Network of Eritreans for Constitutional Governance (NECG)

Eritrea tyrant rebuffs UN fact-finding mission over Djibouti

9 July 2008
Berhane M Tekeste

Via a press statement issued today by his Foreign Affairs surrogate, Eritrea tyrant Isaias Afawarki bluntly rebuffed UN’s efforts to launch a fact-finding mission to investigate whatever there is between Djibouti and Eritrea that led to a bloody exchange of fire on their shared border that claimed at least 6 killed and dozens wounded.

The fatal border clash triggered a deluge of condemnations of Eritrea tyrant by the international community that considered tyrant Afawarki’s act as an aggression on Djibouti.

On June 24, 2008, the UN Security Council held a hearing on the matter and after listening to both sides issued a statement requesting the Secretary General to launch a fact-finding mission to investigate the matter and report back if possible in less than two weeks, which would be today. And exactly on this day, tyrant Afawarki snabbed the UN mission calling it ‘dwelling on a red herring”.

“…the UN Security Council has now been asked to send “fact-finding missions” and launch “diplomatic shuttles” for a non-existent problem. Eritrea wishes to underline that it cannot possibly entertain an exogenous agenda when the real problem has, and continues to be, ignored and pushed to the back-burner.” Said the statement.

With that, tyrant Afewarki is not denying the existence of a border dispute with Djibouti. All the tyrant is trying to do is to use the resolution of the Djibouti issue as leverage to force UN action to compel Ethiopia to accept the decision that resolved the border dispute. That is called blackmailing,a patented modus operandi of tyrant Afawarki that he has tried before vis-à-vis UNMEE and is now going for it vis-à-vis Djibouti. Blackmailing is a no-no as far as the UN and the international community is concerned.

Well, the ball is back on UN’s court. Will the international community let Eritrea tyrant get away with it with impunity? Will the UN allow the tyrant to dictate its priorities? We shall see.

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