On
CAR, France To
Pen Statement,
Defers to Libreville
Process,
Unlike
#Kampala
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 3 --
While the UN
Security
Council held
closed door
consultations
on the Central
African
Republic on
Thursday
afternoon,
sources in the
meeting told
Inner City
Press that the
position
of the
"pen-holder
France" was
that "if the
African
members
want the
Council to do
something,
France will
take up the
pen."
After
the meeting,
Inner City
Press asked
Ambassador
Eugene-Richard
Gasana
of new Council
member Rwanda
about it. He
said the
Council should
support the
regional and
sub-regional
efforts and
the African
Union,
and that yes,
there would be
a Security
Council press
statement.
Moments
later
France's
Gerard Araud
confimed this,
saying that
France would
circulate a
statement
Thursday night
and that "I
hope it will
be
issued
tomorrow, I
think there is
unity of the
Council, I
guess there
won't be any
problem."
Inner
City Press
asked Araud,
what about the
Bozize
government's
arrest of
people
perceived to
support the
Seleka rebels?
Araud
replied, "That
would be one
of the
messages of
the Council. I
think it will
also be
important to
say
humanitarian
and even human
rights issues.
The goal is to
have a
political
agreement in
Libreville [on
January 8,
then] a
national unity
government.
Bozize
has said he
won't run
again in 2016,
we hope he
implements
previous
agreements."
To
some, France's
deference on
CAR stands in
contrast to
its active
stance on the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
where it has
called
the M23
mutineers
outlaws, was critical
of UN official
Susana
Malcorra
meeting with
them, and
has not
deferred to
the Kampala
process.
What's
so different
about the
Libreville
"process"?
Well, the
president of
Francophone
Republic of
Congo Denis
Sassou-Nguesso
will
be chairing
it. Watch this
site.
, 
