Pre-Coup
Guinea Bissau
Leader
Blocked,
Post-Coup
Leader No UN
Contacts?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 29
-- The UN or
two groups
within it are
are cross
purposes on
Guinea Bissua.
As Inner City
Press elicited
from UN Under
Secretary
General Yuri
Fedotov on
September 27,
his UN Office
of Drugs and
Crime will not
work with or
have contacts
with the
post-coup
leaders
including
Manuel Serifo
Nhamadjo.
But on
September 28,
while the
second speaker
for the UN
General
Debates'
afternoon
session was
listed as
pre-coup
president Raimundo
Pereira, when
his turn came
he did not
speak. He was
blocked by the
West African
regional group
ECOWAS, which
recognizes the
post-coup
leaders,
sources say,
with the help
of the US.
As even
the next day's
debate on
Saturday
reached its
end, Guinea
Bissau had not
spoken, There
is only one
more day:
October 1.
On
whether UNODC
works with the
post-coup
government,
Fedotov told
Inner City
Press that it
"obviously"
does not even
have any
contacts with
what he
called the
"military
junta."
Fedotov said:
"So
far we keep
our profile
very low. We
keep alive
facilities we
helped
to install in
Guinea Bissau,
including
transnational
crime unit.
Obviously as
you understand
we don't have
any contacts
with members
of the
military junta
in Guinea
Bissau. But we
are keeping
the modest
assets we
built, in
close
coordination
with all UN
programs and
fund
present
there... That
is an issue we
are discussion
with
colleagues.
I've had
several
meeting in New
York. We'll
continue to
pursue matter
and we'll see
what could be
done in this
particular
context."
One
wonders, with
Raimundo
Pereira blocked,
might
post-coup
leader Manuel
Serifo
Nhamadjo still
somehow take
Guinea
Bissau's spot?
Watch this
site.
, 
