On Sri Lanka, Araud of France Says Accountability Is Up to Locals, Unlike in Libya

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 3 -- After the UN belated published its Panel of Experts' report on war crimes in Sri Lanka, Inner City Press asked the French Mission to the UN in writing for a comment on the report and what should happen next.

While the French mission never answered in writing, a spokesman told Inner City Press that a response would take time, and would come from Paris.

But French ambassador Gerard Araud, taking over the UN Security Council presidency for May, brought up Sri Lanka during his beginning of the month press conference. Explaining that the Security Council often chooses not to get involved in bloody conflicts, he referred to 30,000 dead in Sri Lanka, and the Council choosing not to get involved.

During what even the UN called the “bloodbath on the beach” in April and May 2009, Araud's predecessor as Permanent Representative, Jean-Maurice Ripert, was often ambiguous on whether France wanted the Council to consider the conflict, which had regional dimension.

Ripert would refer to Bernard Kouchner traveling to Sri Lanka with “water bladders” and other humanitarian supplies, but never called for a ceasefire. Click here for an Inner City Press piece from that time.

Inner City Press on May 3 asked Araud what France thinks should be done about the UN Panel of Experts report, which Araud himself summarizes as detailining 30,000 killings in Sri Lanka.

Despite Araud having pushed this year to refer for example Libya to the International Criminal Court on a decidedly smaller death count, and has called for the same in former colony Cote d'Ivoire, Araud on May 3 said that investigation is up to the Sri Lankan authorities, as something they should do to “improve the reconciliation process.”

Ironically, the Sri Lankan authorities -- the Rajapaksas -- speak loudly about a Western conspiracy. If one exists, France is not a part of it, at least not in Sri Lanka.

Despite France's rhetoric about the primacy of the protection of civilians, Araud relegated accountability for 30,000 deaths to the sole responsibility of the Sri Lankan authorities, and only because it might improve reconciliation. Perhaps this seeming incongruity will be further explored this month. Watch this site.

As Kouchner & Le Roy Ask Where Darfur Nur Could Be Sent, Gambari Talks of Threats

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 27, 2010 -- With Darfur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur living in Paris, what is France's relationship to and plans for him? Inner City Press on Monday asked French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner about Nur, whom Kouchner had said would be joining the negotiation process in Doha. Kouchner shrugged that Nur had said that. Now what?

“Where would you have us send him?” Kouchner asked Inner City Press. “Sudan?”

Inner City Press asked Kouchner to confirm that other French diplomats have argued, that France wants to expel Nur but believes a court would on current evidence grant him asylum. These Elysee sources say that France has been seeking evidence, including through the UN, that Nur is behind recent violence in the Kalma and Zalingei IDP Camps in Darfur, as a basis to expel him.

Before Kouchner could answer, his handler Monsieur Valero groaned and rolled his eyes, as if the question was forbidden. There are many causes for the violence in the camps, Kouchner finally said. Video here.

One would like to better understand France's position, but the denial of access, seemingly based on the content of articles, makes it difficult.

Later on Monday, Inner City Press asked the UN's top peacekeeper Alain Le Roy, a French national, about Abdul Wahid Nur. Le Roy replied much as Kouchner had: Where should Nur be sent? Inner City Press pointed out that Khalil Ibrahim of the Justice & Equality Movement is currently in Libya.

Inner City Press also posed a Nur question to the UN's Ibrahim Gambari, in New York for the Tripartite Meeting with Sudan held on Monday afternoon in the UN's Conference Room 7. Gambari said there is evidence Nur -- or his supporters? -- made death threats. There is talk of a flier to this effect, which Nur has denied.

The politics here seem to have Gambari, a fan of the Doha process and some say of Omar al Bashir, wanting Abdul Wahid Nur arrested or expelled from France. Obviously, someone is protecting him. Watch this site.

France, Under Fire on Roma & from Al Qaeda, Hides from the Press at UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 21 -- With confirmation that the French uranium workers in Niger abducted last Thursday are being held by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, recent French hijinx at the United Nations are increasingly being questioned.

Two months before this UN General Debate, France's former diplomat Douste Blazy was exposed, including by this publication, for siphoning off $11 million in UNITAID funds to raise a mere $200,000. Still, Douste Blazy appears in this week's MDG Summit.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy was in New York for three days, including his speech Monday to the Summit, but he did not hold any media availabilities with the UN press corps.

Sources say Sarkozy wanted to avoid the inevitable questions about his policy of expelling Romas or gypsies from France. Previously, Sarkozy held a "French only" press conference at the UN, excluding even a Francophone Lebanese reporter for lack of a French passport.

A day before Sarkozy, French Defense Minister Herve Morin came to the UN. In light of the previous day's kidnappings in Niger, Inner City Press specifically asked Morin about his country's war on Al Qaeda, leading to the military action along with Mauritanian troops against northern Mali in July. Video here, from Minute 14:42.

Morin told the Press, that “France is determined to combat Al Qaeda... France is committed to combat this cancer which has invaded the Sahara.” He said France trained troops in Mauritania, Mali and Niger to fight “four to five hundred fanatics.”

Now the five French hostages have been taken from Niger into Mali. France is flying surveillance planes over the desert. Even in New York, the security seems to be high.

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, who claims he almost quit over the Roma issue, will host a reception Friday night at the French facility on Fifth Avenue and 79th Street. Even journalists who questioned Morin are not invited, or are specifically dis-invited. Is it fear for security, or fear of questions? Watch this site.

With Kouchner at UN, No Africa in Questions, Airport Diplomacy and France

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unair1kouchner120709.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner swept through the UN on Monday, meeting with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and then briefly taking questions from the press. While he said he and Mr. Ban discussed both Sudan and Guinea, neither was addressed in Kouchner's remarks nor in the questions taken by his staff.

Rather, he faced repeated questions on whether France considers Jerusalem occupied territory. Kouchner replied that Jerusalem should be the "capital of two states." Afterwards, still relatively new French Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud asked Kouchner to clarify, since reporters hadn't understood him to affirm Jerusalem as occupied territory. Of course it is, Kouchner said and headed for the door.

Inner City Press asked him, "What about Gambari for Darfur," a shorthand way to ask if France supports Ibrahim Gambari as the UN's and African Union's envoy for Darfur. Yes we discussed that, Kouchner answered. "But what about what some call his weak record in Myanmar?" But Kouchner was gone.

Out in the hall, reporters asked France's spokesman if there was any more time for questions. He has a plane in one hour and thirty five minute, the spokesman answered. Could Ambassador Araud stay and answer? The spokesman shook his head. Araud was going with Kouchner.

Another French UN official told Inner City Press that one reason Araud's predecessor Jean Maurice Ripert lost his job was he was late to the airport to pick up President Nicolas Sarkozy. Maybe that explains both diplomats heading for the airport.

On Guinea, the question would have been whether France agrees with ECOWAS' call for the military junta to step down. Dictator Moussa Dadis Camara was shot and taken for surgery to Morocco. Another question might have been what if anything France is doing for Western Sahara human rights activist Ms. Haidar. France has long opposed the UN's mission in Western Sahara having any human rights component.

Yet another would be why France announced an embassy in Kyrgyzstan only days after that country barred a human rights activist from Tajikistan, click here for that. What ever happened to les droits de l'homme?

Footnote: Prior to his briefing Q&A with the media, Kouchner stood beside Ban Ki-moon before two microphones in Ban's 38th floor suite: a "press encounter" with no press allowed to be present. Earlier on Monday, Ban's new spokesman Martin Nesirky was asked why Ban wouldn't take questions. He said he would find out, as well as providing answers including about Gambari. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unair1kouchner120709.html

At UN, Guehenno's No-Work USG Post Ends as French Influence Is Downplayed

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unusg3postsfr082909.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 29 -- This month after France ousted its Ambassador to the UN Jean Maurice Ripert, he was quickly named to a UN Under Secretary General post, as a humanitarian envoy to Pakistan. The UN's fast accommodation of Ripert led Inner City Press to ask, on August 24 and August 26, how many French USGs the UN system has, and to write twice on the answers.

Four days later, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal was quoted in ISRIA.com that "we perceive no bad intentions towards our country through the questions that were asked. These questions fall within the free exercise by journalists of their profession." Paris-based ISRA went on to chide Inner City Press for describing "French diplomat Jean-Marie Guehenno... as a 'do-nothing USG' despite Mr. Guehenno's major achievements in peacekeeping operations from 2000 to 2008."

Yes, Inner City Press used the phrase "do-nothing USG" for Guehenno, quite literally. After heading DPKO, Guehenno was quietly named USG for Regional Cooperation, a new post, like Ripert's. The UN never announced it, but confirmed it when Inner City Press discovered it.

Later, in the Spring of 2009, Inner City Press interviewed Mr. Guehenno across the street from the UN, and asked what tasks he had done for the UN since his appointment. None, he answered candidly. The UN had not assigned him a single job. That is why we called him literally a do-nothing USG, and mused, as we had in print back in the spring, if such no show jobs might not constitute immigration fraud.

Since the publication of Inner City Press' August 24 and August 26 articles, the Spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon Michele Montas has written Inner City Press that "One update on yesterday’s question : Mr. Guehenno's appointment had expired effective close of business 31 July 2009. He is no longer a staff member."

So sometimes the UN does the right thing, even if only belatedly.

For the record, during Guehenno's time at DPKO, Inner City Press often cover him favorably, and respected his requests, as in the case of Congolese warlord Peter Karim. But afterwards, still unexplained is the UN's rationale for giving Guehenno a USG post, with attendant immigration, tax and travel privileges, without expecting him to do any work?

Similarly, why was the French chief the the World Meteorological Organization for example not included in the UN's presentation of French USG's in the UN system? The list that Ms. Montas read from on August 26 from the briefing room podium, apparently intended to downplay the number of posts given to France in the UN -- who prepared it, and why? Watch this site.

Footnote: the ouster of Ripert is viewed by insiders as a long expected move by Sarkozy adviser Jean David Levitte against his rival Bernard Kouchner, of whom Ripert is a follower. So in essence, due to French infighting, the losing flotsam washed up on the UN's shores and a USG post was created. This happened, though less embarrassingly, with Guehenno as well. Is this done for other countries? Do other countries even ask for it?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unusg3postsfr082909.html

In Manik Farm Camp, Children Forced to Sing to Ban Ki-moon, No Questions

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may2srilanka052309.html

MANIK FARM, SRI LANKA, May 23 -- Beside printed banners welcoming the UN's Ban Ki-moon to "the motherland," Tamil children were paraded on Saturday with Sri Lankan flags, singing a high pitched chant, "Ban Ki-moon, Ban Ki-moon." While many found it ghoulish, given that these children are interred in these UN funded camps along with their families, Mr. Ban gamely smiled through it, taking a tour of the militarized camp with Sri Lanka's foreign minister.

Later he was taken to an open-air hospital, where severely ill elderly people lay writhing in pain, flies all over them. Ban bent down and held a woman's hand, while the woman next to her looked, frankly, dead. A cameraman on this gruesome tour stepped on woman lying with an IV on the ground, without noticing. Ban stood and whispered an interview to the BBC. "We need to go for the fly-over," a security officer hissed.

"He's speaking to the Press," a Ban handler replied. This is important. The fly-over was pushed back. The now-empty lands from which these people came could wait.

A husband stopped the Press to show his wife's thigh, cut by a government artillery shell. We need help, he gestured. But to name him might result in even more problems. A woman gave an interview through barbed wire to a gaggle of reporters, translated by a UN staffer from New York who helpfully spoke Tamil.

She gave her first name, and complained that they can't leave the camp. Then the soldiers told her and the crowd around her to back away from the fence and media. A reporter called after her, "what is your last name?" She looked worry before giving it, so Inner City Press does not print it.

What is the UN's role in these camps? Why do they let the Sri Lankan government use UN Photos of Ban and Rajapaksa for propaganda banners? How should Ban react to the forced singing of his name?

Earlier on Saturday, Ban Ki-moon and his officials received a one-way briefing from Sri Lankan interment officials. In a meeting room with two slow turning ceiling fans and a multitude of armed guards, three speakers berated Ban and his top humanitarian and political officials about how much they are doing for the people they displaced, in large part.

The government speakers chided the West for lack of aid, said that India (and in one previously reported Kouchner case, France) were alone with medical help. Later Ban was shown some blue tents and told, these were given by China. Ban nodded and later said, we have to help the Sri Lankan government.

During the one-way briefing, Inner City Press said after one speaker, "Can we ask questions?" Ban's officials turned and looked, but the government continued with its endless Power Point presentation, about bank branches and book sales.

Then a Ban handler told Inner City Press to leave the hall and go to the minibus. Outside, soldiers told photographers to put down their cameras. When one reported approached the barbed wire to speak to those behind it, it was representatives of the UN who said not to do it. Perhaps this was wise and protective. But why then is the UN funding these camps?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may2srilanka052309.html

At UN, Obama's Magic Rice on the Speakers List, Sri Lanka Below the Basement

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1obama050809.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 8 -- The foreign ministers of eight of the UN Security Council's fifteen members are heading to New York for a May 11 meeting about the Middle East. The host country is not sending Hilary Clinton. The Council's List of Speakers, leaked on May 8 to Inner City Press, lists as the eighth speaker “Susan E. Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States of America and Member of President Obama's Cabinet.” There is nowhere near this level of detail, including a President's name, for any other speaker. Some call it the magic of Obama.

The foreign ministers attending, in the order they will speak, include Austria's Michael Spindelegger, Burkina Faso's Bedouma Alain Yoda, Turkey's Ahmet Davutoglu, France's Bernard Kouchner, Mexico's Patricia Espinosa Cantellana, the UK's David Miliband, Costa Rica's Bruno Stagno and Russia's Sergey Lavrov.

Advisers to Security General Ban Ki-moon tell Inner City Press that Mr. Lavrov has told Ban that Russians should be given more top jobs in the UN, and has asked how, for example, foreign Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler was named special envoy to Niger, where his kidnapping resulted, according to those responsible, in the release of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb.

Mexico's Patricia Espinosa, when last at the Council to chair Mexico's thematic debate, skipped out on a scheduled stakeout and press conference, wanting to avoid questions about what was then called the Swine Flu. Ministers Kouchner and Miliband are convening a meeting about Sri Lanka, but not a Security Council meeting, not even an “informal interactive dialogue” such as took place in April.

As Russia's Vitaly Churkin, the Council president for May, left the chamber Friday afternoon, Inner City Press asked about Monday's event on Sri Lanka. It's not a Council meeting, Amb. Churkin said. There might be NGOs there.

Given that over 7,000 civilians have been killed this year in Northern Sri Lanka, some wonder about how Obama's principles, including those of his anti-war crimes adviser Samantha Power, are being applied. Susan Rice will represent the US on the Council's trip next week to Africa including the Congo, where evidence emerged Friday that the UN is working with indicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda, click here for that litmus test.

The document being negotiated for adoption on May 11 has, through time, omitted references both to Israeli settlements and to terrorism. Late Friday afternoon, after a Council meeting on Chad and Sudan, Inner City Press asked U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff, exiting a meeting with Russia's Churkin, how it was coming on Monday's statement. “Moving... we're still not there,” Amb. Wolff answered. They better hurry up.

Footnote: while some UN proponents grumble that not only Barack Obama, but now Michele Obama when she came to New York have not set foot in the UN, Michele Obama (or “FLOTUS” in pool parlance) did visit the US Mission. From the pool report:

“Her mission, she says, is to put a spotlight on the nation's employees who may feel underappreciated. 40 long-time U.N. employees sat to the left of the stage. These included Ivan Ferber who has worked at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. for 47 years... Other honored employees included: Bruce Rashkow who has worked at the USUN for 38 years.”

Raskkow is the US' budget expert. Some wonder if his approach is consistent with the pronouncements of the Obama administration. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1obama050809.html

China Opposes Any Sudan Indictments, Would Support Suspending, Darfur Threat Level Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1iccdarfur071108.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 -- With the prospect of Sudan's president being indicted for war crimes as early as July 14, Inner City Press on Friday asked Chinese Ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya if China thinks such an indictment would be helpful to people in Darfur. "I don't think so," Ambassador Wang said. Impunity is part of the problem in Sudan, he said, but "there are more important problems" such as political negotiations, humanitarian access and "peacekeeping modalities." Video here, from Minute 1:43.

This last is a reference to already delayed deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur, which was at least partially suspended on Friday by the UN, as confirmed to Inner City Press by Australia's Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon. Sudan's Ambassador to the UN told Inner City Press that the UN has raised its threat level for Darfur to the highest category, Four, and raised the level for Khartoum to Three. He had just met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, telling him "we hold you responsible if our President is indicted." Mr. Ban, he said, remained impassive. The idea of asking the Security Council to suspend any International Criminal Court proceeding against President Omar al Bashir has been broached.

Inner City Press asked Amb. Wang for China's view on this. "There are elements in the [Rome] statute," he said. "It depends on the Council... the Council members have to take up this responsibility." Video here, from Minute 1:43. This last is taken to mean that China supports putting a stop on the ICC and prospector Luis Moreno Ocampo. People were racing around Friday at the UN trying to determine when such a suspension resolution would have to be passed: before Ocampo asks the judges to indict or between the request and the indictment? Or, as Ugandan indictee Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army has demanded, in exchange for any peace, after the indictment?

Inner City Press ask this month's Vietnamese Security Council president Le Luong Minh if any request had been made to discuss ICC suspension. "Not in the Security Council framework," he replied. Video here.

But, looking forward, would the U.S., France and / or the UK veto any draft resolution to suspend ICC proceedings? Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, but he said, "I don't want to answer that today." In fairness, the U.S. sponsored Zimbabwe sanctions resolution had just be vetoed by both China and Russia, and Amb. Khalilizad wanted to speak about their votes, and that of South Africa, which he called "disturbing" as well as longing for Jacob Zuma to take over, click here for that.

After the Zimbabwe sanctions resolution was voted down on Friday afternoon, French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, when asked if the proponents miscalculated by calling the vote, pointed out that there were 9 votes for -- including, notably, Burkina-Faso -- and that the EU can continue with its own moves against Zimbabwe.

Inner City Press asked about South Africa's statement that Bernard Kouchner's statement that only a government led by the MDC would be legitimate worked against passage of the resolution. Ripert bristled, saying he was only answering so Inner City Press wouldn't call him unresponsive, and pointing to a July 4 statement referring to the March vote in Zimbabwe. Then he left. Video here, at end.

But the Kouchner quote, by Agence France Presse, was that "the government is illegitimate if it isn't led by opposition leader Mr Tsvangirai."

Would France veto a resolution to suspend an ICC indictment? We will ask the question. Watch this site.

Footnote: Of Burkina-Faso vote in favor of Zimbabwe sanctions, Sudan's Ambassador pointed to the appointment of that countries former former minister Bassole as Darfur mediator and said, "everything must be paid for." He said he no loner favors expansion of the Security Council to include more developing countries, after Burkina-Faso's vote, he prefers to stick with the Permanent Five and their vetoes. "It is better to deal with the Devil than the disciplines," he said.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1iccdarfur071108.html

"Responsibility to Protect" Does Not Apply to Myanmar, UN's Expert Tells Inner City Press, But Older Rights Concepts Do

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/r2p1myanmar051208.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- Is the bleak situation in Myanmar following Cyclone Nergis a crime against humanity, which could trigger the doctrine of "responsibility to protect" as enacted in the UN in 2005? French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on May 7 said the concept should be invoked. France's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Jean-Pierre Lacroix on May 12 said that his country might "introduce a text" to that effect to the Security Council the following day. But the UN's special advisor on Responsibility to Protect, Edward Luck, in an on-the-record written response to questions submitted by Inner City Press, diplomatically disagrees with Kouchner and France.

Inner City Press asked, Does R2P apply to this case in Myanmar? Mr. Luck responded:

No, in my view and based on my limited knowledge of events on the ground there, it would be a misapplication of responsibility to protect (RtoP) principles to apply them at this point to the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar. As you know, the Outcome Document of the 2005 Summit limited their applicability to four crimes and violations: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing. We must focus our efforts on implementing these principles in these four cases, as there is no agreement among the Member States on applying them to other situations, no matter how disturbing or regrettable the circumstances."

Given the arguments advanced by France and others, Inner City Press asked, could non-response to a natural disaster rise to the level of a crime against humanity? Luck responded:

"Whether a non-response, or in this case a partial response, to a natural disaster could qualify as a crime against humanity is a matter to be debated by legal scholars and jurists. It seems to me, however, that larger and well-established human rights principles are at stake here. A state has fundamental responsibilities for the welfare of the populations on its territory that have long preceded the development of the concept of a responsibility to protect."

Also in light of France's and the U.S.'s allusion to food-drops, Inner City Press asked, where would a food-drop fit in? Luck's answer, less on R2P, rebutted the food-drops on five separate grounds:

"On a purely practical level, it is hard to see a food drop accomplishing much. One, it could add to chaos on the ground as people struggle over such aid drops. Two, much of the area is now under water. Three, it would do nothing in terms of supplying the critical missing element of humanitarian and medical personnel on the ground. Four, targeting could be a real challenge. And five, the violation of Myanmar's airspace could well increase the government's suspicion of the outside world."


Since some have said, even in R2P applied, that force would be the "last step," Inner City Press asked, what would be the series of steps to apply R2P in such a case? Luck's response was shorter, and more telling: "We have yet to develop a clear decision-making process or standard operating procedures for implementing RtoP decisions." Who the "we" is that will develop such standard operating procedures is not yet clear.

Since the official UN document announcing Luck's appointment says he would be paid "When Actually Employed," at the pro-rate hourly Assistant Secretary-General rate, but Luck has said he gets $1 a year, Inner City Press asked, which is it, and, since the appointment, what have you been doing under this mandate? How many hours? Luck did not answer the second part of this question, only reiterating that "my letter of appointment says $1 per year." He has joked, not without humor, that some people say he's overpaid at that rate.

In terms of credit, since French Ambassador Ripert on May 7 told Inner City Press that Bernard Kouchner "invented R2P 20 years ago," Inner City Press asked Ed Luck, is that your understanding? Who else deserves credit? Luck replied diplomatically

"I have no comment on the quote from Ambassador Ripert. However, it is worth noting that the concept of responsibility to protect represents a conceptual evolution from the earlier notion of humanitarian intervention. The former was first coined as a term in the 2001 ICISS report, though it can trace its intellectual roots to the concept of 'sovereignty as responsibility' developed by Francis Deng and his colleagues at the Brookings Institution in the mid-1990s and the 2000 Constitutive Act of the African Union."

To this, we'll add a few more names, including Lloyd Axworthy, Ramesh Thakur, and Mohammed Sahnoun of Algeria. Bernard Kouchner? Bonne chance, as they say. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/r2p1myanmar051208.html