On
Burundi, UNSC
Meets, French
PR on
Conditions for
Elections,
Press
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
27 -- Two
weeks after
the UN
Security
Council, the United States
and the UN
Peacebuilding
Configuration
on Burundi on
May 15 issued
statements
urging calm in
the country
given the
return of
Pierre
Nkurunziza to
presumably run
for a third
term, on May
27 the UN
Security
Council got a
closed-door
briefing from
envoy Said
Djinnit.
On the way in,
a Permanent
member's
deputy
ambassador
told Inner
City Press
there would
probably be no
outcome from
the meeting.
And so it was
-- after an
hour and a
half, when the
Ambassador of
the Council's
"penholder" on
Burundi
Francois
Delattre
emerged, he
declined to
speak on the
UNTV camera.
He did however
to his credit
answer
questions on
the stairs
leaving the
stakeout.
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
timing of the
presidential
election; he
said the
conditions are
not met.
But why not
put that in a
Security
Council
statement? To
make it a
Council
position?
Inner City
Press asked
Delattre about
attacks on
journalists,
the Security
Council's
topic before
and after the
Burundi
consultation.
He genially
said it might
be a good idea
for the
Council to
speak on that.
We'll see -- cell phone video here, in the
spirit of
Freedom of the
Press, by the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
along with
this rough
transcript:
Inner
City Press:
What about the
timing of the
presidential
election?
A: There’s a
wide unity
around the
table,
conditions are
not met. A
wide unity,
everybody says
that
conditions for
election are
not met.
That’s what we
should work
on. Raising
these
conditions.
Inner City
Press: what
about attacks
on
journalists?
A:
That’s a
really good
point, because
you have these
consultations
on Burundi,
and you have
this debate on
protection of
journalists.
That’s
something that
I stressed to
my colleagues.
Protection of
journalists is
everywhere and
also in
Burundi.
Inner City
Press: Will
there be a
statement on
it?
A: You
had a
statement
already on
Sunday, you
cannot have a
statement
every day.
These are real
concerns.
, 
