UN's
Ban
Greeted & Dined with Coup Leader Rajoelina, Says They Didn't Meet
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 12 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was returning
from Istanbul and the Least Developed Countries meeting there, Inner
City Press asked Ban's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about one
of Ban's encounters there with
Inner
City
Press: Andry Rajoelina, the disputed leader of Madagascar, who
is not recognized by the African Union... There is a lot of wonders
why the Secretary-General would meet with this… why he was in
Istanbul, although that’s not your concern, but did Ban Ki-moon
meet with him? If so, why, and can we get a readout of this
controversial meeting?
Ban and Rajoelina, h/t MadaGate, denial below
Some
hours later,
Ban's Spokesperson's Office sent this denial:
From:
UN
Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, May 11, 2011
at 3:47 PM
Subject: Your question on Andry Rajoelina
To:
Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Regarding
your
question at the noon briefing, I can inform you that the
Secretary-General did not meet Andry Rajoelina in Istanbul.
This
turns on the
meaning of the word “meet.” As Inner City Press asked Ban's lead
spokesman Martin Nesirky at the May 12 UN noon briefing, multiple
photos exist of Ban shaking hands with and greeting Rajoelina, and
sitting at the same table with Rajoelina for a dinner.
Ban, Rajoelina - and PGA Joseph Deiss
After
Nesirky
said that Inner City Press' question had been answered the previous
day, he said that the Istanbul meeting was “multilateral
diplomacy,” and that the invitations were made by Turkey's
president Gul.
That
may explain
it -- alongside the greeting and dinner with Ban and Gul,
Rajoelina made a deal with Turkey for
an expensive dam:
Turkey
plans
to develop a 300- megawatt hydropower plant in Madagascar,
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said. The facility will be built at
Mahavola, 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of the capital,
Antananarivo, Gul said in a statement e-mailed by Madagascar’s
presidency yesterday. Gul met Madagascar’s president, Andry
Rajoelina, at a conference in Istanbul yesterday, it said.
Multilateral, indeed. Watch this site.
* * *
Ban's
Office
Admits
UN Staffer Traveled to Bahrain, with Roed Larsen, Who Refuses to
Comment, Calling It Personal Trip
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
6 -- With the ruling family of Bahrain now sentencing
demonstrators to death, the UN in New York is engaged in double-talk
at best about it engagement with the government.
On
May 6, Inner
City Press asked part time UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen if he took a UN
staff person with him on his
trip
in April to Bahrain. “I do not
wish to comment on that,” Roed-Larsen said.
Moments
later
Inner
City Press ask UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to confirm
or deny that UN staff member Fabrice Aidan accompanied Roed-Larsen on
a trip that Haq
on April 18 said was not “in any UN capacity.”
Inner
City
Press
had
asked this same question on April 29, in
connection with
publishing a piece about Roed-Larsen “non-UN UN” trip to Bahrain,
from which as Inner City Press exclusively
reported a previously
proposed UN envoy Oscar Fernandez Taranco was blocked, by a call from
Saudi Arabia to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon:
“just
a yes or no — whether in fact a staff, a UN staffer that works with
Mr. Roed-Larsen on resolution 1559 (2004) accompanied him, and if so,
if he used a laissez passer and if in fact it was characterized in
Bahrain as a UN trip?”
On
April 29, Haq's
boss Martin
Nesirky
told Inner City Press, “I do not know the
answer to that. So if I have any answer, I’d be happy to give it
to you, okay?”
Despite
this
statement
that Inner City Press would be given any answer to this
simple question, nothing was provided until on May 6 Haq when
questioned again said that yes, Fabrice Aidan did travel to Bahrain.
"UN Envoy" Larsen and Bahrain deputy premier
Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa
Inner
City
Press
asked, to make sure, that it was at the same time as Larsen. Yes. How
then was this not a UN trip? In fact, it was characterized that
way, at a time when it benefits the Bahrain royal family to claim to
be on the inside with UN officials.
When Haq was
asked by Inner City Press if the UN Secretariat had told Roed-Larsen to
make sure this was not construed as a UN trip, Haq would not comment.
This
UN
allows
Roed-Larsen to work part time for the UN, on Resolution 1559, and
part time (but for a high salary) as the head of the International
Peace Institute.
Well placed sources, of the facts of
Fabrice Aidan's travel belated confirmed by the UN, say that Larsen
goes to places
like Bahrain and allowed the ruling families to portray this as UN
support, and received support to IPI, which raises his salary.
We'd like a
response to this, but Roed-Larsen “would't like to comment on
that.” Watch this site.
On
Syria,
Larsen
told the Press that two countries disagreed whether it
is a threat to international peace and security. When this was
conveyed to Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari, Ja'afari
said “you know we don't trust him.” Syria is not the only one.
, 
