At
UN
as Eritrea
Asks for Time,
US Says "It's
Monday,"
Russia's
Sanctions
Concerns
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 2 --
Pushing for
new UN
Security
Council sanctions
on
Eritrea, the
US and Gabon
wanted a vote
on November 30.
After
running
into opposition,
it was decided
that Eritrean
President
Isaias Afwerki
would to
invited to
address the
Council on the
morning
of December 5,
along with
representatives
of neighboring
countries,
then the vote
would occur
that
afternoon.
Eritrea
responded
that the
turn-around
time was too
short, and
asked for an
extension.
Inner City
Press on
December 2
asked US
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo about
Eritrea's
request for an
extension.
"The
schedule
is Monday,"
she told Inner
City Press
with a smile.
"See
you Monday."
When
December's
Security
Council
president
Russia's
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly
Churkin gave a
press
conference,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
Eritrea's
request, as
well as for
Russia's view
of the
proposed
sanctions,
which refer to
the mining
sector and
remittences to
Eritrea from
its diaspora.
Video
here, from
Minute 18:45.
Churkin
described
the schedule
for Monday,
then said he
thought the
President was
coming, that
"visas have
been issued,"
but that if he
could
not Eritrea
could be
represented by
its foreign
minister or
Permanent
Representative
Desta.
Churkin
said
Russia and
others still
have some
concerns with
the proposed
sanctions,
which are
still being
negotiated.
South
Africa's on
the record
comments
to Inner City
Press on the
sanctions are
online,
here.
On
December 1, a
self-described
"senior
Western
diplomat" said
of the
proposed new
sanctions on
Eritrea, "It
is the
tightening of
the
screw...to
deal with
their taxes on
diaspora
income. They
elicit
taxes through
their
embassies from
the diaspora.
It's a kind of
extortion."
Some
have pointed
out, for
example, that
Nordic and
other
countries tax
the income of
their citizens
working
overseas. The
question of
how taxes are
collected is
an important
one, but as
some Council
members
complained
to Inner City
Presss when
the US and
Gabon pushed
for a November
30
vote, there's
been no
briefing on
the issue from
the UN
Secretariat,
to get the
facts.
(c) UN Photo
Isaias Afwerki
& Ban
Ki-moon,
briefing on
diaspora taxes
not shown
Now
the vote is
scheduled for
December 5,
but there has
still been no
such briefing.
While one
hopes that the
President of
Eritrea comes,
if only as a
matter of due
process, as
one Council
member mused
to Inner City
Press, "to put
a head of
state into a
situation in
which he
speaks to the
Council in the
morning, and
they adopt
sanctions
against his
country in the
afternoon, is
a set-up for a
no-show."
Another
suggested
that the
Council should
have scheduled
the President
to speak as
early in
December as he
could, and
then hold the
vote on
another
subsequent
day. But for
now, the
showdown is
set for
December 5.
Watch this
site.
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