UN
Spokesman Dismisses Haiti & Labor Questions,
Tells Press to “Shut Up”
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 18 -- Asked questions about the promotion
and then
disappearance on “Special Leave” of the son in law of UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky has
for
days told Inner City Press to “ask the UN Office of Project
Services.”
Ban's
son in law
Siddharth Chatterjee was in mid 2009 made the Middle East chief of
UNOPS. This month, Inner City Press was told by UNOPS sources that
Chatterjee quietly left once he was asked for his educational
credentials, and after being described
by co-workers as “the
furniture” for lack of effectiveness.
On
March 17, after
Nesirky during the UN noon media briefing refused to answer a
question from Inner City Press by saying it should be dealt with
outside of the briefing, Nesirky approached Inner City Press in the
UN hallway between the briefing room and the Security
Council meeting
about Libya.
Nesirky
said to
Inner City Press, “you should have a little sense of proportion,
the bulk of the briefing was you asking questions.”
Inner
City Press
had asked Nesirky five questions, ranging from Sudan and Myanmar to
hiring practices, a statement
by Ban about UN rubble removal in Haiti
which Nesirky's office “amended” with out explanation, and about
the impending pay decrease
or firing on March 28 of elevator
operators at the UN.
Nesirky
in the
hall said, “You asked a question about elevators when the rest of
the world is wondering about nuclear meltdown and wondering what's
happening in Cote
d'Ivoire to tens of thousands of people.”
Just
this month,
Inner City Press has asked questions about UN labor changes under Ban
which are opposed
by the UN Staff Union, the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and now the elevator
operators,
all without any answers from Nesirky.
Inner
City Press
said to Nesirky, referring to the questions
about Ban's son in law,
“The UNOPS one, you know they didn't write me back.”
Nesirky
said,
“They won't.”
“Then why do
you
publicly refer me to UNOPS, when you know they won't answer?”
“People don't
want to deal with you,” Nesirky said.
While
the current
UN leadership seems unwilling to answer investigative questions, just
over the past week for example, the Permanent
Representative of India
to the UN called Inner City Press to answer a question, and earlier
on March 18, the IMF answered Inner City Press questions about
Zimbabwe.
“I'm going to
head back to the Security Council,” Inner City Press said turning
away, “where people do seem want to deal with me.” During the
Libya meeting, Inner City Press got answers from French foreign
minister Alain
Juppe and diplomats from Lebanon and
Libya, among
others.
Nesirky
called
after Inner City Press, “if you were concerned about elevator
people, I feel for people too.” Saying "I'm choosing my words very
carefully here," he continued that he didn't want to
criticize the Office of the Spokesperson staff traveling with Ban
until he learned why the statement on Haiti had been amended.
Inner
City Press
said while that argument had some merit, given how rare or even
unprecedented it is to label a revised transcript “amended”
instead of “as delivered,” Nesirky might have checked it that
morning, before being asked.
“Shut up,”
Nesirky said.
Ban & Nesirky, questions about Haiti, son in law and
elevator operators not shown
After
a pause,
Inner City Press said “When you have the answer about why your
office 'amended' the Haiti answer, just e-mail me.”
In
fact, Nesirky and his Office
have allowed dozens of questions ranging from Sri Lanka
to budget and contracting
irregularities to Sudan to the UN offering
free flights to an indicted war criminal to build up
without offering answers or even acknowledging the e-mailed
questions.
Back in
the summer of 2010, he publicly swore at Inner
City Press. In January
2011, he told Inner City Press he wouldn't
answer any more of its questions.
Inner
City Press
said, then and now, that it does not believe Nesirky is doing his
job.
“This is
unacceptable,” Nesirky said, concluding “I'm going to have to
bring this up with UNCA,” the UN Correspondents Association. Watch
this site.
Update: Nesirky and
his office have still not provided any answers to the Haiti
"amendment," Ban son in law, elevator operator or other questions, 19
hours after Nesirky said he would get the Haiti answer.
* * *
On
Haitian
Rubble,
UN Ban's Estimate Is Amended Overnight, Downplaying
Cholera
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March
17 -- Bragging to Central American leaders about the
UN's performance in post-earthquake Haiti on March 16, Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon said that “by the end of this year we expect
roughly half the rubble is being reused, recycled or disposed of an
an increasing rate.”
At
least this is
what Ban's spokesperson's office e-mailed out to the Press at 6:56 pm
on March 16.
Eight
hours
later
at 3:10 am on March 17, Ban's office sent a new version of his
Guatemala City remarks, this time portraying Ban has having said only
that “The rubble is being reused, recycled or disposed of at an
increasing rate.”
Did
Ban's
expectation for “roughly half the rubble” change overnight? The
new version was labeled “amended,” as if Ban and his remarks were
a Constitution or draft resolution such as the one on Libya
Ban was
missing during his Central American foray.
Ban & his Libya envoy
al-Khatib in 2007: who's underestimating?
Earlier
on
March
16, Inner City Press had asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky for the
UN's response to criticism published that day in The Lancet, saying
that the UN had under-estimated Haitian cases of cholera by nearly
100%.
Both
are
just
estimates, Nesirky replied reading from notes. So what was wrong
about the estimate about “roughly half the rubble” that Ban
reportedly said in Guatemala City? Watch this site.
Update: on the UN's
panel on cholera in Haiti, and its causes, Inner City Press on March 16
asked Nesirky when the report will finally be ready, and if it will be
public. Late March or early April, he said, and yes. We'll see.
Ban in
another foray this year, to Los Angeles, did a "Facebook townhall
meeting" about Haiti with the band Linkin Park in which cholera in
Haiti and its causes were barely discussed.
In a recent
interview, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park explained the session: "we got
an email from the UN. They were asking if we wanted to do a meeting
wiht the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon."
With
Libya on fire, and Haiti under-estimated, who is Ban e-mailing now?
, 
