The more one researches into the achievements of the UN, the more he is likely to come out empty handed. It is impossible to find any achievement where there was none.

Without going into the details of its mission and mandate, as one can read it in its website (www.un.org), I will just state that its purpose for existence should have been the maintenance of world peace and to offer needed assistance and some expert technical guidance to all its member states to achieve the wellbeing of their respective citizenry. Of course these could include the achievement of higher and better scholastic and scientific standards, superb medical excellence, sustainable economic goals and some guarantee of food security. But alas, that was a dismal performance if not outright utter failure. Mind you, this is an organization that is overseen and controlled by some of the most powerful and economically unchallenged nations on earth. What a shame!

Once upon a time some of the world’s downtrodden people looked on the UN as their last and only savior. They pleaded and bent backward to get its undivided attention all to no avail. What went wrong? Absolutely nothing really! It simply was an organization that swallowed more than it could chew and still remains a pompous organization with nothing to show for it. It was wrongly assumed to be a world organization which was there for us - the ordinary citizens of this earth just for the asking! Boy, were we taken for a ride and did we find out the hard way!

It would take a book and many volumes at that, if one were to bring up-front all the documented misdeeds the UN has been committing against the helpless and voiceless peoples of the world. However my intention, here, is limited to the despicable and irresponsible actions (or lack thereof) the UN has been committing against Eritrea and the long suffered Eritrean people since the defeat of Italy, the colonial power that defined the Eritrean political map as we know it today.

• In 1952, with the emergent US’ behind the scenes diplomatic clout, the UN was unceremoniously cowed into forcing Eritrea into some bogus federal arrangement with Ethiopia under the imperial crown of Emperor Haile Selassie I, it seems, just because it was told to do so. Otherwise there was no earthly justification for such an act of betrayal against the will of the overwhelming majority of the Eritrean people who had expressed their desire to attain their independence, like the rest of their African brothers and sisters who were also in the process of gaining their independence from their former colonial masters.
• The UN turned a deaf ear and decided to look the other way for all the peaceful appeals of the Eritrean people on the face of the blatant abrogation of the sham federal arrangement by the Emperor in broad daylight when he decided to annex Eritrea to Ethiopia.
• Not a word was heard from the UN on any of the many atrocities committed against the Eritrean civilian population by successive Ethiopian regimes during the 30 long year struggle for national independence waged by the Eritrean people.
• It colluded with all the Ethiopian regimes in denying the Eritrean people any kind of humanitarian assistance in the many drought and other natural calamities that had negatively affected the Eritreans through out the colonial era.
• Even after the Eritreans achieved their independence through much sacrifice and gallant bravery, the UN continued its nauseating “wait and see” attitude as if it was serving some particular powers and not the victims of natural and man-made disasters. Its evil disposition towards the interest of Eritrea and the Eritrean people continues even after the Eritreans overwhelmingly expressed their preference for independence by a nationally held and internationally witnessed plebiscite!
• But, perhaps, the most brazen disregard for human lives it harbors against Eritreans was manifested in its biased and heavy handed approach when it went out of its way to appease certain powers; and continues to blame the victim equally with the perpetuator when the Weyane initiated the so called “border war” in 1998. On that ill-conceived war, the UN knew exactly who the guilty party was; and a sincere call for “calm and dialogue” on it’s part, like the Eritrean government did, would have gone a long way in stopping the Weyane aggression dead on its tracks. But, oh no, the UN would have to monkey around into side issues with no implication of the war at hand. Once again this was done to fulfill the instruction it routinely receives from certain powerful countries. How cowardly the UNSC could it be? It doesn’t get any worse than this!
• It did nothing – absolutely nothing – when more than 80,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians with “Eritrean blood” including sick and old people, pregnant women, young children including babies were uprooted from the only home they knew in Ethiopia in one of the most inhumane acts of barbarism committed by the ethnically driven Weyane gangs.
• It made no tangible effort to help alleviate the suffering of the internally displaced (IDP) Eritreans some of which still live in make shift camps unable to return to their villages that are still occupied by the Weyane army.
• The Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) handed over its final and binding decision in April 13, 2002. The UN kept on dancing to the US tune when the Weyane refused to abide by the verdict for almost 6 long years. More importantly, as a guarantor of any UN sponsored peace agreements, it refused to take any meaningful action to force the non obliging party (Weyane) to accept the ruling as the Weyane had consciously and willingly signed publicly to abide by the ruling. To add insult to injury, the UN fools no one but itself by regurgitating some meaningless statements like calling for “maximum restraints on the parties” which include the law abiding Eritrea and the ever lawless Weyane regime. If that is not ludicrous, I don’t know what is? And
• Finally, when everything is said and done, when the EEBC has virtually demarcated the border and closed shop; and when there is absolutely no need for its mercenary army, the United Nations Mission for Eritrea & Ethiopia (UNMEE) to stay in sovereign Eritrean territory, it unilaterally and arrogantly decided to extend the mandate of the UNMEE for another 6 months with no clearly defined mandate or mission in place and, as far as this writer is concerned, with no end in site. Who needs “Saturday Night - Live from New York” when one has them in the UNSC?

It must be stated and restated that it is every Eritrean’s right and indeed obligation to safeguard their hard earned independence, defend their national sovereignty and maintain Eritrea’s territorial integrity. To that effect, I hope the government of Eritrea, refuses to cooperate with the occupying army that is primarily there to defend the despised Meles regime in no uncertain terms. The UNMEE whose mandate has legally expired and the existence of the so called Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) has been made null and void by the EEBC final and binding decision, the existence of UNMEE personnel anywhere in Eritrea amounts to nothing less than being an intruding hostile force. As such, the UN must be made aware that it will be held fully responsible for any incidents that might ensue because of UNMEE’s uninvited continual presence in the land of a sovereign and UN member State of Eritrea. It is very unwise for some UNSC member states to act in the cowboy mentality when legitmate member countries are demanding something which is within the realm of law. Eritrea has every obligation to control its territory and I am sure it will do anything under the law to safeguard the interest of the Eritrean people. Make no mistake about it.

Berhane Alazar

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