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.
, 
