At
UN,
No Speaker
from Eritrea,
5 Accusers
Given Floor
before
Sanctions Vote
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 5 --
Eritrean
president
Isaias Afwerki
had been
told he could
speak to the
Security
Council Monday
morning, along
with his
neighbors and
accusers,
before the
Council voted
on
sanctions
against
Eritrea on
Monday
afternoon.
Eritrea
responded
that this was
not due
process, with
the sanctions
resolution
already
locked in and
"in blue."
Late on
December 2
Eritrea's
Ambassador
Araya Desta
told Inner
City Press "no
one will come"
under these
circumstances.
On December 3
Eritrean
Foreign
Minister
Osman Saleh
submitted a
letter to this
effect.
When
Monday
morning came,
there was no
consultations
meeting on the
Eritrean
letter. Inner
City Press
asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice on
her way in
if she thought
Eritrea's
neighbors and
accusers
should still
speak,
if Eritrea
wasn't coming.
"They
could
have," Rice
answered.
Inner
City Press
asked UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant the same
question; he
replied,
"Anyone can
speak who has
a vested
interested."
And
the interests
were vested,
piped in by
video
conference
from Addis
Ababa. The
president of
Djibouti spoke
about his
country's land
dispute with
Eritrea.
The President
of Somalia's
Transitional
Federal
Government
spoke, and the
foreign
minister of
Kenya which
has entered
Somalia
with troops it
now wants put
under African
Union helmets,
and paid by
the UN. The AU
representative
of Uganda,
whose UPDF
troops already
have that
status, also
spoke.
Meles
Zenawi of
Ethiopia spoke
about his
longstanding
land dispute
-- Eritrea
claims
its
demarcation
win was never
implemented --
but insisted
three
times, "It is
not a family
quarrel." He
emphasized the
IGAD element
and thanked
Gabon and
Nigeria but
did not
mention South
Africa. (We
will have more
on
this.)
The
meeting was
suspended
after the
speakers from
Addis; the
sanctions will
be voted
on at 3 pm. It
felt like the
sanctions,
which Zenawi
said were
watered down,
might be made
harsher.
"They're in
blue,"
Inner City
Press was
told.
(c) UN Photo
Meles Zenawi
at UN, Isaias
Afwerki (and
due process?)
not shown
On
his way out,
Ethiopia's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Tekeda Alemu
stopped to
speak to Inner
City Press and
provide input.
He said, "the
Eritrean
interest was
never to have
an opportunity
for the
president
to talk."
One
answer is, how
will we know,
if such short
notice was
given, to
speak hours
before
an already
in-blue
resolution
would be voted
on?
While
some on the
Security
Council
described the
"compromise"
reached on
November 30 as
innovative and
a good
precedent --
to invite a
head of
state to speak
-- to do so on
such short
notice, and to
not provide
for any gap to
consult with
capitals and
modify a
resolution if
necessary, is
questionable.
It ended up
with some
analogizing it
to a
kangaroo
court, or
perhaps a
one-sided
therapy
session like
an
intervention.
Only the
intervenee was
not present.
The vote is at
3
pm. Watch this
site.
, 
