February 05, 2003

UN backs Ivory Coast peacekeepers

French and West African troops in Ivory Coast have won a mandate from the United Nations Security Council to use force in peace-keeping operations there.

The Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to back the troops' deployment with a review of the situation in six months' time.
In New York, the Security Council passed Resolution 1464 giving "full support" to troops of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and France currently serving in Ivory Coast. [Has anyone ever heard of this ECOWAS thingie before and what is it, exactly?--Jen]

The troops were authorised to take any necessary steps to ensure their own security and freedom of movement and "the protection of civilians threatened with imminent violence".

The Council said it was acting under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter which authorises the use of military force where other means of enforcing resolutions prove inadequate.

This is so outrageous I can hardly bare to blog about it!
If the UN will give the nod to France for sending in troops ex post facto to another sovereign country, what other "crazy cowboy" government won't they unleash on another?
And yet they stood silent when there were massacres in Kosovo and in Rwanda and virtually gave the nod to the Palestinian intifada!
(And they make us sweat blood to "prove" that our goal of disarming Saddam by using military force is "necessary" and "appropriate" even in the wake of their 16 toothless resolutions to disarm him peacefully which have failed miserably.)
If "mandates" like these are what we can expect as S.O.P. from the UN, I don't want a second resolution for our Iraq attack!
[Also, the Bush Administration has made a singular misstep and has also gone on record as backing this French-brokered "peace deal." I hope that will change and/or that it's merely a matter of not ruffling any more feathers while we have the Iraq matter on the table.]
In France, New York and Washington, the cry should be "No blood for chocolate!" as this appears to be the primary French reason to pursue this diplomatic and military adventure, i.e. to secure the Ivorian cocoa trade for themselves.
If we don't get a second UN resolution--and I hope we don't!--remember their sins of commission like this one!
Many have said that the UN has become a cesspool filled with thugs, dictators and murderers, rather than the august democratic body with the highest goal of world peace on earth that it was intended to be.
I not only think they're irrelevant, but they're also ineffectual and malevolent and the sooner the US leaves, quits paying our UN dues and kicks their HQ out of our country, the better!
Then, the other member nations--and here we're talking about an assemblage of every petty despot and tinhorn dictator on the planet-- can see how much attention, respect and cooperation they can get from each other.