Mali
& ECOWAS'
Plan Not on SC
Agenda for
May, No
Horizon, Ban
Office Fail?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 3 -- Days
after ECOWAS
announced a
plan to send
3000
soldiers to
Mali, the
Azeri
President of
the UN
Security
Council for
May told
Inner City
Press that
"Mali is not
on the
Council's
agenda," and
that there are
no current
plans for
ECOWAS to
brief
the Council
and ask for
support for
the planned
deployment.
For
days, Inner
City Press has
been asking
Council
Ambassadors
about ECOWAS'
two
announcements,
the second
about
Guinea-Bissau.
Most
told Inner
City Press
either that
ECOWAS "must"
come to the
Council,
or even if
they argue
that Mali's
membership, or
the
"invitation"
of the
recently
installed
interim leader
provides a
legal fig leaf
for
intervention,
it is "better"
if ECOWAS
comes to the
Council.
But
apparently
ECOWAS is not
coming. The
Program of
Work for May,
which Inner
City
Press obtained
on May 2, has
only a
briefing about
Guinea Bissau
on
May 7.
At
Azerbaijan's
May 3 press
conference on
the program of
work, Inner
City Press
asked Azeri
Permanent
Representative
Agshin
Mehdiyev if
ECOWAS would
be coming that
day, and if it
would raise
Mali. No and
no, he
answered.
As
Inner City
Press raised
right after
ECOWAS'
announcement
that 1000 of
the 3000
troops would
be from Cote
d'Ivoire, it
may be
important to
know if
the same
Ivorian units
or soldiers
active in
Duekoue,
defined as a
massacre,
would be going
to Mali.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
in
the midst of
Mehdiyev's
press
conference it
emerged that
neither
the Azeris nor
Ban Ki-moon's
Spokesperson's
Office had
distributed
the Program of
Work, which is
usually done
as soon as it
was adopted.
This
may be a
further
reflection of
the loss to
the press when
Ban's
Spokesperson
was "thrown
out" of the
Security
Council, and
his then-Chief
of Staff Vijay
Nambiar
acquiesced in
the expulsion.
Of note, these
exchanges
took place on
World Press
Freedom Day.
[Update:
The
Spokesperson's
Office
belatedly
distributed
the Program
Thursday
afternoon,
after the
briefing and
less than
useful for
most
correspondents.]
Another
possible
loss: Inner
City Press
asked Mehdiyev
why there is
in the month's
agenda no "DPA
Horizon
Scanning
Briefing," a
format which
all Security
Council
members in the
past year
except the US
have
used. Mehdiyev
replied that
the future of
such briefing
is "under
negotiation,"
but that for
now, any
member can
invite the
Secretariat to
briefing on
any issue of
concern. We'll
see.
, 
