Disenfranchisement
of 3/4 of
Malians in
Burkina &
Niger, UN
Silent Overall
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
23 -- With the
rushed Mali
election now
just five days
away, some in
the UN system
are sounding
the alarm
about the low
percentage of
people
eligible to
vote who have
been given
voters
cards. UNHCR,
the UN's
refugee
agency,
responded to
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access on
Tuesday with
statistics for
Malians in
three
neighboring
countries.
But where is
the UN Mission
in Mali, run
by
Frenchman
Herve Ladsous,
on this?
Last
week after
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon in
France was
quoted that
the results in
Mali should or
must be
accepted, no
matter how
imperfect the
election,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
to explain
what Ban had
meant. Was
there no
minimum
vote turn out
requiring
acceptance?
In
2007, turn out
was 36%. Could
it be lower
this time? On
July 22,
Inner City
Press again
asked Nesirky
Inner
City Press: On
Mali, it’s now
six days
before the
election and
some
are saying
that only 60
per cent of
those entitled
to voter cards
have them so
far, and
people are
putting this
36 per cent,
which is
the turnout in
2007, as kind
of a
benchmark.
What’s the
UN’s
knowledge of
the number of
people
entitled to
vote that have
so far
been able to
do it? And
does the UN
have a
benchmark of
what would
be the kind of
turnout that
would make the
people accept
it?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, I’d have
to check with
the Mission on
it. I don’t
have that
information to
hand.
Having
no answer the
next morning,
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
through @FUNCA_info
asked a
spokesperson
for the UN's
refugee agency
Dan McNorton
about the
figures --
which he
provided,
albeit only
for Malians in
their
neighboring
states:
"In
Burkina Faso,
and according
to Malian
registration
teams, 876 out
of
the 3,504
registered
refugees were
found in the
civil
registry;
8,409
out of 11,355
registered
refugees in
Mauritania,
and 932 out
4,161
registered
refugees in
Niger."
And
what about the
1,500 Malians
UNHCR says are
in Algeria?
We've asked.
Watch this
site.
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