UNITED
NATIONS, April
15
-- At the UN's
annual
commemoration
of the Rwanda
genocide on
Monday night
at the UN,
survivor
Virginie
Ingabire was
telling the
story of how
most of her
relatives were
killed with
machetes one
night in
Kitarama. She
was left
walking to
Goma with the
one month old
baby her
killed mother
left behind.
But
right then, in
the middle of
her story, a
UN functionary
whispered to
the master of
ceremonies
Stephane
Dujarric, who
went and
whispered on
the podium
with Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. Then
the
functionary
crossed to
where Ms.
Ingabire was
speaking and
whispered in
her ear.
Video
here, at
Minute 55:50.
I've
been told I
have only one
minute left,
Ms. Ingabire
stopped and
said.
I can't tell
you, then, how
I got to Goma,
or what
happened
there. She
rushed to a
close.
The
moment she
finished,
Dujarric
announced that
Ban Ki-moon
and
President of
the General
Assembly Vuk
Jeremic had
another event
to go
to, to remain
seated while
they left.
One
wondered:
couldn't Ban
(and Jeremic,
though he was
not whispered
to)
have gotten up
and left while
Ms. Ingabire
continued her
stories? Was
it somehow
classier to
have the
genocide
survivor's
story cut
short?
Rwandan
foreign
minister
Louise
Mushikiwabo in
her speech
said that the
then-Hutu
government of
Rwanda
mis-used its
seat on the
Security
Council in
1994 “with
allies.”
That
would be
France -- click
here
to see a 1994
memo by then
French Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Representative
to the UN
Herve Ladsous,
who shockingly
(or tellingly)
is now Ban's
chief of UN
Peacekeeping.
Ladsous
was
not seen at
Monday night's
commemoration,
but French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud
was there, in
the front row.
Earlier in
the day, he
circulated a
draft
resolution
authorizing
France to use
“all necessary
means” in
Mali. Watch
this site.
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