As
UN
Hands Libya to
Ian Martin,
His Deputy'd
be Finn Georg
Charpentier,
Who Hid Sudan
Abuse, Sources
Say
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 1 --
At the
"Friends of
Libya" meeting
in Paris on
Thursday UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
announced that
his adviser on
post conflict
planning Ian
Martin is
headed to
Tripoli.
Ban did not
say for how
long, but UN
insiders who
contacted
Inner City
Press
complained
this indicates
not only that
Martin has
entirely
eclipsed
mediator Abdul
Ilah Al
Khatib, but is
nailing down
the UN Libya
Special
Representative
or pro-consul
role.
"Why
someone from a
NATO country?"
one senior UN
official asked
Inner City
Press. "Why
the lack of
Africans or
Arabs on
Martin's
team?" UN
sources told
Inner City
Press that in
line to be the
Deputy Special
Representative
of the
Secretary
General, and
Humanitarian
Coordinator
for Libya is a
Finn, Georg
Charpentier.
One of
Charpentier's
selling points
to Ban, beyond
his need for a
job after the
UN was
essentially
thrown out
Norht Sudan,
is that
Finland is not
a NATO member.
For that
reason, too,
sources tell
Inner City
Press that
Finland was
approached to
provide troops
under Martin's
UN plan for
Libya, exclusively
obtained and
published
by Inner City
Press.
Inner
City Press has
previously
covered and
met
Charpentier,
most recently
during a trip
to Sudan
during which
Charpentier
was
downplaying
the
destruction of
villages in
Darfur. That
he would now
be sent to
Libya may
reflect his
personal
connections,
but speaks
badly of the
Ban
administration,
even as to
geographic
balance.
From
a previous
report:
"The
only
reason Inner
City Press
learned of
Charpentier's
awareness of
the
destruction of
villages in
Jebel Marra
was that he
left a single
copy a binder
marked
“Internal Use
Only” on the
Press bus in
El Fasher on
October 8,
2010. The
internal
document was
from
“September 27
- October 4
2010” and
referred to
“Sora” with an
A, and spoke
of “intense
ground
fighting and
aerial attacks
in Eastern
Jebel Marra
over the past
week, with
several
villages
heavily
affected,
including
Sora, which
was completely
burned down.”
But
in the Dubai
airport on the
way back to
New York,
Inner City
Press managed
to ask two
Permanent Five
members of the
Security
Council if
Charpentier
had mentiones
this village
destruction to
them. One said
plainly,
'no.'"
With
the UN now
essentially
thrown out of
Northern
Sudan, it
seems it views
Libya as the
new
goldrush.
(Sudan,
meanwhile,
recognized the
TNC on August
24. Inner City
Press asked a
Sudanese
diplomat about
it on
September 1
and he
replied,
Gaddafi always
helped the
Darfur
rebels.)
Georg
Charpentier:
UN deputy pro
consul for
Libya cover
up?
As
previously
reported,
because those
Security
Council
members
dubious of the
current Libya
goldrush have
chosen to call
for more UN
involvement as
a way to try
to limit
NATO's role,
they are hard
pressed to
publicly
criticize Martin's
statement in
his report to
Ban that NATO
will have a
continuing
role in Libya
even after
Gaddafi's
fall.
Therefore
for now the
only check on
le projet
Martin is
the National
Transitional
Council. Among
their ranks
are some UN
experts,
including
tenth-hour
defector
Shalgam and
the political
coordinator
during
Gaddafi's
Libya's recent
time on the
Security
Council. Will
they hold
Martin in
check? We'll
see.