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As
France
Announces UNSC
Schedule
Before
Bilaterals,
What of
Somalia?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 2,
updated -- As
France takes
over
presidency of
the UN
Security
Council for
December,
before it has
even held the
traditional
bilateral
consultations
with the other
14 members of
the
Council later
today, foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
has already
made
public
announcements
about the
program of
work not yet
agreed to.
Fabius
said
France has
four
priorities,
set forth
below. But he
has also
announced the
date and topic
of debate not
yet agreed to.
No other
Security
Council
presidency,
including by
the four other
Permanent
members, has
done this.
On
December 18,
France says
the Security
Council "will"
have a
debate about
drug
trafficking
particularly
in West Africa
and the
Sahel. This
comes amid
reports from
Ghana that
French ally
Alassane
Outtara's
government in
Ivory Coast
has set
hit-men to
kill or kidnap
supporters of
former Ivorian
president
Laurent
Gbagbo. Inner
City
Press will
have more on
this.
Citing
the murder of
two French
journalists in
Mali, which
the Security
Council nearly
immediately
denounced in a
Press
Statement,
Fabius
says that the
Security
Council on
December 13
will debate
the
protection of
journalists.
While
laudable,
Inner City
Press and the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
question why
the Council
has not issued
any press
statements
about the
murder of
other
journalists
for
example in
Somalia.
In
Mogadishu, the
parliament has
now voted out
Prime Minister
Abdi Farah
Shirdon Saaid,
with fully 184
of 250
parliamentary
voters present
against him. What
will the
French
presidency of
the Security
Council
do?
Somalia is NOT
among France's
priorities for
the month.
France's
priorities,
according
to Fabius,
are former
French colony
the Central
African
Republic, and
Syria, which
France
declared Ahmad
al Jarba the
sole
legitimate
representative
of the Syrian
people.
We will
have
more on both
of these
topics as
well. But it
is noted:
Fabius made
date-specific
announcements
about the
Security
Council's
program of
work for
December even
before the
French Mission
to the UN
holds
bilateral
consultations
with the
Council's
other 14
members. Faux
pas? Watch
this site.
Update: while
Fabius said
the UN's
Valerie Amos
would briefing
the Council
"this week,"
Inner City
Press hears
from Council
sources it
will be
tomorrow,
December 3.
Watch this
site.
* * *
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