Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2011 10:30:52 +0100
Amid Bombing in Somalia, Cabral to Hear from Kenya, Eritrea Blocked, Ban
Silent
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 4 -- As Kenya's intervention in Somalia continues,
past bombing Internally Displaced Persons to threatening any aircraft from
landing at Baidoa in Somalia, silence at the UN continues. But it will,
Inner City Press learned Friday, result at least in a meeting between the
Security Council president for November and Kenya's Ambassador early next
week. Video here
<http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/sc-president-h-e-jose-filipe
-moraes-cabral-portugal-on-cyprus-and-other-matters-security-council-media-s
takeout.html> , from Minute 3.
Inner City Press has twice asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman
Martin Nesirky about Kenya's entry into Somalia. Asked Friday about Kenya's
Baidoa "no fly zone," Nesirky directed Inner City Press to statements of
Ban's envoy Augustine Mahiga. Inner City Press asked, "Has Mahiga said
anything about Kenya's threat to airplanes in Somalia?"
No, Nesirky said, not yet. Video here
<http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/daily-press-briefing-203.htm
l> , from Minute 8:41. Mahiga was strikingly accepting of Kenya's bombing of
the IDP camp, which Doctors Without Borders MSF says killed five civilians.
On November 3 Inner City Press asked November's Security Council
president, Portugal's Ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, if he was aware
of letters to the Council from Kenya. Cabral said no, he was not aware.
Inner City Press asked him, doesn't the Security Council's total inaction on
this "hot" war undermine the UN's credibility?
"We'll look into it carefully," Cabral said. Video here
<http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/sc-president-h-e-jose-filipe
-moraes-cabral-portugal-on-guinea-bissau-and-other-matters-security-council-
media-stakeout.html> , form Minute 7:50.
The next day on November 4, Inner City Press asked again about the
letter(s) and what Cabral would do. Cabral replied this time that yes, there
was correspondence during the last Presidency -- that is in October, under
the Nigerian presidency. He added that he will "meet Kenya's Ambassador at
the beginning of next week." Video here
<http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/sc-president-h-e-jose-filipe
-moraes-cabral-portugal-on-cyprus-and-other-matters-security-council-media-s
takeout.html> , at Minute 3.
Off camera, Inner City Press asked Cabral about the meeting. Kenya will
want to explain what it had done, Cabral predicted.
Kenya is accusing Eritrea of arming Al Shabab. The Security Council is
considering imposing additional sanctions on Eritrea for this and other
reasons. But now that Eritrea's president Isaias Afwerki has asked to speak
to the Security Council, the US is opposing Afwerki's request -- click here
for the explanation US Ambassador Rice gave
<http://www.innercitypress.com/sc2afwerki110311.html> Inner City Press on
November 3.
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Nesirky if Ban, as the UN system's
top official, thought that a head of state, when he or she asks to address
an organ like the Security Council, should be allowed to: if talking is
better that not talking. Video here
<http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/daily-press-briefing-203.htm
l> , from Minute 9:30.
Ban's spokesman Nesirky said, "it's for the Security Council to decide."
Some wonder whether previous Secretaries General would have had NOTHING to
say about the legality and impacts of one country's intervention into
another, or about one country's block on a head of state whose country faces
sanctions addressing those who'll vote on sanctions. This seems to be beyond
"quiet diplomacy." Watch this site.
http://www.innercitypress.com/ban1raila.jpg(c) UN Photo
Ban and Raila Odinga, silence on Kenya in Somalia continues
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