A tyrant ruled, a tyrant refused to surrender to the power of the ballot, a tyrant succumbed to the power of the bullet.   Could be anywhere in Africa�this one is in Haiti.   Once again, the White Man was called in to clean up the mess of the Black Man� The White Man is very tired, so now he is commissioning the Black Man & The Brown Man to carry his burden�.

Thus, the second rotation of the peacekeepers to Haiti will include Blue Helmets from�. Djibouti.   Why not?  Chirac and Bush may not like each other, but they both like Djibouti� The French have a base there, so do now the Americans, despite the fact that Djibouti has no mountains that look like those in Kandahar� 

�Two Years Is Long�

Eritrea may still be trying to lure the United States from Djibouti but when it comes to competing with Djibouti to provide port services, Eritrea is not interested.  So said Dimitsi Hafash, which honored Koffi Anan�s visit by greeting him with a lengthy editorial chastising his organization: �It should be known that Eritrea has no intention to compete with Djibouti in the provision of port services.�    The editorial concluded by stating that we�ve waited long enough; give us justice.  Weizero Fana�.ade kulatna�..  Said Dimtsi Hafash: �Two years is long. It is especially very long for the Eritrean people who paid dearly for peace and respite.�  

Amen�But wait�Can you hear it?  Listen:

�If you think two years is a long time to be denied justice, try it for 3 years, 5 years, a decade or two.�   That was the voice of the thousands of Eritreans in underground detention centers who have never seen a day in court�.  That is what they would have yelled back to Dimtsi Hafash�.But they are not allowed to listen to the radio so they just suffered in silence�

They Live As Tourists

From Djibouti, the commander of Command Joint Taskforce Horn of Afria (CJT-HOA), Brig. Gen. Samuel T. Helland came-a-knocking on a visit to Asmara to meet with�the outgoing American ambassador to Eritrea as well as the�commander of UNMEE, General Gordon and, finally, with Sebhat Ephrem.  

There was no detailed report on what was discussed but it is not hard to guess�.The outgoing ambassador�s report probably included a briefing on the government of Eritrea�s refusal to give access to the American/European diplomatic mission of the �terrorists� it allegedly apprehended in Barentu and Tessenei� that both Eritrea and Ethiopia are shopping for armaments�.  Off went Helland to UNMEE.  The United States is withdrawing its volunteers from UNMEE.  The Americans number�. Seven.  Yes, as in, seven more than zero.   But not to worry; the withdrawal will be gradual and in phases.  In phase one, four will withdraw.  In phase two, the balance will be withdrawn�.

Why?  Because, explains the Pentagon, the United States does not operate militarily unless it gets exemption for war crimes�. AP quoted a spoilsport by the name of Richard Dicker as saying," This sounds like an excuse to pull a few U.S. personnel out of U.N. peacekeeping missions, not because they are at any risk, but to make an ideological point."

UNMEE�s commander probably reported on the number of Eritreans who are crossing to Ethiopia; Meles�s threat of how the next war won�t stop at the border; Isaias�s refusal to meet with Legwalla now for 18 months and his claim on an Australian TV-interview that UNMEE has �nothing to do� and that they �are living as tourists.�   What a charming guy, that Isaias.    Then General Helland called on Sebhat Ephrem�who sent him an envoy.  No, actually, they talked.  They talked about, well, here�s the exact quote:  �Sebhat stressed the importance for all nations to have respect for mankind and that leadership requires wisdom and talent to ensure people are well represented. Eritrea is a nation interested in bringing peace, unity, stability and prosperity, according to Sebhat.�  

Peace, Unity, Stability, Bait And Switch

Meanwhile, in an effort to bring peace, unity, stability and prosperity to the regions, Sebhat�s government has warned the Yemeni office of an Eritrea-based Sudanese opposition group to not have any contacts with another Sudanese opposition group.  This, according to Sudanese Media Centre, which is based in Khartoum:  �Eritrean authorities have asked the Beja Congress to sever its ties with the Sudan People�s Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement.�  Entedeyelo?  ��Its leaders at the congress� headquarters in Eritrea will be expelled.�  So there.

Speaking of Yemen, its border dispute with Eritrea, which had been settled in 1999, is getting unsettling.  The way the Yemenis interpret the treaty, the agreement �allowed the two countries to fish in the other's territorial waters,� according to the Yemen Observer website.  Au contraire, says Eritrea, which has seized 37 Yemeni fishing boats this year.

Peacekeepers In Lieu Of Peacemakers

In Darfur, the world is trying to intervene�as soon as they figure out the name of  that evil act people commit when you target people simply for who they are�. What they do is horrific, it is appalling, everyone agrees.  But, it is�not genocide.  Why?  Genocide, according to the 1948 convention, is copyrighted.  It is reserved for acts  "committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."  Let�s see here: the Arabs are black, the blacks are Muslims and the Muslims are not all Arabs� Threshold not met, said the experts, including Secretary Colin Powell.   Could this be because the mere definition imposes an obligation on the international community �to prevent and to punish� the perpetrators and The White Man is just exhausted of preventing and punishing The Black Man who just cannot govern himself? 

This is catastrophic, said a fellow African, Koffi Anan, in an attempt to shame Africans into doing the right thing: create peace but pretend to be keeping the peace.  

Ok, ok, we are going, said some African nations.  And then the AU committed a fearsome group of�.300 soldiers.   South Africa and Rwanda, which have signed a military pact, agreed to send some soldiers to Sudan.    That is 10 for South Africa, 100 for Rwanda.   South Africa, which is learning the fine art of super-powerdom, exports weapons to Rwanda AND the Congo.  Let them eat swords.   Rwanda�s peacekeepers have a nasty habit of never coming back once they conclude their �mission.�  Also going are Nigerians, Tanzanians and Botswanans.    The other African superpower, Ethiopia, is not going; they are already stationed in Benin.  

We love to do more, but no resources, said Africans.  It is that crushing debt of over 200 billion dollars that we have to live with.   No problem, said the economic advisor to Koffi Anan.  Ignore the debt.   What are they going to do, repossess your country?

Let Them Drink�..Coke

Not much is changed in Somalia�.except that Coca-Cola has "commenced production of its wide range of soft drinks at a new state-of-the-art facility built at a cost of 8.3 million dollars in Mogadishu after a 15-year absence," according to the Coca Cola company. 

And what is going on with respect to a peace agreement in Somalia?  According to Qaran, �Ethiopia and Djibouti were, for the first time, putting a joint effort in order to present a specific programme about the ongoing Somali peace conference to the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan. The two countries will, before 12 July [2004], submit a report on Somalia to the UN Security Council requesting its support for the upcoming Somali government, to be formed out of the on going peace conference in Kenya.�

Not good enough to uncork the champagne bottles�.but good enough for a coke.

Now, you are up-to-date on The Nations In The Hood.