Mali
Coup
Reignites UNSC
Fight About
Libya, Gold
Mine Qs
UNanswered
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 23 --
The coup
d'etat in Mali
did not come
out of
nowhere. After
the fall of
Gaddafi in
Libya, arms
and fighters
flowed
back to Mali.
Soldiers were
being ordered
to go north to
face the
Tuareg without
having the
right, or even
any, weapons.
On
March 17 there
were protest
by young
soldiers in
Gao Saturday
then in Kati
near
Bamako, about
the
government's
handling of
the situation
in the
south. They
mutinied.
On
March 21 it
was
said the UN
Security
Council would
get a briefing
under Any
Other
Business. But
it was put
back for a
day. By the
time the Council
got
briefing on
March 22 at
4:30 pm --
several
diplomats
arrived late,
from an Arria
formula
meeting on
Syria -- the
coup in Mali
was
entrenched.
Inner
City Press
is informed
that the
briefing, Lynn
Pascoe, was
pointedly
asked about
gold mining in
Mali, but did
not answer.
Here are some
of the
companies
involved:
Iamgold Corp.,
Avion Gold
Corp.,
Randgold
Resources Ltd.
and Cluff Gold
PLC.
There
are reports
that coup
leader Amadou
Haya Sanogo
received US
military
training. The
US has yet to
cut off
military aid.
The
International
Monetary Fund
on March 22
answered Inner
City Press' question
about Egypt,
but not one
about Mali,
then or since.
A
larger issue
is
that groups
previously
supported
financial by
Gaddafi now
have empty
bank accounts.
And so guns
are picked
back up - and
proliferated
weapons are
there.
The
Security
Council has
long delayed a
Presidential
Statement
about the
Sahel.
Some, from the
West, want to
refer to Libya
only in terms
of
humanitarian
issues. Others
want to tie it
to security,
now in light
of the coup in
Mali. A new
draft is being
circulated
with an eye
toward
adoption
Monday or
Tuesday unless
the silence
procedure is
broken. Watch
this site.
, 
