On Paris Attacks, Inner City Press Asks France's Borloo, Burundi Adviser Takes Advantage

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 13 -- During the terrorist attacks in Paris at the Stade de France, the  Bataclan theater and a Cambodian restaurant on November 13, at the UN in New York as chance would have it former French Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo was holding an hour-long 4 pm press conference about Energies to Africa.

 Inner City Press asked him how his sponsors, from Bouygues and Bolloré to Total and Veolia, stood to benefit. Another asking him about Akon. When he asked for a final question, Inner City Press told him about the Paris attacks. Merde, he said, il y'a une attaque terroriste? Mais oui. Vine here.

  US President Barack Obama spoke on television about the attacks, at 5:45 pm Eastern, before Francois Hollande did. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon chimed in at 6:17 pm, that he “demands the immediate release of the numerous individuals reportedly being held hostage in the Bataclan theater.”

  The new President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft issued a statement at 6:33 pm; the UN Security Council, through the UN, issues a Press Statement at 7:13 pm (before that, a draft was circulated to friendly scribes, a retired Reuters and two US state media, presumably by the French mission which let Borloo blather on long after the attack become known).

  From Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza's adviser Willy Nyamitwe  leapt on the Paris attacks to wonder rhetorically why let lawless individuals decimate peaceful innocents, and asked why a Security Council resolution as on Burundi, rather than Press Statement, wasn't being issued.

 How might this impact the holding of or attendance at the Paris COP21 climate change talks? How will it impact refugees, with France already closing its borders? Watch this site.

Lining Up in Mali for UN Cash Are French Contractors Thales, Bolloré, Geos & Sodexho, As Kids Jailed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 4 -- After France intervened in Mali, it got the UN Security Council and Fifth (Budget) Committee to approve a UN Peacekeeping mission there, MINUSMA.

Now it emerges that French companies are lining up to get the UN money for providing logistics for the MINUSMA mission, run by UN Peacekeeping under its fourth French chief in a row, Herve Ladsous.

While Ladsous refuses to answer Press questions (video here, UK coverage here), those named as lining up at the trough to get paid by Ladsous' MINUSMA are not only US-based Pacific Architects & Engineers but also French companies Thales Communications et Services, Bolloré, Geos and Sodexho, which has been big in private prisons, of interest given the UN's inaction on its Malian partners locking up children.

On December 3, beyond asking French ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud about the Malian Army shooting unarmed protesters in Kidal, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: on Mali, there was a report naming children that are incarcerated by the Malian Army and authorities, saying they should be released and describing exactly how they were imprisoned. Given that MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali) works with the Malian army and there is a UN presence there, including human rights monitoring, has the UN chimed in on this? Are they seeking the release of these children detainees of the Malian authorities?

Spokesperson: I’ll need to check. I don’t have anything on that, Matthew.

And more than 24 hours later, still nothing. Meanwhile as France dominates UN Peacekeeping through the taciturnLadsous, with his history of arguing for the escape of genocidaires from Rwanda into Eastern Congo over which he now flies a drone, and tries to get UN Peacekeeping deals in Mali for its contractors, Reuters is reporting on the end of FrancAfrique. Hardly. Watch this site.