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On Eve of Asia Trip, Ban Speaks Without Mentioning Sudan, Somalia or the Congo, Corruption Questions Unanswered

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 -- On the eve of a two week trip to Asia, including South Korea, China and Japan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stress three issues to the press, and took nine questions, then sped off. He did not mention, even once, Sudan, Darfur, Chad, Somalia or the Congo.

  Ban stood in front of the UN Security Council, whose members this month visits these hot spots, with the exception of Somalia which was considered too dangerous. But from this rare press availability, it appears that Ban is ever more disconnected from the peace and security work of the Council. UN peacekeepers stood by while the Sudanese town of Abyei was burned. Their inactivity has widely been questioned, but Ban did not take a question on the topic, nor address it in the prepared remarks he read off note cards.

   Humanitarian groups have pulled out of sections of Eastern Congo where militias, which the UN has discussed disarming but in fact fled from, have targeted internally displaced people and aid workers, in a country in which the UN spends over $1 billion a year. But Ban did not mention the Congo.

   The questioning began with a plea that rather than these infrequently "stand up" interviews in front of the Security Council, Ban sit down for an hour's questioning, as his predecessor did. There were murmurs of agreement from reporters, but no response from Team Ban, represented by the Spokesperson, the de facto chief advisor and the Chief of Communications. Their focus on Ban's interface with the press has centered on furniture: the music stand he's said to need to rest his notes on, the table for his water glass, this time speckled with white liquid. The fancy rostrum, one reporter joked, may have been flown ahead to Seoul.

  The spokesperson asked, who wants to ask a question about Zimbabwe? When one reporter obliged, Ban gave a prepared response. Likewise on the six party talks about North Korea, which Ban called "encouraging." A copy of his response was offered, 15 minutes after he left, by the spokesperson's office.

  A reporter from the Balkans, specifically Croatia, was called on as "Kosovo" by the spokesperson. When some reporters laughed, it was explained that was what he would ask about. Whether profiling or prescreening, this makes the omissions of Ban's 25 minute press conference, before leaving for two weeks, attributable to Team Ban.

   It has been explained to Inner City Press that some questions, for example about the UN's $250 million no-bid contract with U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin, or about whistleblowers' revelations about UN peacekeepers giving weapons back to militiamen in exchange for gold, are too specific for Mr. Ban, and should be directed elsewhere. But of two weeks of questions asked at the UN's noon briefing since returning from the Council's Africa trip, more than half have not been answered.

Ban Ki-moon from a great height, on last trip, answers not shown

   For example, just in the first three days back from the Africa trip, on June 11 fresh off the plane questions about child soldiers recruited by the Justice and Equality Movement, and about the Lockheed contract, were asked, but have yet to be answered.

Inner City Press: What’s the UN going to do, given that there are 89 child soldiers in the custody of the Sudanese?  Is there any attempt to get them released?

Spokesperson:  I'll ask that question for you.

Inner City Press: The other question has to do with the Lockheed-Martin PAE contract.  While there, the Sudanese said the UN had asked for a three-month extension of the contract, which they granted until July, but their position was that there would be no more extensions and no visas would be given to Lockheed personnel.  What's the process for the UN giving a contract to a new contractor, since Sudan won't give more visas?

Spokesperson:  This question should be directed to peacekeeping, but I'll find out for you. 

  The waiting continues. So too on question the next day, June 12, about peacekeeping and corruption:

Inner City Press: there's a report that a man by the name of Alain Le Roy is going to become the new head of Peacekeeping Operations, that his name has been forwarded by France as their candidate.  Is that something you can comment on?

Spokesperson:  Not at this point.  I’ve read the reports, like you have, but I don’t have any response.

Inner City Press: Also, there's a report put out yesterday by the ACABQ that responded to the Secretary-General’s report on the DPKO/DFS (Department of Field Services) split.  Their report is pretty critical.  They said they expected more transparency, that the roles between DPKO and DFS are still not well defined.  What’s the response of the Secretariat to that?

Spokesperson:  We have to wait.  ACABQ has sent that report and, of course, there will be formal answers to the States.

Question:  Also, there's a report today, that the procurement task force report on the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and Mr. Bertucci has become public.  And supposedly it says the DESA Thessalonica Centre is a long-standing controversy.  And it states that, as reported, Mr. Bertucci was grossly negligent and had big problems in the hiring of contractors.  He then was quoted in the newspapers as saying he’s been entirely exonerated.  What’s the status of that report and is something going to be decided before he retires in six weeks in terms of either discipline or no discipline?

Spokesperson:  I’ll check on that for you.

  This waiting also continues, as Mr. Bertucci approaches retirement and taking his pension. In fact, he was listed as the sponsor of a concert in the UN on June 23.

   Increasingly, one hears member states wondering why Ban Ki-moon is gone all the time.  One place he went was Myanmar, but on that, too, answers are not given. From June 13

Inner City Press; There's a report in the Washington Post today that the Government of Myanmar, a week after the hurricane hit, started giving large parcels of land in the delta to business people described as cronies of the regime.  Is the UN aware of that report and how would this modify the UN approach to Myanmar?

Spokesperson:  I don’t think we have an independent report on that so I cannot confirm or deny.  We can try to look into it, but I don’t know whether our teams on the ground have been able to assess that.  But we can check, of course, for you.

  But nothing has been said.  The above are example from only three consecutive days. To be continued, until at least some of these questions are taken and answered.

Note: Ban will make one more appearance before select media in New York in advance is his trip. Thursday night at the Japan Society, in an event cosponsored by the Korea Society, Ban will discuss... "contributions from North East Asia."

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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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