misrepresented the gist of the UNSC Press Release, thus appeasing Ethiopia. No matter how much this individual has tried to spin and distort the facts, the main tenets of the UNSC Press Release are clear for any literate person.

I strongly feel that if the spin journalist had stuck to the letter and spirit of the UNSC Press Release, he/she would have chosen one of the following titles:

• "UNSC reaffirmed the final and binding Eritrea-Ethiopia BC decision"
• "UNSC calls for the expeditious implementation of the EEBC decision and demarcation of the border"
• "UNSC expressed disappointment on Ethiopia's rejection of the Border Commission's decision"
• "UNSC expressed disappointment with Ethiopia's refusal to fully cooperate with the Border Commission"
• "Stressed the importance of dialogue between Eritrea and Ethiopia"
• "UNSC rejected an alternative mechanism for demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border". Etc. etc.
  

I therefore leave the readers to make their own comparative analysis and question the motives of this anonymous spin journalist.

The rule of law must prevail over the rule of the jungle!