By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 7 -- In
the wake
of the coup in
Guinea Bissau,
Monday's UN
Security
Council
meeting got
more
interactive --
or more
indicative of
dysfunction.
The
Economic
Community Of
West African
States and the
Portuguese
Speaking
Community
configuration
CPLP had
different
proposals in
the Council's
open meeting.
Then
the Security
Council
changed
buildings and
rooms to hold
an interactive
session with,
among others,
the Foreign
Minister of
Angola.
There
was an initial
problem:
Angola's
delegation
didn't show up
in the North
Lawn building.
Frantic cell
phone calls
were made, but
as Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported, the
meeting
started
without them.
Only at 11:50
am did they
arrive.
Outside,
a story of
deeper
dysfunction
emerged: that
the now
deposed prime
minister of
Guinea Bissau
had written a
letter, to be
delivered by
Angola to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
then to
Council
members,
asking for a
broader
mandate for
the Angolan
MISSANG
mission in
Bissau.
The
story goes
that when word
of the letter
reached Guinea
Bissau, the
coup
immediately
happened. The
prime minister
was
overthrown,
and detained.
Several
Council
members heard
and shook
their heads.
This
taken place in
the context
where Ban's
envoy to
Guinea Bissau,
Joseph
Mutaboba,
sheltered an
accused drug
kingpin in the
UN compound
for weeks,
so far without
repercussions.
Monday in the
Council's open
session he
spoke among
other things
about the
impact on the
price of
cashews.
As
the Council's
closed door
session in the
North Lawn's
Conference
Room 7
continued past
1:15 pm, in
the hallway
outside
indigenous
people
gathered. They
had booked the
room, but were
not allowed
in. There was
some talk of
colonialism,
and about the
P-5 members.
Ultimately the
indigenous
were moved,
over to
Conference
Room 6, video
here
and below.
Inner
City Press
learned that
Portugal had
been asking
for a Council
Press
Statement,
today, but
that other
members felt
any statement
would be
"taking sides"
at this point.
(For the
record, on the
Security
Council Togo
"has the
pen.")
Another
Council member
said the
Security
Council should
not be the
judge, the
regional
organizations
must work it
out. Yet
another, from
the Continent,
alluded to an
African Union
meeting on
Wednesday.
Past
1:30 pm the
Council's
meeting
broken, with
talk of yet
another
meeting, to
involve the
CPLP, African
Union, ECOWAS
and the UN,
representative
by the
aforesaid
Joseph
Mutaboba and
perhaps even
Lynn Pascoe.
And what about
the coup
in Mali?
One coup at a
time. Watch
this site.
