Ecuador National Assembly condemns threat of UK

In extraordinary session, the Ecuadorian National Assembly decided this morning to condemn the threatened use of force in the UK, reported on Wednesday by Foreign Minister of Ecuador Ricardo Patiño.

Of the 80 legislators present, 73 votes and seven abstentions decided to consider the use of force as an attack on the national sovereignty of Ecuador and a violation of the principles of international law enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

After a three-hour debate, the Assembly also decided to request the government of Rafael Correa to ask the United Nations (UN) a meeting of the Security Council in order to prevent the United Kingdom to use force to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and stop Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks.

In the special session that ended long after midnight, the parliamentary body decided to also call for Ecuadorians to unite in defense of national sovereignty.

The Assembly also urged the international community to “reject any threat or use of violence as a mechanism for resolving conflicts between sovereign states.”

In this regard they sued the United Kingdom to seek “peaceful solutions to any kind of controversy,” founded on the principles of “independence and legal equality of States”.

The Assembly also decided to request Ecuadorian “to all international parliamentary bodies support” to the cause of Ecuador and called the country’s citizens to maintain an “iron unity” to defend “the dignity and sovereignty of our country.” (FL)