By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 6 -- Amid the chaos in Cote d'Ivoire, the UN in New York puts out statements but refuses to answer questions. What some praise as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's rare decisiveness in dismissing the country's Constitutional Council's pro Laurent Gbagbo ruling, others see as mere following of the US and French line, with a eye toward nailing down both votes for a second term as Secretary General.
Ban named Jack Lang, while still the deputy leader of a political party in France, to a UN post on piracy. Now Lang has written a letter to Gbagbo. In what capacity?
Early on the morning of December 5, Inner City Press sent questions to Ban's spokesman and deputy spokesman, including “on deadline for UN confirmation or denial that Joint UN-AU mediator for Darfur Bassole is going to Cote d'Ivoire to work on the crisis there. If so, who has sent him, and how will it impact his work for the UN (and AU) on Darfur?”
Twenty two hours later, no answer at all, to this or reiterated questions, some of them ten days old, about North Korea, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Iran and human rights.
Others notices that while US President Barack Obama put out a statement on the afternoon of December 3, when he spoke to China's president Hu on Sunday night, he listed as topics only North Korea and Iran. So how important is Ivory Coast -- or for that matter Sudan -- to the Obama administration, if they talk foreign policy with China and don't mention either one?
The question about Bassole is similar to one raised about Thabo Mbeki: how can those charged with mediating the conflicts in Sudan find time, a month before the slated referendum, to jump across the Continent into another cauldron? Is the bench of mediators so shallow?
The UN Department of Political Affairs is known to be soliciting funds for its own mediation machinery -- but what successes can it show?
As several diplomats have asked Inner City Press, what good is this UN if it couldn't even foresee this standoff in Cote d'Ivoire? What can be expected of this UN in Sudan? Watch this site.
From the UN's December 3 noon briefing transcript:
Inner City Press: is Mr. Choi going to brief the Council later today on this announcement by the Constitutional Court turning back… turning yesterday’s results over? And also, does Mr. Choi and UNOCI, do they have the raw numbers the election as has been reported? And if so, what are they… when do they intend to announce their count of who won, Mr. Ouattara or Mr. Gbagbo?
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, I can tell you that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General has just finished a press briefing in Abidjan, where he has delivered a statement on the certification of the result of the second round and I would hope to be able to bring you that as soon as possible. And as I say, in addition to that — maybe you had not yet entered the room — I would expect a statement from the Secretary-General quite soon in fact, on the same topic.
Inner City Press: Has been asked to brief the Council, do you know?
Spokesperson: Who?
Inner City Press: Mr. Choi.
Spokesperson: I think I would prefer you to check with the Security Council presidency — with the [United States] Mission — on that. What I can tell you is that the Secretary-General, as I was saying just a little while ago, did speak to Ambassador Rice this morning, along with a number of other leaders in the region and elsewhere. So, this is obviously something that is moving quite fast and we expect to issue the statement from the Secretary-General quite soon. I can tell you that on the ground our Mission has increased patrols and it’s tense, but there have been no major security incidents of concern today. That’s what I can tell you, for now.
Inner City Press: I was just speaking to an Ivorian, I guess diplomat, who is… their argument is that in the north the vote was deeply flawed and ballot… I just… it made me wonder, what was ONUCI’s sort of presence in the north? Maybe you can answer it now or sort… file… find later in the day, but if that’s the argument by the Gbagbo camp, I just wonder what percentage of UNOCI was deployed there, whether they had any sort of knowledge of the type things that are being alleged, it seems important to figure that out.
Spokesperson: Well, as you know, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the mission have a very specific role, which is to provide this certification. And as I say, that statement by Mr. Choi has just been read out by him in Abidjan. I am expecting to be able to pass that on to the media here. You will have seen the media reports I am sure, yourself. I am expecting to be able to pass that on to you. And that does give I think quite a lot of detail that would help you.
