Eritrea Foreign Minister Urges General Assembly to Reform UN

Eritrean Foreign Minister Urges General Assembly to Reform the UN

New York, Sep 30 2013 - The United Nations is debilitated by chronic weaknesses and shortcomings and must be reformed, the Foreign Minister of Eritrea today said, urging also that sanctions against its country be lifted.

“The 21st century requires a revitalized United Nations that transcends a bipolar or uni-polar world order and that is firmly rooted in the supremacy of, and respect for, international law and order,” Minister of Foreign Affairs, Osman Saleh Mohammed told the 68th General Assembly high-level debate.

In his statement, Mr. Osman said that the current conditions on the Eritrean people are a result of “the perils of the world order that is driven by the rivalry of domineering super-powers” which uses Eritrea as one of the “pawns in the wider, Horn of Africa/Middle East chessboard.”

Among the “transgressions” meted on the Eritrean people are the “unlawful sanctions” imposed by the Security Council in 2009 as part of its Monitoring Group on Eritrea and Somalia.

The mandate of the expert panel monitoring compliance with sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea was extended this summer until 25 November 2014.

“The transgressions that have been perpetrated against the people of Eritrea and other peoples in the past 20 years speak to the persistence of an unfair and unjust global order and the absence of a strong and representative United Nations,” the Foreign Minister stressed.

He urged the Organization to pass practical resolutions that are commensurate with its legal, political and moral responsibilities to uphold the rule of law, bring an end to the invasion on Eritrea, lift the sanctions, terminate interventions that jeopardize the peace and stability of the Horn of Africa, and deter all actions that “breed crises, loos of life and destruction.”

Mr. Osman was speaking in his national capacity at the annual UN General Assembly summit where heads of state and government, and other senior officials, raise issues of importance to the countries they represent.

The GA debate concludes tomorrow.

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

ENDS

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