Amid
Mali
Destruction,
Why'd Ban Call
Qatar &
Saudi Not
Morocco
of Sahel?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 12 --
When
mausoleums in
Timbuktu began
to be
destroyed, how
did UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon choose
to call?
Well,
"Sheikh
Hamad bin
Khalifa
al-Thani, Amir
of the State
of Qatar,
and on
Wednesday
[July 4], His
Majesty King
Abdullah bin
Abdulaziz
al-Saud, King
of Saudi
Arabia."
Days
later
it was raised
to Inner City
Press: did
this mean that
just as
Ban in the
General
Assembly Hall
said that Al
Qaeda is the
"third
force" in
Syria, he saw
a Saudi or
Wahabi element
behind the
mausoleum
destroyers?
And why didn't
Ban call for
example
another
King, that of
Morocco, which
is closer to
Mali and the
Sahel and,
rightfully
despite
Western
Sahara, that
it has more
connection?
So
on
July 12 Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: your
office
announced that
the
Secretary-General,
in
dealing with
the
destruction of
Muslim
heritage in
Timbuktu, had
called the
royal families
of Saudi
Arabia and
Qatar. I know
he can’t
call everybody
in the world,
but for
example, some
people said
why
not call
Morocco, which
also has a
king, but it's
also closer to
the
region. Was it
that these are
viewed as the
two most
prominent sort
of Muslim
royal
families? Some
have said that
there may be
some
Wahabi or
other
involvement in
the
destruction,
in the
movements in
northern Mali,
so I wanted to
ask you,
before going
down this
path,
how did he
choose those
two? Why
didn't he call
Morocco, and
what
was his
thinking in
choosing those
two countries
to call?
They’re
far away from
Mali, further
away than
Morocco --
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I think, with
respect,
Matthew, it
has less to do
with
geography than
influence.
And, plainly,
even if phone
calls are
not made by
the
Secretary-General,
there are
contacts made
by other
UN officials
with different
Member States
the whole
time. So, the
two are not
mutually
exclusive. The
Secretary-General
was recently
in Saudi
Arabia and had
a very good
meeting with
the King and
so he
was able to
follow up on
that… that
phone call in
this
particular
context, for
example. So
again, don’t
read too much
into it. This
is the
Secretary-General
reaching out
to regional
leaders of
influence, and
it does not
preclude that
other
officials have
been in
touch with
other… with
Member States
in different
capacities.
Okay? Alright?
Well,
not
really
alright. But
we'll have
more on this -
watch this
site.
, 
