At UN, Selective Happy Talk on Cote d'Ivoire Ignores Coulibaly Coup, Peacekeeper Abuse Charges

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 15 -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday approved a resolution endorsing agreements between Cote d'Ivoire's hold-over president Laurent Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro of the Forces Nouvelles rebel group. Afterwards, Inner City Press asked the Ambassadors of France and of the nation facilitating the agreements, Burkina-Faso, about a reported coup attempt by Forces Nouvelle break-away Lieutenant Ibrahim Coulibaly, also known as IB.  How serious a threat is posed to the long-promised elections? Is Burkina-Faso as facilitator in touch with Coulibaly?

   "I cannot speak for the facilitator," France's Ambassador Jean Maurice Ripert replied on camera. "What is important," he continued, is that that Council expressed confidence in the process and in Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative to the Ivory Coast, fellow South Korean Choi Young-jin. "Mr. Choi is empowered to certify the election," Amb. Ripert said. In terms of whether the facilitator is in touch with coup leader Coulibaly, Ripert never turned the microphone over to Burkina-Faso's Ambassador Michel Kafando. Video here, from Minute 5:11.

            Afterwards, Inner City Press repeated the question about the coup attempt to Ambassador Kafando off-camera. "We cannot say anything about that here," Amb. Kafando said. "The case is very particular" and "still under investigation," as is the attempted assassination of Guillaume Soro in mid-2007.

            No one at the UN, it seems, wants to talk about what is taking place on the ground in Cote d'Ivoire, but rather only about the piece of paper drafted by France, discussed and briefed on in private, and quickly unanimously passed between ten and 10:15 Tuesday morning. A battalion of UN peacekeepers from Morocco was charged with sexual abuse and exploitation of under-aged girls; there has since been no update.

   Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore has publicly asked the UN to lower the threat level of Cote d'Ivoire. Following Inner City Press' question about this at Tuesday noon briefing, the response was that UN will not discuss threat levels.

    Since the attempted coup, the International Federation of Journalists has denounced the imprisonment of French reporter Jean-Paul Ney, accused of somehow being involved with Coulibaly. Amb. Ripert said nothing about this. Ban's envoy Choi Young-jin, who briefed the Council behind closed doors, declined to speak afterwards with the press. Monday a request to speak with Amb. Choi was put to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, without success.

News analysis: Mr. Choi previously served as South Korea's Ambassador to the UN; he is well known to Mr. Ban. Recently diplomats have speculated about the effects of having such a close ally of Mr. Ban as SRSG in Cote d'Ivoire. It makes the UNOCI mission higher profile in UN headquarters than it might otherwise be. But how will Ivorian parties try to use this? Does the double desire to have UNOCI be seen as a success make it more or less likely that the UN will speak out if, for example, election deadlines are not met?

In Cote d'Ivoire, flames of peace? Coulibaly coup not shown, or discussed

   Tuesday Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson to make Amb. Choi available; the reply was that SRSG Choi has "indicated his preference not to do any media on this trip."

            Ban Ki-moon, in an emotional address to UN staff after the December 11 bombing in Algiers, said

"We must do even better in explaining to the public and the media the role of the United Nations, wherever we operate -- why we are there, what we do, what we stand for and what we don't. We must make clear we are not there to represent the interests of any one group of nations."

            This dictum has yet to be put in practice, at least with regard to Cote d'Ivoire....

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These reports are also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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