As
France Speaks
Again for
Mali, Colonial
Doubts, Kosovo
Flip-Flop
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 25
-- Why is
France, at
least twice
now purporting
to speak for
Mali? Could
that be one of
the problems?
The answer,
bien
sur,
is
colonialism.
But is what
France saying
even true?
Back
in early
September, it
was France's
special envoy
to the Sahel
region, Jean
Felix-Paganon,
who grandly in
Burkina Faso
announced
that Mali had
requested help
and
intervention
from the West
Africa
group ECOWAS
to re-take the
north, which
some call
Azawad.
The
UN,
when Inner
City Press
asked, couldn't
confirm the
request. But
Permanent
Representative
Bamba of Cote
d'Ivoire,
another former
French colony,
echoed it to
Inner City
Press.
But
nothing
happened, just
as the UN
Security
Council did
nothing on
Mali
during
France's
presidency in
August. (Click
here for
Inner City
Press' review
the French
mission's
under-performance
during its
month as UNSC
President,
including on
Cote
d'Ivoire and
Sudan.)
Also
in August,
Mali
was
claimed to
have
recognized
Kosovo, a
French
position; then
this
was
denied from
Bamako.
Now,
French foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
says that Mali
has really
made
the request,
for "immediate
military
presence," and
that France
will be
pushing it to
another
Security
Council
members, and
other member
states at a
September 26
meeting at
the UN.
Even
before that,
France's
defense
minister
Jean-Yves Le
Drian
announced his
country would
provide
logistical
support to
re-conquer
northern Mali.
When Inner
City Press
asked this
month's
Security
Council
president
Peter Wittig
of Germany if
this meant
France would
be working
around the
Security
Council,
Wittig didn't
answer, saying
instead that
the Council is
waiting to
receive a
feasible plan.
But,
skeptics want
to know, from
whom --
ECOWAS, silent
Mali, or
fast-talking
France?
As
Inner City
Press
previously
noted,
Burkinabe
president
Compaore was
quoted -- on
France 24 --
that it is
easier to talk
with the
rebels
in the north
than with
Bamako. Maybe
he didn't yet
get le
memo?
Watch this
site.
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