By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 22, more
here --
During the
three working
weeks of Chad's
UN Security
Council presidency
for December
-- the week between
Christmas and
New Years is
off -- the
country held a
dozen question
and answer
stakeouts,
more than most
Security
Council
presidencies,
as urged and
tallied by the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access.
Nine were by
Chad's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Mahamat Zene
Cherif, one by
his Deputy and
two by Chadian
Foreign
Minister
Moussa Faki
Mahamat. Inner
City Press
asked questions
at each of
them, sometime
yielding only
the answer,
That did not
come up in
consultations,
and sometimes
a bit more.
A resolution
for a five
country force
against Boko
Haram, involving
Chad,
Cameroon,
Nigeria, Niger
and Benin was
not adopted,
with others
wanting more
information.
We will be
pursuing
whether it
will be
adopted under
January's
president,
Chile.
Chad's End of
Presidency
reception,
held early on
December 22 in
a large room
in what's
called the
Teachers (or
TIAA-CREF)
building on
Third Avenue,
was well attended,
complete with
pasta and an
open bar,
large screens
with Chadian
flags in the
front.
That a resolution
on Palestine
and Israel's
occupation did
not come to a
vote was not
up to Chad.
And the
request made
by 123
non
governmental
organizations
and Sudan
experts for
Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon to
fire Ladsous
was directed
to Ban, and
not to the
Security
Council (expects
its Western
Permanent Three
members). But
it'll get there
-- talk turned
to the letter
at Chad's
reception, by
the pasta bar
no less. Watch
this site.
When
Mahamat Zene
Cherif held
his Program of
Work press
conference
as Security
Council
president on
December 2,
Inner City
Press asked
him about a
vote on a
Palestine
resolution
during the
month, and
about the
rights of
refugees from
the Central
African
Republic.
Mahamat
Zene Cherif
said he is not
yet seized of
a draft
resolution on
Palestine but
that it might
happen. On CAR
refugees, he
said there are
100,000 in
Chad and more
in Cameroon.
In his
national
capacity, he
said they
should be
allowed to
vote and
participate in
CAR, that will
be a gauge of
the process.
He mentioned
mobile voting
places and a
role for the
UN.
Before these
first
questions of
the press
conference,
Inner City
Press for the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
thanked Mahamat
Zene Cherif
for the
briefing. It
has been
absurdly
argued that
there is some
rule or
precedent that
the old UNCA,
become
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
gets a
set-aside
first
question. From
today, that is
no longer the
case. (Earlier
on December 2,
FUNCA asked
the UN about
censorship in
Libya, here.)
Mahamat
Zene Cherif
fielded
questions on
North Korea
(that was
UNCA's, as
second),
Libya,
Security
Council
reform, Syria,
Ebola and
others. He
announced that
only that
morning five
soldiers from
Chad were
injured in
Mali by a
mine: news,
when a Troop
Contributing
Country holds
the Security
Council
presidency.
During the
month, the
Sahel, the
African Union,
the delayed
Kosovo debate
and
Afghanistan,
among others,
will be
considered,
and covered on
this site.
Amid calls for
UN Security
Council reform
of the powers
of the
permanent five
members, there
are also
slights among
the elected
ten members.
With
Chad set to
take over
Presidency of
the Security
Council on
December 1, on
November 13 it
bristled when
this month's
President,
Australia,
circulated a
“Program of
Work” for
December,
Chad's month.
Chad's
protest, which
multiple
sources
exclusively
provided to
Inner City
Press and
which it is publishing
here in
redacted form,
tells the
Australian
Mission's
Political
Coordinator
Michael Bliss
that
“Chad
is surprised
by your email
circulating
the December
POW. The
procedure is
that the
mission
assuming the
presidency of
that month is
the one
authorized to
do so. We
think it is a
profound lack
of
responsibility
by the
Australian
Mission. I
hope that we
will continue
to respect
ourselves as
non permanent
members of the
Security
Council.”
That
is, Chad not
only
challenged the
violation of
procedures,
but noted that
it was one
non-permanent
member doing
it to another.
The
email of
Michael Bliss
of the
Australian
Mission
angered those
who provided
it to Inner
City Press. In
a reference to
Bob Geldof's
“Do They Even
Know It's
Christmas,”
Bliss wrote
that
“in
respect to
that question
asked long ago
by Bob Geldof,
and friends of
some other
Africans, the
Chadian
mission do
know that it
is Christmas
time in the
week of 22/12
but, I am
told, has
resisted
SCAD's
strenuous
attempts to
arrange the
program so
that scheduled
work concludes
by 19/12.”
SCAD
is the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs'
Security
Council
Affairs
Division. On
the one hand
this seems to
be a problem
between member
states,
elected
members of the
Security
Council from
different
continents, of
different
religions and
different
cultures.
Inner City
Press reached
out to the
Australian
mission and
understands
that the
joking
reference was
to wanting a
quiet
Christmas, and
is now to
their credit
acknowledged
as
ill-considered.
But on the
other hand,
Inner City
Press is
informed,
others up to
the level of
Permanent
Representative
wonder who
gave Chad's
Program of
Work to
Australia -
whose Bliss
said it came
from "off the
back of a
truck." Which
truck? We'll
have more on
all this.
, 
