In
New
Jersey, UN Ban Speech Ignores Haiti, Congo & Sri Lanka, Brags
of Darfur
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 22 -- When Seton Hall hosted UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon on Monday, it told the Press to expect a “major policy
address entitled, 'Can the UN Deliver What the World Needs?'”
At
a time when
for example the UN is
accused of playing a role in the introduction
and spread of cholera in Haiti, and has killed at least one Haitian
demonstrator, one expected this issue to at least be mentioned in the
major policy address. But Ban's speech, as distributed under embargo
to the UN press corps, did not even mention Haiti.
Amazingly,
Ban's
speech praised his and the UN's role in Myanmar and went on that “We
did the same in Darfur. For years, conflict raged... today, the
mission continues to protect civilians.” This right after the
slaughter
at Tawila, which even Ban acknowledged raised issues about
the UN peacekeepers freedom of movement and protection of civilians.
Ban did not
mention Sri
Lanka, a country where he has been burned in effigy and where after
tens of thousands of deaths, the International Crisis Group said the
UN's inaction should be investigated.
Not
a mention of
the mass
rapes in Eastern Congo, and the UN peacekeepers' inaction.
After each of these incidents, the UN has said it can and will do
better. But this is soon forgotten, not even mentioned amid the self
congratulation.
This speech
is described in house as Ban's re-election speech: "all the great
things I have done" (and none of the short falls, none of the need to
or commitment to reform - spin, in short.)
An Inner City
Press correspondent at the speech reports on questions about the South
Sudan referendum, Afghanistan and terrorism, still nothing on cholera
in Haiti, mass rape in the Congo.
Ban at a recent speech, re-election not shown
At
Monday's noon
press briefing, Ban's acting deputy spokesman was asked if Ban would
be receiving an honorary degree, as Seton Hall itself had been
announcing since last week. Haq would not confirm it. But the speech,
even as embargoed, began with thanks for the award. Ah,
communications.
* * *
In
Haiti,
UN
Fires Into Crowds, Says Its Only Focus Is Future, Not How
Cholera Arrived
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
15 -- With protesters in Haiti
still blaming the UN for
the deadly cholera outbreak, and UN
peacekeepers
reportedly opening
fire on the crowds, at UN headquarters on Monday Inner City Press
asked the UN's interim humanitarian coordinator for Haiti Nigel
Fisher why the UN had not acted to fully investigate reports of UN
peacekeepers' roles in bringing or spreading the disease. Video here,
from
Minute
22:21.
“My focus is on
how to stop” the disease, Fisher replied. But even the UN's deputy
special envoy Paul Farmer denounced this approach, call it more
politics than science. Beyond being anti scientific, it appears in
this case that the UN's attempts to brush off complaints and not
fully investigate them has come back to haunt the UN, as suspicions
have only grown.
Inner
City
Press
asked when the last time cholera had been present in
Haiti. “There has never before been cholera in Haiti,” Fisher
answered.
Fisher
characterized
as
“political manipulation” the claims by the Mayor
of Mirebalais that the disease may have come from the UN Peacekeeping
base there, staffed by peacekeepers from Nepal. But the Centers for
Disease Control, even Fisher acknowledged Monday, said the strain is
a strain which originated in South Asia.
Nigel Fisher by video, facts on MINUSTAH role not
shown, (c) MRLee
Some
in
the UN
system say that even looking into the role of the peacekeepers from
Nepal is somehow racist. But political correctness can lead to riots
in which UN peacekeepers are shooting into crowds of Haitians. Which
is worse? Watch this site.
, 
