UN Repeats Ladsous Stonewalling on Mali Army Shootings, Says Later for Madagascar

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 2 -- When civilians are shot and killed by an army that UN Peacekeeping is supporting, one expects the UN to be able to explain what happened. 

  But after just this happened in Mali last week, and UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous refused to answer the Press question, Inner City Press put it to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson on Monday, and he said he had no more information [video here with raw transcript and embedded below]

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask about the incidents that took place in Kidal. There seem to have been two different incidents, but in one account, UN peacekeepers told protestors at the airport in Kidal to disperse and the protesters ended up being fired on. Then, there may have been some actual armed groups that also attacked the army, but have you been able to find out what the MINUSMA [United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali] peacekeepers, did they tell protesters to disperse? If so, were the protesters armed or was there some suspension of the normal right to engage in protest?

Spokesperson Nesirky : Well, I do understand that the Mission, MINUSMA, issued a statement on this. A nd I don’t have anything further on that at this point. And if that changes, I’ll certainly update you. But, at this point, I don’t have anything further on that, Matthew.

Inner City Press: I’m only asking because I think, I mean, because I have seen the statement, and I appreciated you sending it, but it doesn't really explain this, it doesn’t address this…

Spokesperson: Well, as I said, that’s what we have at the moment.

Ladsous meanwhile was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to celebrate the launch of drones he had pushed for in the UN since France installed him as their fourth had of UN Peacekeeping in a row in September 2011. There he will ostensibly do a press conference with UN envoy Martin Kobler -- Kobler did his on UN TV with questions by Twitter, will Ladsous?

After back and forth about security - not peacekeepers - in Libya and layoffs of security staff in the UN itself, Inner City Press asked about Madagascar:

Inner City Press: Can I ask you about Madagascar?

Spokesperson: Yes, you did mention…

Inner City Press: It has to do with Andry Rajoelina I know that it seems that the UN is providing some kind of electrical… electoral assistance running up to the election.

Spokesperson: Maybe electrical, as well. I don’t know.

Inner City Press: Yeah, it could be. But, it may get blacked out by this, because Mr. Rajoelina, under the SADC (Southern African Development Community) road map, was not supposed to either run or endorse candidates. And on 1 December, he appeared at a rally for a series of legislative candidates and they’re actually running under a ticket known as With President Andry Rajoelina. Either you have it or DPA (Department of Political Affairs) maybe could answer this. Does the UN believe that Mr. Rajoelina appearing at these rallies and running a… a ticket of his supporters is complying with the road map? And if not, is the UN electoral assistance, which was supposedly tied to complying with the road map, still in place for the 20 December election?

Spokesperson: Well, the road map is certainly the guiding principle here and I’ll check with the DPA to see whether they have any updates on both the UN’s involvement in helping with the election process and its views on these latest developments. But, I don’t have anything right now.

And so it goes at the UN. When the UN answers this, we'll have more to say. Watch this site.

   

On Madagascar, UN's Ban Ki-moon Again Calls for Withdrawal of Rajoelina AND Lalao Ravalomanana: Her Forced Exile OK?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- Amid growing controversy in and about Madagascar, at the UN noon briefing on May 13, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: On the Madagascar question, is, is, there has been since I last asked this, the SADC (Southern African Development Community) has come out and said that three candidates, they are encouraged to withdraw their candidacies, saying they are not consistent with the road map. This is Mr. [Andry] Rajoelina, also Lalao Ravalomanana and another candidate. And so, one, I wanted to know if there is a UN response to that, but two, since Ms. Ravalomanana is being barred for having been out of the country, and this was a forced exile by the Government, I am wondering whether the UN has any view on forced exile, that being used as a basis to bar a candidate from running.

Spokesperson Nesirky: We can check for you on that, Matthew. I don’t have anything right now.

  But it was not until Wednesday, 47 hours after the question, that a response arrived. But the UN response did, deferring to SADC, take or adopt a position:

Subject: Your question on Madagascar
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, May 15, 2013 at 11:13 AM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

In response to your questions at the noon briefing concerning Madagascar, the Spokesperson can say the following:

The United Nations is supporting the Southern African Development Community's (SADC's) mediation efforts to ensure a peaceful transition in Madagascar, and what SADC has urged is that President Rajoelina, the former first lady, Lalao Ravalomanana, and former President Didier Ratsiraka all consider withdrawing their candidatures to ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections and stability in Madagascar.

  With this answer, the UN takes a position if only indirectly on forced exile: it's fine, or at least can legitimately be used, in the UN's view, to encourage a candidate to withdrawn.

  Now on May 20, Ban Ki-moon has put out this statement:

Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on Madagascar

The Secretary General shares the concerns expressed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union over the latest developments in the electoral process in Madagascar. The presentation of candidate nomination papers by Transition President Andry Rajoelina, Mrs. Lalao Ravalomanana and former President Didier Ratsiraka, and the decision of the Special Electoral Court to endorse those candidatures, is in violation of the spirit of the SADC-mediated Road Map.

United Nations assistance to the electoral process is conditional upon strict adherence by all parties to the Road Map as the sole framework for a restoration of the full legitimacy of the Government of Madagascar.

The Secretary General calls on all stakeholders to comply with the SADC Organ Troika and the African Union Peace and Security Council decisions, so that elections can take place in accordance with the calendar prepared by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the Transition and endorsed by the United Nations.

New York, 20 May 2013

  Lalao Ravalomanana returned to her country on July 27, 2012, but was promptly kicked out of the country by armed security forces.

  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the right to return to one’s country as a basic human right. So to maintain, as France and SADC -- and now the UN -- do, that Mrs. Ravalomanana’s candidacy is not legitimate is to condone forced exile as a means for preventing someone from taking part in the political life of their nation.

After the CES decided on May 3 that Lalao Ravalomanana is officially a candidate, France announced on May 6 its“deception” on learning that the CES accepted Lalao Ravalomanana’s candidature.

  Inner City Press had asked, What is the UN’s position regarding Mrs. Ravalomanana’s forced exile in July 2012? Does the UN consider forced exile to be a legitimate reason for barring a person from being a candidate for election in his or her country? And that question has apparently been answered. Watch this site.

On Madagascar, UN Is Asked of Bans on Lalao Ravalomanana, Says Nothing

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 26 -- The UN had said it cared about Madagascar, but as with so many things it was not true, or there was no follow through.

On April 26 at noon, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: About Lalao Ravalomanana, the wife of the Marc Ravalomanana, she returned to the country in March, apparently she was asked to commit to the Government of [Andry] Rajoelina that she wouldn’t make any political statements as a condition of returning and visiting her ailing mother. Now, she is announcing that she is going to run for President, so a lot of people saying, since the UN has had some involvement in this, what did the UN think of this condition on her return, and do they believe that she has an absolute right to make political statements and to run for office? What’s their position on this growing crisis as some call it?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I’ll check. I don’t think we have any immediate position on that, but I’ll certainly check for you, Matthew.

  But seven hours later there was no response. It's not that the Department of Political Affairs wasn't working -- as Inner City Press reported, DPA met with the Western European and Other Group, which then met with Qatar about its Syria resolution. (Spoiler alert: WEOG sources tell Inner City Press they demanded changes to an Operative Paragraph.) 

  But no response on Madagascar from DPA or Ban's office.

  Ban, meanwhile, was to meet with Nicolas Sarkozy, although his spokesman didn't tell Inner City Press despite its question on just this on April 25.

  Back in May 2012, the UN was partnering with Rajoelina's Ministry of Communication to celebrate World Press Freedom Day in Madagascar. On this same day Reporters without Borders directly criticized the Minister of Communication for threatening to shut down Radio Free FMand for his part in the detention of 2 Free FM journalists.

  Then after evidence of abuse including gang rape and the burning of twenty-some villages in southern Madagascar emerged, the transitional prime minister -- whose place Rajoelina now reportedly seeks to take until he runs again in 2018 -- said an investigation would be launched. But has it?

  Sources tell Inner City Press that Rajoelina's agenda may be to seek Ban's support to change the order of elections to have legislative elections happen on May 8 rather than presidential elections. 

  Now that Rajoelina has given in to pressure and declared himself out of the running for president, there is publicspeculation that he wants to set up a stand-in to run for president in 2013 with Rajoelina as Prime Minister, then Rajoelina runs for president in 2018. Rajoelina has already declared his candidacy for 2018.

   France has publicly stated that it may support a candidate in Madagascar’s upcoming presidential election ("si nous encourageons une candidature, ce sera aussi discrètement que possible"). 

  Perhaps as part of this support, the new French ambassador recently declared that ousted-president Ravalomanana should not be allowed to return to his country before the election. 

  So France favors forced exile counter to Article 20 of the SADC roadmap for a way out of the crisis which states that Ravalomanana should be allowed to return to his country unconditionally. Vive la France. Regardez cette site.

Madagascar's Rajoelina Tells ICP Road Map Done, Despite Political Cases

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 -- After Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday afternoon, Inner City Press asked him about the seeming failure to put in place the measures prescribed in the road map (especially Articles 16, 17, 18, and 20) that would seem important for assuring the likelihood that elections would be free and fair.

  Rajoelina replied that a Prime Minister from the opposition had been named and, in essence, that the road map had been complied with -- which seems to be the French position too -- and that elections should be held as soon as possible. 

 

  But it seems that Prime Minister recently sent a letter to the minister of justice ordering her to implement Article 16 ("terminating the ongoing legal proceedings against members of the opposition that would appear to be politically motivated"). So far the minister of justice is balking, putting conditions on the implementation of Article 16 that are not found in the road map.

  So, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky at the noon briefing on Friday, what will the Ban's UN do? Push for elections without the conditions in place that would seem important for elections to be truly free and fair?

 

  Nesirky said he was "asking" for a read out of the meeting. Meanwhile Rajoelina said that the former president has not be given amnesty; he said again and again, elections as fast as possible. We'll see.

Update of May 21, 2012: Ban's associate spokesman Farhan Haq told Inner City Press there will be no read out, as part of the meeting was "tete a tete."