UN
Reform Raised
by French FM
Fabius But Not
Ban, UN Minus
Ladsous?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 19 --
During a
meeting the UN
failed to
disclose in
advance,
France's new
foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
raised UN
reform to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
according to a
read out
belatedly
provided by
the
French Mission
to the UN,
which listed
Syria, "the
Sahel, the
'Rio +20'
Conference and
the efforts
undertaken to
reform the
Organization."
Ban Ki-moon's
office never
listed Fabius
in Ban's daily
schedule, and
did not
respond to the
follow Press
question:
"the
French Mission
has said that
new Foreign
Minister
Laurent
Fabius is
meeting with
the Secretary
General on
Saturday, but
checking the
S-G's schedule
it lists
nothing for
Saturday. IS
the
S-G meeting
with Minister
Fabius on
Saturday? If
so, at what
time? Is there
a photo op?"
In fact, the
photo released
was by the
French
mission. Ban's
office never
answered the
question, but
summarized
online:
"The
Secretary-General
met today with
the Foreign
Minister of
France, Mr.
Laurent
Fabius. During
their meeting,
they discussed
the situation
in Syria,
Lebanon,
Guinea Bissau,
Mali and the
Sahel.
They also
exchanged
views on the
Middle East
Peace Process
and on the
upcoming Rio +
20 Conference
in June 2012."
Guinea
Bissau, it
might be said,
is not in the
Sahel, but not
mentioned in
the French
summary.
(French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
who pushed for
intervention
to oust
Laurent
Gbagbo, has
not urged much
action on the
coup in Guinea
Bissau.)
But it is also
noteworthy
that Ban
Ki-moon's read
out does not
mention UN
reform. In the
past week,
Ban's lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien issued
a letter that
doomed a draft
resolution to
reform the
Security
Council's
working
methods. Is it
that Ban is of
two minds
about UN
reform? Or is
it something
else?
Some wonder in
terms of
concrete UN
reform if uncommunicative
UN
Peacekeeping
boss Herve
Ladsous,
who Nicolas
Sarkozy pushed
in as a last
minute
replacement
for Jerome
Bonnafont
when the
latter bragged
too much about
getting the
job, should
now
himself be
replaced by a
less
autocratic and
more qualified
French
military
figure.
An urgent
matter of UN
reform is Ban allowing
as one of his
Senior
Advisers on
Peacekeeping
an alleged war
criminal, Sri
Lankan General
Shavendra
Silva whose
Division 58
appears in
Ban's own
report on Sri
Lanka as
shelling
civilians and
hospitals.
Ladsous had
refused to
answer Press
questions on
this as well.
There is also
the
question, much
talked about
at the UN, of
when
Ambassador
Gerard
Araud will
leave New
York, or at
least the UN.
There are
other
questions
about this
meeting: why
not address or
disclose
addressing
Western
Sahara, since
one of ousted
foreign
minister Alain
Juppe's
last meetings
was with the
new Moroccan
foreign
minister, who
is
trying to oust
UN mediator
Christopher
Ross?
Jean Marc
Ayrault seems
to have
different view
of Western
Sahara. Does
Fabius? The
topic was not
listed in
either read
out. Watch
this site.
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