Mali
Double-Speak
on ECOWAS
Presaged By
Kosovo
About-Face
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 7
-- 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, now
Traore's
spokesman
Diarra
Diakite won't
confirm the
request was
made.
Two weeks ago
there was a
similar
reversal in
Bamako. On August 21,
Inner City
Press reported
that Mali had
recognized
Kosovo, and
noted that
"the
fact that Mali
just had a
coup d'etat,
and doesn't
control the
northern half
of the
country, was
not mentioned"
in Hashim
Thaci's
statement in
the UN
Security
Council.
On August 24,
Inner City
Press was sent
a report and wrote
that "the
Malian
presidency
would wish to
inform both
the national
and
international
community that
the president
has not yet
signed any
document
recognizing
the Republic
of Kosovo and
reserves the
right to take
appropriate
measures to
identify and
punish the
authors of the
false
document."
But it was
Kosovo's
Hashim Thaci
who said it,
on August 21,
offering
"thanks... to
the Republic
of Mali for
the recent
decision to
recognize
Kosovo." Video
here,
Minute 44:30.
So
Thaci was
contradicted
by Bamako, and
now in a sense
Jean
Felix-Paganon's
September 5
statement has
been as well.
Inner City
Press on
September 5
asked first
the UN then
incoming UN
Security
Council
president
Peter Wittig
to confirm
what Felix-Paganon
said.
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
purported to
confirm that
the request
had been
received by
ECOWAS.
Bamba smiled
and told Inner
City Press
that things
could move
fast. Fast,
Inner City
Press
wondered, with
a request for
UN
authorization
and funds? Or
in
"re-conquering"
Timbuktu?
That's
the
UN's word 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.
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