On
Cote
d'Ivoire, As UN Downplays French Role, Dodges on Leaked
Documents
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 8 -- On Cote d'Ivoire,
the UN now claims that it was
only the Alassane Ouattara administration, and not France,
negotiating for Laurent Gbagbo to surrender.
Inner
City Press
asked chief UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy to explain French foreign
minister Alain Juppe's statement this week that UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon supports his position that Gbagbo must sign an agreement
ceding power to Ouattara. (Ban's own ostensible spokesman Martin
Nesirky told Inner City Press on the same question, “I don't speak
for the foreign minister of France.)
Le
Roy, without
addressing Juppe or even mentioning his name, insisted that this
demand is that of Ouattara, and that the UN is only helping with the
negotiations.
When
Inner City
Press asked against about France, Le Roy said that because Gbagbo's
former ambassador to the UN then foreign minister Djedje went to
France - Le Roy said either the residence or embassy - France was
involved.
Earlier
on Friday,
Inner City Press was told that Djedje may no longer represent Gbagbo,
at least according to Simone Gbagbo.
Inner
City Press
asked Ouattara's ambassador to the UN Yousoufou Bamba, who said both
that he had once been Djedje's boss -- “he worked for me” -- and,
rhetorically, “foreign minister of what?”
Bamba
went on to
wonder “where is Simone Gbagbo?” Where indeed.
Inner
City Press
at the UN's noon briefing on Friday asked Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: President Ouattara has said that he intends to, quote,
“starve out”, i.e., blockade the residence of Gbagbo so that no
water or food goes in and so then he has to come out. And I just
wondered what is, not Mr. Le Roy or Mr. Choi Young-jin, what’s the
Secretary-General, what’s his position on that?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, as you know, it is in the title that Alain Le Roy is
Under-Secretary-General reporting to the Secretary-General. He is in
charge of peacekeeping operations. And what is happening with the
Mission in Côte d’Ivoire, he will be briefing the Council and
after that, I am sure he will be happy to speak to you, including on
that topic, if he has an update.
Inner
City Press
did ask Le Roy, who said that the UN does not engage in starving
people. He was then asked if the UN will then provide food and water
to Gbagbo. I haven't thought about it, he said, maybe.
Le
Roy went on to
say Gbagbo used the delay of negotiations to “regain full control
of the Cocody and the Plateau.”
Inner
City Press also asked
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: on Côte d’Ivoire, [inaudible] press has
gotten and
published some documents about Licorne, writing to the UN Mission
in
Côte d’Ivoire about alleged violations of the arms embargo by
Gbagbo, et cetera. And what I am wondering is what, the question has
come up is how close, how would you describe the coordination between
UNOCI and Licorne? Is it limited to military actions? Does UNOCI
receive letters from other Member States or embassies in Ivory Coast
about alleged violations? And can you just, can we just be clear on
what, I have heard that Licorne attends meetings in UNOCI on a
variety of topics, not necessarily limited to military. Is there
some way to get an indication of what that relationship is?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Again, that’s something that you can ask Mr. Le Roy. But
as a general principle, I am not going to respond to reports about
leaked documents.
Inner City Press asked Le Roy about the access
of Licorne, and did not get a clear answer. Afterward, Inner City
Press was told "we are watching." So are we.
* * *
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.
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