France Gets Council OK to Support Chad's Deby as Military Advisor Stands By

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

UNITED NATIONS, February 4 -- France's Ambassador to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert on Monday morning told reporters his country was ecstatic that the Security Council had authorized states to come to the defense of Chad's embattled president Idriss Deby. Inner City Press asked Amb. Ripert about Deby's hold on power, and about a bomb France dropped in his defense in 2006, without having any Security Council approval at that time. Video here, from Minute 4:19. "I just answered that question," Amb. Ripert said, although he hadn't. Another journalist asked about reports that France has 1500 troops at the ready. Amb. Ripert dodged that question too, saying he is only his country's ambassador to the UN. But he had beside him, to the side of the stakeout, his mission's head military advisor, Brigadier General Dominique Trinquand, who sports the red lapel pen of the Legion d'Honeur (awarded, he's told Inner City Press, for service in the Balkans and in Lebanon).  He stood by the stakeout, but did not come to the microphone.

            As he strode away from the stakeout, Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad what impact the weekend's attacks, and the Presidential Statement, had on the UN and European Union peacekeeping plans in Chad. "We are expressing support, through the PRST, for both of those efforts," Amb. Khalilzad answered. Video here, from Minute 3:01.

            Another reporter asked if France was also willing to consider Chadian incursions into Sudan and alleged Chadian support for rebels in Darfur. We are considering today the situation in Chad, where the legal president is facing overthrown, was the French answer. In environmental law, this is called "segmentation," and is an impermissible way to consider problems. At the Security Council, such segmentation is the rule.

French military adviser Brigadier General Dominique Trinquand, on right, pomp and circumstance forever

(American) Football footnote: Sunday while this Presidential Statement on Chad was being considered by the Security Council, there was cheering for the Super Bowl, shown on the flat-panel big screen TV in the Council's lounge area. South Africa's Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who has lived in Brooklyn, was shouting for the Giants, who won 17-14. "It's better than the Security Council," Amb. Kumalo told Inner City Press on Monday, a smile on his face. Inner City Press asked U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff if he had any comment on the Giants. "No comment," Amb. Wolff said, "I'm from Los Angeles." Which, as another reporter pointed out, is not even a National Football League city anymore...

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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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