On
Mali, Rice
Enumerates
Democracy in
Bamako &
Driving Terror
From North
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 12 --
Alongside the
UN Security
Council's
frenzy
about the
North Korean
launch on
Wednesday, a
draft
resolution on
Mali was
circulated and
consultations
started.
But
it seemed
clear that the
country's
second coup,
just this week
in
which the
Prime
Minister,
formerly
Microsoft's
Ambassador to
Africa,
was forced to
resign, would
impact on the
resolution.
So
at a stakeout
by US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
otherwise
about North
Korea, Inner
City Press
went called on
asked about
Mali:
Inner
City Press:
One quick
question on
Mali. This
resignation,
or forced
resignation,
of the Prime
Minister that
took place
earlier this
week
-- does it
change the
U.S.'s
thinking at
all on how the
Council
should proceed
in terms of
authorizing a
force to
reclaim
Northern
Mali?
Ambassador
Rice:
Well, as you,
Mali has been
and remains a
very complex
situation and
from the
United States'
point of view
we have
multiple
parallel
interests and
objectives,
one of which,
is the
swiftest
possible
restoration of
democratic
government in
Bamako. And
indeed,
what has
transpired
over the last
few days is
yet another
setback in
that regard.
But we also
are very much
committed to
collective
effort, to
ensure that
there is not
an enduring
safe haven for
terrorists in
the north of
Mali. And the
Security
Council
resolution
that is under
discussion is
yet another in
a progression
of
potential
actions and
some obviously
prior actions
that we are
working on to
address, in
particular,
the challenge
of restoring
sovereignty
and
territorial
integrity and
ridding
terrorists
from the
north of Mali.
So we’ll
continue to
work with that
interest at
heart. Thank
you very much.
No,
thank you.
Earlier,
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
told the press
that it's not
a question of
one resolution
or two, but
rather how the
Council should
oversee the
mission they
authorize.
There is
still,
of course, the
question of
how the force
will be paid
for: from
assessed
contributions
by all
members, or
only
voluntary.
Then
even more
after the
second coup,
there is the
question of
the UN's
claimed
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy, which
Assistant
Secretary
General Ivan
Simonovic told
Inner City
Press will
apply in Mali.
The
main
implementer,
or blocker, of
the policy is
top UN
Peacekeeper
Herve Ladsous.
But he has
refused all
Press
questions
about how the
policy is
implemented,
which military
units his DPKO
works with,
what
it knows of
their abuses.
France
is
the one which
named
Ladsous to
fill "its"
position atop
UN Peacekeping
-- they might
want to ask
him to stop
undermining or
concealing
this claimed
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy. Watch
this
site.
, 
