|
On
Cote
d'Ivoire, US “Unaware” of 107 Detainees in Golf Hotel, “Fair
Qs” Not A-ed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
WASHINGTON
DC,
April 14 -- Amid reports on attacks in Cote d'Ivoire by
supporters of Alassane Ouattara against perceived partisans of
Laurent Gbagbo, Inner City Press on April 13
published exclusive news
of 107 people detained in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, (click here for the
list of 107 as Inenr City Press received it on April 13) and on April 14
asked US State Department spokesman Marc Toner:
Inner
City
Press: There are these reports of Gbagbo supporters, some of
them that were taken to the Golf Hotel, still being kept there. It’s
not clear what their status is. There’s one of his ministers, it
said, was beaten to death. And I just wonder, given the UN presence
there and given the calls for restraint, does the U.S. think that the
forces of Ouattara and the UN are doing enough to protect Gbagbo
supporters from these seeming retaliations? Or what’s your sense of
what’s happening there?
MR.
TONER:
Well, as I said yesterday, we appeal for calm on all sides in
Abidjan and in Cote d’Ivoire. We believe that with Gbagbo’s
departure that the country and the government has turned a page and
that the people of Ivory Coast should look to the future and not
engage in any kind of reprisals or retaliations. I’m not fully
aware of the – what you just mentioned about a minister of Gbagbo –
a minister being attacked. But we believe that the UN thus far has
done a good job protecting civilians and trying to find a solution to
a crisis that was engendered by Mr. Gbagbo and his refusal to step
aside.
Gbagbo et fils displayed on
Ouattara TV, UN silent
Inner
City
Press: I mean, the 107 people that are sort of in custody in the
Golf Hotel, are they under arrest, or is that something that the U.S.
is --
MR.
TONER:
I’m not – I’ll have to – I’ll take that question. I
don’t know what their status is. I know Mr. Gbagbo himself was
transferred, but I’m not sure what the status of the remaining
people. It’s a fair question.
But
more than seven
hours later, there was still not answer to this “fair” question. As
previously reported, Human Rights Watch when asked by Inner City
Press had no comment on Tangro or the photos of Simone Gbagbo.
Now
there are new
reports of abuses in churches, of pro-Gbagbo singers hunted down.
Meanwhile at
the UN in New York on April 14, Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan
Haq claimed the UN had little to say about the treatment, it was up to
Ouattara's forces. Gbagbo, Inner City Press is told, is in
Korogho. What is the UN's role? Watch this site.
* * *
In
Cote
d'Ivoire, Tangro Treatment Unclear, HRW on Gbagbo Photo,
UN Silent
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 13 -- Since French tanks surrounded Laurent Gbagbo's
residence and his and others were spirited into custody of the
Ouattara forces, much of the human rights reporting on Cote d'Ivoire
has changed.
While
initial
reporting on the killing of hundreds of people in Duekoue blamed it
on Ouattara's forces, now it is more common to say that it unclear,
and to congratulate calls for an investigation.
Just
as supporters
of Ouattara decried his blockade inside the Golf Hotel, now
supporters of Gbagbo speak of 107 people held in the Golf Hotel in
conditions that don't comply with international law.
Human
Rights Watch
on Wednesday congratulated the UN speech of Ouattara's
representative, laying the onus on the international community to
follow through. But there are those in Abidjan and beyond who are
dubious of Ouattara's new found agnosticism on who committed the
murders in Duekoue.
There
are reports
that Gbagbo supporter Desire Tangro was beaten to death. The mystery
of his treatment has been reported not only in Abidjan, but even in
the Sidney Morning Herald.
When
Human Rights
Watch chided Inner City Press for contrasting HRW's praise of Bamba's
with Amnesty International's call for the UN to do more to protect
civilians in Western Cote d'Ivoire, including from Ouattara
supporters, Inner City asked in response for a comment on the photo
of Simone Gbagbo surrounded by Ouattara soldiers -- is it doctored?
-- and about Tangro.
The
response from
HRW to Inner City Press was that
“showing
footage of [Laurent Gbagbo] in his undershirt was inappropriate and
undignified. He should not be subjected to public curiosity or
humiliation. Beyond that, we don’t have first hand information,
including on the picture of Simone
Gbagbo you mentioned or the death
of Desire Tagro.”
Even
on showing
footage of Laurent Gbagbo in his undershirt, the UN has yet to speak
out. History, and apparently the human rights reports of some, are
written by the victors. Watch this site.
* * *
On
Cote
d'Ivoire, Bamba Says Gbagbo Arrested Not By France But Ouattara
Forces
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
11, updated -- After wire services in Abidjan reported that the
French tanks from the Force Licorne assaulted the residence of
defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo, seized him and turned him over to
Alassane Ouattara's forces, Ouattara's envoy to the UN called Inner
City Press over.
“Tell your
colleagues,” he said. “I have an announcement to make.”
As
UN TV fine
tuned its microphone and Inner City Press announced the impromptu
stakeout by Twitter, Bamba stepped to the mic. As a major US news
channel begged him to do it “first in English,” Bamba announced
the arrest of Gbagbo in French.
Inner
City
Press
asked Bamba to confirm or deny that the French Force Licorne actually
took custody of Gbagbo, then handed him over to Ouattara's forces.
No,
Bamba said,
denying it. The Forces Republicain de Cote Ivoire made the arrest.
It
seems important
to establish this basic fact. Moments later, as France's Permanent
Representative to the UN Gerard Araud and his spokesman walked into
the Security Council, Inner City Press asked them both, “Who
arrested Gbagbo?”
Neither
one
answered,
or even turned back. It is unclear if this is related to previous
Press coverage of Cote d'Ivoire, click here
to view.
Inner
City
Press
asked Bamba if he expected the Security Council to issue a statement
about the arrest of Gbagbo. “First they have to hear from [top
Peacekeeper Alain] Le Roy,” he answered.
It
was quickly
announced that Le Roy would brief the Council at 10:30 am. As he went
in, Inner City Press asked him, “who arrested Gbagbo?”
Le
Roy to his
credit stopped and answered. He said, “He's in the custody of
Ouattara forces, in Golf Hotel, we provide security.”
But
that doesn't
answer who arrested Gbagbo.
Update of 10:58 am
-- Inner City Press asked US Permanent Representative Susan Rice,
"who arrested Gbagbo, the forces of Ouattara?" She said she didn't have
more information, but "that's what the PR said," referring to Bamba.
Multiple
reports say that over 30 French tanks (or armored vehicles), each with
four to eight French soldiers inside, moved on Gbagbo's residence on
Monday morning, after France and the UN hit it with air strikes
overnight. The question of who "made" the arrest is a broader one.
Ban & Juppe, joint demand of letter as condition not shown
Le Roy instructed a
staff member to show
him a cable before it is send to Ban Ki-moon's envoy Choi Young-jin.
Inner
City
Press
asked Bamba if Ouattara's force intend to arrest Djedje. Bamba shook
his head and said, “He has been in the French embassy for some
days.”
Rats
leave
a
sinking ship, a source snarks for Abidjan. A Permanent Five member
of the Council's spokesman told Inner City Press, of the (French)
arrest, “It is a strange precedent.” But would this member's
Ambassador come say this on camera at the stakeout, on the record?
Watch this site.
* * *
Leaked
French
Documents
Show
Cote d'Ivoire Strategy at UN of France on Liberia, Mali
& Even San Francisco
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
8,
updated -- With Cote d'Ivoire's defiant Laurent Gbagbo
surrounded after French and UN military action in Abidjan's Cocody
neighborhood, internal French government documents obtained by Inner
City Press and published exclusively today paint a picture of
France's communications with the UN Mission UNOCI, its analysis of
the politics of Guillaume Soro, Liberia and the Malian press, even
its recycling of a French diplomat arrested in New York as France's
new general consul in San Francisco.
In
the first
document, France's Force Licorne (Unicorn) wrote to the Special
Representative of the Secretary General about Gbagbo's import of
heavy weapons. Click here to view. More recently, France is accused
of violating the arms embargo by providing and facilitating weapons
to the forces of Alassane Ouattara.
The
second
document
is
an
internal French cable detailing the Financial
Organization of the Rebellion, down to a “racket” of shaking down
money for taxi licenses.
In
the third
document, France bemoans the failure of a visit of three African
heads of state to Cote d'Ivoire, including Nigeria's Obasanjo and
South Africa's Thabo Mbeki now active in Sudan, complaining that this
situation can be prolonged until the international community decided
to “impose a solution.”
In
the fourth
document, France analyzed and critiques South African policy toward
Cote d'Ivoire and Gbagbo.
In
the fifth
document, France analyzes Liberia's foreign policy as pro-American.
More recently, a purported interview of a Ouattara commander
describing coordinating with a French citizen working with the UN
Mission in Liberia has surfaced.
In
the sixth
document, France analyzes the “discrete attitude” of the Malian
press.
In
the largest set
of documents published today -- there are more -- France details its
work in the UN Security Council on resolutions concerning the UN
mission UNOCI.
One
of the French
diplomats involved was Romain Serman, who was later arrested by the
New York Police Department. See arrest sheet and
signed statement,
here. Then French Ambassador de la Sabliere, to “avoid a scandal,”
sent Serman back to Paris.
But
in 2010 he was
re-assigned to the US, as general consul in San Francisco. And so it
goes.
Update at 1pm, April
8: at the UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky to describe how UNOCI has
allowed Licorne to lobby it and attend its meetings, and if other
countries have been allowed.
Nesirky said
he would not comment on leaked documents, and also directed Inner City
Press to ask the (French) chief of the UN Department of Peacekeeping
Operations, Alain Le Roy. Watch this site.
Click for Mar 1, '11
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption
Click
here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12
debate
on
Sri
Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office:
S-453A,
UN,
NY
10017
USA
Tel:
212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile
(and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier
Inner
City
Press
are
listed
here,
and
some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08
Inner
City
Press,
Inc.
To
request
reprint
or
other
permission,
e-contact
Editorial
[at]
innercitypress.com
-
|
, 
