Beyond Lifting the UN Sanctions Imposed on Eritrea

In 2009, Susan Rice, the then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and her close friend, the late Ethiopian dictator, Meles Zenawi, hatched a plan to sanction secular Eritrea on the false pretext of supporting the terrorist group Al-Shabab in Somalia. The goal of the sanction was to economically cripple Eritrea in order to induce regime change in the country.



Beyond Lifting the UN Sanctions Imposed on Eritrea

February 21, 2016

By Haile Abraham

On February 18, 2016 the UNSC held a briefing on a report presented by the SEMG (Somalia-Eritrean Monitoring Group) and by all indications, it appears that the Security Council is poised to lift or at least facilitate the means and ways to lift the sanctions it has imposed on Eritrea for the past 7 years.  Many Eritreans and other justice-seeking people around the world are very optimistic by this recent development and are looking forward for the sanctions to be lifted.  After all, the sanctions are illegal as well as unjust, and the pressure among member states to lift the sanction has also been increasing.  Thus it is fair to assume that the Security Council itself has also a great desire, as well as interest, to lift the sanctions as quickly as possible for multiple reasons.

First, the false allegations.  By now it has been clear that the allegations the Security Council had based to justify the sanctions on Eritrea are running out of steam.  The sanctions have continued to tarnish the already questionable work ethics of the UN as a fair playground for all Nations.  In Eritrea’s cases, sanctioning a poor young African nation without any justification has been one of the most embarrassing moments in UN’s history.  So the sooner the Council ends this illegal and unjust act on Eritrea the sooner it will end its own embarrassment

Second, sanctions could not bring Eritrea down to its knees.  There is no question that the evil intentions behind the UN sanctions were to bring Eritrea's economy down to its knees; create instability within the population and the government; and finally create a puppet-state or a failed state.  But thanks to the self-reliant and forward-thinking government apparatus in place, Eritrea instead flourished in all sectors including agriculture, mineral resource exploration and self-defense strategies.  In a neighborhood where there is a constant instability, Eritrea found itself as an island of peace and stability; in a neighborhood where famine is rampant, Eritrea fed its people without donors handout or bank loans.  In a nutshell, Eritrea's prevalence as a proud nation during one of the tightest illegal and unjust sanctions, it has become an embarrassment to the UN and its Western sponsors. Therefore, the sooner the UN lifts the sanctions the sooner it will end its embarrassment.

In conclusion, it is not far-fetched to say that at this juncture the UN is more anxious to lift the sanction than Eritrea because not only did the UN and its Western sponsors fail to achieve their evil agenda, but all the conspiracies and the false allegations they have committed to carry out their evil agenda had been embarrassingly exposed for the whole world to see.    

For this reason, I think it is reasonable that Eritrea makes the following three demands before the UN lifts the sanctions:

1.  Formal Apology:  Eritrea should demand a formal apology from UNSC through its formal channels to the Eritrean people and the Eritrean government for imposing illegal and unjust sanctions based on false and unfounded allegation for the past 8 years

2.  Monetary Compensation:  The UN must make a monetary compensation to Eritrea for all the economic hardship Eritrea suffered due to these illegal and unjust sanctions, including for interfering in Eritrea's mine exploration; diaspora remittances and foreign investments

3.  Susan Rice to ICC:  Eritrea should demand Susan Rice, the former US Ambassador to the UN, to be brought up for a hearing at the International Criminal Court for stepping outside of her duty and commit and illegal act to enforce a sanction on Eritrea single-handedly.  Her reckless and irresponsible action has caused an economic hardship in Eritrea, which forced thousands of young Eritreans to flee their home country and perish at the hands of human traffickers.

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