By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 27 --
When Chad's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Mahamat Zene
Cherif came to
the Security
Council
stakeout on August
27 about the
Council's just-adopted
Presidential
Statement on
the Sahel,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
changes from
his first
draft.
Specifically,
hadn't his
draft proposed
that the
operations of
the UN's Sahel
envoy not been
in Dakar but
rather one of
the Group of 5
Sahel
countries?
Hadn't the
draft proposed
that the envoy
be upgraded to
Under
Secretary
General, given
the mandate to
interface with
heads of
state?
Mahamat Zene
Cherif to his
credit
acknowledged
these changes,
saying that
keeping the
operation in
Senegal --
provisionally,
he called it
-- was a
purely
financial
decision.
Inner City
Press notes
that while
there are
often
complaints
against trying
to address
political
issues in the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee, in
this case the
P3 donor
countries used
the Security
Council to
impose budget
discipline.
From the
Security Council
stakeout Inner
City Press
went to the
August 27 UN
noon briefing
and asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric why
Ban only
proposed the Sahel
envoy as an
Assistant
Secretary General
based in Dakar.
"Because," was
essentially
the answer on
the first; on
location,
Dujarric said
it made sense.
UNOWA is based
in Dakar.
Mahamat
Zene Cherif
also spoke in
the Security
Council on August
27 with the
African
Union's view
of the
Council's
Darfur resolution.
He is more
candid than
many and
should do more
stakeouts.
Back on March
7 Inner City
Press asked
him about
those who have
had to flee
Central
African
Republic into
Chad.
Shouldn't they
be able to
return to CAR?
Video
here and
embedded below
Mahamat
Zene
Cherif said
while Chad
will not force
anyone back,
they should be
able to
return. He
said that
eighty percent
of the Muslims
have been
chased out of
the CAR.
How
can elections
be held this
way, he asked.
Inner
City Press
asked if
perhaps those
displaced
could vote
even while in
Chad. Mahamat
Zene Cherif
said the UN
could check
the
feasibility,
but that Chad
would hope the
displaced
could return
to CAR.
The
day before,
Inner City
Press tried to
ask French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
about a
statement or
report by UN
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay that
the French
Sangaris force
first
disarming the
ex-Seleka had
left Muslim
community
vulnerable to
attack by
Christian
anti-Balaka
militias.
Araud
refused to
take the
question while
at the
microphone,
then from
the wings
insisted there
is no Navi
Pillay report.
Click here for
that.
What
forces allowed
80% of the
Muslims in CAR
to be chased
out? And what
responsibility
do they bear?
Watch this
site.
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