As
Mulet Heads to
Mali, UN
Silent on
Detention of
Journalist for
Reporting on
Sanogo Salary
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
8 -- That Mali
is the UN's
new focus, or
cash cow, was
proved again
on Friday
morning.
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
deputy Edmond
Mulet met with
ECOWAS at the
African Union,
preparing to
travel to
Bamako. (This
information is
not from DPKO,
which under Herve Ladsous is neither
helpful nor
trustworthy.)
But there in
Mali as noted,
Ban Ki-moon's
UN cannot
speak up for
media harassed
by security
services for
reporting on
corruption. It
is any
surprise?
At the
March
7 UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's chief
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City Press: In
Mali, a
journalist has
been detained
by the
security
agents, his
name is
Boukary Daou,
and his paper
published an
open letter
about the
financial
package given
to Captain
Sanogo, the
coup leader.
Now he has
been
essentially
arrested and
taken in for
questioning.
So I am
wondering,
particularly
given the UN…
I am not sure
of the status
of the UN
presence, I
know that they
are there. Are
they aware of
this arrest of
a journalist
for what seems
to be a pretty
much
free-speech
activity and
do they have
any comment on
it? Have they
spoken to the
Government
about it? What
do they think
of it?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: Well,
I think you
are aware that
we do have a
UN office in
Mali. It is a
multidisciplinary
team that also
includes a
human rights
component. So
I will check
to see what
they have to
say about
that, okay? It
is obvious
that
journalists
should be
allowed to
carry out
their work,
and
particularly
of an
investigative
nature. They
should be
allowed to
carry out that
work. Let me
see what the
mission has to
say on that.
There
is still no
answer, 29
hours later
and counting.
Things
are now worse:
the underlying
publication
was that
Sanogo is
getting fully
$8,000 a
month. It's
nice to be a
coup leader,
where the UN
too wants to
come in.
The UN's Mali
juggernaut is
set to be run
by Mulet's
boss Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping (Profile;
Short
Film
#LADSOUS2013).
Ladsous has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press
questions
about 126
rapes in
Minova by his
partners in
the Congolese
Army. Finally
on March
7 his DPKO
spoonfed vague
answers to
friendly
journalists.
The answers
were
incomplete, as
it turns out.
This
is how the
media is dealt
with in this
UN: the
"friendly"
ones are used,
servile on
Serval;
those who
report on
corruption?
See above, and
see false
complaints
to Inner City
Press by
UN Media
Accreditation
boss Stephane
Dujarric.
Watch this
site.
, 
