Open Letter of Complaint to the UN Secretary-General
5 November 2019 Open Letter of Complaint to the UN Secretary-General Mr A Guterres Secretary-General United Nations 405E, 42nd Street New York NY10017 Your Excellency, Re.: Amina Jane Mohammed interview with the Eritrean Ministry of Information We write to lodge a formal complaint on
5 November 2019
Open Letter of Complaint to the UN Secretary-General
Mr A Guterres
Secretary-General
United Nations
405E, 42nd Street
New York
NY10017
Your Excellency,
Re.: Amina Jane Mohammed interview with the Eritrean Ministry of Information
We write to lodge a formal complaint on behalf of a wide range of Eritrean civic and political organisations regarding a recent interview by Ms Amina Jane Mohammed with the Eritrean Ministry of Information. We do not believe that the regime has taken sufficient steps towards reform to merit the praise she gave it, we find it unreasonable that she disregards the evidence that Eritreans publish on social media given her experience is from a two-day government-sanctioned visit, and we are concerned that she disregarded UN reports documenting the regime’s destabilising effect on the region.
Participating in propaganda disseminated by the Eritrean Ministry of information is wholly inappropriate given the regime’s extremely troubling human rights record. UN bodies have repeatedly found that in Eritrea much of the population is subject to forced labour in slave-like conditions. Lavishing praise on the regime without mentioning these serious issues is conduct unbecoming the office of Deputy Secretary-General. There is a serious concern that she is justifying the existence of the unelected and unrepresentative government without gaining any benefit for the people of Eritrea in return.
Moreover, claiming that Eritrean’s misrepresent Eritrea online is an insult to many people who have worked tirelessly on behalf of their country. Officials such as Ms Mohammed only have access to Eritrea through Government sponsored tours and only see a restricted view during their brief time in the country. The Government keeps out dissenting voices and her comments can be read as an attempt to stifle reasonable debate on the future of the country, and limits the discussion only to those who participate in regime organised propaganda tours.
While many have claimed that the Ethiopia-Eritrea peace may lead to a rapprochement between the Eritrean Junta and the wider international community, there has been no evidence that it has yet benefited the Eritrean people. The general population remains indefinitely in forced labour and military conscription, torture remains commonplace, and not only has the government has taken no steps to relieve the poverty of the Eritrean people it has closed health centres. Continued kowtowing military regime only strengthens Isaias and reduces the chances of him loosening his chokehold on the Eritrean military and economy.
As to her announcement that in her conversation with the president he stressed “the importance of keeping the peace not just for Eritrea but the regional integration for the Horn of Africa” she neglected to mention UN reports of Eritrea arming and training rebel movements across the Horn of Africa, from Somalia to Ethiopia, including attempts to bomb the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January 2011.
Your Excellency, we respectfully request that this serious breach of truth telling protocol by Ms Amina Jane Mohammed is looked at as a matter of priority in line with the UN code of conduct. We further ask that in future UN officials do not lend the megaphone of their office to the propagandists in the Eritrean Ministry of Information and that any interview UN officials give covers the reality of the brutal repression of this despotic regime.
Yours sincerely,
Habte Hagos
Chairman, Eritrea Focus
Email: info@eritrea-focus.org
C.C. Ms Amina Jane Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General
Ms Daniela Kravetz, United Nation Special Rapporteur on Eritrea
Dawit November 13, 2019
New Eritrean Film…
Terarro..
At Meqele cinema..
k.tewolde November 14, 2019
How much is the movie ticket price,I will book a flight today.Are you one of the cast,can’t wait!!
tewelde Gebremariam November 20, 2019
dawit,
Is that the cinema hall built by woyane using money it looted from the mouths of the poor people of Oromo, Amhara, Somali, Sidama etc. and from the hundreds of thousands of Eritreans it savagely deported in order to stash their possessions? But again, I just ask knowing full that the answer of necessity is yes because the arid land of tigrai , deprived .of any natural resources, cannot cough up such kind of money.
In the past, migration to Eritrea, Amhara land, Oromo land etc was the poor people of tigrai’s means of survival. However, after what the myopic and savage woyane did, all that safety mechanism is lost . For now , tigrai may be glittering with universities and other institutions but with the flow of the stolen money terminated for good , they will soon crumble down faster than they went up. As we say in Eritrea……… Ed Tsenahit Shenahit, loosely translated, Whatever you do comes back to you.
Dawit,
May be the way out of this potentially calamitous situation is for the people of tigrai to disown and condemn woyane for its twenty eight years of crimes against humanity, apologize for its crimes, vacate Eritrean territory, vacate the amhara territories of Alamata and Wolqaiet. The sooner the better. The people of the Horn of Africa can be at peace with each other. It is in the hands of the people of tigrai. They can make it happen.
ስለ-ፍትሒ November 13, 2019
Good job!
Other political and civic organizations have to press same. Litsening such biased interview from a representative of UN body, who has hundreds of reports in his shelves lthrough out the last 28 years of the brutal government’s human right violations makes you sick.
Samy November 14, 2019
Free Eritrea:
The UN office know better, a self proclaimed president ruling his people(Eritrean people) with an iron feast for more than two decayes breaching every human right protocols,when interviewed, will give a twisted reality. You have a lot of reports revealing his ill deeds to the people of Eritrea. I wish you reconsider taking the visit siriously.
Almaz November 15, 2019
Seriously ” including attempts to bomb the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January 2011.” This is already debunked fake intelligence by the TPLF security apparatus which WAS so criminal and savage. You went they planted an explosive and savagely killed 11 passengers of this minibus (taxi) just to get a piece of news saying Eritrean government did it. Please stop this nonsensical and if you have time on other constructive issues. I understand mentioning serious issues on Eritreans in Eritrea — get real!
zt November 16, 2019
You can complain as much as you like about Eritrean government, if that makes you feel good about yourselves, but the game is over putting the government down with no extra time to add to it.
No Sanction,
No ICC,
No TPLF,
No corrupted Special rapporteur,(Ms. Sheila B. KEETHARUTH)
hagos netsanet November 18, 2019
ብሓቂ ድዩ ቃልሲ ናብ ቃልሲ ሓለውቲ ስጡሕ ተቐይሩ ???? ንኣስናን ዘይብላ መሳርሒ ምዕራብ ዝኾነት ዩኤን ተማህሊልካስ መፍትሒ ? ነቲ ጉዳይና ካብ ሱሩ ምምርማር ኣይሓይሽን ? ኣብ እዋን ገድሊ እውን ኣረሜናዊ ሓለዋ ሰውራን,ጥንክር ዝበለ ሕቶ ንዝሓተተ “silent ጌርካ እንዶ ኣጸግዓዮ እናበለ ዝነገሰ ገድሊ ሕጂ ናብ ደገ ሰላም ክቕየር ንጽበዮ…??? ዝዘራእናዮ ድኣ ንዕጸድ ወይ ክኣ ወጻኢና ነቢርና ንተክዝ !!!
Dawit November 18, 2019
Semikum.. Do..
AB Meqele.
Film.. Eritrean..
TERRARO.. N Senbet. Seat 6