Eritrea-Djibouti: hour of decision

(MoFA 02/20/09):-The five weeks deadline set by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1862 (2009) adopted on 14 January demanding Eritrea withdraw its forces and all their equipment in Djibouti to the position of status quo ante has almost passed. The Council also demanded Eritrea acknowledge its border dispute with Djibouti, and engage actively in dialogue and in diplomatic efforts to defuse the tension and seek settlement of the border issue. It further demanded Eritrea abide by and respect its international obligations as a Member of the United Nations according to the principles mentioned in article 2, paragraphs 3, 4, and 5, and article 33 of the United Nations Charter. Such pronouncements referring to the activities and conduct of a Member State are indeed rare. They would normally be used as measures of last resort for the Security Council. They are a grave indictment of the very legitimacy of the Government concerned. The obligations to be fulfilled and actions required of Eritrea by the Security Council are matters that would normally be carried out as the simple routine conduct of any Member State.

Eritrea was also given a timeline to bring its actions in line with the Charter of the United Nations. For this purpose Eritrea was asked to cooperate fully with the UN Secretary-General. The Security Council asked the Secretary-General to report on this and on the compliance by both parties, Djibouti and Eritrea, of their obligations within six weeks. The Security Council committed itself to take any further decision at that time depending on the developments. The coming week is therefore decision time for the Council, because, as expected, Eritrea has made no effort whatever to implement Security Council Resolution 1862 (2009). Eritrea has never abided by the demands of the Security Council before or acknowledged other calls for reason from the international community. It is hardly a surprise that Eritrean intransigence has been repeated again. However, the patience and the full compliance with the Security Council, with which Djibouti has handled this matter puts the Security Council in difficulty. It cannot simply ignore the situation, and the injury sustained by Djibouti, just because Eritrea is intransigent. Regional organizations have also made a number of efforts to resolve the matter. Again, they have been rebuffed by Eritrea. All this puts added pressure on the Security Council to act. If it fails to take firm and unequivocal action to stop Eritrea from repeating such dangerous and irresponsible action with impunity its own credibility is at stake. Indeed, the credibility of the entire United Nations Organization would be at the risk of endless testing to see how far any regime like the one in Asmara is prepared to go. We cannot, however, have any illusions about how far the Security Council will be prepared to go to discharge its obligations.