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UN Base in Spain Still Is Not Approved, Despite Photo-Op
of Castle Made of Sand
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
July 31 -- In Spain on November 17
of last year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the Spanish
Vice-President "unveil[ed]
a plaque at the site of the future United Nations Peacekeeping
Logistics
Base." To the Spanish media and people, it was implied that the
approvals
and funding were in place. The message in context was that President
Zapatero's
donations to and support of the UN were bearing fruit; "Bambi is
bringing
home the bacon," as one wag put it, using one of Zapatero's nicknames.
There is a
problem, however: there had and has been no approval of the funding or
location
of this UN Peacekeeping Logistics Base. This week the UN confirmed that
it was not approved in May, despite the "expectation" that it would be.
Now it is envisioned it will be approved, if at all, in the next
General Assembly session.
On April 7,
Inner City Press e-mailed the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
(DPKO) "as asked at today's
noon
briefing,
what are the specifics of the planned peacekeeping logistics base in
Valencia,
Spain, when was it proposed and has it been approved by the General
Assembly?
If so, was it approved before November 2007?"
DKPO's
spokesman replied on April 9 that
"The
Valencia site will be
utilized to provide ICT services to UN peace operations. In conjunction
with
current operations in UNLB (Brindisi), the creation of this secondary
active
telecommunications facility will mitigate the single point of failure
risk that
exists in our current infrastructure and will ensure the safety of
peace
operations' information/data assets in the event of a catastrophic
incident. It
will also provide continuous voice, data and video services to field
missions
in case of short-term disruptions. The
proposal to establish this
facility is
with the General Assembly and it is our expectation it will be taken up
in the
second resumed session."
This
"second resumed session" took place in May 2008. But why, then, did Ban
jump the gun and along with Spanish Vice President Maria Teresa
Fernandez de la Vega unveil a plaque in Valencia in November 2007,
which
the UN
captioned as Ban and the Vice President "unveil a plaque at the site of
the future United Nations Peacekeeping Logistics Base." How could he be
so
sure?
In fact, the proposal was
not even approved at the May 2008 budget session.
Ban and Spain's VP unveiled plaque at "future home" - GA approval still
not shown
To confirm, Inner
City Press again asked DPKO to explain, and received this week in
return a similar statement, but for the addition of a paragraph
portraying the siting decision as having been competitive and adding at
the end that DPKO again "envisions" that it will be approved -- in the
next General Assembly session:
On the Valencia site:
The establishment of a secondary active telecommunications facility is
being
sought to provide additional and complementary capacity for the
information and
communication technology infrastructure currently in place in the
United
Nations Logistics Base (UNLB) in Brindisi, Italy. The proposed facility
will be
utilized to provide ICT services to UN peace operations and will
operate in
conjunction with current operations in UNLB to ensure the safety of UN'
data
assets in the event of a catastrophic incident. It will also
serve to
provide continuous voice, data and video services to UN missions in
cases of
short-term disruptions.
In July 2006, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
submitted
requests to 43 Member states (located within a predefined geographical
area
translating into a satellite footprint) to submit proposals to the host
the
facility. Several Countries, including Spain, submitted firm proposals.
Following an exhaustive selection process, the proposal submitted by
the
Government of Spain to establish the facility in Valencia was selected
as
meeting all of the selection criteria, while also representing the most
advantageous offer to meet this requirement for the Organization.
The request to the General Assembly for approval to establish the
facility is
currently being reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Administrative
and
Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) as part of a comprehensive review of the
Secretariat's information and communications technology. It is envisaged
that the proposal, along with the ACABQ’s recommendation, will be
considered by
the General Assembly during the main part of its Sixty-Third session.
So
the Secretary-General apparently jumped the gun in November 2007; DKPO
was incorrect in its "expectation" of approval in May 2008, but now
"envisions" approval in the next session of the General Assembly.
Watch this site.
And
this --
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