UN General Assembly
1950

20. Although it was not the right moment to discuss the substance of the question, the representative of Guatemala spoke fervently the other day [280th meeting] from this rostrum in praise of a solution recommended by two of the five members, or by a minority, of the United Nations Commission for Eritrea. The solution he advocated is contrary to the welfare of the inhabitants, contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of the population, which wants union with Ethiopia, and contrary to the interests of Ethiopia, whose interests the representative of Guatemala took upon himself to interpret. Is that justice? 21. So we have fled from a non-existent danger, only to meet it precisely where we might have expected to be able to avoid it, that is, in a forum where the question ought to be discussed with complete objectivity. It must, then, be concluded that the declared reason — the desire to avoid political bargaining — is no justification for referring this matter of territorial settlement to the General Assembly.