By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 19, updated -- A week after the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire fired from helicopter gunships on forces of Laurent Gbagbo, a painting Gbagbo gave to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2008 was still proudly on display in front of the office of his Under Secretary General for Management Angela Kane, one floor above the offices of the media including Inner City Press at the UN.
It's a dreamy painting, accompanied by two plaques. The first, in French, says “Offert par S.E.M. Laurent Gbagbo, President de la Republique de Cote d'Ivoire.”
The second, to the side of the painting, says “Gift from Cote d'Ivoire to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, 23 April 2008.”
What is the UN supposed to do with artwork gifted to it by a leader against whom the UN subsequently deployed gunship helicopters?
Update: at 10:15 am on April 19, Inner City Press told Ban's envoy to Cote d'Ivoire Choi Young-jin about, among other things, the paintings. We'll see.
Inner City Press on April 18 asked Ban's acting Deputy Spokesman a series of questions about Cote d'Ivoire, one of which despite saying he'd look into he had not answered even by the next day, another he declined to answer claiming it had been addressed by top UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy the previous week, when Inner City Press was in Washington, asking the US State Department about the same now dead minister, Desire Tagro:
Inner City Press: there is this list of 107 Gbagbo supporters that were taken to the Golf Hotel, where apparently there is some UNOCI [United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire] presence. There is a report that Christophe [inaudible], the doctor of [Laurent] Gbagbo, has in fact been killed. He is one of the people taken to the Golf Hotel. And I wonder, what is UNOCI doing? One, can you either confirm or not confirm that? And two, what is UNOCI doing? What’s the status of those people in the Golf Hotel, and does UNOCI have any protection? Are they saying anything about it? And what if people are actually killed there?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: First of all, yes, UNOCI is providing protection to a range of political stakeholders, including people in the Golf Hotel. About this particular person, I’ll see whether there is any further detail we have about his situation. I don’t have any confirmation on that.
Inner City Press: How about the killing of the former minister [Desire] Tagro, does UN… does UNOCI have any knowledge? It’s been confirmed that he was killed and that he was killed in the course of being apprehended. Does the UN have any knowledge of either responsibility or…?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson: Yes, Alain Le Roy spoke about this at length last week, Desire Tagro.
Inner City Press: Did he confirm that Gbagbo is in Korhogo?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: We haven’t specified where he is in particular. He is in the north of the country.
Inner City Press said the name: Christophe Ble. No one in the UN asked for it to be spelled out to them, but in the UN transcript they say the name of a person they are supposed to be protecting, who now is reportedly dead, is “inaudible.” Watch this site.
