By Dawit Solomon,
When UN was setup in the eve of the end of WWII devastation, world peace was at its center of focus.
Decolonization of people or nations who were suffering under colonization in many parts of the word through self-determinations was the motto of UN founders.
They had setup an office of Decolonization to help people under colony achieve their independence.
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1. The Eritrean people were among the first nations that requested the UN for independence. But UN denied Eritreans their right for self determination and actively sponsored the Re-colonization of Eritrea sawing the ‘Original sin’ for the human right violation of Eritrean people that lasted for decades.
That unfair and unjust decision of 1950, its effect is still lingering in various forms even today after Eritreans achieved their independence through tremendous sacrifices in 1991. The tragic consequence of that decision was not limited to Eritreans alone but also many in Ethiopia had suffered equally when their government used them as canon fodders for their war aggression.
2. UN failed to conduct its Referendum that it promised to Eritreans through its federal arrangement or re-colonization program, when King Haile Sellasie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, unilaterally shredded the U.N sponsored document and annexed Eritrea, igniting genocidal war on unarmed peaceful citizens and gross abuses of human rights of Eritreans as people.
UN created a moral hazard condition in the region, the more Ethiopia pushed in their war of aggression in Eritrea, the more they destroyed its economy, its underdevelopment continued and aggravated while its population grew, widespread famine became common and as a result conditions created for UN to increase its economic aid to the country.
War became a lucrative business for the feudal warlords of Ethiopia.
3. UN looked the other way when Ethiopian fighter planes dropped napalm bombs and using chemical weapons killing innocent children for 30 years, trying to destroy the resistance of armed struggle in Eritrea.
Its prominent members the US and USSR were arming the Ethiopian army to the teeth with F-5 and MIG fighters. Not a single word of condemnations was uttered throughout the 30 years war from UN. In contrast UN gave silent support and encouragement to Ethiopian government to continue its abuses without fear of condemnation.
4. UN knowingly or unknowingly had sponsored and paid Ethiopian troops to burn and loot Eritrean villages, under the disguise of food and development aid to Ethiopia.
Almost 99% of the trucks the Derg regime used to transport his troops were donated by UN Agencies. The food that Derg used to feed its large army was donated by UN, WFP, USAID, Canada and European Unions, while the Soviets and its allies continued the supply of weapons, tanks, fighter planes, military advisors and jet pilots for indiscriminate destruction of the country.
5. After Independence UN generous financial help to Ethiopia assisted it to renew its War of aggression on Eritrea under the guise of border crisis.
UN affiliated bodies like the World Bank and IMF donated money to Ethiopia for the purchase of arms and declared war to invade Eritrean sovereign territories, in violation of UN Charter, while at the same time systematically denying for Eritrea fund for Development and infrastructure reconstruction projects that are badly devastated by the war.
6. UN was moot when 80,000 of Eritreans and Eritreans of Ethiopian origin, young, old and sick were robbed and deported as part of Ethiopia’s ethnic cleansing policy. Many have to die because they have been forced to cross the militarized border that was full of mines.
This tragic ethnic cleansing crime by Ethiopia was given little or no attention by the world body as well as by the so called human right advocates. In contrast the UN and its affiliate Human Right Watches preferred to watch the other way and in fact tried to apportion blames to the aggressor and the victim equally to show their ‘Neutrality’.
7. The UN, under its UNHCR offices, also engaged in enticing Eritrean youth and sponsors Human Trafficking of Eritreans by opening camps in the borders of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti.
Even UN Peace Keepers (UNMEE) was engaged in human trafficking across the border with Ethiopia and underage prostitution before they have been asked to leave the country. UN abided by the request reluctantly though the UN Secretary General was trying to warn the possibility of resumption of war between the two nations once UNMEE left.
Unfortunately, his prediction has not materialized, but it seems the UN has kept vendetta against Eritrea for forcefully ending the continued presence of the Peace Keepers in the country. Ever since they left the country, the UN started to engage with various accusations and even sanctions against Eritrea under different pretext.
While Eritrea is one of the most peaceful country in the world, there is a deliberate campaign waged to paint it as a ‘regional spoiler’, ‘Human Right Abuser’, ‘Military Aggressor’ etc. Better yet, even countries whose population lives under constant terror in the past decades such as Somalia and Nigeria are allowed to sponsor false charges against Eritrea for the purpose of punishing it harder. Based on false charges with collaboration of regional and continental organizations, UN is acting as the Plaintiff, the Prosecutor and the Judge in its own court, the Security Council.
Tremendous efforts have been exerted through the main stream media to create crack between the people and government of Eritrea and by openly advocating for regime change.
8. The UN endorsed unjust economic and military sanctions on Eritrea based on fabricated accusations while denying Eritrea to defend itself. It even barred its president from addressing the Security Council and present his country’s side of defense while allowing the accusers to address the council through video conferencing.
UN passed guilty verdict on Eritrea before it was given the chance to prove its innocence, reversing the simple elementary logic of ‘innocence until proven guilty’ in to ‘guilty until proven innocent’.
9. UN discriminates against Eritreans by refusing to implement the Algiers Agreement which it cosponsored and signatory party to enforcer the agreement.
This neglect of UN responsibility is the source of current problems in the country by encouraging continued occupation of the sovereign Eritrean territory. Most of the UN sanction initiatives against Eritrea are designed to hide or divert the neglect of UN human right violation on Eritreans.
10. UN is engaged on witch hunt mission to further isolate Eritrea again by accusing it with Human Right violations. The vendetta continues and this time again for another round of sanction.
CONCLUSION:
UN should lead by example by implementing its Charter to all nations without discrimination among its members. It should help Eritrea to end its border dispute with Ethiopia and ending the ‘No-Peace No-War’ situation.
For the sake of simple fairness and justice and peace in the Horn of Africa, UN has to come clean of its records before it points its finger on Eritrea, on any kind of crime because three of its fingers point to itself for the continued violation of Human Right on the people of Eritrea.
UN should lead by example by following the rule of law before trying to impose them on its member states. Creating diversions to cover its sins and abuses against Eritrean people or shading crocodile tears cannot change the truth. May be its time for UN to setup a commission to investigate its weakness and why it inflicted so many injustices on Eritrean people since its inception.
