Guinea Bissau Torn Between Togo and Portugal, On SC to 2013, Not on Agenda

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- After a dispute at the UN last week about who could speak for post-coup Guinea Bissau in the General Debate (no one, as it turned out), the situation in the country was not even listed in the Security Council's program of work for October.

  Inner City Press asked incoming Council president Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala, who had spoken of Mali, about the "other coup" in Guinea Bissau and what the Council would or could do. Video here, from Minute 22:48.

  Rosenthal told Inner City Press that Guinea Bissau is "a perfect example of how the Security Council works best when it's united -- meaning when not united we have difficulty drafting agreements. As you know there are difficult points of view among ECOWAS states, which are represented on the Security Council this year by Togo, and the Lusophones, represented in Security Council this year by Portugal."

  We note that Portugal is leaving the Council on December 31, 2012, while Togo has another year to go. But the Lusophone or CPLP position is what it is: will it be heard the same by the Council?

  Continuing, Rosenthal said it had been "difficult reaching a meeting of minds" on Guinea Bissau and this was "unfortunate for most members including my delegation, we think the Security Council should act."

  Responding on pre-coup leader Pereira being listed in the UN Journal as a General Debate speaker for September 28, and then being skipped over, Rosenthal told Inner City Press, "What happened in the General Assembly last week, we were unable to determine who speaks in name of present government of Guinea Bissau, is an example of how these situations can make agreements very difficult."

   Inner City Press asked a Lusophone or CPLP Permanent Representative earlier on Tuesday why Pereira hadn't spoke. He agreed, was the answer, after pressure. But "the other one" -- the post-coup leader -- "is not the one with the credentials." And so it goes at the UN -- at least until the end of the year? Watch this site.

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.

  As Inner City Press elicited from UN Under Secretary General Yuri Fedotov on September 27, his UN Office of Drugs and Crime will not work with or have contacts with the post-coup leaders including Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo.

    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.

With Guinea Bissau Coup Now Accepted by ECOWAS & UN, Cote d'Ivoire Contrast

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 -- After much talk at the United Nations of not accepting the coup in Guinea Bissau and restoring the overthrown government, on Friday ECOWAS' representative Nurudeen Mohammad said there "is no question of the return" of former prime minister Carlos Gomes and former interim president Raimundo Pereira.

  So much for restoring the government. As the UN Security Council met Friday morning behind closed doors to hear from West Africa envoy Said Djinnit, Inner City Press asked a number of Council members if they are, in fact, accepting the coup in Guinea Bissau.

  One interested delegation argued that the statement by Nurudeen Mohammad, Nigeria's state minister for foreign affairs, may not be the final word, "let's see." 

 

  The claim is that the Monday afternoon meeting involving ECOWAS and the Portuguese language configuration CPLP had gone well in terms of "coordinating" approaches. So was Nurudeen Mohammad not speaking for ECOWAS?

  There is an obvious contrast with the Security Council's approach to Cote d'Ivoire, where after Laurent Gbagbo got at least 45% of the vote but refused to leave power, contesting the results in some districts, the Council authorized force including the involvement of France's Force Licorne until Alassane Ouattara was installed in power, and Gbagbo sent to the ICC in the Hague.

  All of that was done, it was said, to enforce democracy. But here, Carlos Gomes was ousted in a coup, and the coup leaders are given at least 12 months. ECOWAS says Gomes cannot come back, and the Council so far says nothing.

  So was were France's real motives in Cote d'Ivoire? And why is the response to the outright military coup in Guinea Bissau so different?

   We haven't even touched, in this article, the situation in Mali. But we will, soon. Watch this site.