By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/cote2choi101309.html
UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- In the wake of the UN's contested role in the fraud ridden election in Afghanistan, the Security Council on Tuesday met about the elections slated for November 29 in Cote d'Ivoire, where the UN has some 7000 troops. While Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has dodged elections for some time, now he has been quoted that they're on.
Inner City Press asked the UN's top envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, Choi Young-Jin, about local reports that the registrations from some 213 registration stations have not been processed, eliminating eight percent of eligible voters.
"I think the processing is complete and credible," Choi Young-Jin ruled. "It's over." Video here, from Minute 4:32. He has used that word, "credible," before. But for example the Ivorian newspaper l'Expression
"blames what it called 'the scandal surrounding the voter registration' on the bodies that conducted the operation, namely, the National Statistics Institute and SAGEM (a French company), saying that they have botched up the work. The paper further revealed that the data which had been collected in some 213 registration centers were not processed, representing 8 percent of the total data that were not taken into account on the provisional voters' lists."
Even beyond this eight percent, Mr. Choi acknowledges that 40% of the registrations have not been verified against historical records. He said he has a solution in mind, but wouldn't share it with the Press, but rather return to Cote d'Ivoire and play his "cards urgently and intelligently." He mentioned using mobile phone records.
Inner City Press asked him if he could distinguish the UN's role in Afghanistan, where envoy Kai Eide is being called biases for incumbent Hamid Karzai. Mr. Choi answered, "I need my colleague in Afghanistan to answer you question." That would be... Kai Eide.
One wag asked, but where is Mr. Choi's Peter Galbraith?
When the Security Council President for the month, Vietnam's Ambassador Le Luong Mihn, came to the stakeout, Inner City Press asked him if there was any thinking to ensure that the UN's situation in the election in Afghanistan is not repeated in Cote d'Ivoire. "Today was on Cote d'Ivoire," he said. Video here, from Minute 2:53.
Inner City Press tried again, asking if there was any analogy. "We did not discuss Afghanistan today," he insisted. But maybe they should have.
Footnote: Inner City Press also asked Mr. Choi if he or the UN had played any role in the settlement between Cote d'Ivoire and Trafigura about the toxic waste dumping. No, Mr. Choi said, that is a bilateral problem between Cote d'Ivoire and the company. A narrow mandate: but could it still blow up, a la Afghanistan? Mr. Choi said keep up the momentum. Watch this site.
