Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

On Cote d'Ivoire, Ouattara's Bamba Says Blasted Japanese Embassy to Get Snipers on Roof, Endgame?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 -- With the forces of Alassane Ouattara blasting away at the residence of Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan, in New York Ouattara's Ambassador to the UN Yousoufou Bamba told Inner City Press “it is a matter of hours.”

Earlier on Wednesday a Security Council member's Deputy Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the worry wasn't the “philosophical” issues of whether the UN should be shooting from attack helicopters but rather the precarious situation of the Japanese embassy, and Vatican representative, in Abidjan.

While UN spokesman Martin Nesirky provided no information about either at the noon briefing when Inner City Press asked or in the hours that followed, Bamba told Inner City Press that there were Gbagbo snipers on the roof of the Japanese embassy, and that fire from the Ouattara side damaged the embassy. Can you say, diplomatic incident?

Ban & Bamba, Japanese embassy & position on Caritas not shown

French Ambassador Gerard Araud disappeared from the ongoing Security Council debate on Haiti on Wednesday afternoon, and UN sources said he was briefing select journalists about Cote d'Ivoire. It is not clear what he said.

Another Council member's Permanent Representative, on the other hand, was very clear: the UN was going beyond the mandate given to it in Resolution 1975. One wondered, when would the Council finally debate this “philosophical” issue? Watch this site.

Footnote: a longtime Gbagbo adviser at the UN in New York on April 5 told Inner City Press that Gbagbo's former Permanent Representative had sold out to the French, for money. He said that Gbagbo's residence had been bugged. His harshest criticism was reserved for the UN, from which he resigned in disgust. And do it goes.

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As Juppe Says Ban Demands Gbagbo Letter, UN No Comments, Vatican & Japan Q

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 -- A day after French foreign minister Alain Juppe said that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon agrees that Laurent Gbagbo must sign a letter ceding power to Alassane Ouattara, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky if that is, in fact, Ban's position.

“I don't speak for the French Foreign Minister,” Nesirky said.

“But you do speak for the Secretary General,” Inner City Press asked. Is it Ban's position or not?

Nesirky would not answer, saying he would not characterize the Secretary General's communications with Juppe. Thus does the UN thumbs its nose at transparency and lose credibility, by being used as Juppe used Ban, and France used UNOCI.

Inner City Press was told by a Security Council member's Deputy Permanent Representative that UN peacekeepers have not gotten to the residences in Abidjan of the representative of the Vatican as well as the Japanese Ambassador.

Ban & Juppe, joint demand of letter as condition not shown

It was unclear, he said, which side was blocking access -- noting that it is Vatican charity Caritas which reported 1000 dead in Duekoue, which many largely blame on supporters of Ouattara.

Nesirky would not answer about which side is blocking access, although he repeatedly blamed the UN's failure to even protect journalists in a hotel on “heavy weapons.”

Inner City Press asked him if Ouattara's forces have heavy weapons too. Nesirky would not answer. He repeatedly insisted that the UN is impartial. Watch this site.

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At UN, Bamba of Cote d'Ivoire Takes 7 Questions on Video, France Partners with Nigeria, Invisible Commandos

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 -- At Friday's UN Security Council meeting on Cote d'Ivoire, the Ambassador sent by Alassane Ouattara to replace Laurent Gbagbo's Djedje spoke in the Council for the first time. Yousoufou “Joseph” Bamba, now Permanent Representative to the UN, came afterward to take questions on camera from Inner City Press. Click here for YouTube video.

Inner City Press asked Bamba a range of question, from comparisons to the military enforcement action in Libya to reported killings by Ouattara supporters and the lack of medicine in Abidjan due to EU sanctions.

Bamba did not dispute the impact of sanctions, saying only that if Ouattara were allowed to act as president these problems would not exist. He had said that the energy put into Libya, compared to that in Cote d'Ivoire, made up a form of “bias.” But he backed away from that.

In fact, as Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin walked into the Council for the meeting, he was asked about requests for more action by the UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire, ONUCI. “Another big war,” he said sarcastically. “Just what we need.”

Inner City Press conveyed Churkin's remarks to India's Permanent Representative Hardeep Singh Puri. who said, “You want another war? With clear objectives?”

Ban & Bamba, action on Invisible Commandos not shown

In other comments, Bamba said that the helicopter ONUCI says Gbagbo forces are repairing is one of those destroyed by France in the past. He said that both Gbagbo and Ouattara have asked for International Criminal Court intervention and investigation.

France on Friday circulated a draft resolution including the ICC, new sanctions and a call for Gbagbo to leave. Despite saying it was a joint submission with Nigeria, the French draft does not include things that Nigeria and ECOWAS want, like authorization for intervention.

The back story is the while the French mission at the UN had intended to confer with South Africa on elements of a resolution, South Africa was not going to join in at least until the African Union meeting. Since President Nicolas Sarkozy had announced on Thursday night that France was drafting a resolution for Friday, a new partner had to be found. Whether this serves Nigeria is unclear. Watch this site.

Click for Mar 1, '11 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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