By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 8 –
Since Inner
City Press first
reported back
on March 28,
2012 that
Jeffrey
Feltman, then
of the US
State
Department,
would get the
UN's top
political job,
it has kept requesting
that Feltman
hold an on the
record press
conference.
On
Friday,
Feltman
finally did.
Most of the
questions
concerned
Mali. Feltman
said that
France's Operation
Serval has
sidelined some
of those bent
on military
interference.
Inner City
Press asked
how this
relates to the
ongoing
involvement in
the military
of coup leader
Captain Amadou
Sanogo. Video
here, from
Minute 39:23.
Feltman
said
it's clear the
military need
to stay out of
politics. He
acknowledged
that coup
leader Sanogo,
who
"symbolizes...
military
interference,"
is still in
the mix in
Bamako, but
argued that he
does not have
the “monopoly
on power” he
had or might
otherwise have
had due to the
"new
engagement
inside the
country."
But
other UN
officials such
as Ivan
Simonovic have
spoken of the
UN's Human
Rights Due
Diligence
policy in Mali
– so would
working with a
coup leader
comply with
this UN
policy? This,
Feltman did
not answer.
After
France began
bombing, and
Inner City
Press publicly
asked
if Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had as
required by
Operative
Paragraph 11
of Resolution
2085
“confirmed the
satisfaction
of the
Security
Council” with
the military
plans (the
so-called "Algerian
element").
No, was the
answer.
Feltman
to
his credit, as
he jogged from
briefing the
Security
Council back
to his office,
through the UN
garage, told
Inner City
Press that the
“confirmation
of
satisfaction”
would take the
form of a
publicly
available
report.
On
Friday Inner
City Press on
behalf of the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
thanked
Feltman for
finally
holding a
press
conference,
but urged him
to speak to
the media more
often when he
comes to brief
the Security
Council. Video
here, from
Minute 39:23.
We'll
see. Watch
this site.
