By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 18 -- As Choi Young-jin gave his final briefing as UN envoy to Cote d'Ivoire on Monday, outside the Security Council Inner City Press asked Ivorian Permanent Representative Bamba about the continued detention of former officials who served under Laurent Gbagbo, including as prime minister and foreign minister.
Inner City Press asked, “Are they still held in the Pergola Hotel?”
“No,” Bamba said. “They have been taken up north.”
Inner City Press followed up, “On what charges?”
“They are spoilers,” Bamba said. “They are trying to give people the false hope that Gbagbo will return. If they stopped that, there'd be no reason to keep holding them.”
Leaving aside the legality of this type of detention -- Choi should have something to say about it, before he leaves -- Inner City Press asked Bamba about the status of the International Criminal Court's inquiry into Cote d'Ivoire. Bamba said it is “progressive... in Chamber Two.” But what about Douekoue?
Bamba confirmed to Inner City Press that Choi is leaving. He said he doesn't yet know who will replace him. As Inner City Press reported last month, the buzz in the UN is that Bert Koenders will get the job, as fellow Dutchman Ad Melkert leaves the UN's Iraq post with UNAMI. As to who will replace Melkert, we'll have more, and soon -- the Security Council meets on Iraq on July 19.
For now we can say that "carpetbagger" Michael von der Schulenburg has competition, including from other Germans. Watch this site.
