On
Mali, Delattre
Praises
"Draft" Deal
MNLA Hasn't
Signed, Silent
on Gao
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
updated March
5 and 6
UNITED
NATIONS, March
4 -- When
French
Ambassador
Francois
Delattre came
to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout
on March 4 it
was as
Council
president,
with "Elements
to the Press
about Mali.
Here is what
he read, and
questions he
refused to
answer.
"We
heard a
briefing by
the Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
for Mali, Mr
Mongi Hamdi,
who gave us an
update on the
Algiers peace
talks and the
Agreement on
Peace and
Security in
Mali initialed
on 1 March
2015... We
encourage the
armed groups
of the
coordination
to initial the
agreement."
Inner City
Press asked,
what about the
MNLA not
signing? But
Delattre said,
for the second
time in two
days, "I have
to run" --
then proceeded
to stand to
the side of
the stakeout,
decidedly NOT
running.
Update
I: French
mission
spokesperson
Thierry
Caboche has
replied that
the "Press
Elements
agreed by UNSC
on Mali
encourage
Coordination
groups,
including
MNLA, to
initial
Algiers
agreement."
It's
appreciated,
and added here
in full - but
since the
Elements to
the Press in
the first
paragraph
cites that
"Agreement on
Peace and
Security in
Mali initialed
on 1 March
2015 by
representatives
of the Malian
Government,
one of the
coalition of
armed groups
Platform' and
all members of
the
international
mediation
team" then
never names
the MNLA, the
Mali question
should have
been taken and
answered,
alongside
fully three
questions on
Libya.
Update
II: the UN
peacekeeping
mission in
Mali, MINUSMA,
publicly
mis-characterized
the Elements
to the Press
that Delattre
read out as a
Press
Statement or
"Declaration a
la Presse,"
including in a
tweet
at-naming the
French Mission
to the UN,
which offered
no correction.
It was also
e-mailed out
(which should
be similarly
corrected) and
put here
on the MINUSMA
Facebook page.
Update
III of March 6
- after this
report,
MINUSMA
changed its
Facebook page
to say
"Elements to
the Press" -
but left its
tweet and
email
announcement
uncorrected.
Ban Ki-moon
also issued a
statement
urging
Coordination
to sign.)
Inner
City Press
also asked
about the UN's
"independent"
report into UN
Peacekeepers
shooting at
protesters
(who were
angry about
the UN using
attack
helicopters,
but that's
another
story).
Delattre did
not answer
about this
report, which
one would
think like the
report on the
Tabit rapes in
Darfur also
covered by UN
Peacekeeping
through its
UNAMID
mission, would
go to the
Security
Council.
On February
26, two days
before
Delattre took
over as
Security
Council
President, the
UN announced
that "the
high-level
team mandated
by the
Secretary-General
of the United
Nations to
conduct an
inquiry into
the violent
protests that
took place in
Gao, Mali, on
27 January is
concluding an
eight-day
visit to Mali.
“During this
visit, the
team met with
the Malian
national
authorities,
the
authorities of
the region of
Gao, the
national
police and the
civil
protection
service in
Gao,
representatives
of MINUSMA,
local leaders
from the Cadre
de
Concertation
des Notables
de Gao, the
associations
who organized
the protests
on 27 January,
authorities
from the
hospitals that
received the
victims,
opposition
parties, and
several other
interlocutors
who could help
shed light on
the events.
The team also
spoke to the
protestors who
were injured
during these
events, and
visited the
bereaved
families, to
whom they
expressed
condolences.
The team was
"composed of
three
independent
experts with
extensive
international
experience:
Bacre Waly
Ndiaye
(Senegal),
Mark Kroeker
(US) and Ralph
Zacklin (UK)."
Back on
January 29,
the UN said
that Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
“deplores the
incidents that
took place on
27 January
during a
demonstration
in front of
the MINUSMA
base in Gao
town in the
north of Mali.
He is saddened
by the
violence that
surrounded the
demonstration
and the
reported death
of at least 3
protesters and
the injury of
several
others.”
“The inquiry
team will now
travel to New
York to
present its
preliminary
report to the
Secretary-General
of the United
Nations. It
will present
its final
report by the
end of March
2015,” the UN
on Thursday
said.
What is the
Security
Council's
role?
Shouldn't the
Security
Council
president for
March, M.
Delattre of
France, answer
this question?
Back on
January 6 when
the UN
Security
Council met
about Mali,
Inner City
Press waited
and then aksed
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous what
he has been
doing to
protect the
peacekeepers
he is
responsible
for. As
is his pattern
-- actually,
his stated
policy --
he refused to
answer.
It was
Malian Foreign
Minister
Abdoulaye
Diop, and not
Ladsous, who
on January 6
distributed
his speech and
came to take
Press
questions.
Inner City
Press asked
Diop about the
Mali talks in
Algiers, and
about the
impact of
Libya. On the
latter, Diop
said that “in
2012 the Mali
crisis started
when the war
started in
Libya and many
Malian
elements who
were part of
the Libyan
army decided
to come back
home with the
arms and
ammunition.
This started
the
destabilization
of Mali.”
Diop added,
"In the
southern part
of Libya there
is a group
that has
declared
allegiance to
the Islamic
State.” (When
asked to name
the group he
could not or
would not.)
The Libya
talks have
been
indefinitely
postponed. A
Greek ship
near Derna was
bombed --
Inner City
Press on
January 5
asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric by
whom; he said
the UN does
not
know.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has asked
UN
Peacekeeping
why the
speeches of
Ladsous,
unlike other
UN officials,
are not made
available.
Jump-cut
forward to
March 4, when
after Elements
to the Press
on Mali and a
read out on
Libya, all
three of the
French Mission
or #FrPrez
handpicked
questions --
France 24,
Agence France
Presse then
Voice of
America --
were about
Libya. Inner
City Press
said twice,
"Question on
Mali?"
Delattre
smiled and
said, I have
to run, I know
it is the
second time.
On March 3
Delattre used
the same "I
have to run"
line to not
answer a
question about
Burundi, where
France is set
to lead a
Council trip
on March 13,
the draft
Terms of
Reference for
which (which
Inner City
Press
published here)
do no mention
the Cibitoke
massacre nor
opine if a
third
Presidential
term would
violate the
Arusha
agreement,
which is
cited.
Later,
the French
mission
put up the
Mali "Elements
to the Press,"
with no
mention that a
question about
them had been
asked, on
microphone,
and that
Delattre had
again said, "I
have to run."
We are
compelled to
note that UN
Peacekeeping,
run by France
four times in
a row most
recently by
Ladsous who
also does not answer Press questions, needs
to answer when
its personnel
shoot at
demonstrators,
as recently
happened in
Haiti too.
But there are
no answers.
Nor on the
sale of UN
posts in the
DR Congo and
Haiti by
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Ouattara of
Cote d'Ivoire,
here.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
