French
Security
Council August
Ineffectual on
Mali &
Cote d'Ivoire,
Sudan Says On
Purpose
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 29 --
As France's
month as
President of
the UN
Security
Council
comes to an
end, on a day when
its Ambassador
Gerard Araud
canceled not
one but two
media
stakeouts,
it seems time
to review
the first 29
of 31 days.
Click
here for Inner
City Press
preview,
leaked Program
of Work.
The
focus, if
there was one,
was Syria.
France
presided over
the
dismantling of
the UNSMIS
observer
mission, both
in the Council
and
through Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping.
On
June 15,
Ladsous's DPKO
notified the
Council that
it would limit
mobile
activities in
Syria. After
that, the
night before
the mandate
was
extended for a
"final" 30
days, a Security
Council source
complained
to Inner City
Press Ladsous
had UN planes
from UNAMA in
Afghanistan
idling on the
tarmac in
Beirut, eager
to pull
everyone
out.
But
France in
August
outright
dropped the
ball on other
important
issues. On
Sudan
and South
Sudan, now
three weeks
after Thabo
Mbeki briefed
the
Security
Council, no
Presidential
Statement has
been issued.
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
bragged to his
state media
Sudan Vision
that Araud
told him the
statement is
not needed.
Inner City
Press wrote
and tweeted
about it;
France never
confirmed or
denied or took
any
more public
questions for
the month.
To
be fair, Araud
did more
stakeouts and
took more
Press
questions than
expected, or
than he did 15
months ago.
And given that
it was August,
some of the
lack of impact
can be
excused.
Throughout
the
month, things
got worse in
Cote d'Ivoire.
But no
investigation
was ever
completed
into
allegations
the UN
Peacekeepers
actively
pushed Nahibly
Camp residents
perceived as
Gbagbo
supporters
into the
crowd to be
beaten. No
meeting was
called to
re-think the
planned
cost-saving
withdrawal of
an entire
battalion of
peacekeepers
from
Abidjan.
Another
big
focus
trumpeted by
France at the
beginning of
the month was
Mali.
But nothing
was
accomplished
in the Council
during the
month. When
Inner City
Press was
able to ask
Araud about
Morocco's
proposal
for a UN
envoy, Araud
said it was
France's idea,
an envoy for
the
Sahel. So
where is it?
Watch this
site.
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