UN
Assisted
Ouattara
Forces in Cote
d'Ivoire, No
Answer on
Migiro,
Gambari
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 23 --
Over the
weekend
complaints
from Abidjan
in
the Ivory
Coast reached
Inner City
Press, that UN
peacekeepers
had
stood by as a
peaceful
assembly of
supporters of
former
president
Laurent Gbagbo
was attacked.
And
so on Monday
Inner City
Press asked
both Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky, and a
representative
of the Ivorian
Mission to the
UN, about the
allegations.
From the UN's
noon briefing
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: in Cote
d'Ivoire,
there was a
rally of
supporters of
the
former
President or
leader Laurent
Gbagbo, and
they are
saying that
they were
rallying and
that they were
abused by
police in full
view
of UN
peacekeepers
and that the
peacekeepers
did nothing...
Has UNOCI
[United
Nations
Operation in
Cote d'Ivoire]
sent you any
information
on this
incident and
what is their
mandate in
terms of
econciliation,
this seemed to
be a
peacefully
rally, at
least
according to
those who
participated
in it?
Spokesperson:
Well, I’d have
to check on
that, Matthew.
I don’t have
anything
on that.
Four
hours later
the following
was emailed to
Inner City
Press as it
was inserted
into
the transcript:
[The
Spokesperson
later said
that according
to UNOCI,
Formed Police
Units
assisted
Ivorian police
officers and
gendarmes who
have the
primary
responsibility
for
maintaining
order. The
Operation said
it
continues to
work with the
authorities to
avoid similar
incidents.
Nesirky also
noted that the
Operation had
issued a
statement
condemning
Saturday’s
incidents and
calling on the
Government to
take the
appropriate
measures to
determine
their
circumstances.]
Meanwhile
in the
UN's North
Lawn building,
Inner City
Press asked a
representative
of
the Ivorian
Mission to the
UN, who agreed
that the UN
should issue
its own
observations
of events.
But
here, as in
South Sudan,
the UN rather
than
objectively
observing and
reporting
is instead
"assist[ing]
Ivorian police
officers and
gendarmes
who have the
primary
responsibility
for
maintaining
order."
When
the UN is
found to be
standing by
while
civilians are
attacked,
whether in
Southern
Kordofan in
Sudan, Pibor
in South Sudan
or now in
Abidjan,
the UN will
and should
always be
questioned.
Separately,
where the
UN applies a
double
standard to
where it will
report on
facts, or
issue
estimates of
casualties,
the UN will
and should
always be
questioned.
But
this UN often
doesn't want
to answer
questions. At
the January 23
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
about two
already public
issues, and
one
pending,
without any
answer:
Inner
City
Press: it came
out over the
weekend that
there was a
wedding
reception in
Khartoum, the
wedding of
Idriss Deby to
the daughter
of
Musa Hilal,
who is one of
the main
leaders of the
Janjaweed
militia. And
unless it is a
fabrication,
there are
photographs,
wire service
of Ibrahim
Gambari,
UN-African
Union envoy,
greeting and
smiling and
laughing with
Omar
al-Bashir.
So, I wanted
to know, since
he is
indicted by
the ICC
[International
Criminal
Court], and
the UN has
said that they
only deal with
the ICC
indictees on a
necessary or
as
necessary
basis, how is
it necessary
to attend this
wedding
ceremony
and be, you
know, be
dealing in
this way with
Omer
al-Bashir?
Spokesperson:
I’ll have to
check on that,
I haven’t seen
those
pictures,
Matthew. Yeah,
other
questions,
please?
Gambari &
Bashir: now
Un see it?
Inner
City
Press: ...have
you seen that
there is a
comment by the
Permanent
Secretary of
the Ministry
of Foreign
Affairs of
Tanzania
saying that
Deputy
Secretary-General
Asha-Rose
Migiro has
confirmed that
her time
at the UN is
done? Is that
an accurate
statement by
him, and I
mean,
I guess I will
put it that
way?
Spokesperson:
I haven’t seen
that
statement,
Matthew.
Well,
as media in
Tanzania and
elsewhere saw
over the
weekend, the link is here.
Then:
Question:
about Sri
Lanka, and the
commitment to
do an inquiry
into the UN’s
own actions in
Sri Lanka that
was made by
the
Secretary-General
in
September. Has
that been
done, and what
would you make
of their
criticism that
the
Secretary-General
should do
more,
specifically
on
the issue of
Sri Lanka?
Spokesperson:
...on Sri
Lanka, this is
for the member
States of the
Human Rights
Council now to
look at. It is
has been
passed to
them, and it
is for
them to look
at. That’s the
second thing.
What was the
third
part, Matthew?
Inner
City
Press: the
inquiry, where
he committed
to do an
inquiry…
Spokesperson:
Yes, right,
right, yes,
yes, exactly,
yes. Excuse
me. The third
part is to do
with looking
at how the
United Nations
system, the
different
parts of the
UN family
responded as a
whole during
that
crisis, that
is something
that is still
under way.
There’s no
conclusion to
that yet. But
it is under
way.
Inner
City
Press: Who is
doing it? I
mean, just to…
because you
gave…
the other time
there was a
follow-up on
the cholera
Haiti
commission,
is it possible
to know who is
in charge of
it and -- ?
Spokesperson:
I’ll let you
know.
There
was no
information
given, unlike
on Cote
d'Ivoire, when
the UN
finalized its
transcript
four hours
later. Watch
this site.
, 
