Amid Growing Questions About Departing French PR Gerard Araud, $20 Accepted for Q&A Then Deemed "Off the Record" by Araud

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- As French Ambassador Gerard Araud nears the end of his time at the UN, there are many questions he should be asked but has been avoiding. 

  For example, if his speeches about Russia in Ukraine are France's position, why is the French sale of Mistral warships to Russia still going forward? Inner City Press asked this at the UN Security Council stakeout but Araud declined to answer.

And as simply another example while Araud claims to have taken no position to oppose a human rights monitoring mechanism in Western Sahara, this is called into question by an answer he gave Inner City Press in 2013, when he still answered Press questions, about bilateral dialogue with Morocco being the best way. 

  Many beyond Inner City Press find Araud's position unclear, or as some put it, hypocritical.

  So when publicly on Twitter there appeared an opportunity to ask questions to Araud, albeit for $20, Inner City Press signed up, to "welcome Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, to discuss French priorities at the United Nations. Araud will address efforts to allow UN Security Council action regarding the crisis in Syria, as well as French and UN initiatives to allow stabilization in the Central African Republic and in Mali."

   Nowhere did it say it was on background or off the record. The money was accepted, confirmation sent. 

  And on May 1, after a UN briefing about the Central African Republic, Inner City Press rushed up to the venue, in a second floor law firm conference room in the Citigroup building.

  Inside the audience was affluent, business people in suits. There were oatmeal raisin cookies and at a conference table, Araud was answering questions. Then he said, repeatedly, "This is off the record."

  Is it legitimate? Why would one publicize an appearance and Q&A by Araud, for money, with no mention of its being off the record -- and then make it off the record? Why was Araud's spokesperson Frederic Jung there for this "off the record" Q&A with business people?

  In Washington last Friday, John Kerry spoke at the Trilateral Commission under announced in advance off the record rules, but a tape was obtained and the rest is history. Here, the event was never said in advance to be off the record, and money was accepted.

  While Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access, which has asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric to convey to Araud and his presumptive successor Jacques Audibert the UN's stated position that correspondents should be treated with respect -- this after Araud on the record and on camera told a reporter, not this one, that "You are not a journalist, you are an agent" -- fully support the reporting on Kerry's Trilateral talk, in this report there are no quotes. But there are questions. Watch this site.

   

A Tale of Two Ambassadors: From A to Z, French PR Gerard Araud & Jordan's Prince Zeid Leaving UN Security Council, "Not a Place for Real Negotiation," Araud Said

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- Two Permanent Representatives are set to leave the UN Security Council and UN at the end of June or July: France's Gerard Araud and Jordan Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid. They are a study in contrasts.

  Zeid at this week's Sexual Violence in Conflict debate asked an honest, self-deprecatory question: are UN ambassadors hypocrites to call for accountability for rape in some places while failing to hold to account the "peacekeepers" they send out into the world?

  Meanwhile Araud insists that everything that he and France do is beyond reproach, even opposing a human rights monitoring mechanism for Western Sahara, or hypocritically going forward with Mistral warship sales to Russia even as Araud speechifies against Russia's action in Crimea and Ukraine.

  Another difference: Zeid has always answered questions, on camera and on the steps as he leaves the Security Council. Araud, meanwhile, refused to answer the Press question on Mistrals, and in mid April while allowing a single critical question during his press conference told the critical questioner, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent." Video here.

  (The Free UN Coalition for Access has asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric to convey to the French Mission the stated UN position that correspondent should be treated with respect; he has yet to do so. Even as Araud leaves, the issue as precedent must and will be pursued.)

  Zeid has specialized in the issue of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and has persistently pushed forward on the issue. Likewise, when a controversial Sri Lankan military figure Shavendra Silva was put onto the UN's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, Zaid spoke out. What did France or Araud do or even say?

  Perhaps because Araud is leaving, to be replaced by Jacques Audibert, he is now letting it all hang out. He recently said, "The UN has never been a place for 'real' negotiation. It legitimizes or implements agreements reached elsewhere." Where does this leave the countries who run to serve on the Security Council?

  Jordan filled in for Saudi Arabia when they refused the 2014-15 Security Council seat they ran for without opposition, and Zeid boned up and filled in admirably. (His replacement is rumored to be Bishr al-Khasawneh.)

  While some scribes, ignoring Araud's open attack on their ostensible colleague, fawn around Araud, ultimately which of these two served the UN, human rights and accountability better, even without a Mistral behind him? Watch this site.

   

On Western Sahara, New UN Report Notes Protests of Lack of Rights Monitoring in MINURSO, Nordics Write In to UNSC

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 10 -- The annual ritual around Western Sahara in which the same human rights monitoring mandate that other UN Peacekeeping missions have is proposed and then shot down by Permanent Member of the Security Council France has now formally begun.

  April 10 saw the circulation of an advance copy of the "Report of the Secretary General on the situation concerning Western Sahara," to be issued as a document of the Security Council under the symbol S/2014/258.

  With UN Peacekeeping controlled by Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row in that position, these advance copies of reports have sometimes changed before the UN puts them online. We will be watching for that.

  As a part of this watchfulness, Inner City Press is publishing today a letter just submitted to the President of the Security Council by "a number of Nordic organisations, from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden," urging the inclusion of human rights monitoring in MINURSO's mandate.

  Even former UN envoy on Western Sahara Peter van Walson has written to French president Francois Hollande urging France to stop opposing human rights monitoring in Western Sahara.

  Also new this year is the discomfort caused by Spanish actor Javier Bardem asserting that French Ambassador Gerard Araud told him that Morocco is like France's mistress. 

  French foreign ministry spokesperson Romain Nadal has reportedly confirmed that Araud met with Bardem in 2011; Araud has said he would seek permission to sue Bardem. (There is a pattern here.) Now, Jacques Audibert is said slated to take over for Araud by July.

  So this will be Araud's last campaign opposing human rights monitoring in Western Sahara. Earlier on April 10 Araud spoke at the Security Council stakeout about Central African Republic but when Inner City Press asked about the Chadian troops there, charged by the High Commissioner for Human Rights with killing 30 civilians, Araud told Inner City Press to Ask Chad's Ambassador.

  US Ambassador Samantha Power moments later answered Inner City Press' question about the withdrawal of Chad's troops from CAR, video here.

  The April 10 advance copy of the "Report of the Secretary General on the situation concerning Western Sahara" consists of 104 paragraphs and a map.

  To begin with -- Inner City Press will have more than one report on this Report -- there is a recognition of "demostrations aimed at drawing attention to human rights concerns, socio-economic issues and political demands, including the right to self-determination. These were swiftly dispersed by Moroccan security forces. On most such occasions, there were credible reports of heavy-handedness on the part of security forces as well as violence, such as stone-throwing, on the part of the demonstrators."

  The Report says "of particular note was a demonstration that took place in Laayoune on 5 May 2013... Protesters expressed dissatisfaction that Security Council resolution 2099 (2013) did not include provisions to include human rights monitoring in MINURSO's mandate."

Will it be different this year? Watch this site.

   

With Burundi Cable Delay Now Capping Bardem and Romain Serman Denials, Araud Out in July for Audibert, Sources Say

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 9 -- After reporting on the French Mission to the UN's troubling languor when faced with an April 3 cable from Burundi about the distribution of AK-47s to the Hutu Imbonerakure youth wing, word reached Inner City Press of the belated replacement as French Ambassador to the UN of Gerard Araud -- by Jacques Audibert, by July. It could not come a day too soon.

   Beyond the April ritual of opposing human rights monitoring for the UN's MINURSO Mission in Western Sahara, which even former envoy Peter van Walsom is urging President Francois Hollande to support, Araud is primed to speak about the Central African Republic resolution on April 10.

   Back on March 6 Araud denied the existence of a report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, dated January 20, that in the Central African Republic the French Sangaris force's disarmament of the ex Seleka left Muslim communities at risk of attack.

  Araud said, "There is no Navi Pillay report." But here it is. Earlier this week, when Inner City Press asked Pillay at the Security Council stakeout, she updated than fully 80% of Muslims have been displaced in and from CAR.

  Araud has said that Javier Bardem is lying when he quotes Araud saying that Morocco is France's "mistress." Araud's denial of the existence of Navi Pillay's report -- or statement -- puts his denial of the Morocco as mistress quote in a different light.

So too does Araud's angry claim in January that a New York Police Department document Inner City Press published after asking Araud's mission for comment is a fake. It is a New York Police Department incident report, here.

  In that case, it is Araud's claim that since the French diplomat Romain Serman -- now France's consul in San Fransisco -- claimed diplomatic immunity after being detained for attempted purchase of cocaine, it was not a real arrest record. But to yell that it is a "fake" and threaten to sue? Click here for that.

  Likewise, perhaps Araud means that Pillay's statement, which is on the Office of the High Commissioner's website, is not a report because it is a statement. But to claim, after walked away from the stakeout microphone without taking the question, that there is no Navi Pillay report?

   So what really is Araud's argument about Bardem quoting him that Morocco is France's mistress, on Western Sahara? Did Araud say it, but slightly differently? Will at least this question be answered, before July? 

  Audibert has been active on the P5+1 Iran nuclear talks and other matters on which we'll have more. Watch this site.