Monday, June 17, 2013
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| Contains over 70% of milk! |
On June 5th French President François Hollande received UNESCO’s Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for his ‘first war’ against Islamist nutters in northern Mali.
The prize, so aptly named after the Ivory Coast’s slightly authoritarian
first president, is handed out “to honour
people, institutions and organizations that have contributed significantly to
the promotion, research, preservation or maintenance of peace.” ‘Flanby’, as the French President is lovingly called in reference to
the bland, wobbly French desert, gives Nobel Prize winner Barack Obama a run
for his money, receiving his hard earned prize in just over a year.
From an outsider’s perspective the French military intervention
might not have made much sense. After all Flanby is not exactly suited for the
scorching deserts of northern Mali, but the freedom fighting French President
took the risk all the same to assist the citizens of the legendary lands of
Timbuktu from displaced Al-Qaeda disciples. From the onset the moral
high-ground was his: our little caramel tart and his foreign legion were going
to pull a quick in-and-out to protect the UNESCO world-heritage of the Songhay
Empire, the famous mausoleums of the Islam scholars, and keep the crazy
Salafist Bedouins from walking on Bamako.
The mission was such a success that the majority of all UNESCO
monuments in the region were professionally wiped of the face of the earth. But
that doesn’t mean they’re not in good company as ranks of other World Heritage sites
have also been deleted in the name of some invisible spaghetti-monster.
Ok, so perhaps the destruction of World Heritage Sites that have
been “in Danger” since early 1995 isn’t a success, but on the brigher side
France’s political paternalism and Pacte
Colonial may have helped it to strike gold—or Uranium
to be exact.
But
in the end the question to ask is who is it that has really won? UNESCO is in
dire need of cash ever since Director General Irina Bokova campaigned for the
acceptance of Palestine as full-member, and the U.S. crippled the
organization’s working costs by cutting almost one quarter of all funding.
Maybe assuring itself of a good working relationship with the host country
(UNESCO’s seat and bloated administration are in Paris, close to Les Invalides,
if you want to visit), and possibly squeeze out some extra funds in time of
crisis won’t do Bokova any harm, in view of UNESCO elections in November of
this year. Especially if one of her main opponents is African (The Djiboutian
ambassador to France), she can use all of the African support (and French
lobbying) she can get.
To
be continued…
