On
Libya,
Silence from
UN As Rebels
Take Tripoli:
Ban &
Khatib Not
Seen
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 22, 1
am EST -- As
Libyan rebels
swept into
Tripoli backed
by
air strikes
under United
Nations
Security
Council
resolution
1973,
"the Gadhafi
regime is
clearly
crumbling,"
said the
Secretary
General -- of
NATO, not of
the UN.
The
UN's Ban
Ki-moon,
assigned a
"coordinating"
role by
resolution
1973,
was entirely
silent on
developments
in Libya
during the
August 20-21
endgame. Even
the
International
Criminal Court
spoke up,
calling for
the turn-over
of Gaddafi's
son Said
al-Islam.
But
nothing
was
heard from Ban
Ki-moon,
nor from his
envoy to Libya
Al Khatib, who
was tasked
with
negotiating
between
Gaddafi and
the rebels. At
the
crucial
moment, the
mediator was
nowhere to be
seen. Some
wondered if
he was back in
Jordan, where
he was allowed
to remain a
sitting
Senator even
while
purportedly
serving only
the UN, under
the UN
charter.
Ban &
Khatib: in
crucial days,
not seen or
heard from
Alongside
the
moonlighting
Khatib, Ban
named
Britain's Ian
Martin to head
up UN
planning for a
"post-Gaddafi"
Libya. But
during the key
period,
nothing was
heard from
Martin, who
has resisted
requests for
months that he
brief the
press about
the UN's
plans.
If
Ban's UN is
irrelevant
during a UN
"coordinated"
overthrow of
regime in
Libya, where
is it
relevant?
Watch this
site.
*
* *
Amid
Conflicts in
Libya, Syria,
Sudan &
Kosovo, Horn
of Africa Famine,
UN Reduces
Q&A by
40%, Has
"Nothing to
Say"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 12 --
As the Arab
Spring turns
to a bloody
late summer,
and according
to the UN
famine spreads
in the Horn of
Africa, UN
headquarters
in New York
Friday
confirmed it
is moving to
reduce its
availability
to the press
by 40%.
With
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon back
in his native
South Korea,
Inner City
Press on
August 12
asked Ban's
acting deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq to
explain why
two of the
expected five
daily
briefings next
week, and
possible the
week after
that, are
being canceled
at this time.
Haq
replied that
there would be
"nothing to
say," and
accused Inner
City Press of
being the only
one "worried
about this one
way or
another,"
claiming to
have polled
journalists at
the UN and
gotten their
agreement to
cancel
briefings.
(See UN's
partial
transcription,
below).
Haq
refused to
provide any
details of his
polling; at a
press-related
event hosted
by the US
Mission to the
UN the evening
of August 11,
there were a
number of
complaints
about Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office
refusing to
even do a
daily ten
minute
briefing, as
Inner City
Press had
reported,
despite events
in the world.
Even
on the
questions
asked of Haq
on August 11,
few were
answered.
Inner City
Press asked
about the
reported
"buzzing" of
the Zam Zam
IDP camp in
Darfur by
Sudan's air
force. Haq had
no information
on this, and
said that
"some of these
reports have
not checked
out."
Three weeks
ago, UN
official Ivan
Simonovic said
that the UN's
human rights
report about
Southern
Kordofan in
Sudan, which
includes
descriptions
of Egyptian UN
peacekeepers
doing nothing
as civilians
were kiled,
would be
formally
released "in
two weeks."
Inner City
Press asked
Haq to explain
the delay, one
week and
counting. Haq
said it isn't
delay, he'll
announce when
it's released.
In the
Security
Council, there
are countries
dissatisfied
by the UN's
delay, and
trying to get
emergency
meetings of
the Council.
The
Secretariat's
lackadaisical
delay and
Haq's
statement that
these weeks
there's
"nothing to
say" sends a
message: there
is no
emergency, or
even urgency.
Any
response to
letters to Ban
from municipal
officials in
Northern
Kosovo? No,
Haq said, the
letters are
being
"studied."
Haq at
briefing on
Haiti,
responses to
Qs not shown:
nothing to
say?
For
months Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office claimed
that a letter
from the New
York State
AFL-CIO then a
group of
Congresspeople
about UN
attacks on the
broadcast
engineers'
union was
"being
studied." On
August 12, Haq
confirmed
Inner City
Press' August
11 report that
seven more
engineers are
being laid
off, on top of
17 other posts
lost, as a
"cost cutting"
move.
Inner
City Press
asked Haq if
the 40%
reduction in
briefings is a
cost cutting
move. Haq
replied that
it's "standard
procedure."
But what about
Ban Ki-moon's
repeated
canned claim
to be "deeply
concerned"
about the loss
of civilian
lives in a
conflict in
Libya in which
under Security
Council
resolution
1973 Ban is to
have a
coordinating
role? Because
it's August
(Haq said
Ban's lead
spokesman is
out to August
29) -- and
Ramadan --
will there be
"nothing to
say" about
that?
In
fact, at least
in Syria and
Libya, it has
been said that
"every day
will be
protest Friday
during
Ramadan." Is
this the time
for the UN to
cancel
briefings and
press question
and answer
sessions?
Inner
City Press
asked, asks
and will
continue
asking, what
is the problem
with devoting
a ten minute
briefing each
week day to
answering
questions?
Watch this
site.
Here's
the UN's
transcription
of its August
12, 2011, noon
briefing,
for video
click here.
, 
