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Sarkozy Not Opposed to Freezing Bashir Prosecution,
Preens for French Media on Wall Street Issues
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
September 23 -- French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said his country would not oppose freezing the prosecution of
his
Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir if Sudan, among other things,
normalized
its relations with French ally Chad, and removed Ahmad Harun, already
indicted
by the International Criminal Court, from his government ministry. This
put an
end to contradictory statements by France's
mission to the UN, which last week
told Inner City Press that it would not oppose freezing the prosecution
if five
conditions were met, and then the next day sought to "clarify" the
comment. This time, at least, it's from the horse's mouth.
Sarkozy
press conference, however, was pure theater.
At last year's
General Debate, Sarkozy excluded all but journalists with
French passports. This year, UN correspondents were let in, but
Sarkozy's press
people directed the microphones at the traveling French press corps.
They had
apparently decided that the story of the day was Sarkozy taking the
lead on the
global financial crisis, and virtually all questions were softballs on
that
theme. Sarkozy preened and mugged and called for accountability.
But what
about accountability for his sloppy
negotiations in Moscow, where he told
Russia it could have international discussions about the "future
status" of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the same words that led to
Kosovo's
unilateral declaration of independence. Even those later Russia agreed
to drop
this phrase, since future security had the same connotation. Sarkozy
later
proclaimed his full commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity. But
when the
chips were down, the phrase and principle were nowhere to be seen.
Sarkozy glad-handing Ban, Chad and Moscow
answers not shown
On the
financial crisis, Sarkozy said that Monday he had met with the
officials of the
Federal Reserve. On personal knowledge since Inner City Press met in
Washington
with four of the five sitting Fed governors on Monday afternoon --
click here
for the story -- it is not clear with whom Sarkozy met. Perhaps
he meant the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York, which is not in fact a government agency. Rather it is owned
by the
banks. Sarkozy is said to have spoken very populist on Monday night --
at a
fundraiser costing $1500 a plate. And so it goes.
Footnote: on
Sudan, a question that hangs in the
air is the degree to which France's insistence that Bashir normalize
with Chad
is based on France's interests in N'djamena. This question should have
been
allowed, but wasn't.
Watch this site, and this Sept. 18 (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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