At
UN,
Ban Meets Envoys of Israel, CAR & Saudi Arabia, 2 Co-Greeters
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 23 -- Ban Ki-moon met and took credentials from three
new ambassadors at the UN on Thursday. The Press was given one hour's
notice of the triple header of photo ops: Israel, Saudi Arabia and
the Central African Republic. As it happened CAR was put in between
the other two, as a form of buffer.
Earlier
at the
stakeout, Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor told Inner City Press he had
not yet discussed the Durban
review or “Durban Three” with the
Secretary General, but would. Would this be the day?
Inner
City Press
arrived as required twenty minutes before the first stakeout. After
being checked for weapons with an electronic wand, Inner City Press
and an Israeli photographer were taken up to the Secretary General's
suite on the third floor of the North Lawn Building.
Up
in Ban's
reception room while waiting, the Israeli Mission's genial
spokeswoman made funny small talk about the world of spokespeople in
the UN. When, before Ambassador Prosor, Ban Ki-moon came in, she
whispered to him to button up the lower button of his suit jacket so
his tie would not be seen. He did.
Ambassador
Prosor
came in with his staff, and greeted Ban then Department of Political
Affairs chief Lynn Pascoe. Click here
for photo. Then they all went into Ban's office for a
quick meeting.
When
Prosor and
team left, by another door, the new Ambassador of the Central African
Republic Charles-Armel Doubane came in with two staffers, one
apparently from CAR and one apparently not.
Ban, Pascoe & Central African (reps), Nambiar not yet shown
Ban came in,
his second
buttom undone again. He read out his greeting in French and was
introduced to Lynn Pascoe, who returned the greeting in English. Then
they went into Ban's office.
The
third and
final photo op involved the new Ambassador of Saudi Arabia, Abdallah
Yahya A. Al-Mouallimi. This time the co-greeter with Ban, again with
second button undone, was not Pascoe but rather Vijay Nambiar. Click
here for photo. Ban
introduced him as “my chief of staff” to Ambassador Al-Mouallimi,
who said, “I know, I met you last night.” Mysteries, mysteries.
* * *
As UN Plans for Durban
Discussion, Tiptoeing Around Holocaust
Denial, Press Access
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
26 -- In the run up to September's
UN
meeting on the
Durban Declaration, with Holocaust denial in the air, a meeting was
held Wednesday on 48th Stree to scope out the session. Should the
opening run from 9 am to 11:30? Or only to 10? Should it be
televised? These were the questions, in the so-called “informal
informal” consultations held in the UN's North Lawn building.
Monaco
and
Cameroon were in the chair position, and Switzerland spoke more than
any other delegation. Sources tell Inner City Press that the US and
Canada are nowhere to be seen in the process. But whether this will
serve them come September remains to be seen.
European
Union
sources tell Inner City Press they are between a rock and a hard
place. They would like to denounce racism, the ostensible goal of the
Durban Declaration. But given how things went in Durban in 2001, and
even more in 2004, they are concerned the event will provide a
platform for Holocaust denial.
At
the same time
the EU does not want to be seen questioning free speech. Try to
block media coverage -- to some, one possible solution -- or to ask
in advance what participants will say, is hardly in keeping with
freedom of expression.
Inner
City Press covered
the vote on Durban III in December 2010, when funding was
approved 102 for, 33 abstaining and 17 against, including Canada
and
the United States.
The
French
Mission to the UN later told Inner City
Press it had abstained because “there were many elements in the
text that we couldn't support, but we support the Durban declaration
and want to engage in the Durban process. Hence our vote."
The
fights on May 25 were mundane: would the speakers come from regional
groupings or so-called political groups like the G-77; would there be
“program budget implications;” would the panel discussions be
televised. The elephant in the room was who would use the spotlight,
and for what purpose. We'll see -- watch this site.
* * *
As
UK
Calls
for
Myanmar UN Envoy Replacement for Nambiar, He
Brushes Off Press
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
19
-- After the UN Security
Council met Thursday about
Myanmar, UN envoy Vijay Nambiar explicitly refused to answer even a
single question from the Press.
Rushing
out
of the Council, Nambiar
made a brushing-away motion with his hand and disappeared down a
corridor. This despite a standing request by the UN Correspondents
Association that he hold a press conference and take questions.
The
Permanent
Representative
of the UK Mark Lyall Grant did speak to the Press. He
recounted that democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has suggested that
need for a full time UN envoy, adding that the UK “has long
believed that it would be good to have a permanent, full time envoy
to regularly visit” Burma.
Lyall
Grant
said
that while Nambiar “felt the tone of what the government was doing
since the election was better, more open than it had been before,”
the UK sees “no effective response to key demands of international
community.”
The
military
dominated
government has given “amnesty only just over two percent
of political prisoners, there are still over two thousand.” Lyall
Grant was dismissive of “taking one year off a sixty five years
sentence of student leaders, and the ninety three years given to Shan
community” leadership.
He
added
that
“there has not yet been any inclusive dialogue with opposition
outside Parliament.” In the run up to Nambiar's trip, Inner City
Press asked without answer if he would be meeting with ethnic
minorities.
Inner
City
Press
has previously reported calls for a full time replacement to Nambiar
as envoy, by the UK along with former Security Council member Mexico
and others. But Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has made no move to
appoint a full time envoy, instead continuing to send his chief of
staff Nambiar to Myanmar, then refusing to take questions when he
comes back.
Nambiar previously seen from behind, no Qs taken
Ban
Ki-moon,
too,
has become resistant to taking questions from the press, at least in
New York. Despite multiple requests that he hold the promised monthly
press conference - the last was in January, four months ago -- Ban
has not held a press conference.
Since
he
last held
a shorter stakeout, he has for example said he was “relieved that
justice was done” in the killing of Osama bin Laden, a position
that differs from the UN's own human rights commissioner Navi
Pillay's.
Ban
on
May 18
granted an interview to one wire service, and used it to state that
if member states want him for a second term as Secretary General, he
is ready to serve.
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky declined Inner City
Press' request for a transcript. He said he would be getting
clarifications from Nambiar, but none has been given, including any
UN response to the Myanmar government prohibiting reporting of ASSK's
comments after meeting Nambiar, and on Myanmar's push to head ASEAN.
Watch this site.
