France's
UNSC Month, No
FDLR Fight, No
Gao Report, No
Yemen IDP
Statement
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
30 -- For
France's month
as President
of the
Security
Council, its
Ambassador
Francois
Delattre held
the normal
Program of
Work press
conference.
But when asked
an Africa
question at
the end by
Inner City
Press he
said, “I have
to run.”
Delattre
repeated this
at his first
media stakeout
of the month
on March 4 on
Mali, telling
Inner City
Press, I'm
sorry, I have
to run, I know
it's the
second time. Video here, Vine
here.
As the month
wore on, even
though his
spokesman made
a point to
call on
someone,
anyone, rather
than Inner
City Press,
Delattre found
it easier to
take the
questions,
often
prefacing them
with “les
fideles”
(the faithful,
meaning, those
actually at
the UNTV
stakeout to
ask
questions).
But let's
review some
answers, or
the lack of
them.
Throughout the
month Inner
City Press
asked about UN
peacekeepers'
having shot at
demonstrators
in Gao in
Mali. Delattre
did not
directly
answer;
his spokesman
answered via
Twitter
that making
the report
public will be
up to the
Secretariat of
Ban Ki-moon.
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about the
report - which
was supposed
to be
presented in
March - on
March 30 and
was told it is
not ready,
there was no
answer on if
it will be
made public.
So
much for
transparency,
including of
UN
Peacekeeping
run four times
in a row now
by France.
Nor were there
any answers
during the
month on the
outright SALE
of UN
Peacekeeping
posts in the
DR Congo and
Haiti by
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Ouattara of
Cote d'Ivoire.
Inner City
Press scoop
series here.
So much for
accountability.
On March 19,
Inner City
Press asked
Delattre about
UN
Peacekeeping
having waived
its stated
human rights
due diligence
policy in
order to
support DRC
generals
fighting the
Lord's
Resistance
Army, but refusing
any waiver, as
an excuse NOT
to fight the
Hutu FDLR
militia.
This question
was dodged,
at best, story
here. So
much for
consistency.
Bigger picture,
this is the
problem with a
colonial power
like France
controlling UN
Peacekeeping
for so long.
We'll have
more on this.
By month's
end, an
outstanding
issue was the
airstrikes
against the
Haradh IDP
camp in Yemen.
Inner City
Press asked
Delattre at
his March 30
stakeout about
the issue; he
said it had
not reached
the Council. Video here.
Later in the
day he said
this was the
last meeting,
merci.
They adjourned
with their
friends and
perhaps even
Ladsous and
scribes who
ask no hard
question or
questions at
all (by
Delattre's
logic, should
these be called
"les
infideles"?)
for the last
time to
France's Park
Avenue
apartment,
being replaced
by a “mere”
brownstone in
the East
Fifties.
And those shot
in Gao, used
in DRC and
Haiti, and
bombed in
Yemen? Let
them eat...
Note:
in fairness,
or tellingly,
this was still
better than
the last
French UNSC
presidencies.
This is
perhaps a step
along a road.
Onward and
upward.
, 
