Eritrea,
Blaming
US, Writes
Again to UN
Council Asking
More Time,
Showdown
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 3 --
As the
scheduled UN Security
Council vote
on
new sanctions
against
Eritrea on
Monday looms,
on Saturday
the
country's
foreign
minister Osman
Saleh wrote
again to
Council
president
Vitaly Churkin
of Russia
asking for
more time.
Saleh's
letter,
which Inner
City Press
received and
is putting online here,
puts the
blame for the
rush and
denial of due
process on the
United
States.
The letter
does not
mention Gabon,
the ostensible
sponsor of the
sanctions
resolution.
It
does not seem
that the
Council will
consider
Saleh's letter
until Monday
morning,
the time given
at the
eleventh hour
for Eritrean
president
Isaias
Afwerki to
address to the
Council.
The letter
says that such
intervention
would be "a
mere
formality" --
the resolution
is already "in
blue" and
ready to be
voted on. No
provision
was made by
the Council to
consult with
capitals after
hearing from
Eritrea's
president.
To
some it
appears
that the
initially
satisfying compromise
-- to here
from Isaias
Afwerki and
then vote --
is akin to
allowing a
defendant to
speak
only before
sentencing,
not during the
trial.
(c) UN Photo
Isaias Afwerki
& Ban
Ki-moon, who
has not been
heard from
This
is a rare
and
unprecedented
case, in which
a country
faced with
Council
sanctions has
repeatedly
asked to be
heard, and
then asking
that the
schedule make
such a hearing
possible and
potentially
meaningful.
Can
the Security
Council rise
to the
challenge,
despite the
insistent
pressure of
its (by far)
most insistent
member? Watch
this site.
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