|
Behind
Ban Ki-moon's
Rush to
Riyahd, Envoys
IOCA &
Bolduc on
Vacation?
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 11 --
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
scheduled to
speak about
Burundi in the
UN Security
Council on
November 9,
but didn't.
Instead, the
UN announced
that on little
to no notice
he had decided
to travel to
Saudi Arabia
on Sunday
night. Ban's
own envoy on
Yemen, Ismail
Ould Cheikh
Ahmed, was not
in Riyadh on
November 8, 9
or 10, as
confirmed
to Inner City
Press.
Why did Ban
decide so
quickly to
drop
everything and
go to Saudi
Arabia?
Sources tell
Inner City
Press the
reasons
included the
fact that
Saudi Arabia
snubbed Ban's
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson
during
Eliasson's
recent trip
there, as
Inner City
Press reported
at the time.
That seemed to
Ban a bad
trend that had
to be reversed
and so --
craven, some
say -- Ban
dropped
Burundi and
headed to
Riyahd.
There,
Ban's read-out
with King
Salman was
noticeably
weak on even
repeating
calls to stop
airstrikes.
Instead, the
UN read-out
said of Ban
that “On
Yemen, he
hoped that all
sides to the
conflict would
take extreme
care not to
cause civilian
casualties and
that
inter-Yemeni
talks would
take place
this month.
The
Secretary-General
also
encouraged
Saudi Arabia
to further
work closely
with his
respective
Special Envoys
for Syria and
Yemen.”
How to work
closely with
Yemen envoy
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed
if he wasn't
even in
Riyahd? Inner
City Press is
informed
by sources
that after
this envoy's
many
mysterious
UN-paid trips
to Dubai,
at the time of
Ban's jaunt to
Riyahd, Ismail
Ould Cheikh
Ahmed was on
vacation in
Mauritania,
the trip there
reportedly
paid for by
the UN. The UN
has refused to
confirm or
deny that, or
explain the
envoy's many
trips to
Dubai, only replying
that Ould
Cheikh Ahmed
will get to
Riyadh
November
11-12.
This is
becoming a
trend in
today's UN,
alongside the
John
Ashe - David
Ng and
Bernardino
Leon scandals:
senior
officials in
the field
going on
vacation at
times that
make no sense,
that
disrespect
their
mandates.
Inner City
Press is
informed that
even as Ban
Ki-moon issued
his statement
about 40 years
of Western
Sahara limbo,
his Special
Representative
Kim Bolduc was
on vacation.
What sense
does that
make? What
message is
sent by that?
We'll have
more on this.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest service,
and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2015 Inner City Press,
Inc. To request reprint or other permission,
e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
|
, 
