The inability of the United States to shoulder its legal and moral obligations, its appeasement and coddling of criminal mercenaries such Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Abdulahi Yusuf of Somalia and now Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, who are committing untold international crimes against their own peoples, is affecting not just its image and reputation as a world leader, but has left the citizens of the Horn questioning US intentions
BBC News reported in its 31 March 2006 excerpts from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s major speech on foreign policy delivered in Blackburn, one of her stops during her 2-day tour of the
I cannot begin to imagine what Ms. Rice considers “tactical errors” and “right strategic decisions”, but as a victim of a past US mistake and one that knows only too well what these mistakes entail, allow me to illustrate to Condoleezza Rice and the US State Department where US policy for Horn is heading.
The US it seems, is not
The United States of America made a deadly, disastrous, and tragic strategic mistake on 2 December 1950 when it rallied its allies at the United Nations to adopt the unjust, unfair and criminal Resolution 390 V (A) that called for a federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia, against the expressed wishes and aspirations of the Eritrean people. Supposedly,
On 11 September 1952,
It should be recalled that regime in
For 30 years, as young men and women were murdered and entire villages bombed to the ground, and as an entire generation perished into the hills and mountains, valleys and shores of Eritrea and beyond, the US led international community remained deafeningly silent and actively promoted its strategic mistake.
Successive Ethiopian regimes indiscriminately bombed Eritrean schools, churches, hospitals, women and children leaving over 65,000 dead, thousands more injured and displaced over the 30 years.
I do not know what the United States gained by that 30 year long strategic mistake or if the Eritrean people were just victims of “tactical errors”, but the people of Eritrea in particular, and the people in the Horn of Africa have suffered immensely as a consequence of America’s strategic mistake #1.
Strategic Mistake #2: It should be recalled that it is the
On 13 April 2002, the independent Eritrean Ethiopian Boundary Commission delivered its Final and Binding decision. While
Instead of upholding the rule of law and enforcing the EEBC decision, the US led international community went to great lengths to have the Final and Binding decision of the EEBC amended, changed, revised, re-visited, by employing several very transparent gimmicks using “dialogue” as its pre-text. John Bolton former
Article 14 of the Algiers Agreement, clearly stated: “…the OAU and the UN commit themselves to guarantee the respect for this commitment of the parties. This guarantee shall be comprised of measures to be taken by the international community should one or both parties violate this commitment, including appropriate measures to be taken under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations by the Security Council”
After waiting for over five and a half years as the regime refused to allow for the expeditious demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border, the EEBC demarcated the Eritrea Ethiopia border by placing coordinates on maps (virtual demarcation), as opposed to placing pillars on the ground. The Algiers Agreements have been consummated and any talk of a border dispute between
In fulfillment of its legal and moral responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security, the Security Council should determine to bring the invasion and occupation of Eritrea, by Ethiopia, to an end and restore the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Eritrea, affirm the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense, in response to the armed attack (occupation) by Ethiopia against Eritrea, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter, and act under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, by taking appropriate measures to secure Ethiopia’ compliance with the EEBC’s Final and Binding decision, international law and the UN Charter.
The Security Council, must determine that there exists a breach of international peace and security as regards to Ethiopia’s occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme, and should act immediately under Articles 39 and 40 of the Charter of the United Nations, and condemn Ethiopia’s aggression and demand that Ethiopia withdraw immediately and unconditionally all of its forces to the November 2006 line of demarcation.
If the Security Council continues to neglect its moral and legal responsibilities under the UN Charter, and if some members of the Security Council continue to obstruct justice and the rule of law in order to advance their own interests in the region, Eritrea will have no choice but to exercise the undesirable option of its inherent legal right to self defense. Article 51 of the UN Charter clearly says: “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security”
Just as t he law enforcement bodies and institutions in any country are responsible for enforcing criminal and civil laws and legal and binding court decisions, the UN Security Council is responsible, for maintaining regional and international peace and security, for enforcing the UN Charter, international law, its own resolutions as well as legal and binding arbitrations. There can be no “dialogue” and “normalization of relations” with the rogue regime while it is militarily occupying sovereign Eritrean territories and thousands of Eritreans are languishing in camps waiting to go home. Those parties that are encouraging its belligerence will bear full responsibility for the consequences.
Strategic Mistake #3: In 2002, Ethiopian police shot dead over 230 peaceful demonstrators in Oromia and Southern regions of
The Ethiopian government massacred innocent men, women and children and destroyed hundreds of Anuak villages in Gambella, which drove tens of thousands of Anuak people into neighboring
The minority regime’s forces have been terrorizing rural communities in the Ogaden region of
Turning a blind eye to the massacres in Ogaden, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, who was accorded a guided tour of the area, told reporters that the allegations were “unsubstantiated” and at a Subcommittee hearing told lawmakers that Meles Zenawi’s regime was conducting an internal investigation. Talk about the fox watching the chicken coup. Instead of putting pressure on the minority regime to abide by the rule of law and respect the rights of the Ethiopian people, using the “war on terror” as its pre-text, the Administration seeks to weaken the Horn region through its mercenary surrogates in order to justify its increasing military presence in the region.
Today, there has been no action from the
Strategic Mistake #4:
In order to effectuate its ill advised racist and Islam-phobic policy in the Horn region, Jendayi E. Frazier, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in violation of the rights of the Somali people and to squash their dreams and aspirations for a united and prosperous Somalia, personally encouraged, planned and executed the Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia to “prop up” the illegitimate puppet Transitional National Government (TNG) led by the notorious warlords, Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi, that the US belatedly decided was the only “internationally recognized” government of Somalia.
The international community may have recognized it, but it was illegitimate in the eyes of the Somali people who had given their support to the Union of Islamic Courts who had managed to secure
Over a million people have been displaced from their homes and 10,000 innocent civilians have been massacred in cold blood as Meles Zenawi’s forces conduct “door to door” searches, hunt down “extremists”, “fundamentalists” and “terrorists”. Hundreds have been detained in secret prisons under the auspices of the war on terror and the controversial “extraordinary rendition program” where torture has been employed with the knowledge or acquiescence of the
The Security Council which has the moral and legal obligation to defend the rights of all its member States has not taken any action against the aggressive war mongering regime in Ethiopia and is now working in tandem with the US State Department to legitimize the invasion and occupation by introducing an African Union “stabilization” force to replace the invading Ethiopian forces if and when they leave. The
It should be noted that neither the US, nor Ethiopia have produced a single “terrorist” to date and continue to pulverize Somalia in search of three illusive “terrorists” who are supposed to be taking refuge in Somalia. Of course all that was based on self serving “Ethiopian intelligence”. Meles Zenawi must be brought to justice for the massacres, rapes and destructions in
Strategic Mistake #5: The Bush Administration wasted no time in sending its glowing congratulations to incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and the Kenyan Election Commission.
It reminded me of the Statement by the US State Department when they believed the coup in
Kibaki also allowed US forces to operate from Kenyan territory, but sadly, did not see fit to allow desperate Somali men, women and children seeking refuge into its territory, as they fled Ethiopian aerial and ground attacks. But how did the seemingly well-run elections go wrong?
Let us take a look at what the New York Times reported on 31 December 2007: “…75 of the 210 constituencies — meaning more than one-third of the vote — had serious question marks and that the election chairman initially agreed to investigate. But later on Sunday he changed his mind…
Horn observers were not surprised when polls showed Raila Odinga’s wide lead in the end of year 2007 Kenyan elections, and there was absolutely no doubt that he was the declared choice of the Kenyan people.
Unfortunately, just as Meles Zenawi did in
Odinga clearly won the elections and Kenyans are protesting the illegal interventions by the Kenyan Electoral Commission –funded and supported by various
It should be recalled that in the 2005 Ethiopian elections, the opposition were winning and just like it did in the Kenyan elections, the hand-picked Ethiopian Election intervened and halted the announcement of results. When enough ballots had been stolen and destroyed, the Ethiopian Election Board declared Meles Zenawi’s EPDRF the winners. Members of his Tigrayan regime that had lost their seats returned to government with full Ministerial portfolios.
The US Administration, which considers
In the meantime, western powers will instruct the global media to ignore the carnage in
These shortsighted policies of the US Administrations coupled with a string of political miscalculations threaten to destabilize the entire region and engulf in a dangerously intractable crisis. A dire economic crisis is in the making, affecting neighboring countries such as
Ms. Condoleezza Rice was once quoted in the National Review magazine of 30 August 1999 as saying the following: “…the
So what is the design for the Horn of Africa? Death? Destructions? Displacement? Humiliation? Seems
The efficacy and credibility of the United Nations and the confidence of its members in its ability to enforce its own resolutions and decisions, uphold the UN Charter and its political will and courage to enforce international law is being questioned by its member States.
The inability of the United States to shoulder its legal and moral obligations, its appeasement and coddling of criminal mercenaries such Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Abdulahi Yusuf of Somalia and now Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, who are committing untold international crimes against their own peoples, is affecting not just its image and reputation as a world leader, but has left the citizens of the Horn questioning US intentions in the region and its commitment to justice and the rule of law.
Yes, the
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