YouSaid · the spoken record

Osman Mohammed Saleh,

lines on the record: 101
first: 2007-09-24
most recent: 2017-09-24
sittings or episodes: 10
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It will continue to work to ensure a life of dignity and prosperity for its citizens, in a peaceful and cooperative region, and a more just and equitable world.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We hope that this African initiative, which will have a salutary effect on the world economy and international governance, will be supported by a more conducive international environment and by the United Nations. Eritrea is convinced that our subregion, the Horn of Africa, will overcome its current difficulties and make a substantial contribution to the re-emergence of a dynamic and prosperous Africa. Despite the difficulties it has faced, it has made remarkable progress in providing and caring for its people and rebuilding its economy, and has embarked on modernizing its infrastructure, including developing renewable energy, with the perspective of regional trade, investment and integration.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It is indeed the position of Africa, of most developing countries, the Non-Aligned Movement, the emerging Powers and many in the developed world. What this emerging consensus now needs is a concerted and coordinated effort to effect real change, including in the United Nations system, that would lead to a more peaceful, just and equitable world. No part of the world is in need of positive change more than the African continent, which remains marginalized and almost voiceless. And yet Africa is a continent of massive potential, and there are already unmistakable, if tentative, signs of its awakening. A number of African countries are taking serious steps in the economic, political and social arenas and the revitalization of the African Union proceeds apace.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Change is being resisted by those who believe they have benefited from the old, anachronistic order. Respect for the sovereign equality and territorial integrity of nations and non-interference in their internal affairs — which constitute the pillars of international law and the Charter of the United Nations — are being eroded and wilfully f louted. The noble aims of protecting human rights and civilian lives are being selectively and cynically employed to justify military aggression, external intervention and imposition of sanctions — collective as well as unilateral — to destabilize nations, change Governments and gain economic advantages. This summary assessment, Eritrea believes, is shared by the majority of States Members of the United Nations.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“On another front, and again despite the progress made, in the twenty-first century, hundreds of millions of people in the developing world, as well as in developed countries, continue to suffer from the scourge of poverty, easily preventable diseases and avoidable premature deaths. In addition to the twin scourges of war and poverty, our world now faces an environmental threat that puts human livelihoods and survival at risk. It is therefore disconcerting that the current global political, economic and security architecture is inadequate to address the challenges that we all face. The United Nations system, as has been repeatedly pointed out, is indeed outdated. The General Assembly has been emasculated. The Security Council is dominated by one powerful permanent member, and is increasingly becoming paralysed.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Almost seven decades have elapsed since the establishment of the United Nations, and, undoubtedly, the world has seen much political, economic, social and technological progress. However, it is clear that the United Nations has not succeeded in its paramount purpose of saving humankind from the scourge of war. In the past 67 years, there has hardly been one in which no war raged somewhere in the world. What is particularly significant is the fact that in most of these wars, the major Powers were the main architects and actors — those same Powers which, by virtue of their position in the Security Council, should have shouldered the greatest responsibility in the maintenance of peace and stability.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Let me start by extending my sincere congratulations to the President of the General Assembly and his country, Serbia, upon his election to preside over the sixty-seventh session. I am confident that, with his extensive experience and diplomatic skill, he will lead this session of the General Assembly to a successful conclusion. I pledge the support of the Eritrean delegation for his noble efforts for the common good. I wish to pay profound tribute to the outgoing President, Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, for his commendable work at the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly. He indeed served us well. I would also like to thank Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his leadership and his report (A/67/2) on the work of our United Nations at the outset of this general debate.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Eritrea’s constructive engagement on regional and international matters stems from its firm conviction that a conducive external environment is essential for nation-building. As Eritrea enters its twentieth year of independence, it remains focused on broad-based and people-centred political, economic, social and cultural development that will afford a life of dignity and prosperity to our people. After several years of consistent investments in health, education, agriculture and other essential infrastructure, we have created a solid basis for sustained economic growth. It is expected that trade and domestic and foreign investment will provide additional impetus for the growth of our economy. I wish to seize this opportunity to extend an invitation to all interested countries and their enterprises to become our partners in development.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“While the United Nations grapples with the Sudan and Somalia, it continues to ignore the grave consequences of Ethiopia’s continued occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory, eight years after the ruling of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission and three years after the Commission ended its work by depositing with the United Nations the demarcation of the boundary between the two countries. Ethiopia’s illegal occupation and the United Nations silence, which mean the continuation of the conflict, are exacting a heavy price on the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia and are complicating the regional situation. I wish to remind the United Nations that Eritrea awaits responsible and urgent action to end Ethiopia’s violation of international law and its threat to regional peace and security.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Eritrea does not by any means believe or suggest that that is easy or that it can lead to immediate results. It will undoubtedly be a complex and protracted process, but ultimately achievable. For, even in the past two turbulent decades, Somalis have more than once demonstrated that, given the right environment, they are capable of finding home-grown solutions to their problems. Eritrea therefore urges the United Nations and all those concerned with peace and stability in Somalia to earnestly engage all Somalis and to give the 37 10-55264 political process the serious and sustained attention it deserves. I turn next to the matter of Eritrea and Ethiopia.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“For all those reasons, we ought to encourage the parties to reach agreement on the post referendum issues and relations as soon as is feasible. There is also a need to simultaneously help the protagonists in the Darfur conflict to finally reach an agreement within the context of the Doha talks that are set to resume in the next few days. On Somalia, it is Eritrea’s considered view, borne out by the bitter experience and spiralling violence of the past two decades, that there can be no military solution to the problem in Somalia. While that conviction by now is widely shared in the international community, serious doubts continue to be raised as to whether the alternative — that is, a Somali-owned and Somali-driven, inclusive political process — is possible and practicable.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We endeavour to contribute to transforming our dangerous neighbourhood, a neighbourhood mired in numerous conflicts, into a cooperative and peaceful region. In that connection, I wish to touch upon some of Eritrea’s immediate concerns. In regard to the Sudan, Eritrea is working closely with the Sudanese parties and with regional and international actors as the country enters a critical period in its history. Eritrea believes that the international community as a whole needs to wholeheartedly support the parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as they approach the momentous referendum date in January 2011, and beyond. Irrespective of the outcome of the referendum, relations of trust and cooperation between the parties are crucial for peace and stability, not only in the north and south, but throughout the region.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We have to continue to speak out and work tirelessly for a United Nations that is fit for the twenty-first century and for a more just and equitable world. At the same time, we have to focus on our own nations and regions to ensure a peaceful and stable environment and a dignified life for our peoples. It is that perspective that informs Eritrea’s policies at the national, regional and international levels. Internationally, Eritrea seeks, through robust and constructive engagement, to make its modest contribution to global peace, security, justice and equity and to the protection and enhancement of the environment in the face of changes that threaten the very survival of humanity. Regionally, Eritrea’s efforts are directed at securing peace, stability, development and cooperation in the wider Horn of Africa and the Red Sea regions.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We meet again, at this sixty-fifth session of the Assembly, to expound on the state of our individual countries and to reflect on regional, continental and global affairs. We come to this gathering year after year to share our thoughts and explain our positions on some issues of interest. Yet we realize that the outcome of our deliberations and resolutions falls far short of our own expectations, let alone the aspirations of humanity. We agree that the institutions and procedures of this Organization have long outlived their time, and yet we remain paralysed in our efforts to transform the United Nations. While the prospects for a rapid reform of the United Nations system appear to be dim, we cannot and will not give up.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Let me start by extending my sincere congratulations to you, Mr. President, and your country, Switzerland, for your election to preside over the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. I am confident that with your extensive experience and diplomatic skill, you will lead this session to a successful conclusion. I pledge the support of the Eritrean delegation in your noble efforts for the common good. I wish also to commend your predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, President of the Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, for his excellent leadership. He indeed served us well. I would also like to thank Secretary-General Ban Ki moon for his leadership and his report on the work of our United Nations at the outset of this general debate (see ).”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“On this auspicious occasion, it would not do simply to dwell on various current events or those consequences spawned by the fundamental flaws of the world order. Doing so would only confuse and distort the bigger picture. I have therefore chosen not to address important issues concerning the Horn of Africa and Eritrea’s specific problem of the illegal occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory, which is already in the records of the United Nations awaiting responsible and urgent action.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The change needed to transform this outdated world order into a new one must not be limited to reform; it should be solid, genuine and capable of bringing peace, security and prosperity to coming generations. Reform should not be limited to increasing the number of seats in the Security Council. It should, rather, steer our world away from its dangerous downhill path, controlled by a powerful few, and redirect it towards one that ensures the safety of all. Though this is the ideal to which the world’s peoples aspire and strive for, the African continent, for obvious and particular reasons, needs to expend more effort to achieve it. But beyond all the good wishes, the fundamental reform we are waiting for requires collective commitment.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“However, criticism cannot be reserved only for the special-interest groups that steer the prevailing world order; it must also be apportioned to those groups that serve as their instruments and partners. Indeed, the role of Africa in this body, as well as in other international organizations, can best be described as inconsequential. The evidence for this unfortunate situation is also well documented. If world peace and security are to be preserved, justice and human rights respected, hunger eradicated, and economic development and growth made to benefit the majority in a sustainable fashion, the implementation of fundamental change in this Organization and other international bodies should not be left to the goodwill of the few.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“In this global maelstrom, where even the peoples of the developed countries have been adversely affected, none have been more exposed to harm than the marginalized in Africa. We, the peoples of Africa, have been victims of poverty and hunger, models of backwardness, and metaphors for diseases and epidemics. And the continent has become a breeding ground for crises and conflicts. In this regard, the most urgent concern is the fact that special-interest groups have rendered Africans paralysed. Hence, instead of resolving our own problems, we find ourselves mired in poverty, hunger and disease rather than actively striving to achieve development and growth. Similarly, when it comes to the resolution of crises and conflicts, Africans find themselves dependent on the goodwill of others.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“A culture of the politics of fear and management by crisis has been nurtured, exploited and established as a norm. Indeed, world peace and security have been imperilled beyond measure. The United Nations itself has been one of the victims of this world order. Evidence to this effect is known to us all and is well documented. Reform and change are long overdue. Despite fervent calls for reform by the international community, the few who control our outdated world order are unfortunately not attuned to the notion of change. They have instead regarded crises and suffering as ordinary historical imperatives. To this end, they have resisted all attempts to introduce change and, through their clout, influence and advantages, have been able to block it. Thus, no real reform has occurred so far.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“On the contrary, this ageing world order has been hijacked to serve the interests of the few, opening the door to a myriad of ramifications. Financial institutions have been left to operate unrestrained by restrictions or regulations. Economic structures that pillage the resources and wealth of peoples and nations have been consolidated. Illegitimate military and coercive blunders have been allowed to fester unchecked. The exploitation of war and those who help spread it have been honed in a purposeful manner. The number of people suffering from poverty and hunger has not been reduced; it has rather multiplied many times over. Violent extremism has not received the attention it deserves; rather, it has been further fuelled and manipulated as a pretext and excuse for ulterior motives.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“From an objective point of view, the United Nations should have embarked on a process of transformation 20 years ago, in concurrence with the end of the cold war. By now, it should have been replaced by a reformed Organization fit to address the challenges of the century we live in and beyond. The calls to re-engineer this renewed Organization have not been few. Two decades have passed without any meaningful results in the direction 23 09-52598 of substantive reform. The financial and economic crisis and the global awareness that it has spawned are mere symptoms of the consequences of inaction at the cost of reform. The prevailing world order has not succeeded in guaranteeing the peace and security of our planet, in spite of all the intentions that brought forth its creation and of the harsh lessons learned from the two World Wars.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Likewise, we commend Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his continuous efforts to administer the affairs of the United Nations, and especially for convening the Summit on Climate Change last week. The General Assembly is holding its annual general debate for 2009 at a very critical juncture. One year after the world financial and economic crisis began, this gathering provides us with another opportunity for reflection. The Hall in which we meet today and the lofty purposes for which it was built have both outlived their time. This body was conceived in another era to address the challenges of the world order prevailing after the First and Second World Wars. Therefore, it cannot realistically cope with the demands of the twenty-first century.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Let me begin by congratulating our sisterly country the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and you personally, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. I express our confidence that your long-standing diplomatic skills and leadership will lead us to a successful conclusion of the session. I wish to assure you of the full support of the delegation of the State of Eritrea in the realization of this mission. Permit me also to seize this opportunity to pay a well-deserved tribute to the President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, for the very able and effective manner in which he led the affairs of the Assembly.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“In conclusion, I sincerely hope that our plea will be heeded so that further turmoil and suffering in our region may be avoided.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Secondly, the invasion of Somalia must come to an end and the perpetrators of war crimes must be held accountable. Thirdly, the interferences in and complications of the problems in the Sudan must cease, and a conducive climate must be created to bring about a lasting solution. Lastly and most importantly, United States meddling in the affairs of the Horn of Africa region, which has invariably led to the instigation of crises, must be terminated. The consequences of failing to act are dire indeed. Unless effective measures are taken to remedy the multiplying problems that our global community is confronting today, we run the risk of further widening and exacerbating them. The situation in the Horn of Africa may in fact spiral out of control unless those destabilizing practices are brought to an end.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Therefore, the collective international efforts to check United States excesses are timely and imperative — all the more so because those failures are widely recognized and acknowledged by significant segments of public opinion in the United States itself. The perils of unchecked unipolarism have become glaringly obvious in the past few years. That reality can only accentuate the need to bolster the 08-53141 16 United Nations to make it a democratic and robust institution of multilateralism through prolonged and concerted collective efforts. The need for prompt action requires great urgency, particularly in our region. For that to happen, first of all, illegal occupation of sovereign territories must be terminated and the rule of law and the Charter of the United Nations fully respected.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“At the same time, the United States doggedly tried to use the Security Council platform during its presidency last June to fabricate a non-existent problem and establish a case against Eritrea. All those destabilizing acts are sometimes portrayed as unavoidable consequences or collateral damage of the war on terror. The fact is that the war on terror was derailed long ago from its original objectives and intentions in order to undermine and subvert forces and Governments that do not toe Washington’s line. Furthermore, the dragnet has been widely extended to involve the transparent interference of the United States in the subregional and regional organizations in our part of the world. This untenable state of affairs cannot go on and should not be tolerated. The human sufferings have been and are too great, the time too long.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“While the complexities of the long and varied conflicts cannot be downplayed, the fact remains that United States policy in the Sudan is driven by other objectives and considerations. The net outcome has been and remains an aggravation of the multiple problems there, whether in relation to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and South or with respect to the situation in Darfur. Recently, the United States, which has a military base in Djibouti, has fabricated a new conflict situation between Djibouti and Eritrea to keep alive the hot spots of tension in the region. As I explained earlier, due to United States influence, the Security Council has been paralysed and rendered impotent in the face of Ethiopia’s occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories, including the town of Badme.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed. United States warplanes occasionally pulverize Somali villages in the name of the war on terrorism. Were these interventions legal or justified? The portrayal of Somalia and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) as the epicentre or hub of terrorism was neither true nor candid. Somalis should and could have been given a chance to sort out their own problems through the reconciliation processes that they had begun in earnest. But all of those efforts were nipped in the bud through a pre-emptive invasion by Ethiopia at the instigation of the United States that resulted in massive humanitarian tragedy that dwarfs other contemporary crises in Africa. Nor is the situation in the Sudan any different, either.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Throughout these years, the United States not only used its formidable clout in the United Nations system to forestall appropriate measures against Ethiopia pursuant to the Algiers Agreement and that were based on Chapter VII of the Charter, but it concocted various formulas — special envoys and extensions of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), among other things — of “management by crisis”, to perpetuate the conflict and derail enforcement of the Commission’s legal decision. The tragedy in Somalia is another extremely grave humanitarian situation that has been exacerbated, if not brought about, essentially because of wrong United States policies. Half a million Somalis are today displaced and living in abysmal conditions mainly as a result of Ethiopia’s military invasion in 2007.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“This is so because the Boundary Commission has decided to complete its demarcation functions — which were disrupted and held hostage by Ethiopia for five long years — through precise representation of the boundary by coordinates. Throughout these years, Ethiopia’s reckless acts of destabilization and aggression were supported by the United States, and they continue to be.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Essentially, it had two components: first, confidence-building provisions and 15 08-53141 measures through the deployment of a modest United Nations peacekeeping force; and secondly, settlement of the border dispute through final and binding arbitration on the basis of the colonial treaties and international law. As members know, the parties went through lengthy and meticulous legal litigation in The Hague in 2001. The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission — a five-member arbitration panel of international jurists — announced its unanimous final and binding decision on 13 April 2002 and made serious efforts for five years, until the completion of its work in November 2007. From November 2007 onwards in particular, Ethiopia’s military presence on sovereign Eritrean territories has been one of blatant occupation.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Allow me to illustrate this grim reality through a brief description of the causes and complications of such turbulence. In the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, both parties had ultimately agreed to resolve the dispute through binding arbitration on the legal basis of the sanctity of the colonial boundaries. These are cardinal principles of international law enshrined in the United Nations Charter as well as in the Constitutive Act of the African Union. Furthermore, these commitments were solemnly enshrined in the Algiers Peace Agreement that was signed by the parties in December 2000. The Algiers Agreement was comprehensive in its details.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“The perplexing feature of that overarching and negative development is the emergence of the concept of management by crisis as a new tool of policy promotion. These days, candid efforts are not exerted to prevent and manage conflicts. On the contrary, crises are deliberately spawned and allowed to fester and the resulting necessity for management then provides the United States with opportunity and latitude for control, in a situation of permanent instability. The absence of countervailing forces in a unipolar world has only aggravated the situation. Principal among those is the weakness of the United Nations in pursuing an independent line and acting as a bulwark of robust multilateralism. The strong misgivings that I have expressed are attested to by the multiple situations of turbulence that continue to unfold in our part of the world.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Rapid climatic changes resulting from progressive environmental degradation and the resulting spell of more frequent floods and droughts, as well as pandemics that are affecting millions of people, complete the grid of the immense challenges that our global community is facing today. These multifaceted problems stem from multiple causes. At the same time, it cannot be denied that many of those problems have been exacerbated, if not instigated, by the misguided and domineering policies of the United States Government. Indeed, the fingerprints of the sole super-Power are discernible in most of the conflict situations that are raging in many parts of our globe, with the deleterious economic, financial and humanitarian ramifications that they invariably entail.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“The intractable conflict situations in the Middle East are not nearer to a solution today. In Somalia, humanitarian suffering of unparalleled magnitude continues to unfold, although it remains largely ignored by the international media. Furthermore, the war in Georgia, with its potential fallout for global polarization is symptomatic of, and underscores, the extremely fragile security environment that prevails in our troubled world today. To add to that gloomy mix, the world is also witnessing volatile and speculative fluctuations in the price of fuel oil, an unprecedented hike in food prices and a recent spate of insolvency of financial corporations that in combination are driving the global economy towards recession.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I wish to take this opportunity to warmly congratulate Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session. He has the full support of my delegation, and I wish him every success as he guides the important deliberations of the session at this most critical time. I also wish to take this opportunity to express my delegation’s appreciation to his predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, who successfully presided over the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. These are turbulent times indeed. The world today is not getting safer by any standard. Alas, there seems to be a vortex of perennial conflicts and crises. The fires in Afghanistan and Iraq have not been extinguished; to the contrary, they continue to smoulder and intensify, punctuated by misleading, short-lived lulls.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Eritrea will continue to lend its support to the peace process in Darfur by working closely with all concerned parties and countries, including the United Nations and the African Union, in order to achieve a robust peace package that will bring a lasting solution. In that regard, Eritrea looks forward to the Tripoli meeting later this month.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia has become a serious concern in our region, and the Security Council and members of the international community must insist on the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all Ethiopian troops from Somalia in order to end the occupation. I do not wish to conclude my statement without briefly touching on the progress and the challenges that lie ahead in the peace process in the Sudan. The Sudan has come a long way in addressing its internal conflicts, both by concluding peace agreements and by engaging in the implementation process of the terms and conditions of the peace accords.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Eritrea sincerely hopes that the demarcation process can be restarted, in accordance with international law and consistent with the final and binding delimitation award of 13 April 2002. This is the central tenet of the Algiers Agreements and the key to reinstating regional harmony. It is important for effective action to be taken in the interest of legality and the maintenance of regional peace and security. The United Nations and the Security Council have unequivocal legal and moral responsibilities to ensure that this occurs without further delay and some Powers with major interests in the region need to reassess their policies so that the peoples in the region can live in peace and harmony.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“In the five and one half years since the Boundary Commission’s delimitation decision, however, Ethiopia has repeatedly obstructed implementation of the decision and threatened to walk out on the process altogether, if it was not given everything that it wanted. While tens of thousands of Eritreans indigenous to the Ethiopian-occupied regions wait in internally displaced persons camps for the chance to peacefully enjoy the benefits of the final and binding award, Ethiopia is moving new settlers onto their land, attempting to make its illegal occupation of Eritrean territory permanent. That is in breach of the Algiers Agreements, in particular the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, and Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter should have been invoked to end Ethiopia’s flagrant violations with impunity of international law.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The Vienna Convention does not support Ethiopia’s effort to deny legal force to the Commission’s award. Even if Ethiopia’s renunciation attempts were legally effective which they are not Article 70 of the Convention states that the boundary established under the Algiers Agreement remains binding on both parties. The Vienna Convention cannot simply be interpreted to permit the dissatisfied party in a boundary arbitration to renounce the result retroactively. Indeed, Ethiopia seems to be planning to use its unlawful attempt to renounce the Algiers Agreements in order to renew hostilities. The Algiers Agreements were designed to put an end once and for all to the two States’ conflicting claims to territory and thus to leave the two States free to rebuild their relationship for the good of both of their peoples.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The letter had been circulated to the public and the media without communicating it to the Eritrean Government through appropriate diplomatic or legal channel. In the letter the Ethiopian Foreign Minister indicated Ethiopia’s intention to attempt to renounce the two Algiers Agreements in accordance with which the Eritrea- Ethiopia border war of 1998-2000 was brought to an end. The substance of Ethiopia’s letter and its timing underscored the fact that the letter was intended simply as another effort to subvert the implementation of the final and binding award of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission. As such, that effort is clearly unlawful under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and other principles of international law, as well as highly detrimental to regional peace and security.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“At the Commission’s meeting, Eritrea committed itself once again to cooperate with the demarcation in all of the respects regarding which the Commission had expressed concern. Eritrea’s commitments were made both in writing and verbally, in front of the Commission and other participants. Eritrea asks merely that Ethiopia make the same commitment to support the demarcation in accordance with the Commission’s legitimate instructions. Ethiopia, however, made it clear that it had no intention of complying with the Commission’s demarcation instructions and raised tangential issues, which my delegation has fully addressed in the full text of my statement. After the recent Boundary Commission meeting in early September in The Hague which I mentioned the text of a letter came to Eritrea’s attention.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“And when that bogus pretext was removed and the meeting was convened in The Hague, Ethiopia failed to respond to the five conditions that the Commission had imposed so that it could proceed and embark on the time-bound schedule of operations that had been worked out in order to complete pillar emplacements along the 1000 kilometre border in the coming months. The five conditions that Ethiopia was requested to fulfil were: first, to indicate its unqualified acceptance of the 2002 Delimitation Decision without requiring broader ranging negotiations between the parties; secondly, to lift restrictions on the movement of EEBC personnel; thirdly, to provide security assurances; fourthly, to meet payment arrears and fifthly, to allow free access to pillar locations.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Ethiopia has managed to frustrate the EEBC decision and the demarcation of the boundary which should have been completed by 2003 because of the unwarranted positions of some United Nations Security Council member States, and especially the United States of America, which has regrettably chosen to placate Ethiopia at the expense of international law and the interests of regional peace and security. It was against the backdrop of Ethiopia’s defiance and violation of international law that the Boundary Commission convened a meeting of the parties in The Hague early last month. Ethiopia first sought to prevent the meeting from taking place by raising spurious legal objections to the original venue New York.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Those are the indelible facts on the ground that have been and are spawning a climate of permanent and escalating tension in our part of the world. Throughout these years, the Boundary Commission has filed no less than 24 reports to the Security Council underlining the gravity of the situation. The EEBC has no independent means or powers of enforcement. The legal authority and powers of enforcement reside, squarely and explicitly, with the Security Council, which is the guarantor of the Algiers Peace Agreement. As such, the United Nations Security Council should long have taken remedial action, both in accordance with Article 14 of the Algiers Peace Agreement as well as on the basis of Article 39 of the United Nations Charter. But that has not happened to date.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“In flagrant breach of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the Algiers Peace Agreement, Ethiopia continues to occupy sovereign Eritrean territories through military force. Ethiopia continues to reject the final and binding decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) and to obstruct the demarcation of the boundary, to which end the international community has deployed the United Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) at an annual running cost about $200 million. Ethiopia continues to violate with impunity fundamental principles of international law, including full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a fellow United Nations Member State, the integrity of international treaties and the norms of settling disputes through binding arbitration.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“This session of the General Assembly provides Member States with the opportunity to address the challenges and threats that continue to preoccupy us, including the lack of peace and security and the presence of extreme poverty, underdevelopment, environmental degradation and natural disasters. In the interest of brevity, let me now revert to more pressing problems closer to home. For the past five years, it has, sadly, become almost a ritual for my Government to urge, from this rostrum, the international community, and especially the Security Council, to shoulder their fundamental responsibilities for the maintenance of peace and security in our part of the world. The legal principles at stake and the looming threat to regional peace and stability have been and remain stark indeed. The hard facts are neither controversial nor ambiguous.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)