Dear

Re: Unjust UN Security Council (UNSC) Sanctions on Eritrea

As your voting constituent, I write to register my deep concern with the role the UK government has played in the construction and the adoption of the UNSC Resolution 1907 (2009) against Eritrea, just two days before Christmas day.

The sanctions, designed to cripple the people of Eritrea, are based on allegations which the government of Eritrea has rejected and has consistently been asking for hard evidence to support it. The UK government, despite claims of being in possession of such evidence, has not produced any on the pretext that the information is classified.

Whilst the US, as part of its strategic interests in the Horn of Africa is the mastermind to whose direction the African Union (AU) has deferred, I find it demeaning for the UK government to comply based on flimsy and unreliable information.

Mr H. Sawers, the then UK Ambassador to the UN proposed in October 2009 for sanctions to be imposed on Eritrea for allegedly supporting insurgents in Somalia and for Eritrea’s refusal to comply with their demand on the boundary dispute with Djibouti. Eritrea has not claimed any Djiboutian territory.

Mr Sawers has since moved on and in his current post within MI6 stated that the Iraq war was launched based on faulty intelligence. Sadly, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives at this time when the inquiry is being heard. I strongly feel the decision to impose sanctions on Eritrea is based on equally unfounded information and very reminiscent of the Iraqi “dodgy dossier”. My main concern now is the negative impact the sanctions will have on the welfare of the Eritrean people.

With this in mind, I submit my request that you raise the matter within the House and the Foreign Commonwealth Office with the aim of calling the revocation of the sanctions so that our faith in the British tradition of fairness is restored.

Yours sincerely,