Eritrea's
Afwerki
Asks to Meet
SC, Sanctions
Proponents
Want In, Rice
in Mix?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 27 --
As the push
for additional
sanctions
against
Eritrea
gathers
strength in
the UN
Security
Council,
Eritrean
president
Isaias Afwerki
has asked to
come and
personally
speak to
the Council,
Inner City
Press was told
Thursday by a
Council
Permanent
Representative
and the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of a Permanent
Five
member.
Both
said there
might be
problems, in
that other
heads of state
of neighboring
countries,
including
Ethiopia and
Djibouti,
might then
also want to
address the
Council. This
happened
earlier this
year, at the
foreign
minister
level, in a meeting in
the UN's North
Lawn building
exclusively
reported
by Inner City
Press. (Click
here for
Inner City
Press interview
with Afwerki's
adviser Yemane.)
Thursday
Inner
City Press
observed
diplomats from
Ethiopia and
Djibouti going
into
the Security
Council,
followed
shortly
thereafter by
US Ambassador
Susan Rice.
When Inner
City Press
asked, it was
told
"bilaterals,"
not a Council
meeting. More
like
"multi-laterals"
or
"Horn-wide,"
said one wag.
(c) UN Photo
Afwerki &
Ban Ki-moon,
new sanctions
and impacts
not shown
African
Union
sources tells
Inner City
Press that
"the
neighbors"
want
harsher
sanctions on
Eritrea than
the rest of
the African
Union can
live with.
Susan Rice and
the US, they
say, seems to
be siding with
"the
neighbors."
One
AU source
bemoaned, "The
Ethiopians and
Eritreans,
their leaders,
they are
related...
This whole
thing, it is a
great pain to
us." Another
noted, "It is
better to talk
than fight."
Watch this
site.
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