UNITED
NATIONS, April
2 -- On Mali
there was an
event at
Columbia
University
Tuesday night,
advertised as
“free and open
to the public,
but
please
register by
writing.” So
Inner City
Press did,
identifying
itself as the
Press, listing
its office at
the UN.
Columbia's
Stephen
Wertheim, the
last name
you'll see in
this piece,
wrote back,
“You are now
registered for
the talk,
which starts
at 7:30 pm. We
look forward
to seeing you
there.”
After
that, notice
of the event
was further
publicized on
the website of
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
as still is
another event
at the UN
this Thursday.
After
a final story
about the
day's Arms
Trade Treaty
vote in the UN
General
Assembly,
Inner City
Press arrived
at the event.
There were
twenty to
twenty five
people, of all
ages -- and
all nameless
here.
After
a lengthy
speech and two
social media
missives, as
the question
and
answer began,
the moderator
suddenly said
-- and we'll
paraphrase and
not quote here
-- that he
should have
said so from
the beginning,
this would be
under Chatham
House rules,
you can use
the idea but
no
quote.
And
so what were
the ideas?
That
the media
focuses too
much on the
military
offensive,
which one
participant
called the
kinetic
aspect.
That
there is a lot
of corruption
even in the
south of Mali.
That
the Malian
military
commits human
rights
violations,
and that the
UN
does not have
the resources
to have a crew
of human
rights
observers
ready to go
there.
That
the UN will
soon name a
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary
General.
That
the Malian
press is
reporting
rumors of
relations of
Nicolas
Sarkozy
and the MNLA.
(Inner City
Press has been
more focused
on Sarkozy's
hardly
concealed try
out to help
invest Qatar's
money, with
his
contacts in
the
center-right
government in
Spain.)
That
the Security
Council
implicitly
endorsed the
French
approach.
Inner
City Press,
which is
surely free to
report its own
questions but
apparently not
the answers,
asked if the
envisioned
“parallel
force” would
be under UN
control; if
coup leader
Amadou Sanogo
will
continue to
play a role in
the Malian
military, and
how the fast
action to
defend Bamako
differed from
the decision
to let Bagui
in
the Central
African
Republic fall.
There
was a response
to each
question, but
how to report
the answers
under
the spirit of
the Chatham
House rules is
not clear.
As
Inner City
Press left it
was told,
despite the
language of
the invitation
and
its RSVP as
the Press,
that it is
somehow
understood
that events in
the university
are under
Chatham House
rules.
No,
that is not
automatically
understood.
People give on
the record
speeches at
universities.
In fact, since
students have
Facebook pages
and blogs and,
yes, Twitter
accounts, it
is entirely
unclear what
restriction on
a class or
seminar would
look like, or
how they could
work.
Nevertheless,
Inner
City Press has
complied with
the belatedly
announced
Chatham
House rules.
Who is served?
The Security
Council hears
Wednesday on
Mali. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
the
UN office that
Inner City
Press listed
on its RSVP
has, as we've
noted, been
raided by the
UN and others
on March 18.
We'll have
more
on this.
, 
