On
Mali, UN Can't
Confirm ECOWAS
Request, Bamba
&
France Can
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 5 --
For weeks,
months really,
the UN
Security
Council has
been talking
about Mali and
how serious
the coup
d'etat
and "loss" of
the North are.
But
the regional
group ECOWAS
was blamed for
an unrealistic
proposed
deployment,
and for not
having the
consent of the
authorities,
such
as they are,
in Bamako
Wednesday
after
France's
special
representative
for the Sahel
region Jean
Felix-Paganon
said that
Mali's interim
president
Dioncounda
Traore
had made the
intervention
request to
ECOWAS, Inner
City Press
asked
first the UN
then incoming
UN Security
Council
president
Peter Wittig
to confirm it.
UN
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
told Inner
City Press he
could not
confirm
the request,
nor the
capture of two
more towns,
but said "I'm
sure you'll
hear more from
[UNSC
President]
Wittig, if
asked."
Video
here, from
Minute 15:47.
So
half an hour
later Inner
City Press
asked Wittig,
what are the
next
steps on Mali,
and about the
request.
Wittig
said he wasn't
sure if it had
been
"officially
communicated,"
and that the
next steps
were up to the
"African
actors." He
said, "We
don't know yet
whether the
Malian consent
has been
officially
communicated
to the ECOWAS
authorities."
Inner
City Press
later on
Wednesday
asked Cote
d'Ivoire
Permanent
Representative
Bamba, who
confirmed that
the request
had been
received by
ECOWAS.
Bamba smiled
and told Inner
City Press
that things
could move
fast. Fast
with a request
for UN
authorization
and funds? Or
in
"re-conquering"
Timbuktu?
That's
the
UN's work now,
re-conquest.
It is applied
not only to
north Mali
but also to
Somalia, as
the Kenyan
Navy shells
the port city
of
Kismayo. If
the UN
authorized and
pays for a
re-conquest,
what
responsibilities
does it bear
for how it's
carried out?
And who's
really in
charge here?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
after Kosovo
claimed that
Mali had
recognized it,
then after
Inner City
Press' tongue
in cheek
report, Mali
said it wasn't
so, Kosovo's
claim and
statement
don't appear
to be
retracted...
, 
