As
Sarkozy &
Juppe Voted
Out, Araud
& Allies
to Hold Over
at UN?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 7 -- The
morning after
Nicolas
Sarkozy and by
implication
his foreign
minister Alain
Juppe were
voted out by
French
voters,
despite or
because of a
plea for
support from
National Front
militants, at
the UN many
asked: when
will French
Permanent
Representative
Araud and his
allies be
leaving?
But
the answer,
surprising to
some in
contrast to
the "Arab
Spring" and
French
statements
about it,
appeared to be
that Araud
will "not
necessarily"
leave.
The argument
seems to be
that Araud was
not
actually
aligned with
Sarkozy and
Juppe, and /
or that he has
been
doing a good
job.
As
previously
noted,
Araud has been
the least
transparent of
all Permanent
Five
members of the
Security
Council's
Permanent
Representatives.
During
his Presidency
of the Council
in May 2011, Araud hit a
new low with
only three
media
stakeouts.
At
one of the
stakeouts,
Araud refused
to take any
questions, by
reading his
statement in
French then
leaving while
an aide read
it out in
English.
Hostility
to the
press under
Araud has gone
beyond
non-communication.
Earlier in
2011
when Inner
City Press
obtained a trove of
documents
concerning the
Sarkozy
administration's
dealings with
and about Cote
d'Ivoire, the
French Mission
rather than
providing a
comment
threatened
Inner City
Press that any
publication
would be
considered a
"hostile act."
(They then
proceeded to
try to use
proxies to
retaliate.)
This
refusal to
communicate
publicly has
consequences.
Several times,
Alain
Juppe has
claimed that
France was
doing or would
do something
in the
Security
Council --
request
humanitarian
corridors, for
example --
which Araud
then did not
do.
The same
disparity
occurred on
other matters,
including Iran, click
here for that.
Nor would
Araud explain
the disparity,
at least
publicly. His
"off the
record"
statements,
which his
aides
jealously
guard, put a
lie to the
claim that he
is non
partisan and
should stay
on.
A
new French
foreign
minister is
expected to be
named by May
15;
scrutinizing
these things
should be
straightforward,
and fast.
Watch this
site.
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