UN
Upbeat
on Guinea
Bissau,
Council Might
Visit, Send
200 Guards in
Libya
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 26 --
Twice in
Guinea Bissau
since the 2012
coup
the election
have been put
off. When UN
envoy Jose
Ramos-Horta
emerged from
the UN
Security
Council on
Tuesday
evening, Inner
City
Press asked
him if he
thinks that
this time they
will happen,
in
March 2014,
and if
military chief
of staff
Antonio Indjai
will in
fact
relinquish
power.
Ramos-Horta
was
upbeat, saying
he thinks this
time it will
happen. When
Inner
City Press
asked about
the proposed
Amnesty Law
for the
authors of
the 2012 coup,
Ramos-Horta
expressed
support for it
only if there
are
iron-clad
commitments by
the military
to stay out of
politics. So:
a
conditional
amnesty that
would end if
that
commitment
were broken?
The
West
African States
in ECOWAS want
to send two
formed police
units,
and want
international
support -
read, money -
for it.
Sources
in
the Council's
consultations
told Inner
City Press
there is
discussion of
a Security
Council trip
to Guinea
Bissau in
January,
and of a
Presidential
Statement to
be drafted by
Togo which
"has
the pen."
Inner City
Press asked
Togolese
Permanent
Representative
Kodjo Menon
and he said
yes, this
might be his
last
big act on the
Council (Togo
leaves in
December, to
be replaced by
Nigeria).
On the trip,
the idea was
"floated,"
along with
statements
about Guinea
Bissau's resources
including,
yes, cashews.
Less than two
million people
-- and forty
political
parties.
In
a stealth
session after
Ramos Horta
left, Council
diplomats
heard
a plan from
the UN to send
some 200
guards for its
mission in
Libya.
Inner City
Press has
been writing
about the
Council's
failure to
even
get a briefing
on the killing
of dozens of
civilians in
Tripoli by
militias,
and now the
state of
emergency in
Benghazi.
Tellingly, the
Security
Council only
heard on Libya
now when it
came to
protecting
the UN itself.
In terms of procedure,
Inner City
Press asked
and is
informed this
is the kind of
thing done
through an
exchange of
letters. Watch
this site.
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