As
Guinea
Bissau Coup
Now Accepted
by ECOWAS
& UN, Cote
d'Ivoire
Contrast
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 11 --
After much
talk of not
accepting the
coup in
Guinea Bissau
and restoring
the overthrown
government, on
Friday
ECOWAS'
representative
Nurudeen
Mohammad said
there "is no
question of
the return" of
former prime
minister
Carlos Gomes
and former
interim
president
Raimundo
Pereira.
So
much for
restoring the
government. As
the UN
Security
Council met
Friday
morning behind
closed doors
to hear from
West Africa
envoy Said
Djinnit, Inner
City Press
asked a number
of Council
members if
they
are, in fact,
accepting the
coup in Guinea
Bissau.
One
interested
delegation
argued that
the statement
by Nurudeen
Mohammad,
Nigeria's
state minister
for foreign
affairs, may
not be the
final word,
"let's
see."
The
claim is that
the Monday
afternoon
meeting
involving
ECOWAS and the
Portuguese
language
configuration
CPLP had gone
well in terms
of
"coordinating"
approaches.
So was
Nurudeen
Mohammad not
speaking
for ECOWAS?
There
is an
obvious
contrast with
the Security
Council's
approach to
Cote
d'Ivoire,
where after
Laurent Gbagbo
got at least
45% of the
vote but
refused to
leave power,
contesting the
results in
some
districts, the
Council
authorized
force
including the
involvement of
France's Force
Licorne until
Alassane
Ouattara was
installed in
power, and
Gbagbo
sent to the
ICC in the
Hague.
All
of that was
done, it was
said, to
enforce
democracy. But
here, Carlos
Gomes was
ousted in a
coup, and the
coup leaders
are given at
least 12
months.
ECOWAS says
Gomes cannot
come back, and
the Council so
far says
nothing.
So
was were
France's real
motives in
Cote d'Ivoire?
And why is the
response to
the outright
military coup
in Guinea
Bissau so
different?
We
haven't even
touched, in
this article,
the situation
in Mali. But
we will, soon.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
France's
Ambassador to
the UN Gerard
Araud, who
thundered
against Gbagbo
and for
democracy, has
said now he
can't talk
since France
is in an
electoral --
actually,
post-electoral
-- period and
he is waiting
for his "new
authorities."
It is still
not clear if
that means: a
new
Ambassador...
, 
