On
Cote
d'Ivoire, As UN Tuesday Said Gbagbo Not in Abidjan, Would Say Where,
Russia Asked If Red Cross Needed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 12, updated -- As the
UN and its Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
wanly call for reconciliation in Cote d'Ivoire, on Tuesday Ban's
acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq would not even say where the
captive Laurent Gbagbo had been taken. Video
here. (But see UN "clarification"
below.)
He
is not in
Abidjan, Haq said. Has he been taken to the north, he was asked, to
the stronghold of Alassane Ouattara?
Haq would not
say, despite
longstanding principles like habeus corpus -- literally, where is the
body -- and access to prisoners.
Moments
after
Haq's statements, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly
Churkin told Inner City Press, “Maybe the Red Cross should get
involved.”
Maybe
it should.
Already photos are circulating of
Ouattara fighters surrounding
Simone Gbagbo in a victory pose. Whatever the background to this
presentation, combined with the photos of Laurent
Gbagbo in his undershirt a la Khalid Sheikh Mohamed -- or Saddam
Hussein -- these photographs are not likely to breed reconciliation.
Ban and Gbagbo: but where is he now? Red Cross not shown
On
April 11, Inner
City Press asked the Croatian Assistant Secretary General Simonovic
of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights why the UN's
numbers for those killed in Duekoue are so much lower than Human
Rights Watch and Caritas, which Ouattara's representative to the UN
Yousoufou Bamba accused of being “pro-Gbagbo.”
Simonovic
replied
that HRW focused on witness statements, taken in Liberia, while the
UN limited itself to actually bodies counted. Inner City Press has
asked the head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos to comment on Ouattara's
representative's assault on the objectivity of NGO Caritas.
You'd
have to ask
Caritas about their numbers, was Amos' first response. Then she said
of Caritas merely that the UN works with them. Wasn't one of OCHA's
jobs to defense of NGOs, when attacked by the governments they assess
and report on?
In Cote
d'Ivoire, the UN is “all in” -- and on
Tuesday wouldn't even say where Gbagbo has been taken. Watch this
site.
Update: Hours after Ban Ki-moon's
acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq told
the press on camera that Gbagbo was not in Abidjan and refused to say
where he had been taken, as reported above, the UN quietly added a
line to its transcript
-- nevermind:
Question:
On Côte d’Ivoire, do you know where Gbagbo physically is at this
moment?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson Haq: He is no longer in the Golf Hotel. UNOCI
has helped to move him to another place in Côte d’Ivoire where he
will be secure. UNOCI is working with the Ivorian authorities to
ensure that he continues to be safe.
Question:
A
follow-up: is he in Abidjan?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: No.
Question:
He is not in Abidjan?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: I believe not. Not at this stage, no.
Question:
Are there UNOCI people with him?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: Yes, UNOCI will continue to use some of its
resources to ensure his protection and safety, in line with his
requests and our mandate.
Question:
Sorry, another follow-up. Has he been moved to the north of the
country, to Ouattara’s stomping grounds, so to speak?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: I don’t think I would have any comment on
that at this stage.
Question:
Can you translate better what UNOCI is doing to protect Gbagbo?
Exactly, I mean physically. Are they there with him? A mile away?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: There are some security people there with him
and will continue to be with him.
Question:
They know where he is but you can’t tell us?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson: I don’t know whether I can at this stage, no.
[The
Acting
Deputy Spokesperson later issued a clarification, saying that,
contrary to earlier information, Laurent Gbagbo remains at the Golf
Hotel in Abidjan.]
The UN never even e-mailed this
“clarification" to the
reporters who had been present in the briefing room when Haq said the
above. Beyond obfuscating
intentionally misleading, if these briefings are providing false
information to write and then not even bothering to e-mail out
corrections, what's the point?
* * *
On
Cote
d'Ivoire, Bamba Says Gbagbo Arrested Not By France But Ouattara
Forces
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
11, updated -- After wire services in Abidjan reported that the
French tanks from the Force Licorne assaulted the residence of
defiant leader Laurent Gbagbo, seized him and turned him over to
Alassane Ouattara's forces, Ouattara's envoy to the UN called Inner
City Press over.
“Tell your
colleagues,” he said. “I have an announcement to make.”
As
UN TV fine
tuned its microphone and Inner City Press announced the impromptu
stakeout by Twitter, Bamba stepped to the mic. As a major US news
channel begged him to do it “first in English,” Bamba announced
the arrest of Gbagbo in French.
Inner
City
Press
asked Bamba to confirm or deny that the French Force Licorne actually
took custody of Gbagbo, then handed him over to Ouattara's forces.
No,
Bamba said,
denying it. The Forces Republicain de Cote Ivoire made the arrest.
It
seems important
to establish this basic fact. Moments later, as France's Permanent
Representative to the UN Gerard Araud and his spokesman walked into
the Security Council, Inner City Press asked them both, “Who
arrested Gbagbo?”
Neither
one
answered,
or even turned back. It is unclear if this is related to previous
Press coverage of Cote d'Ivoire, click here
to view.
Inner
City
Press
asked Bamba if he expected the Security Council to issue a statement
about the arrest of Gbagbo. “First they have to hear from [top
Peacekeeper Alain] Le Roy,” he answered.
It
was quickly
announced that Le Roy would brief the Council at 10:30 am. As he went
in, Inner City Press asked him, “who arrested Gbagbo?”
Le
Roy to his
credit stopped and answered. He said, “He's in the custody of
Ouattara forces, in Golf Hotel, we provide security.”
But
that doesn't
answer who arrested Gbagbo.
Update of 10:58 am
-- Inner City Press asked US Permanent Representative Susan Rice,
"who arrested Gbagbo, the forces of Ouattara?" She said she didn't have
more information, but "that's what the PR said," referring to Bamba.
Multiple
reports say that over 30 French tanks (or armored vehicles), each with
four to eight French soldiers inside, moved on Gbagbo's residence on
Monday morning, after France and the UN hit it with air strikes
overnight. The question of who "made" the arrest is a broader one.
Ban & Juppe, joint demand of letter as condition not shown
Le Roy instructed a
staff member to show
him a cable before it is send to Ban Ki-moon's envoy Choi Young-jin.
Inner
City
Press
asked Bamba if Ouattara's force intend to arrest Djedje. Bamba shook
his head and said, “He has been in the French embassy for some
days.”
Rats
leave
a
sinking ship, a source snarks for Abidjan. A Permanent Five member
of the Council's spokesman told Inner City Press, of the (French)
arrest, “It is a strange precedent.” But would this member's
Ambassador come say this on camera at the stakeout, on the record?
Watch this site.
, 
