Saturday, September 29, 2012

Pre-Coup Guinea Bissau Leader Blocked, Post-Coup Leader No UN Contacts?



By Matthew Russell Lee
 
UNITED NATIONS, September 29 -- The UN or two groups within it are are cross purposes on Guinea Bissua.


    But on September 28, while the second speaker for the UN General Debates' afternoon 
session was listed as pre-coup president Raimundo Pereira, when his turn came he did not speak. He was blocked by the West African regional group ECOWAS, which recognizes the post-coup leaders, sources say, with the help of the US.

   As even the next day's debate on Saturday reached its end, Guinea Bissau had not spoken, There is only one more day: October 1.

  On whether UNODC works with the post-coup government, Fedotov told Inner City Press that it "obviously" does not even have any contacts with what he called the "military junta." Fedotov said:
 
"So far we keep our profile very low. We keep alive facilities we helped to install in Guinea Bissau, including transnational crime unit. Obviously as you understand we don't have any contacts with members of the military junta in Guinea Bissau. But we are keeping the modest assets we built, in close coordination with all UN programs and fund present there... That is an issue we are discussion with colleagues. I've had several meeting in New York. We'll continue to pursue matter and we'll see what could be done in this particular context."
 
One wonders, with Raimundo Pereira blocked, might post-coup leader Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo still somehow take Guinea Bissau's spot? Watch this site.