As
UN Budget
Talks Hit
Midnight,
Grumbles of
Strike and
Where Torsella
Is, Monthe
Says SPMs
& Numbers
Will Come
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 22 --
It was past 10
pm on the
Thursday
before
Christmas and
at the UN the
budget
committee
was in full
swing. "We
will arrive at
the number,"
Fifth
Committee
chairman Tommo
Monthe of
Cameroon told
Inner City
Press as he
paced slowly
by the Vienna
Cafe in a
pinstriped
suit with
broad lapel.
He said that
at midnight,
negotiations
would start
again about
the "Common
system," then
about the
Special
Political
Missions such
as that in
Libya.
The
representative
of a major
developing
country told
Inner City
Press, "in the
negotiation
about the
numbers, the
substance of
the debate
should be be
forgotten."
Whereas
a number of
representatives
complained
that US Ambassador
for Management
Joe Torsella,
who loudly argued that
the
Committee's
opening budget
session should
be televised,
was not here
for crunch
time. "Steve
is here," one
said.
"Though I
haven't seen
Torsella,"
said another,
"maybe he is
still here."
In
fact, Torsella
tweeted
earlier on
Wednesday
about pushing
for "real
saving and
real reforms,"
and hoping to
make it home
in time for
Christmas.
(Ban Ki-moon's
office was
asked on
Thursday for a
simple reform:
to make public
when Ban
accepts
material
support from
particular
member states,
for example
from Qatar for
recent
travel.)
Back in
October,
Torsella
predicted the
Committee
would finish
by December
20, allowing
him to return
to
Pennsylvania
in time to
cook a "dinner
of the seven
fishes" -- click here
for that.
"Torsella
kicks
the ball from
time to time,"
one delegate
said with a
smile. "And
this is his
only job. He
is like an
umbrella. When
it is not
raining, you
put him in the
closet."
The
US and Japan
were
identified as
major players,
to which
"moral"
arguments were
made. "The EU
is like the
G77, unwieldy
to get a
decision," a
delegate said.
Earlier
on Thursday,
there was talk
among UN staff
about going on
strike, if the
numbers were
too low. Many
delegates
sympathized.
"You can't
make tens of
thousands of
people justify
their jobs
every year,"
one said.
"It's like you
don't trust
them."
UN
North Lawn,
Dec 22, 2011
at 10 pm,
Torsella not
shown (c)
MRLee
For
the diplomats
engaged in
this annual
ritual,
aluminum trays
of food were
served. On
Wednesday
night, the
provider was
Monthe; on
Thursday he
said it was
"someone from
the President
of the General
Assembly's
office."
It was past 11
pm. "We will
work all
night," Tomo
Monthe told
Inner City
Press. Watch
this site.
, 
