Post-Bali, UN Blames China for Breakdown of de Boer, Mr. Ban's Game Face Described

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, December 18 -- Anyone who says that the climate change meetings in Bali weren't a success, the UN's Bob Orr told the press on Tuesday, "wasn't at the same meetings I was at." But Al Gore was quoted that "the maximum now considered possible here in this conference is still far short of the minimum that will really solve this process." Inner City Press asked if Al Gore, then, was at the same meeting. Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson responded deadpan that Mr. Ban and Gore had been together. There is a photo to prove it.

            But what of the UN's Yvo de Boer breaking down in tears? Television stations which used the clip said that it showed how tense the talks were. But Tuesday after his formal briefing, Orr told Inner City Press that the Chinese delegation had accused de Boer of a lack of transparency, for some of the side meetings going on. That had pushed de Boer to the breaking point. He wept and said he'd been unaware of the side meetings. Orr also said that China was very constructive. Of course.

Game face and China-triggered breakdown: behind the scenes at Bali

            Of the side-story of Ban's subsequently-cancelled plan to fly from the Far East to New York to attend half of a Carnegie Hall concert to raise funds for a cultural center in South Korea, Orr laughed and said he hadn't heard of it while in Bali. Another reporter doubted this, since Ban nevertheless appeared at the concert by video message, apologizing. But maybe things really were that busy in Bali.

            The UN Development Program had issued a report calling on China and India to commit to emission caps, a position with which the UN's Dr. Pachauri publicly disagreed. Inner  City Press asked Orr about this split, but did not get an answer.  Video here. Monday night, UNDP's Ad Melkert brushed off a request for a read-out on his UNDP-funded time in Bali. Perhaps we'll hear more, from Mr. Ban himself. It is said that when he returned to the Bali meetings on Saturday, the hall broke into applause. "They wanted a deal," Orr interpreted. We'll see.

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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