On
Mali, Araud
Tells ICP
Sanogo Has
Role, Shift to
SCR 2085 Came
Up in SC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 14 --
After French
Ambassador Gerard
Araud
addressed
the UN
Security
Council Monday
about his
country's
military
intervention
in
Mali, Inner
City Press
asked him two
questions,
about the
legality
and whether
coup leader
Amadou Sanogo
is involved.
While
Ambassador
Bamba of Cote
d'Ivoire,
which is now
heading
ECOWAS, told
Inner City
Press that France
was acting
under Security
Council
Resolution 2085,
it seems the
French
realized that
argument would
not
work.
But
Inner City
Press asked
Araud, when
will the
military
action shift
back to
Resolution
2085, and how
will we know?
Will it be
announced? Video
here, from
Minute 11:50.
Araud
said the issue
had come up in
the closed
door
consultations,
whether "we
need a formal
transition,"
and he
even cited the
provision of
the resolution
Inner City
Press has been
asking and
writing about
for days.
Araud said, "we
are in the
context of
resolution
2085.
Secondly, we
want to
implant it as
soon as
possible. So
there will be
the question
of determining
if we need a
formal
transition or
not. As it is
in resolution
2085, there
were questions
before, there
are the
benchmarks,
the OP11
“expressions
of the
satisfaction
of the
Security
Council”… So
there is a
process and we
will follow
the process.
But we are in
the very first
steps. First
we need to
have the
African
contingents in
Bamako. They
have not
arrived yet."
Aruad's
partial
quotation was
to the
requirement,
in Operative
Paragraph
11, that
Ban Ki-moon as
Secretary-General
"confirm in
advance the
Council's
satisfaction
with the
planned
military
offensive
operation."
Inner
City Press on
January
12 and January14
asked Ban's
spokespeople
if and when
he had issued
the required
"confirmation."
The question
has
not been
answered.
And
so instead,
France is
stressing that
it was
requested to
act by the
Malian
authorities.
But
do these
authorities
include those
involved in
the coup
d'etat
in 2012?
Inner City
Press asked
Araud if coup
leader Amadou
Sanogo is
involved.
Araud replied,
"Captain
Sanogo has an
official role
in the Malian
army so I
guess he is
involved but I
do not have
precise
information
about it."
So this
is the Malian
force France
is supporting?
When
Inner City
Press at
Friday's noon
briefing asked
Ban's deputy
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey when and
if Ban had
"confirmed in
advance the
satisfaction
of the
Council" with
France's
military
action, Del
Buey had no
answer.
Instead,
Del
Buey referred
to the 3 pm
Monday
Security
Council
consultation
with the head
of Ban's
Department of
Political
Affairs
Jeffrey
Feltman --
which couldn't
cure the
"confirm in
advance"
requirement --
and to Ban's
telephone
calls with
French foreign
minister
Fabius and
Cote d'Ivoire
president
Ouattara.
A
spokesperson
as Monday's
meeting began
indicated with
Feltman would
not take press
questions
afterward.
True to form,
when Feltman
left
he said,
"Someone's
coming." That
someone was
Araud.
Endnote:
What
no one
directly asked
Araud was,
"How is this
different
than George W.
Bush and
Iraq"? Why
couldn't Bush
just cite
Article 51,
claiming
self-defense?
If the claim
here is that
the
Malian
authorities
invited
France, it is
important to
note the
involvement of
those involved
in the 2012
coup. What
precedent is
being set
here? Watch
this site.
From
the French
Mission's
transcription:
Inner
City Press:
Just now
Ambassador
Bamba of
Côte
d’Ivoire seems
to think that
you are
operating
under
resolution
2085, how will
we know when
you are? It
says that the
Secretary-General
was supposed
to confirm in
advance with
the
satisfaction
of the
Council, will
you tell us
when you are?
And also is
Captain Sanogo
in any way
involved in
the Malian
military
defence of
Bamako, and
what do you
think of that?
PR Araud:
Captain Sanogo
has an
official role
in the Malian
army so I
guess he is
involved but I
do not have
precise
information
about it.
There is a
real question
raised by one
of the members
about how we
are going to
shift from
what is a
French
emergency
operation to
the
implementation
of resolution
2085. First,
we are in the
context of
resolution
2085.
Secondly, we
want to
implant it as
soon as
possible. So
there will be
the question
of determining
if we need a
formal
transition or
not. As it is
in resolution
2085, there
were questions
before, there
are the
benchmarks,
the OP11
“expressions
of the
satisfaction
of the
Security
Council”… So
there is a
process and we
will follow
the process.
But we are in
the very first
steps. First
we need to
have the
African
contingents in
Bamako. They
have not
arrived yet.
, 
