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Banning the Olympics, UN Chief Prefers
Beijing in July to Heat of August 8, Questions Persist
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
April 15 -- With
attention mounting on which world leaders are not going to the Beijing
Olympics
opening ceremony on August 8 and why, UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon's excuse
was made slightly more specific on Tuesday. Inner City Press asked
Ban's
director of political affairs Lynn Pascoe if there were any political
ramifications to Ban's not going. He is "going to China at a time" he
can have "serious discussions with China," Pascoe said, adding with
apparent annoyance, "The Secretary-General is very straight forward on
the
issue." Video here,
from Minute 2:13.
But
Ban's spokesperson declined to confirm that he will visit Beijing and
Seoul in
connection with the G-8 meeting in Japan in July. And when Deputy
Spokesperson
Marie Okabe answered
Inner City Press' question last week about whether Ban had
been invited to, and would attend, the opening ceremony, she said
only that Ban
"conveyed to the Chinese Government some months ago
that he may not
be in a position to accept the invitation to attend this important
event due to scheduling issues." She declined
to say that the scheduling issues were, and the
phrase became something of a joke worldwide, being rephrased as a "diary
clash" in the British press.
Pascoe
added, "you had a chance to ask the Secretary General" the question
earlier in the day, when Ban took ten minutes of questions between a
lunch and
a three o'clock meeting, his first press availability at UN
Headquarters in four weeks, since March 17. But time was
short; Inner City Press which was going to ask the question and kept
hand
raised through the ten minutes was not called on. Hours
later at the same spot, Inner City Press asked Pascoe as head of UN
political affairs if the reaction to the Olympics no-show announcement
had been somehow unforeseen by the UN. "I'm not going to
restate the Secretary
General's answers," Pascoe said. But there has still not been an answer
directly from Ban Ki-moon.
Messrs. Ban and Pascoe on UN's 38th floor,
Olympic plans not shown
That the issue should be addressed should not even
require a question. Ban Ki-moon has said the UN should better explain
what it does and why. Now then is the time. Tuesday
evening, rather than at the UN, Ban's plans included the Korea Society,
and meeting with his country's new
president Lee Myung-bak. This meeting was not listed on Ban's public
schedule.
Perhaps plans for the July trip to Seoul -- and, for now at least,
Beijing too
-- will be discussed. Watch this space.
Footnote: Tuesday's Ban Ki-moon stakeout was
carefully choreographed. A music stand was set up, to
rest his notes on. One wonders if Ban is even told these things. A side
table was brought out with a pitcher of water and a
glass, covered with a napkin. The water was brought up from a room in
the UN
basement, and was reportedly pre-tasted.
The mandate is no ice. Like Beijing on August 8, Ban
likes his water
warm.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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
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