By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
9 -- After reporting
on the French
Mission to the
UN's troubling
languor
when faced
with an April
3 cable from
Burundi about
the
distribution
of AK-47s to
the Hutu
Imbonerakure
youth wing,
word reached
Inner City
Press of the
belated
replacement as
French
Ambassador to
the UN of
Gerard Araud
-- by Jacques
Audibert, by
July. It could
not come a day
too soon.
Beyond the
April ritual
of opposing
human rights
monitoring for
the UN's
MINURSO
Mission in
Western
Sahara, which
even former
envoy Peter
van Walsom is
urging
President
Francois
Hollande to
support, Araud
is primed to
speak about
the Central
African
Republic
resolution on
April 10.
Back on March
6 Araud denied
the existence
of a report
by UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay, dated
January 20,
that in the
Central
African
Republic the
French
Sangaris
force's
disarmament of
the ex Seleka
left Muslim
communities at
risk of
attack.
Araud
said, "There
is no Navi
Pillay
report." But here
it is.
Earlier this
week, when
Inner City
Press asked
Pillay at the
Security Council
stakeout, she
updated than
fully 80% of
Muslims have
been displaced
in and from
CAR.
Araud
has said
that Javier
Bardem is
lying when
he quotes
Araud saying
that Morocco
is France's
"mistress."
Araud's denial
of the
existence of
Navi Pillay's
report -- or
statement --
puts his
denial of the
Morocco as
mistress quote
in a different
light.
So too
does Araud's
angry claim in
January that a
New York
Police
Department
document Inner
City Press
published
after asking
Araud's
mission for
comment is a
fake. It is a
New
York Police
Department
incident
report, here.
In
that case, it
is Araud's
claim that
since the
French
diplomat
Romain Serman
-- now
France's
consul in San
Fransisco --
claimed
diplomatic
immunity after
being detained
for attempted
purchase of
cocaine, it
was not a real
arrest record.
But to yell
that
it is a "fake"
and threaten
to sue? Click
here for that.
Likewise,
perhaps
Araud means
that Pillay's
statement,
which is on
the Office of
the High
Commissioner's
website,
is not a
report because
it is a
statement. But
to claim,
after walked
away from the
stakeout
microphone
without taking
the question,
that there is
no Navi Pillay
report?
So
what really is
Araud's argument
about Bardem
quoting him
that Morocco
is France's
mistress,
on Western
Sahara? Did
Araud say it,
but slightly
differently?
Will at least
this question
be answered,
before July?
Audibert has
been active on
the P5+1
Iran nuclear
talks and
other matters
on which we'll
have more. For
the French
Mission to the
UN, it could
be a
(somewhat)
fresh start.
Watch this
site.
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