UN
Won't Answer
on Costs of
Ban Ki-moon
Travel,
Refused Q on
Scandals
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 30 --
Ban Ki-moon's
tenure as UN
Secretary
General became
embroiled in
one scandal
after another
in 2015 -- but
at his
“year-end”
press
conference he
refused to
answer a Press
question
directly on
it. Video
here and
embedded
below. Vine
here.
Now with
Ban off on a
"private"
visit to
Vienna,
tweeted by the
UN Office
there, the UN
has yet to
answer Inner
City Press'
simple
question about
the cost(s):
"With regard
to the
Secretary
General's
current trip
to Vienna,
tweeted by the
UN there, for
purposes of
transparency
including in
light of the
indictment of
ex-UNPGA John
Ashe and the
new PGA's
disclosures,
what are the
costs to the
UN budget, and
what are the
other costs
and who is
paying them?"
Hours
later, on a UN
work day, no
answer. Rather
than answer
Press
questions on
the scandal
and how the UN
might be
reformed -
Inner City
Press asked
again on
December 28 -
Ban has given
friendly
interviews on
his work on
climate
change.
Meanwhile
Ban's head of
peacekeeping,
refusing all
Press
questions, is
"interviewed"
only by the
UN's own UN
News Center -
after not only
the CAR
rape cover ups
but now Burundi
threatening
attacks on
peacekeepers.
(Ladsous
has said he's
"pragmatic" on
human rights.)
Ban's envoy to
Libya Bernardino
Leon was
exposed by
leaks as
having taken
instructions
and then a job
from the
United Arab
Emirates.
And Ban's head
of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve
Ladsous,
is listed in
UN Dispute
Tribunal
documents as
having tried
to cover up
child rapes in
Central
African
Republic by
peacekeepers
from his
native France.
Inner
City Press,
which Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric did
not call on
despite
calling two
separate times
on the same UN
Correspondents
Association
scribe, asked
audibly, “Do
you have any
update on the
John Ashe
indictment?
Bernardino
Leon? These
were major
developments
this year.” Vine here.
But Ban
refused to
answer the
question. He
walked out of
the briefing
room, shaking
hands scribes.
The press
conference
began with
Dujarric
setting aside
the first
question for
the head of
UNCA, who
thanked Ban
for attending
an event on
Wall Street for
which UNCA
charged $6,000
to sit with
Ban. This
is the UN
Corruption
Association.
A
question on or
to cover up
the sexual
abuse scandal
was arranged,
with Agence
France Presse
congratulating
Ban for this
response to
the sexual
abuse scandal.
(Senegalese
Babacar Gaye
was urged to
resign,
Ladsous who on
camera linked
the rapes to
“R&R," video here, remains in
place.)
Ban read out a
wan answer on
Burundi;
his deputy
spokeperson
refused an
Inner City
Press question
on Burundi at
the previous
day's noon
briefing.
We'll have
more on this.
Ban once
promised
monthly press
conference but
his last one
was three
months before,
then nine
months before
that. On
September 16
with the UN
being less
than
successful in
mediating in Yemen
and Libya,
Syria and
South Sudan,
accused of
rapes in
Central
African
Republic and
killing 8,000
in Haiti with
cholera (after
40,000 died in
Sri
Lanka with
little
response from
the UN),
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
asked, What is
your legacy?
Dujarric
himself cut
off Inner City
Press
questions on
what Ladsous
said, and
declined to
answer on
Reddit in an
“Ask Me
Anything.” (He
didn't say
he's ANSWER
everything,
one wag
pointed out.)
But
even beyond
the scandals,
Ban did not in
his opening
statement
mention
Somalia, or
CAR, or
Darfur; none
of the
questions
selected by
Dujarric was
about Africa.
(One wire
points out
Africa was
part of a
UN-at-70
question;
noted.)
Inner City
Press also
tried to ask
about Burundi
-- nothing -
and South
Sudan, on
which we are
preparing a
story.
It was
Voice of
America with
the “What is
your legacy”
question. Ban
said he'd
answer next
year. Inner
City Press
might answer
sooner. Watch
this site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
