Tue 11/11/2008 6:55 PM
Amanuel Biedemariam
On October 23, the UNSC held a hearing about Djibouti and Eritrea’s border dispute.
The UNSC took on the case because on June 12, 2008, Djibouti alleged Eritrean forces seized her territories militarily.
On June 13, 2008, The Arab League demanded Eritrea withdraw immediately.
At the same time, the US, France, EU, AU, IGAD, UN, and others swiftly condemned Eritrea without examination or investigation.
Their statements were well-coordinated, suspicious, unjustified, fabricated, and misleading.
However, the seasoned observer of the region would undeniably know the US, EU, and Ethiopia fabricated the event as part of a much bigger plan. The African Union and Arab League were US allies supporting the effort.
The accusers made no effort to get the facts, examine the cause, understand the motivations, and present no evidence to convict Eritrea. The UNSC had no established mechanism to validate the claims made by Djiboutian authorities.
However, after a coordinated media frenzy, the UN sent representatives as envoys from the same nations that already condemned Eritrea. The UN sent the envoys on a fact-finding mission to investigate, give recommendations and bring resolution.
Eritrea responded in kind by rejecting the mission because the group had already determined that Eritrea was the guilty party.
Shortly after that, the UNSC gathered the same group to the UNSC chambers as witnesses, observers, and judges.
President Ismail Omar Gullah availed himself as a victim and made blistering accusations and unwarranted statements to incriminate Eritrea. President Ismail Omar Gueleh insulted Eritrea and made severe accusations hoping that the UNSC would pass serious measures to hurt Eritrea.
Not long before that, President Gueleh was welcomed to Eritrea by Eritrean mothers like their own son by cheering kids throwing traditional popcorn- confetti. He was also warmly welcomed by Eritrean leaders that gave him the utmost respect. There was no ill-will by the people and government of Eritrea against Djibouti.
The Eritrean Ambassador to the UN, Ambassador Araya Desta, was allowed to make a statement to reject the accusation to a world body that already decided Eritrea was guilty.
Members of the UNSC praised the president of Djibouti for cooperation and chastised Eritrea as a bad child. It was a no-win situation for Eritrea.
The whole charade was set up by the US State Department’s undersecretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Jandayi Frazer. Using a flawed UNSC, weak international organizations, and manipulations, Dr. Janday Frazer played God.
She set a majestic setting to convict Eritrea by providing victims advocates, who were ready to condemn Eritrea by playing as the chief investigators, witnesses, jury, prosecutor, judge, and legal enforcer in one setting.
The hearing was an example of an international body that lost the purpose for which it was founded, peace and security. It was disturbing to witness the United Nations Security Council brazenly engage in the process of demonizing and criminalizing a member state on behalf of another member state or states in this case.
What transpired is alarming to those who care about international justice, due- process, fairness, stability, human rights, poverty, immigration, and world peace! It is reminiscent of the days when Blacks were sentenced to death by lynching by an all-White jury on a setting and a legal system that favored Whites.
The True picture
The US State Department Africa branch has lost to China and failed the American people by squandering precious resources, goodwill of the African people, diplomatic capital, and hard-earned US reputation.
Most importantly, it destroyed many lives, families, villages, and communities, with colossal destruction that displaced millions of Somalis in a short period without any accountability using African armies on US payroll. The Bush-Doctrine and tactics engineered by the State Department with Condoleezza Rice at the helm produced failure after failure. The irony is despite the repeated failures, they kept repeating the same strategy as if they could yield a better result even at the wee hours of a lame-duck administration.
The plan is to dominate the Horn of Africa and exploit the resources because the region is attractive to the US and EU. It is full of rich resources, and its proximity of Europe to makes it super attractive.
The region is targeted for exploitation and future developments due to the vast fertile lands, abundant energy resources, a key trade route, and one of the longest undeveloped sea coasts. The West is at a critical juncture and the halfway point as they attempt to complete these dreams.
They control and support a hyperactive government in Ethiopia, willing to raise arms against neighbors on command. Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni is darling of the State Department; one can claim Washington DC is his second home. The process of isolating Southern-Sudan from the North appears on target. Kenya is a crucial ally, and Djibouti remains the only French quasi-colony in Africa. The West is united regarding its geopolitical interests in the HOA. During his Europe tour in France, the then-Senator Barack Obama proclaimed; he agreed with President Nicola Sarkozy on many issues and cited the Darfur issues as critical points of understanding.
Strategic Obstacles/blunders
The US State Department Africa branch led by Dr. Janday Frazer committed significant strategic blunders. They lacked vision, flexibility, and understanding of the fluid geopolitical makeup and changes that engulfed the region.
They made disastrous strategic miscalculations that undermined the faith, way-of-life, cultures, customs, privacy, and the well-being of the people in the region. They shunned bilateral relations to control the region using a wholesale-regional approach. Instead of diplomacy, the US resorted to using threat, intimidation, heavy diplomatic pressures, force, and pinned African leaders against one another. They pay armed factions to keep them fighting against each other.
They undermined sovereignty and the security needs of the countries. The US ignored the bread and butter issues of the region as they pursued more extensive US interests.
The US allowed Ethiopia to invade Somalia under the guise of terror threat ignoring a long history of hostility between the two countries.
The State Department allowed Dr. Frazer to use unbound aggressive and adventurous diplomatic tactics, which helped reinforce anti-American sentiments. Her legacy is painted by terrorized, wounded, hungry, crying kids of Somalia in the arms of dejected helpless mothers in overcrowded hospitals.
There is not a single moment that Dr. Janday Frazer infiltrated the people’s lives in the region positively. Instead of winning hearts and minds, she reversed an excellent image of America and turned it into America that is loathed, feared, and mistrusted.
It is difficult to imagine the State Department made Dr. Frazer is in charge of a region that impacts the lives of millions of people, a region of vital importance to the US. Dr. Frazer flaunted power, ignored diplomacy, alienated allies, and deliberately fractured the region to pursue a more extensive agenda.
Their Biggest Problem:
The biggest obstacle and problem for the West in the Horn is Eritrea. In pursuit of their plan, the US has repeatedly failed the people of Eritrea. They handed Eritrea to Ethiopia, employing UN authorized federation. During the struggle for independence, the US helped Ethiopia. But, Eritrea did not allow the past to determine the future and established diplomatic relations with the USA and planned to move forward.
However, the Us undermined Eritrea’s good intentions after the war broke out with Ethiopia in 1998. While claiming neutrality, the US sided with Ethiopia to undermine Eritrea’s hard-earned independence sparing no expense or effort.
The UE, Ethiopia, and the EU tried to isolate Eritrea politically, economically, diplomatically and demonized Eritrean leaders nonstop. They tried to use religion, freedom of the press, immigration, and other issues to create a wedge and crack the society to weaken and break it in a best-case scenario. They conducted relentless campaigns to destabilize Eritrea with seemingly endless resources and time at their disposal.
For a while, the US strategists constantly attacked Eritrea’s will, desire, wit, and determination to stand up and defend their rights.
However, the US underestimated the ability of the Eritrean people to fight for their interests and pay the necessary sacrifice to attain their goals based on principled and proven stands. Eritrea has patience, methodology, and the right instinct.
Eritrea possesses a unique quality that separates her from other African countries. Eritreans have a united zeal to overcome odds. They are savvy and collectively elusive, which helps save them time and again. That is because Eritreans know, and as a new nation, they will try it, and they know they have no choice but to stand up and prevail.
It is that brilliant nature that helped Eritrea to transform its relationship with the people of Sudan and Ethiopians. Eritrea is the influence the West hates and the example the Somali people can learn from. The principled stand exposed the grand-schemes of the US and Secretary Kofi Anan naked.
The proven principled stand is why Eritrea gave her neck for the Somali people to help them determine their future. That principled stand exposed the duplicity of the likes of Dr. Jendayi Frazer, thus exposing US, West intentions time and again. In simple terms, Eritrean influence is blocking the broader Geopolitical plan of the West. The West finds it difficult to go against a principled stand embracing international law. When they do, they act like criminals, violate international law, especially when they prop a criminal Ethiopia TPLF regime.
The West responds
Dr. Frazer knows time is running out on the US hegemony. After years of failings, she is desperate to show any success. And it appears that she has made it her mission to see Eritreans punished for not giving in to her design. In his latest book, Surrender is No Option; Ambassador John R. Bolton exposed Dr. Frazer’s intentions to reopen the Eritrean Ethiopian issue at the UN. Ambassador Bolton states that,
“In February 2006, Frazer informed him that she wanted him to “reopen” the 2002 EEBC decision, “which she had concluded was wrong, and award a major piece of the disputed territory to Ethiopia.” Page 347.
Ambassador Bolton was surprised at Frazer’s changing her position. Because in January 2006, The Security Council agreed to
“A Frazer-led US initiative” on the border issue on the basis that this initiative would be solely focused on rapid implementation of the EEBC decision.”
The hearing at the UNSC chambers on October 23 is a must-see for Africans, African-Americans, and those who like to see a democratic UN. It is a clear example and evidence of why the UN needs reform if World Peace is to prevail based on justice and the Rule of Law.
They designed the staging, presentations, processes, theatrics to accomplish one thing; assign guilt. It is a sad commentary to see the UN take a historic step-back at the moment in history when the World is taking a step forward by electing a Black Man for President.
It is appalling to see the people responsible for the borders of Africa using borders to instigate conflict between neighbor’s using leaders on their payroll. These African leaders are like the chiefs who sold their people to Slavery for trinkets. The only difference is they are doing it from the UN Chambers wearing business suits. During the hearing for his Supreme Court confirmation, Justice Clarence Thomas stated,
“This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, as far as I’m concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate rather than hung from a tree.”
What happened in the UNSC chambers on Oct23rd was just that, a circus and disgrace. Unlike those who kowtow to an old order, Eritrea raises eyebrows by standing and creating a path itself.
In a reminder of a recent history of Slavery and colonialism, the French and Italian representative in Unisom rendered their condemnation of Eritrea.
It is inexcusable to see the Italian Ambassador ignoring his fascist past to condemn Eritrea. Italy should uphold its moral obligation for colonizing Eritrea and enslaving her people by standing with the people of Eritrea. Italians should have and must have atoned for their criminal Fascist past by making it suitable with Eritrean people. Instead, they arrogantly stood on the wrong side of history by standing with the French as if they didn’t know Eritrean borders!
Ambassador Araya Desta would have served his time better if he allowed Eritrean elementary school students to read the statement to the Chamber to show Eritrea’s future and remind them of the bloody history on their hands.
Luckily, time is running out. The World and Americans have rejected President George Bush and his ill-conceived global adventures. Hope for the region is on the horizon. The Somalis are reclaiming their land fast and furiously. Sudan squeezes the mercenary regime in Ethiopia on one side, Eritrea on the North, Somalia on the East, and Ethiopians in the middle.
The World can use a fresh-leadership approach to allow Africa to develop. To become the manufacturer, the consumer base, and equal partner while alternative energy solutions are explored. For the first time, Africans have an opportunity and a positive example to look forward and do it right.
The Horn of Africa agrees that Dr. Frazer has negatively impacted over 50 million people in the Horn of Africa. She used the cover of US power to throw her weight around belligerently.
Hence, we hope Africans unite to make her accountable for her actions on behalf of the terrorized kids and perished lives.
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