UN
Plan
To Send Envoy Taranco to Bahrain Shot Down by Saudis, Sources Say
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 3 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposed
sending his Middle East coordinator Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to
Bahrain, he was told not -- not by Bahrain but by Saudi Arabia, Inner
City Press has learned from well placed sources.
After
Saudi Arabia
sent troops into Bahrain as support against the largely Shi'a
protests, the UN issued a cryptic statement in which Ban Ki-moon
“noted” their entry. Ban's spokesmen refused repeated requests
to elaborate on the statement.
Inner
City Press
has asked if the UN acknowledges that Bahrain's
used of non-national
Sunni forces as security -- from Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere --
might constitute a use of mercenaries, Ban's spokesmen have refused
to answer.
Taranco in Council, but not in Bahrain: Saudi protest not shown
Now,
when Ban's
Secretariat told Bahrain they would be sending Tarranco, his
Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, it was not Bahrain
which said no. Rather, Bahrain told Saudi Arabia, which put on the
kibosh.
Saudi
Arabia give
money and even planes to the UN, and for Ban Ki-moon to fly on. And
so unlike Libya and even now Yemen, this is one crackdown on which
the UN is doing absolutely nothing. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN
in April, As Colombia Pitches Haiti Some Say Not Ready for Prime
Time
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 31 -- As Colombia takes over the UN
Security Council
for April, there are more questions than on-the-record answers.
Colombia's thematic debate, as Inner City Press reported a month ago,
will be about Haiti, and take place on April 6.
President Santos will
come to New York, along with Bill Clinton. It is understood that the
GRULAC Latin Group has told Ban Ki-moon that he cannot name Frenchman
Bernard Kouchner to succeed Guatemalan Mulet as UN envoy in Haiti.
But
Colombia's
relations with the rest of GRULAC, especially the ALBA or White
Group, is less clear. Whereas Lebanon was the conduit for Arab League
views on the Council's Libya resolutions, GRULAC members tell Inner
City Press that Colombia is too standoffish, and its Permanent
Representive, former coffee executive Nestor Osorio “out of his
depth.”
Osorio & Ban Ki-moon, oversight not shown
The
other high
points for April, according to non-Colombian sources who've seen the
program of work, including an April 8 briefing on Darfur, Sudan, and
the “horizon” briefing by the Department of Political Affairs on
April 11.
Michelle
Bachelet of UN Women will speak on April 12 -- one
hopes at the stakeout -- and Margot Wallstrom on sexual violence on
April 14.
Small
arms will be
discussed on April 25, and the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will
accompany Council members on a retreat on April 28-29.
On
the horizon are
two or three trips: at the end of May, France's month, to the African
Union, and maybe a junket to China. Russia's proposal for a Middle
East trip does not appear to have moved forward, due to US
opposition.
Various
Council
members and other member states have wondered if Colombia will be
independent in its month. We will keep an open mind as long as we
can. Watch this site.
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