UNITED
NATIONS, April
14 -- With
Seleka coup
leader Michel
Djotodi now
installed as
interim
president in
Central
African
Republic,
fighting
with rocket
propelled
grenades and
automatic
weapons has
continued
even in the
capital,
Bangui.
As
reported on
Twitter by
journalist
Hippolyte
Donossio, the
Seleka
“rebels” --
now, the
government --
pushed their
operations in
the
Boy-Rabe area,
with injuries
and killings
by bullets and
even RPG7.
He
quoted a
Seleka general
that because
the guys in
Boy-Rabe
refused to
give in to
disarmament,
pressure had
to be brought
to bear. A
rocket
propelled
grenade hit a
church during
the service.
And
then, of note
to many, this
tweet: “Urgent,
#centrafrique
ça y
est, les
rebelles sont
chez moi.”
After
making some
inquiries,
Inner City
Press and the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
decided
to ask the
United
Nations, which
has a Central
African
Republic
mission, led
by envoy
Margaret Vogt,
about the
fighting and
what it knew
and would do
about
the situation
of journalist
in danger
Hippolyte
Donossio.
Vogt,
when Inner
City Press
interviewed
her in person
at the UN in
New
York, said she
was just there
“on vacation,”
and hoped at
most
for a
statement by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon before
her report
due in April.
Then
in April,
after she
briefed the
Security
Council by
video, Inner
City
Press asked
her by phone
about Djotodi
saying he
could run in
future
election. Vogt
claimed he
couldn't.
Nevertheless,
Inner City
Press and the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access asked
Ban's top
three
spokespeople
"can the UN
confirm, and
most
pressingly, is
the UN aware
of, and will
it do anything
about,
journalist
Hippolyte
Donossio who
has tweeted
the approach
of armed
fighters and
then fallen
out of
contact?"
Perhaps
not
surprisingly,
even five
hours later
there has been
no response
from the UN
about either
the fighting
or Hippolyte
Donossio.
Advocate of
press freedom
-- and
press
safety --
will have to
look
elsewhere.
Watch this
site.
, 
