By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 19 -- The
UN Security
Council
arrived
Saturday in
Liberia to
meet with the
government of
Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf. Among
the
back-stories
was the
unsuccessful
attempt by UN
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon to
place one of
his most
senior Russian
officials,
Dmitry
Titov, as his
Special
Representative
for UNMIL.
Numerous
UN
sources have
told Inner
City Press
that the Ellen
Johnson
Sirleaf
rejected
Titov. But
why?
Some
say that Titov
can be hard to
get along
with. There is
some basis:
for example,
when Inner
City Press
previously
noted Titov
moving through
the UN with
Foreign
Minister
Lavrov, the
response was,
"You'd never
say that about
a European."
Things are
clearer since
then: such
reporting goes
both East and
West.
In any event
there are
several
accepted SRSGs
who are
ornery.
Others,
including at
least one
Security
Council
member, say
that there is
some "Russian
Mafia" action
in
Liberia and
that Ellen
Johnson
Sirleaf
believed that
Titov, now in
charge of
"Rule of Law"
at the UN,
would inquire
into it.
Despite
substantial
from the UN
and the US,
which co-leads
this leg of
the
trip with
Morocco, for
Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, there
are numerous
questions. As
simply one
example, she
appointed her
own son,
Robert
Sirleaf, as
Chairman of
the Board of
the National
Oil Company of
Liberia
(NOCAL).
The
UK, which will
co-lead the
Sierra Leone
leg of the
trip, provided
a read out of
"Excellent
meeting with
Johnson
Sirleaf and
her ministers.
Issues of
UNMIL
transition;
reconciliation;
justice;
security....
and
ECOWAS
discussed."
There
have also
been a series
of issues
about the UN's
own UNMIL
mission, from
staff
complaints,
sexual
abuse and
UN
double-talk
about how
frequent flier
miles are used.
The
Council will
fly onward in
its West
Africa tour,
the newsiest
portion of
which
will be a
meeting with
ECOWAS in
Abidjan which
will concern
not only
Guinea Bissau,
where ECOWAS
proposes 12
months for
coup leaders,
but
one would
think Mali as
well. Watch
this site.
