Ban
Meets Malagasy
Coup Leader,
Spokesman
Tells Press to
Look
Away
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 24
-- Since Andry
Rajoelina led
a coup in
Madagascar, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon dined
at the same
table
with him in
Istanbul, and
on Saturday
did a formal
photo
opportunity
and meeting
with him.
When
Inner City
Press asked
about the
Istanbul
dinner, Ban's
then Acting
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
denied it,
saying that
Ban didn't
"meet" with
Rajoelina.
Saturday there
could be no
dispute: it
was a formal
meeting listed
on
Ban's press
schedule.
The
fig-leaf for
the meeting,
and for
Rajoelina to
speak in the
General
Assembly, is
that SADC
agreed to a
road map. But
consider:
-On
17 September,
10 political
groups,
including
those most
linked to
Rajoelina and
Ravalomanana,
signed
a SADC roadmap
that provides
for
Ravalomanana’s
return to Madagascar.
-On
18 September
the de facto
Minister of
Justice
Christine
Razanamahasoa
announced
that
Ravalomanana
would be
arrested
should he
return.
-
On 20
September,
Gen. Richard
Ravalomanana
(no relation
to
the ousted
president),
who has been
in charge of
repressing
‘illegal’
demonstrations
since the
March 2009
coup, announced
on television
that a group
of ten
military were
preparing to
go from Madagascar
to South
Africa to
arrest
Ravalomanana.
-The
Tribune de Madagascar
of 21
September published
copies of
arrest
warrants
against
Ravalomanana
and a copy
of a directive
from the head
prosecutor
dated 17
September 2011
calling for
Ravalomanana’s
arrest.
Inner
City Press
went to the
September 24
photo op.
While standing
with four
other
photographers
waiting, Ban
Ki-moon passed
and expressed
surprise, not
unpleasantly.
Ban's lead
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, once
the
photographers
were setting
in the meeting
room, said to
Inner City
Press, "You
don't take
pictures of
talking
points, okay?
Now I know."
Inner
City Press
showed Nesirky
the last
picture, half
expecting to
have film or
SD
card
confiscated.
Ban Ki-moon
&
Rajoelina Sept
24, talking
points not
shown
Ironically, a
more senior
Ban adviser
later
laughed,
"there's
nothing IN the
talking
points, they
are as
empty as the
read-outs
Martin gives."
But when
you're meeting
with coup
leaders,
apparently,
there is
reason to be
worried.
Why
not cover up
the talking
points? Or
better yet,
why not stop
meeting with
coup
leaders in a
way that
legitimates
them? Watch
this site.
* * *
After
Ban Ki-moon
Dined With
Coup Leader
Rajoeline in
May, Now UN
Won't Confirm
Meeting
Madagascar PM
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 2 --
Despite
speeches about
democracy, UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon dined
in May next to
Madagascar
coup leader Andry
Rajoelina.
His
then deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
proceeded to
deny to
Inner City
Press that Ban
had "met with"
Rajoelina,
despite
photos of the
dinner.
Rajoelina
recently sent
his de facto
prime minister
Camille Vital
to New York,
and it was
reported in
the Malagasy
press that
Vital met with
Ban Ki-moon
"to ask for
the taking of
concrete
measures given
the
inefficiency
of SADC," the
Southern
African
Development
Community.
As
SADC
still views
Rajoelina as a
coup leader,
the
implication
was that
Vitale was
asking the Ban
administration
to facilitate
his appearance
and
legitimization
at the
upcoming UN
General Debate
this month.
On
August
29, Inner City
Press in
writing asked
Ban's lead and
deputy
spokesmen
"on
Madascagar,
has the
Secretariat
received any
request to
meet with de
facto prime
minister
Camille Vital
or foreign
Minister
Yvette Sylla
or any other
Malagasy
officials in
the run up to
the General
Debate?"
Neither
lead spokesman
Martin Nesirky
-- away from
the office
since early
August -- or
Farhan Haq,
who gave the
UN's briefing
the next day
on August 30
at which he
introduced his
successor as
deputy Eduardo
del Buey,
answered or
even
acknowledged
the question.
And
so on
September 2,
Inner City
Press asked
del Buey the
question asked
in writing at
the beginning
of the week,
about any
meeting with de
facto
prime minister
Vital:
Deputy
Spokesperson
del Buey: I’ll
have to check
and get back
to you on
that.
It
would be easy
to confirm or
deny this
meeting, but
six hours
later, no
answer was
given.
Inner
City Press'
own reporting
finds that
Vitale has
confirmed that
he met with
Ban's "Under
Secretary
General" --
presumably, UN
Department of
Political
Affairs chief
Lynn Pascoe --
about finding
a way to
appear at this
month's
General
Assembly.
Ban and coup
leader, UN
claims Ban
never met him
Earlier in the
month on
August 17, the
UN refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
question about
DPA's
involvement in
Madagascar,
including
through
Joaquim
Chissano.
So
Ban Ki-moon's
UN, while
speechifying
about
democracy, is
meeting
secretly with
coup leaders
and refusing
to answer
questions
about it.
Footnote:
a
Wikileaked
cable shows
that at the
time of the
2009 coup,
only Ban's
envoy Tiebile
Drame
"expressed a
strong
position in
support of
consequences,
and
accompanying
statements and
talking
points, for
the
extra-constitutional
solution now
in progress."
So Ban and his
UN and
"extra-constitutional
solution[s]"
-- while they
purport to be
the central
adviser to
Libya on
democracy.
Watch this
site.
, 
in