On
Libya,
Amid Questions
of Bombing TV
Station, Ban
Thinks It's
Protecting
Civilians
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 9,
updated -- The
Security
Council turned
to Libya in a
closed door
session
Tuesday
morning, when
China and
other members
criticized
NATO's bombing
of state
television
there,
purportedly
under the
authorization
of Council
resolution
1973.
Since
under that
resolution UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
given a
"coordinating"
role, Inner
City Press
Tuesday at
noon asked
Ban's acting
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
what Ban
thought of
NATO's bombing
of Libyan TV.
Haq
replied in
part that Ban
"believes that
resolution
1973 has been
used properly
in order to
protect
civilians in
Libya.".
But,
as was being
asked in the
Council's
closed door
consultations,
how does
bombing a TV
station, in
violation of
conventions,
protect
civilians?
Haq
said the
Secretariat
would "need
further
details about
what the
operations
that were
conducted
involved." But
these
operations
took place
days ago, and
have been
reported on.
What was that,
about Ban
coordinating
and even
providing
safeguards on
actions under
Resolution
1973?
Haq
said, it is
being
discussed in
the Council.
But what about
Ban's role, if
not
leadership?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Inner
City Press
asked a well
placed source
in the
Council's
consultation
if any member
had invoked
Radio Mille
Collines in
Rwanda as a
precedent for
bombing Libya
TV. Cote
d'Ivoire's
Ouattara
recently cited
the station in
connection
with the probe
of a
pro-Gbagbo
journalist.
We'll see.
Update
of 12:50 pm --
Inner City
Press asked
Brazil's
Deputy
Permanent
Representaive
what Brazil
thinks of
NATO's bombing
of the Libya
TV station.
"We do not
approve," she
said.
Update
of 1:21 pm --
Inner City
Press asked
the Deputy
Perm Reps of
Lebanon and
then Germany
for their
countries'
views on
NATO's bombing
of Libyan TV.
Lebanon's
DPR said her
country
supporters
freedom of the
press, notes
that
Resolution
1973 is for
the protection
of civilians;
she got
information
today and will
be seeking
more.
Germany's
DPR said
Germany will
wait for
NATO's
investigation,
that his
country is a
member of NATO
but not of the
coalition. He
noted that at
times media
can incite
violence
against
civilians.
So
again we ask:
did anyone
explicitly
cite Radio
Mille Collines
of Rwanda?
Update
of 1:38 pm --
Inner City
Press kept
asking about
NATO's bombing
of Libyan TV.
Bosnia's Perm
Rep said
waiting for
more
information,
so no comment.
Inner City
Press asked
Council
president for
August Hardeep
Singh Puri
about the
Libya
discussion and
the TV
bombing. He
said it was in
consultations,
that UNESCO's
(back-dated)
statement was
brought up,
and that he
would leave it
there for now.
He reiterated
India's
overall
position,
abstaining on
Resolution
1973.
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
told Inner
City Press he
has raised it,
as well as
bombing of
radar at the
Tripoli
airport, oil
and other
installations.
He too
references the
NATO
investigation.
But how will
its results be
reported to
the Security
Council?
We will
continue on
this - watch
this site.
* *
*
On
Cote d'Ivoire,
UN Has No
Comment on
Ouattara
Suspension of
Newspaper
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 8 --
When Cote
d'Ivoire's
Alassane
Ouattara met
with UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, his
peacekeeping
chief Alain Le
Roy and others
on July 27,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman if
press freedom
and the case
against
pro-Gbagbo
journalist
Hermann Aboa
had been
raised.
UN
Spokesman
Martin Nesirky
replied,
"I know that
you also asked
the President
[Ouattara]
about that
case, and he
answered you.
So if there is
anything
further on
that
particular
aspect, then I
will let you
know."
The
UN later
acknowledged
receiving a
letter about
the case, but
didn't say if
Ban had raised
it.
Now,
Ouattara's
government has
suspended the
newspaper Le
Temps for
question
Ouattara's
meetings in
the US,
including with
President
Obama:
Eugène
Dié
Kacou, the
Ouattara-appointed
chair of the
state-run National
Press
Council,
suspended Le
Temps,
a daily
favorable to
deposed former
president
Laurent
Gbagbo, for 12
days in
connection
with a Friday
column critical
of
the president,
according to
news reports.
In
its ruling, the
council called
the writings
"unacceptable
insults,
offenses," and
accusations
against heads
of state...
However,
Ivorian
journalists
told CPJ that
pro-Ouattara
newspapers
have published
strident
anti-Gbagbo
opinions
before and not
faced
sanctions...
The council
previously suspended Le
Temps for
six
editions over
a June 11
column by
reporter
Germain
Sehoué
alleging that
the Ouattara
government was
dominated by
northern Ivory
Coast ethnic
groups,
according
to news
reports. The
council alsosuspended Sehoué
from
practicing
journalism for
two months,
accusing his
writings of
"inciting
tribal hatred
and revolt"
and
"threatening
the
consolidation
of peace in
Ivory Coast."
On
August 8,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq if
Ban or his new
envoy to Cote
d'Ivoire, Bert
Koenders, have
any comment on
this attack on
press freedom,
and on
Ouattara
giving
military posts
to noted human
rights
violators
Ousmane Cherif
and Martin
Kouakou Fofie,
the latter as
head of the
military in
Korhogo. Video
here, from
Minute 6:16.
Haq
had no comment
on either.
When Inner
City Press
asked about
the role of UN
peacekeeping
missions,
including
where as in
Cote d'Ivoire
they have
"partnered"
with
governments,
Haq disagreed
on this,
saying the UN
has been
critical of
Cote
d'Ivoire's
governments,
both past and
present.
Where
are
the comments
on Ouattara,
as he suspends
the press and
names human
rights
violators to
high military
jobs?
Ban
& Ouattara
on July 27,
2011, free
press &
accountability
not shown
Or,
some wonder,
does Ban need
permission
from Paris,
just as he is
said to await
it to name the
next French
chief of the
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
Jerome
Bonnafont or
one of two
other
Frenchmen
without
military
experience?
Watch this
site.
, 
