| Amid
Burundi Deaths, UN Kafando May
24, French Ambassador
Delahousse Says, Hippos?
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photo,
Video
UNITED NATIONS,
May 14 – In Burundi days
before the May 17 referendum,
at least 26 people have been
killed in Cibitoke. Tellingly,
Isanganiro
journalist Pacifique
Cubahiro and his cameraman
were detained for looking into
it, and their images seized.
Meanwhile from UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, whom
the Free
UN Coalition for Access
has shown linked
to UN censorship and from the
UN Security Council, so far
nothing. But France's
Ambassador in Burundi Laurent
Delahousse has seen fit to
reply, "Hippos?" to a tweet
about seven people reportedly
killed and left floating in a
river. See here.
Burundians have called it
shameful; Laurent Delahousse
has doubled down saying he was
protesting the use of
inapposite photos on social
media - this while France was
speaking about the Rohingya in
the UN Security Council, while
seemingly unaware as penholder
of Burundi meetings, or
killings. Would France
communicate this way about
Syria? It seems more akin to
French Ambassador Gilles
Thibault's communications in
Cameroon, ignoring or
downplaying the Biya
government's killings in the
Anglophone zones, like the UN
does. On May 14 Inner City
Press asked UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres'
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: In Burundi,
as you… 26 people were killed
in Cibitoke, which is a… on
the border, and it’s a pretty
large number. And two
journalists that were
investigating it were
detained. Their files
were seized. And I’m just
wondering, the run-up to the
election, given the UN’s role
there, including Mr. [Michel]
Kafando, what does the UN have
to say about this murder of 26
people?
Spokesman: Of course,
we’re concerned about any
violence in the run-up to the
elections. We wanted and
have made clear the idea that
voting needs to be held in a
free and fair atmosphere where
people can vote without
fear. Regarding the
views of Michel Kafando, the
Special Envoy, he’s expected
to brief the Security Council
later this month, I believe in
a little over a week from now,
around the 24th. And so
he’ll express his views at
that point. But,
certainly, we are concerned
about any violence and want it
to be investigated thoroughly.
Inner
City Press:
And I wanted to ask, in
Vienna, what he said…
Spokesman: Hold on.
Inner City Press: Well, you
just… I have another question.
Spokesman: "Yeah, but
it’s on a separate topic."
We'll have more on this. With
the Council presidency for May
being taken over by Poland's
Ambassador Joanna Wronecka,
Inner City Press on May 3
asked her about the month's
program of work, and to be
kept informed. On May 9,
this: on May 10, after
Darfur, "the SC will then
proceed in closed
consultations with Any Other
Business on Burundi. Mr.
Michel Kafando, Special Envoy
of the Secretary-General for
Burundi will brief the
Council" - behind closed
doors, of course. Inner City
Press asked Francois Delattre,
UN Ambassdor of France which
"holds the pen" in the
Security Council on Burundi,
about the consultations and
though polite he seemed not to
know. Video here.
Inner City Press aims to
follow up, even amid exclusion
orders by Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' Stephane
Dujarric. The referendum,
which the US and others say
runs counter to Arusha, is set
for May 17. Watch this site.
Inner City Press on May 3
asked about UN sexual abuse
and exploitation, with 54 new
cases in just the first
quarter of 2018, and about DR
Congo interference in the
investigation of the murders
of UN experts Michael Sharp
and Zaida Catalan. In
response, she cited an Arria
formula meeting on May 7 about
Children and Armed Conflict,
and as an issue of particular
interest to her,
stigmatization in Myanmar. She
described the Council's recent
visit to that country and to
Bangladesh. For the Free UN
Coalition for Access, FUNCA,
Inner City Press asked that
the Polish Mission send out
daily emails about who has
requested Any Other Business
meetings and who the briefers
are. Back on April 2 Inner
City Press asked the then
incoming UNSC President Peru's
Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra
about Haiti and the cholera
the UN brought, and the
Western Sahara letter filed
with the Council on April 1. Meza-Cuadra said
the Peru had participated
extensively in the UN's now
defunct MINUSTAH mission; he
acknowledged the need for the
UN to raise more funds about
cholera. Video here.
On Western Sahara he
acknowledged receipt of the
letter alleging violations by
the Frente Polisario which the
UN says it has not observed.
He said it has been
circulated, and his political
coordinator after the meeting
denied reports of an "Any
Other Business" briefing about
Western Sahara before the
consultations on April 17.
There may be Council trips to
Iraq and to Myanmar /
Bangladesh. Inner City Press
for the Free
UN Coalition for Access
asked Meza-Cuadra
to revert to
the practice
of at least
purporting to
answer
questions
after closed
consultations
of the
Council. We'll
have more on this. Back on
March 1 with the Council
presidency being taken over by
Dutch Ambassador Karel van
Oosterom, Inner City Press
asked him about Burundi, where
the Council's decision to send
228 UN Police was never
implemented, and about the
(lack of) transparency of the
North Korea sanctions
committee which he chairs. He
replied that each sanctions
committee has its own
transparency procedures. Not
explained is when the votes
were taken, to make
confidential requests for and
rulings on exemptions such as
that involving DPRK Foreign
Trade Bank, see
Inner City Press' credited
scoop here.
We'll have more on this, as
well as on Burundi, where
Inner City Press was told the
day after the February 26
meeting that France, the
penholding, is working on a
press statement. Where is it?
The four prior rounds of
questions were mostly about
Syria, n which the Council
will meet March 12, 15 and 27,
see Inner City Press' coverage
here. Efforts to visit
Myanmar continue. Western
Sahara and MINURSO will be
disclosed - behind closed
doors - on March 21; the DR
Congo on March 7 and 19 after
OCHA's Lowcock and Sigrid Kaaf
visit the country. Karel van
Oosterom said he lived in
Damascus for four years, and
quoted Yogi Berra on the
difficulty of making
predictions, especially if
they are about the future. He
said the three non-European
parts of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands will sometimes be
in the chair, but not for now
during the month of
presidency. The flame out of
the country's previous foreign
minister for misstating what
he overheard in Moscow did not
come up; afterward Inner City
Press began to make a pitch
that the Netherlands, when it
deploys as in Mali, should
share its protective equipment
to avoid a deadly two-tier
situation of night vision
goggles for example among
different contingents. We'll
have more on this. On behalf
of the Free UN Coalition for
Access, Inner City Press asked
van Oosterom to
come to stakeout after all
closed door consultations,
such as did not happen on
Burundi. He said he'll try.
Watch this site. Back on
February 1 Inner City Press
asked Kuwait's Mansour
Al-Otaibi about Yemen and
about Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' meeting with
Sudan's President Omar al
Bashir, indicted by the
International Criminal Court
for genocide in Darfur. Photos,
Periscope.
On
Yemen, Inner City Press asked
if the name of Martin
Griffiths has been circulated
to Council members as
replacement for Ismael Ould
Cheikh Ahmed as UN envoy. He
said it has not been
circulated, adding that Kuwait
will support whomever the
Secretary General proposes. On
Guterres' meeting, for which
he'd have been required to
inform the ICC Prosecutor in
advance, Al-Otaibi said he
had no information, that Inner
City Press should ask
Guterres. We'll try. Al-Otaibi said
that there will be no Council
trip to Myanmar this month -
the government didn't say no,
he said, but indicated it is
not the right time. Jimmy
Carter may or may not appear
at an Arria formula meeting
Kuwait is organizing. We'll
have more on this - on behalf
of the Free UN Coalition for
Access, Inner City Press asked
Al-Otaibi to hold
question and answer stakeouts
after closed door
consultation. We'll be there.
Back in September to
Ethiopia's Tekeda Alemu, Inner
City Press asked Ambassador
Alemu four questions, the
answers to which sketch out
the Ethopian government's
worldview. Video here.
In response to Inner City
Press asking why Burundi,
where even the UN says there
is a risk of genocide, is not
on his September Program of
Work nor on the agenda of the
Council's visit to Addis
Ababa, Alemu said that you
can't compare Burundi to
Central African Republic, that
Burundi has “strong state
institutions.” But it is that
very “strength,” which some
say the country shares with
Ethiopia, and with until
recently military-ruled
Myanmar about which Inner City
Press also asked, that has led
to the human rights
violations. In this context,
Inner City Press asked Alemu
about the Oromo protests - and
crackdown - in his country. He
diplomatically chided Inner
City Press for not having
asked in private, saying that
social media has played a
dangerous role. On the other
hand, when Inner City Press
asked Alemu at the end about
the murders of two UN experts
Michael Sharp and Zaida
Catalan, he replied that while
the DR Congo is due to
sovereignty the one to
investigate the murders, the
gruesome nature of the
killings put a “great
responsibility” on the DR
Congo. We'l have more on this.
Alamy photos here.
Earlier on September 1 in
Alemu's briefing to countries
not on the Security Council,
Bangladesh specifically asked
that the Council remain seized
of the situation in Myanmar.
When Inner City Press asked
Alemu about this, he said he
still had to inform himself
more about that situation. The
Security Council is traveling
to Addis from September 5
through 9, when alongside
African Union consultations
the Council's member will meet
for an hour with Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn,
Alemu said. The Council will
receive the “maiden briefings”
late in the month of the new
Under Secretaries General of
OCHA and on Counter-Terrorism.
There will be peacekeeping on
September 20, during the High
Level week of the UN General
Assembly, and Yemen on
September 26. But tellingly,
there will not be Burundi.
Watch this site.
***
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