Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, addressing the MECAWI forum entitled: "African-Americans Speak Out for Palestine" on January 31, 2009. (Photo: Alan Pollock), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
'UN is a foreign policy tool of US, West'
Press TV interview with journalist Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of the Pan-African News Wire
To watch this interview on Press TV News Analaysis program just log on to the website below:
http://presstv.com/detail/200529.html
Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:55AM GMT
The United Nations is an international organization which has been a foreign policy tool in the hands of the US and its Western allies since WWII, says a Pan-African journalist.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Pan-African journalist Abayomi Azikiwe to discuss the issue further.
The following is a edited rush transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Abayomi Azikiwe I like to refer to the Chilean Ambassador to the UN Heraldo Munoz. His book: A Solitary War: A Diplomat's Chronicle of the Iraq War and Its Lessons, and he said on the 2003 Iraq war, that US President George W. Bush threatened nations with retaliation if they did not vote for a UN resolution backing the Iraq war: how do you explain the role of the US there, a veto wielding member, in this manner?
Azikiwe: I think the UN is a tool often times for the foreign policy of several countries, including the US and also the Western European countries. In that regard it has not change a lot since its formation back in 1945 at the conclusion of WWII.
At that time, the world was quite different from what is today. Many of the countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East were still under European colonialism. And of course today, we have over 190 countries that constitute the UN General Assembly.
But unfortunately most of the power is wielded by the Security Council, by the permanent member of the Security Council, and we've seen this repeated over and over again since 1945.
We can make reference to the Korean war, between 1950 and 1953 that resulted in the death of over 4 million Koreans. And all of this was done under the banner of the UN. We can look at the debacle that took place in Congo in 1960 and 1961 where efforts to win national liberation were actually subverted by the former colonial power and by the US, and this was done of course under the banner of the UN.
We can also look at the sanctions that were imposed on Iraq, we do not even have to look at Iraq war itself, for twelve years prior to that there were draconian sanctions that were imposed on Iraq that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. The sanctions denied medical equipment, medicines, and all types of technical assistance was blocked largely by the US utilizing the UN.
And off course Libya today, where UN resolution 1970 and 1973, were utilized to carry out a massive bombing campaign against that country resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.
Today that country still is divided between the forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and other forces that are more aligned with the West through National Transitional Council and other entities. So this has been major problem as far as the UN legitimacy is concerned.
Press TV: Abayomi Azikiwe let's talk about Israel why there are essentially no consequences for violating a Security Council resolution. A case in point, Israel, who has defied countless UN resolutions, over 100 of them. Hasn't it made the UN lose its relevance and credibility?
Azikiwe: I believe many people in the so-called developing countries do not have real faith in the UN. If we go back to WWI with the Balfour Declaration, which was issued in 1917, that ostensibly provided a framework for the creation of both an Arab as well as a Jewish state in Palestine. This has been totally violated over the last 90 years.
At the conclusion of WWII, when the State of Israel was formed, it was done in a manner in which its was totally obnoxious in regards to the will of the Arab people in the region. And many countries throughout the region did not agree with the creation of State of Israel. And even today we have the US as well as other western countries that have urged the Palestinians not to make a bid for statehood.
Even today in President Obama's speech before the General Assembly, he provided a rationale as to why the Palestinians should not be making a request to become a full-fledged state. I mean how long will the Palestinians have to wait in order to be recognized as equal partners in the international community?
It has been 63 years since the creation of the State of Israel, since the driving of millions of Palestinians into exile and these issues have not even been taken seriously within the US body-politics.
We also have to mention, which I think it is very significant, the human rights violations that take place inside the western industrialized countries. In the US we have 2.5 million people who are incarcerated in prisons who are disproportionately African Americans, Latinos and poor people.
Right now today, Troy Davis, in the state of Georgia, is going to be executed. And he is in all likelihood innocent. Seven out of nine people who testified against him in court have recanted their testimony. The prison system denied him the right today to take a lie detector test. But this is not even brought up before an international body such as the UN to bring the US Government to account for its violations of human rights.
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