As
UN Envoy
Chased from
Guinea
Bissau, Cover
of Debriefing,
Echoes of
Sierra Leone
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 7 --
After the coup
in Guinea
Bissau, the UN
has
been slow and
then silent in
criticizing
it.
Emboldened,
the post
coup leaders
have now in
essence thrown
the UN Envoy
Joseph
Mutaboba
out of the
country.
This is how
several
countries'
Permanent
Representatives
have described
it to Inner
City Press.
But,
tellingly, it
is not how the
UN describes
it.
The UN says it
has Mutaboba
back in New
York for
de-briefing.
Inner City
Press has
requested a
stakeout for
questions and
perhaps
answers.
Here
was the Q&A
at Friday's UN
noon briefing:
Inner
City Press: on
Mr. Mutaboba,
it seems that
he, before he
left
Guinea-Bissau,
let it be
known that he
was basically
being in
essence,
PNG-ed
[Persona non
Grata] in the
sense that the
coup
leaders or the
post coup
Government
there has said
that he hasn’t
accepted him
as the leader
and that, when
he left, he
said that
'probably I am
not coming
back.' So what
would you say
to those who
have said that
this is a
situation of
the UN
withdrawing or
bringing
home early
somebody who
wasn’t liked
by the
Government
where he
was?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Matthew, four
years is
considered a
fairly
good run as
SRSG,
especially in
a difficult
environment.
And, I
think Mr.
Mutaboba is
ending his
stay in
Guinea-Bissau
very
honourably and
very well
having done an
excellent job.
Inner
City Press: Do
you think that
given the
issues, if he
is here,
debriefing and
all this,
maybe it is
possible to
get some
either a
stakeout or
some kind of a
media
availability
for him to
reflect on
his four years
and where he
thinks it's
going
Deputy
Spokesperson:
With respect
to Mr.
Mutaboba, I
believe we can
ask and
see if we can
do a stakeout.
Inner
City Press has
previously
asked Mutaboba
why he put up
a drug kingpin
in the UN
compound there.
But now he has
been PNG-ed,
just as Michael
von der
Schulenburg
was from
Sierra Leone.
On that, after
some initial
expressions of
concern, for
example from UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant on March
4, the
Security
Council
recently
lavished
praise on the
country and
its election,
with no
mention of the
PNG or weapons
purchase prior
to the
elections.
So
how long will
it be, some
wonder, until
the Guinea
Bissau coup
leaders get
similar UN
praise? Watch
this site.
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