Part I – Journalists Question Security Council Support for Rebel Group

At the April 4 press conference marking the beginning of the Colombian Presidency of the Security Council for April, Nestor Osorio, the Colombian Ambassador to the United Nations was asked what on the surface would seem an unusual question by one of the journalists. The journalist said (1):

“In the wake of Security Council Resolution 1973 [authorizing military action against Libya–ed] are we to expect a more aggressive and proactive posture on the part of the Security Council in supporting rebel groups?”

The journalist gave several examples of such rebel groups as the IRA in the UK, ETA in Spain and perhaps the Corsican rebels in France. Another journalist added the example of the FARC in Colombia.

The question referred to the fact that with SC Resolution 1973, the UN Security Council had taken on to support… weiter lesen

[Editor's Note: This is Part I of a two part article. For Part II see "The Struggle Over How the Media Frames Its Presentation of the Darfur Conflict"]

 Some Background

The question before the Security Council on Thursday, July 31 was whether or not to renew the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). This joint (hybrid) peacekeeping mission combines UN and African Union (AU) efforts to work toward finding a way to bring peace to the Darfur conflict in Sudan.

 UNAMID’s renewal falls under Article 7 of the UN charter. To be a peacekeeping operation, there needs to be a peace agreement, or the potential for such an agreement along with a means of encouraging the  contending forces to support the mission and a resolution of the conflict.

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