In
Kabul, As
UN-Picked ECC Used As Leverage, UN Is Sidelined, Kouchner Into the Void
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, October 18 -- With the Electoral Complaints Commission's
decision on Afghan vote
fraud hanging in the balance, last minute
entreaties to once and future president Hamid Karzai for a deal with
main challenged Abdullah Abdullah were made by American diplomat
Zalmay Khalilzad, Senator John Kerry, and French foreign minister
Bernard Kouchner.
The UN, which appointed three of the ECC's four
current members, was sidelined at this most important moment.
UN
Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's top envoy to Kabul, Kai Eide, has been accused
of favor Karzai and covering up voter fraud. When Eide's deputy,
American Peter Galbraith, made this accusation, Ban fired
him.
Galbraith took his case to the media, the UN ineptly fought back,
and
now the UN is sidelined. Timing is everything, and the UN's could not
have been worse.
After
losing a few
rounds in the media to Galbraith, UN officials began to spin to Inner
City Press and others that Galbraith's "personal agenda"
would soon become known. Apparently, the UN's theory is that
Galbraith grandstanded in Afghanistan because he wants to run for
office in Vermont. Now the dust up with Eide would increase
Galbraith's street cred in Burlington is not clear. If this is the
quality of the UN's political analysis, its marginalization in Kabul
despite the money it has spent is not surprising.
UN's Ban and Eide, outflanked by Kouchner in Kabul
The
high profile
pressure on Karzai by Western powers could easily backfire. Already,
Karzai and one of the two Afhani members of the ECC, in quitting,
have accused the ECC of being a Western tool. That just before the
results were slated to be announced, the U.S. and Kouchner offered
last minute deals to Karzai to blunt the expected results only
buttress the thesis that the ECC is political. If Karzai were to
ultimately rebuff the deal, he would have ammunition to argue that a
decision annulling his over 50 percent first round result was
retaliation.
It
was long rumored
that Khalilzad might, after serving as U.S. Ambassador to the UN,
take some political office in his native Afghanistan. But things are
getting more surreal by the hour. Why not, one wag wonder, push
Bernie "Hamid" Kouchner as the solution in Kabul? Watch
this site.
Footnote:
it has also been rumored that the U.S., undeterred, is pushing the UN
to replace Galbraith with another American, Larry Sampler, who as Inner
City Press exclusively reported
is a "friend" of another offiicial charged with corruption in
Afghanistan. Click here
for that. And so it goes.
* * *
UN
Says Ivorian Voter Registration "Is Over" Despite Dispute,
Afghan Lessons Unlearned
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, October 13 -- In the wake of the UN's contested role in the
fraud ridden election in Afghanistan, the Security Council on Tuesday
met about the elections slated for November 29 in Cote d'Ivoire,
where the UN has some 7000 troops. While Ivorian President Laurent
Gbagbo has dodged elections for some time, now he has been quoted
that they're on.
Inner
City Press
asked the UN's top envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, Choi Young-Jin, about
local reports that the registrations from some 213 registration
stations have not been processed, eliminating eight percent of
eligible voters. Video here, from Minute 4:32.
"I
think the
processing is complete and credible," Choi Young-Jin ruled.
"It's over." Video here,
from Minute 4:32. He has used
that word, "credible," before. But for example
the Ivorian newspaper l'Expression
"blames
what it called 'the scandal surrounding the voter registration' on
the bodies that conducted the operation, namely, the National
Statistics Institute and SAGEM (a French company), saying that they
have botched up the work. The paper further revealed that the data
which had been collected in some 213 registration centers were not
processed, representing 8 percent of the total data that were not
taken into account on the provisional voters' lists."
Even
beyond this
eight percent, Mr. Choi acknowledges that 40% of the registrations
have not been verified against historical records. He said he has a
solution in mind, but wouldn't share it with the Press, but rather
return to Cote d'Ivoire and play his "cards urgently and
intelligently." He mentioned using mobile phone records.
Inner
City Press
asked him if he could distinguish the UN's role in Afghanistan, where
envoy Kai Eide is being called biases for incumbent Hamid Karzai. Mr.
Choi answered, "I need my colleague in Afghanistan to answer you
question." That would be... Kai Eide.
One wag asked, but where is Mr. Choi's Peter
Galbraith?
UN's Choi at stakeout, comparison to Afghanistan not shown
When the Security
Council President for the month, Vietnam's Ambassador Le Luong Mihn,
came to the
stakeout, Inner City Press asked him if there was any thinking to
ensure that the UN's situation in the election in Afghanistan is not
repeated in Cote d'Ivoire. "Today was on Cote d'Ivoire," he
said. Video here,
from Minute 2:53.
Inner City Press tried again, asking if there was any
analogy.
"We did not discuss Afghanistan today," he insisted. But
maybe they should have.
Footnote:
Inner City Press also asked Mr. Choi if he or the UN had played any
role in the settlement between Cote d'Ivoire and Trafigura about the
toxic waste dumping. No, Mr. Choi said, that is a bilateral problem
between Cote d'Ivoire and the company. A narrow mandate: but could it
still blow up, a la Afghanistan? Mr. Choi said keep up the momentum.
Watch this site.
, 
