On
Mali, UN
Speaks of
Rights Due
Diligence,
Coup
Could Pass,
Corruption to
Blame
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 10 --
When UN human
rights
official Ivan
Simonovic
returned from
Mali, he
listed a
series of
officials he
had met with
and a visit to
the town of
Mopti.
Inner
City Press
asked
Simonovic
about the role
of coup-leader
Sanogo in
Mali now, and
if Sanogo
would pass the
test of what
Simonovic
calls
the UN Human
Rights Due
Diligence
Policy. Was
that Policy
applied in
Somali, to
AMISOM and
then the
Kenyan Navy,
which shelled
Kismayo?
Would those
who
participated
in the coup in
Mali pass the
test?
Simonovic
replied
that the test
began in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
We should note
that there,
the MONUSCO
mission
recently flew
Congolese army
officials to
meet with the
Mai Mai
militia
seeking to
recruit them
to fight the
M23 mutineers.
Some due
diligence.
Simonovic
continued
that the
purpose of the
Due Diligence
is to
encourage
better future
behavior.
Fine, but how
is the test
administered,
and
why whom? This
was not
answered.
Inner
City Press
asked
directly:
would those
who
participated
in a coup
pass the test,
as Simonovic
and presumably
the Office of
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights
understands
it?
Simonovic
replied
that a coup is
"political,"
and so the UN
test
could be
passed, absent
grave human
rights
violations.
Bloodless,
then, is the
way to go.
Simonovic
went
on to say that
the UN
Department of
Safety and
Security does
not
allow any UN
travel to the
northern
two-thirds of
the country,
even
humanitarian,
but that
people can
travel freely
south to
Bamako and
back. He said
the groups in
the north buy
loyalty by
abolishing
taxes
and paying the
families of
fighters; they
have money
from narcotics
trafficking
and ransom, he
said.
With
candor
Simonovic has
said that
pre-coup
corruption was
one of the
roots of the
problem.
Will the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights follow
up
on this
analysis
proactively in
other
countries?
Watch this
site.
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