As
Ban
Meets
Rajoelina, No
Follow Through
on Security
Abuse, Press
Freedom
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 3 --
With Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon slated
to
meet
Madagascar's
Andrei
Rajoelina
tomorrow
afternoon, his
UN's
silence on
attacks on the
press and
security
forces' abuse
in
southern
Madagascar
speaks
volumes.
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 FM
and 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
public speculation
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.
The
UN's related
laxity on
press freedom
and follow
through on
public
commitments to
investigations
is become more
and more
pervasive.
Ban's chief of
peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to hold
the post, back
in December
said a probe
of 126 rapes
in
Minova by the
Congolese
Army, his
partners,
would be
finished by
the
end of
January. But
it has not
been.
Ladsous
has
overseen the
same sleight
of hand on the
killing of
internally
displaced
people in Cote
d'Ivoire,
along with
envoy Bert
Koenders.
Meanwhile
Ladsous
refuses to
answer Press
questions, and
Ban's
for-now
partner on
press issues,
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
has said
nothing about
Ladsous'
stonewalling,
choosing
instead to go
out into the
hall with him
for private
briefings, video here.
Ban's
UN protects
Ladsous,
concealing
even the few
actions they
take on his
misdeeds.
We'll have
more on, this
week. And
tomorrow, as
Ban meets
Rajoelina.
Watch this
site.
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