UN General Assembly
1999

from injury caused by the Government of any State. Yet Eritrea has hitherto preferred to react with equanimity to the gross and violent violations of the human rights of Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin in the hope of securing a peaceful resolution of the conflict. However, there are limits to the misdoings that any respectable State must tolerate. It would be unacceptable for any Government worthy of the trust of its people not to defend the State and the people it represents against aggression. It would be an unthinkable calamity for a people which had fought for so long, endured unimaginable hardship and won its independence against all odds to lose its rights as a people and a nation to an aggressor. It is incumbent on those who love freedom and justice and respect the equality of peoples, who are committed to peace and cherish the norms and principles of the United Nations, to ensure that law and moral principles prevail against international lawlessness and immorality. Ethiopia’s threatened aggression must be a source of