After
UN
in Guinea
Bissau
Sheltered Drug
Kingpin,
Mutaboba
Against
Trials
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 3 --
Guinea Bissau
is on the
agenda of the
Security
Council, but
the
assassination
of its
president and
Army chief in
2009 has yet
to result in
any trial,
much less
indictment or
conviction.
Inner
City Press
on November 3
asked both the
UN's envoy in
Guinea Bissau
Joseph
Mutaboba and
this month's
Security
Council
president,
Portugal's
Ambassador
Cabral, about
the lack of
accountability
for the 2009
assassinations.
Not
only Mutaboba
but also,
surprisingly,
Cabral
answered the
accountability
question
by referring
to security
sector reform
and even a
pension fund
for
soldiers. Cabral
video here.
Both are fine
ideas, but are
not the
accountability
that Cabral
and some other
Permanent
Representatives
on the
Security
Council often
loudly call
for.
Mutaboba
said that
accountability
cannot be
allowed to
undermine the
security gains
he
said have been
made. Asked if
that meant
putting off
accountability,
he said it had
to be
"balanced."
This is not
the standard
UN answer --
it is one that
Omar al
Bashir, and
more recently
Saif al
Islam Gaddafi,
would like.
Mutaboba
appeared
defensive, not
only on
accountability
but also on
drugs. Video
here.
Inner City
Press asked
him about the case in
which his UN
Mission had
provided
refuge to a
US-named
Narcotics
Kingpin, Bubo
Na Tchuto. Mutaboba
replied
that not all
member states
see it that
way. A close
observer said
that Mutaboba
is hoping his
past decision
to shelter a
drug kingpin
just "goes
away."
(c) UN Photo
Mutaboba
& Ban
Ki-moon,
accountability
for drug
kingpin
sheltering by
UN not shown
In
fact, the US
Ambassador who
spoke about
this at the
Security
Council was
Brooke
Anderson, just
before she
left the UN
Mission. Will
there be
follow
up? Watch this
site.
, 
