An internet-based effort from Ethiopians in Geneva to make an appeal to the United Nations and its Security Council for urgent-actions regarding Resolution 1227 (1999) adopted on the 10th February 1999 regarding the Ethio-Eritrea War. A pioneering and innovative effort at the time (1999) when Internet-based activism was in its infancy. Over 2000 emails were sent out and many reactions were received.
Send an appeal to the United Nations and its Security Council Members
(1999 – during the first Ethio-Eritrea war)
I wish to express my profound sadness, frustration, dismay and anger at Resolution 1227 (1999) of the United Nations Security Council regarding the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. For Ethiopians, specially for victims of the Eritrean war of aggression, the above-mentioned resolution is a sheer reflection of series of failures of the international community to uphold common principles of international law and those contained in the UN-Charter for prevention and resolution of conflicts such as this. The Resolution is also a clear manifestation of the waning credibility of the United Nations – the organisation which has already lost the confidence of nations and peoples who have been victims of aggression, tyranny and dementia all over the world, particularly in Africa.
What most angered Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia is the sharp contradictions observed between previous resolutions of the Security Council on the same matter, particularly between Resolution 1226 (1999) which gave a clear signal to the Eritrean Government to undo its aggression and Resolution 1227 (1999) which in effect treated both Eritrea (the aggressor) and Ethiopia (the victim) on equal footing. When the United Nations and its Security Council as well as the major powers of the world supported the OAU Framework Agreement and welcomed Ethiopia’s acceptance of this agreement, Africa in general and the OAU in particular had the impression and hope that, at last, the international community begins to show some interest and seriousness on our continent and its peoples. However, for reasons beyond our comprehension, within less than a month, this hope has faded away, painting gloomy picture on justice that we, victims of the Eritrean aggression, and the rest of the world have been demanding and waiting for. In fact, Resolution 1227 (1999) is a bitter reminder of our painful memory of the double standards of the doomed League of Nations which had put arms embargo on Fascist Italy (the Colonial Aggressor) and Ethiopia (victim of this colonial aggression), in 1936.
It is puzzling to any ordinary person why Ethiopia’s causes and quests for justice, for the second time in less than half a century be ignored and sidelined by the international community? Why the United Nations continues to be subservient to the interest of a single major power, the USA? Why do injustice and double standards have become “common practice” in the system of global governance such as the United Nations? How could the United Nations reverse its continuously declining credibility and become a viable organisation? We hope time will give us pertinent answers to these and other similar legitimate questions.
Nevertheless, we call on the United Nations, its secretary General, the Security Council and its member States to take every corrective measures to address bias, unfairness, and unevenness seen in the Security Council Resolution 1227 (1999) as quickly as possible at least for the sake of justice and truism. We also call upon the international community to give due attention and seriousness to the Ethio-Eritrean conflict, which may have regional and possibly international implications.
Retrieved from the Web Archives of 1999