On
Burundi, UN Is
Asked Why It's
Been So Slow,
Closed Door
Meetings &
COE Funds
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, May
15 -- When the
UN
Peacebuilding
Configuration
on Burundi
held a closed
meeting on May
15, Burundi's
ambassador
began by
saying that
almost all of
the coup
plotters have
been arrested.
Minutes later,
Inner City
Press is
exclusively
informed,
Tanzania's
Ambassador
asked the UN's
head of
Political
Affairs
Jeffrey
Feltman why
the UN and
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had
been so slow
to condemn the
coup.
Inner City
Press put the
question to
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq at
the UN's
public noon
briefing on
May 15, to
give the UN a
change to
publicly
explain.
But as on a scandal
about Ban and
his nephew
being reported
on here by
Inner City
Press and
media in
Vietnam and
South Korea,
where Ban
Ki-moon is
headed, Haq
response was
essentially
that the UN is
good, that is
does not need
to explain (in
the case of
Ban's nephew)
or should be
presumed to be
always deeply
engaged and
deeply
concerned.
Some simply
don't believe
that.
While Haq at
the May 15
noon briefing
said that Ban,
who has yet to
speak with
Nkurunziza,
spoke with
Kenya's
President
Kenyatta,
Inner City
Press is
informed that
in the closed
Peacebuilding
Configuration
meeting it was
said that Ban
called
Rwanda's Paul
Kagame as
well. If so,
why didn't Haq
say that? (Click here
for another
exclusive
story about
Ban's office
not disclosing
Ban's call
with US John
Kerry about
Yemen).
Much of the
Peacebuilding
Configuration
meeting
involved
indirect
criticism of
the European
Union for
getting “too
involved” in
Burundi's
constitution,
followed by a
proposal that
the
Configuration
should issue a
statement on
Burundi.
The
US, Inner City
Press is
informed,
expressed
opposition or
skepticism of
the latter; a
draft should
still be
circulated by
the
configuration
chair, Swiss
Ambassador
Paul Seger,
but it can be
blocked by one
member.
France, Inner
City Press is
informed -- that
Mission
responds to
but does not
answer its
questions
-- said that
the Security
Council spoke
and that those
(mere)
Elements to
the Press
remain as
valid today as
the day
before.
The EU for its
part said it
is in
discussions
with the
African Union
about a human
rights mission
to Burundi.
After the
meeting, some
expressed
doubt to Inner
City Press
this will ever
happen; at the
noon briefing
Inner City
Press asked
Haq if the UN
would
participate
and was told
that the UN
has other more
mediate focus
right now.
While Haq did
not deliver
the UN's best
defense, in
fairness Inner
City Press
will: it could
say it was
waiting for
the East
African
Community and
African Union
to speak
first, which
the US - which
quickly
condemned the
coup, even
after
criticism the
possible third
term - and EU
don't have to
consider, as
much.
(Click
here for
Tanzanian
President
Kikwete telling
Inner City
Press, a week
ago, to "be
patient" on
Burundi, with
video.)
Feltman was
asked if the
US has better
intelligence
than the UN
(he should
know, having
been with the
US State Department).
Of course, Feltman
is said to
have replied,
the US has
intelligence
that works and
the UN does
not.
Some in the
meeting, including
Brazil, said
that
uncoordinated
statements can
enflame. In
this case,
Inner City
Press or the Free UN Coalition for Access would say
it is good to
have a
configuration,
so to speak,
other than the
Security
Council which
can speak.
Watch this
site.
Footnotes:
as Inner City
Press tweeted,
the US pulled
out non-essential
personnel (Haq
wouldn't
confirm UN
actions), and
also
the Office of
the High Commissioner
for Human
Rights said Pierre-Claver
Mbonimpa has
gone into
hiding, under
death threats.
(Sadly, seems
it's true; you
may read more
on this.)
As
Inner City
Press reported
yesterday,
along with the
response
it got on
Burundi from
the
International
Monetary Fund,
it has been
exclusively
informed of
some $9
million in UN
Peacekeeping
“Contingent
Owned
Equipment”
funds about
which doubts
are being
raised.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
