Mali
FM Denies 2d
Coup, Says
Sanogo Is
Involved,
ECOWAS Says
Shouldn't Be,
Sovereign
Decision?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 20 --
When is
accepting the
leader of a
coup d'etat
a purely
internal
matter of a
sovereign
state?
The
question arose
Thursday about
Mali after the
UN Security
Council
adopted a
resolution
authorizing a
mission to
work with the
Malian
army to
re-take the
north of the
country.
While
Mali was
lobbying for
the
resolution,
its prime
minister
resigned at
4 am Bamako
time; UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
meeting with
the
then-foreign
minister was
canceled.
Now
the new
foreign
minister
Tieman
Coulibaly is
in town, and
Inner City
Press asked
him if Captain
Amadou Sanogo,
who led the
earlier coup,
is still
involved, and
why that prime
minister
resigned at 4
am after being
arrested at
the airport. Video
here from
Minute 5:10.
He
was not
arrested at
the airport,
new foreign
minister
Coulibaly cut
in. He said
prime minister
Diarra -- the
brother of a
former UN
Under
Secretary
General --
resigned for
the good of
the country:
it "was
necessary to
move forward,
the former
prime minister
had become a
problem for
Mali.
Satisfied?" Video
here from
Minute 5:40.
Moments
later
Inner City
Press asked
Cote d'Ivoire
Ambassador
Bamba,
speaking
for the West
African group
ECOWAS, if
Sanogo should
still be
involved. No,
Bamba
answered.
The
final stakeout
of the day,
and perhaps
year, was by
Moroccan
Ambassador
Loulichki, the
President of
the Security
Council
through
December 31.
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
seeming split
between the
Malian
representative's
statement and
that of Bamba
for
ECOWAS: should
Sanogo still
be involved?
That
is a sovereign
matter up to
the Malians,
Loulichki
said. So what
does
it mean when
the Security
Council calls
for the
restoration of
democracy, or
of deposed
leaders -- is
that an
interference
with
sovereignty.
There are
double
standards, and
then triple
standards.
Watch this
site.
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