On
Reprisals
in Cote d'Ivoire, Juppe & UN Speak of Past But
Not Protection
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 7 -- Amid reports
of attacks on supporters of Laurent
Gbagbo by
the forces of Alassane Ouattara in Cote
d'Ivoire, there
appears to have been a hiatus in the “protection of civilians”
trumpeted earlier this year by the UN and the French “Force
Licorne” or Unicorn.
Last
week Inner
City Press asked the UN what its mission in Ivory Coast, ONUCI, is
doing to protect civilians, and how it responds to reports of the
killings of those perceived to support Gbagbo. Transcript
below. So
far there has been no answer.
On
June 7 outside
the UN Security Council, where previously France's Ambassador to the
UN Gerard Araud spoke at length about the need for a resolution to
empower UN and French attack helicopters to “protect civilians,”
Inner City Press asked Araud's
boss French foreign minister Alain
Juppe what France is doing to protect civilians:
Inner
City
Press: I want to ask on Côte d’Ivoire, whe[ther] the Force
Licorne has a responsibility to protect civilians, even now. There
has been a report
of Ouattara’s forces engaged in reprisal
killings, is Licorne still on the streets to defend people or is it
to return to its [base] ?
Alain
Juppe:
Please don’t mix everything. In Libya we think that we are
acting in the framework of resolution 1973 of the Security Council.
We are targeting military objectives and we are avoiding the civilian
casualties. On Côte d’Ivoire, everybody recognized that our
intervention has been successful. We are now supporting the process
of national reconciliation engaged by President Ouattara and
President Ouattara said that there will not be impunity for any kind
of massacres or of casualties made either by one side or the other
one.
But
the allegations
are not only of impunity for killings before Gbagbo was seized, but
after. Human rights groups report on killings since then, presumably
with ONUCI and Licorne standing by.
Juppe & Ban Ki-moon on June 7, protection of
civilians not shown
Like Juppe,
the UN has not
answered. From the UN's
June 2 noon briefing transcript:
Inner
City
Press: there have been at least a number of major NGO
[non-governmental organization] reports out about the killing of
pro-Gbagbo supporters by Ouattara forces since Gbagbo was put under
arrest. There is also an ICG report saying that the Government
formed by Ouattara has virtually no members of Gbagbo’s party. So,
on both of these two fronts, both the protection of civilians and on
the sort of, quote, reconciliation, what does UNOCI [United Nations
Operation in Côte d'Ivoire] say? It seems that both of these
respected NGOs have said that things are not going well, that the
retaliation killings taking place, which presumably UNOCI should be
trying to stop -- So, what’s the UN’s response to that?
Associate
Spokesperson:
On human rights violation and abuses, there is the
international commission of inquiry. It’s about to report — it
was in Côte d'Ivoire, maybe it still is — and it’s about to
report to the Human Rights Council in June, that session. So, I can
check for the exact date if that’s helpful, but I think it would be
that first and then I think the High Commissioner also will have a
report during that session, also in June, in Geneva on Côte
d'Ivoire. So, that’s the first thing. On the formation of the
Government, I don’t really have a comment.
Inner
City Press: Just to be clear, and I am talking about what UNOCI does
day to day
to quote, protect civilians, which is part of its mandate.
Associate
Spokesperson:
Yeah, yeah.
Inner
City Press: Human
Rights Watch is saying that since 11 April.. Gbagbo
supporters have been killed in the Yopougon neighbourhood. So, I
wanted to know… it’s not happening? Is UNOCI trying to stop it?
it seems like a very different picture than what UNOCI is saying.
Associate
Spokesperson:
Well, UNOCI’s mandate includes the protection of
civilians, as you know. So, if there are allegations they’ll
certainly go and investigate them. They have a human rights
division, and it documents human rights abuses and violations. I can
check specifically if you want the Yopougon thing, okay. Anyone
else?
But
in the five
days since, the UN has provided no answer. And on June 7, the
Spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky, rushed in a nine minute
noon briefing at exactly the time Alain Juppe was speaking at the
Security Council, such that no questions could be asked of the UN.
Watch this site.
* * *
Leaked
French
Memos
Discuss Destablizing Gbagbo, Coup Plots & Leaders
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee, 2d in Exclusive series
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
13 -- French government memos obtained by Inner City
Press reflect, as far back as 2005, France and the UN wanted to “put
in place a plan of action to destablize Laurent Gbagbo.” See
document here,
under the rubric “From New York: Departure of Gbagbo.”
The
French were
monitoring, to say the least, plans for a coup d'etat against Gbagbo,
that would result in Gbagbo's “displacement”
outside of Cote
d'Ivoire. See document here.
France's
internal
reporting
on military
forces and leaders in Cote d'Ivoire is here.
Also
obtained
by
Inner City Press is the French analysis of the “failure” of
African leaders Tandja,
Mbeki
of South Africa and Obasanjo of
Nigeria -- later given UN mandates and pay elsewhere. Click here and
here
for
French analyses of the three heres, and here again for
a French memo on the intentions of Guillaume Soro, referring to
another childhood friend of Gbagbo and his “ethnie Bete” -- Bete
ethnicity.
After
Inner
City
Press' publication
on
April 8 of the first installment in this series,
which endeavors to use primary documents as background to recent
action in Cote d'Ivoire -- as well as to question why a
French
diplomat, Romain Serman, arrested in New York for attempt purchase of
cocaine and resisting arrest, has resurfaced as France's general
consul in San Francisco -- Yousoufou Bamba, who has represented the
forces of Alassane Ouattara at the UN for months, called Inner City
Press.
Bamba,
who
has
always been amiable and on the record, complained he thought Inner
City Press is “being used,” adding that in Ivory Coast, these
French documents are seen as helping Gbagbo. But question then the
contents of the documents.
And
on l'affaire
Serman, France has not come forward with any explanation of
re-sending Serman or of the other documents -- such explantions or
comment would of course be published here -- and the US
Mission to the UN has yet to answer questions it confirms it received
from Inner City Press over the weekend, to know
as
quickly
as
possible, whether the US was informed / aware of French
diplomat Romain Serman's arrest in New York in 2006 for attempted
purchase of cocaine and resisting arrest before Serman re-appeared in
the US as France's current general consul in San Francisco.
See,
e.g., http://www.innercitypress.com/nypd1serman.pdf
Separately,
please
comment
on the applicability of US law and precedent to this
case, l'affaire Serman.
This
is
something
the US State Department should be able to answer. Watch this site.
, 
