Mali
Ex PM Was at
UN for
Microsoft,
Brother Came
to Lobby for
AFISMA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 11,
updated --
Hours before
Mali's
post-coup
Prime Minister
Cheikh Modibo
Diarra was
himself forced
to resign at 4
am, his
brother Cheick
Sidi Diarra
walked into
the UN
Security
Council in New
York.
He
told
Inner City
Press he was
part of the
delegation
seeking a
Security
Council
resolution for
a force to
help Mali's
military
re-take
northern Mali,
as Inner City
Press
partially tweeted
yesterday.
This second
coup, it seems
clear, will
further
delay if not
derail that
attempt.
Inner
City Press
covered Cheick
Sidi Diarra
when he was
the UN Special
Adviser on
Africa to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. The
coverage was
not always
positive.
For
example, in
2008, Inner
City Press
reported on
the UN
allowing
Cheikh
Modibo Diarra
in to host an
event as
"Microsoft's
Ambassador to
Africa." Click
here for that.
There
seemed to be
no conflict of
interest
rules, or
rules against
corporations'
use of the UN,
in that case
through family
ties.
But
Inner City
Press
continued to
cover Cheick
Sidi Diarra
and his work
on Africa and
his other
mandate, until
he was
replaced by
Maged
Abdelaziz,
formerly
Egypt's
Ambassador to
the UN.
The
trajectory of
Cheikh Modibo
Diarra is even
more telling:
from
Microsoft to
Bamako to a
military base.
Those are many
Windows, some
of them now
closing.
On December
10, Inner City
Press was told
by Council
sources the P5
will unveil
their Mali
draft
resolution on
December 12
(one day
late), with an
eye to
adopting it on
or before
December 21.
Is that
possible, now?
Watch this
site.
Update
of 10:18 am --
Inner City
Press is
informed that
now France
will "push
even harder
for the
resolution" --
what, to
assist a now
double post
coup
government?
Also, that
France will
circulate a
draft press
statement.
Ban Ki-moon,
meanwhile, is
said to be
prepared to
meet with "the
lady who is no
longer a
cabinet
member." On
what basis?
Update
of 11:30 am --
a Security
Council
delegation,
not France,
tells Inner
City Press
that the
French Mission
has already
circulated a
draft press
statemnt on
the Mali coup.
But how can
they go
forward with a
resolution
based on a
request from a
non dissolved
Malian
government?
Watch this
site.
, 
