By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 20 -- When
the UN
Security
Council trip
began in
Liberia, some
thought it
relatively
newsless, even
as one wag put
it,
a "victory
tour for
former
colonial
powers," led
by the UK
in Sierra
Leone, the US
in Liberia
and France in
Cote d'Ivoire.
But
then, from two
Germany blogs,
it seemed that
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard
Araud didn't
even deign to
go on the
Liberia leg of
the trip.
Permanent
Representative
Wittig, to his
credit blogging,
described
watching
Chelsea -
Munich with
Mark Lyall
Grant of the
UK, but then
referred
regarding
Firestone
versus
Michelin only
to his "French
colleague."
So where is
Gerard Araud? Or does Wittig get along so much less with him?
With
the Council
away, new French
foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
snuck in to
New York
to see Ban
Ki-moon,
who then flew
to the NATO
summit in
Chicago and
met Turkish
president Gul.
The UN read
out summarized
talks on Syria
and Cyprus but
only mentioned
in one work
Afghanistan,
which is the
UN's nexus
with NATO.
That
Ban
and the UN
were not
invited to US
President
Obama's G8
session about
food
security in
Africa
"says it all
about Ban, and
Obama," as
one long-time
Security
Council source
told Inner
City Press on
Sunday.
Now
the Security
Council has
migrated to
Cote d'Ivoire.
They will meet
with ECOWAS,
and what each
member thinks
of rewarding
Guinea
Bissaus' coup
leaders
with 12 months
should be made
clear.
More to the
point, their
commitment to
justice as
opposed to
only victor's
justice will
be
tested on how
they address
the massacre
in Duekoue,
committed by
supporters of
president
Ouattara.
Watch this
site.
