At
UN,
Coup Leader of
Madagascar Now
Set to Address
GA, Roadmap of
SADC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 20
-- Usually
those who have
led coups
don't
speak, at
least at
first, in the
UN General
Assembly. With
that
background,
Inner City
Press on
September 19
asked Nihal
Saad, the
spokesperson
for the new
President of
the General
Assembly, to
confirm that
coup leader
Andry
Rajoelina
would not be
speaking for
Madagascar in
the General
Debate
starting
September 21.
Later
on September
20 to her
credit, Ms.
Saad sent this
reply:
"Regarding
your
question on
Madagascar:
The SADC
roadmap has
been accepted
on
Saturday.
According to
the roadmap,
Andry
Rajoelina will
lead the
transition.
Hence,
President
Rajoelina will
speak at the
General
Debate."
The
background
here
is that UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon dined
next to
Rajoelina at a
meeting in
Istanbul, but
his spokesman
Martin Nesirky
later denied
that they had
met. Next, Rajoelina's
prime minister
came to New
York,
and met with
Ban's
political
chief Lynn
Pascoe.
When
asked by Inner
City Press,
Pascoe
hearkened back
to the work of
his envoy Mr.
Drame
-- who appears
in a
Wikileaked
cable as
supporting
Rajoelina's
"extra
Constitutional"
move. So now
this UN takes
in coup
leaders.
What's next?
* * *
At
UN,
Deby On TNC's
"Hypocrisy, "
400,000
Chadians
"Blocked" in
Libya, "No
Prisoners in
Chad"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 19
-- Chad's
President
Idriss Deby
told Inner
City
Press on
Monday that
there remain
400,000
Chadian's
"blocked"
inside Libya.
He
said the vast
majority had
gone to Libya
to work.
Some had been
recruited to
fight but by
both sides, he
insisted,
Gaddafi and
the National
Transitional
Council.
He said that
going forward
the
international
community
should help
reconcile all
Libyans,
"including
those who
worked with
Gaddafi." Video here, 1st part
of interview.
Deby
accused the
leaders of the
"New Libya,"
the National
Transitional
Council, of
hypocrisy as
many of them
previously
worked with
Gaddafi.
He said there
should be
greater
African Union
involvement in
the New
Libya, and
chafed at
Inner City
Press'
statement that
South Africa
has led on
that issue,
and on that of
African
migrants.
"There
are
other African
countries on
the Security
Council," he
said,
naming Gabon
and then
Nigeria.
Inner
City Press
asked Deby for
his view of
developments
in Sudan. Deby
spoke of
Southern
Kordofan and
"Nil Bleu,"
Blue Nile,
then said that
much remains
to be solved
between North
and South
Sudan.
On
this, Inner
City Press
asked Deby to
respond to reports
that the
publication
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo was
told not to
compare South
Sudan to
Southern
Chad:
"In
the
October 14 to
17 edition of
the local
newspaper
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo, the
publishers
included an
article
comparing
southern Sudan
with southern
Chad. The
prime minister
called the
article
'dangerous'
and asked the
HCC to act on
the matter. On
October 19,
the HCC met
with
journalists
and warned
N'Djamena
Bi-Hebdo in
particular and
all
media houses
in general to
"observe
ethics rules"
by not
printing
articles that
risked
inciting
hatred,
violence, or
separatist
sentiment."
Deby
said he
didn't know
about the
case. He said
"come to Chad"
to see
the freedom of
the press, and
also said that
"there are no
political
prisons in
Chad." Inner
City Press
began to ask
of
one example --
Ibni
Oumar Mahamat
Saleh --
but Deby
didn't answer
on
it.
The
interview was
over, and
Inner City
Press left the
Plaza
Hotel. Deby
will speak
before the
General
Assembly on
Friday, after
meeting with
Ban Ki-moon
the day
before. "Mais
vous savez de
tout,"
Deby said. Not
as much as
we'd like to.
Watch this
site.
, 
