US
Owes UN $795M,
Brazil $75M,
First 2 in GA,
Peacekeeping
Shorts Rwanda
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 9 --
It's an annual
ritual, the UN
Controller's
report to
member states
on who much
they owe and
are owned. But
Wednesday
morning in the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee,
Controller
Yukio
Takasu flashed
a slide of the
two biggest
"deadbeats" in
paying the UN.
The
US owes $795
million; the
second
slowest-payer
is Brazil, at
$75
million. The
irony is that
these were the
first two
speakers at
the
UN's General
Debate in late
September.
(Brazil's
Dilma Rousseff
slammed
the US for
spying; Obama
delivered a
lecture light
of Africa,
click here
for Inner City
Press review.)
Some
wonder: should
you speak
first, if you
pay last?
Takasu
also
fleetingly
disclosed the
growing
shortfall in
or
underpayment
to
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to
hold the
position.
At
the end of
2012, states
had not paid
UN
Peacekeeping
$2.1 billion.
Now? Takasu
put the figure
at $3.4
billion. It
seems fair to
ask if
among the
reasons might
not be
declining
confidence in
Ladsous.
Certainly, the
news
of Ladsous'
lack of
responsiveness
has now spread
beyond the UN
-- click here
for an article
in yesterday's
New
Statesman in
the UK.
Ladsous
is
a deadbeat,
too. Given Ladsous'
history in the
Great Lakes
region
-- click here
for that
-- it is
problematic
that UN
Peacekeeping
owns
$37 million to
Rwanda,
seemingly its
highest
per-capita
debt.
UN
Peacekeeping
also owns
India $80
million,
Ethiopia $54
million,
Bangladesh $50
million and
Pakistan $49
million. It's
a South Asian
thing - plus
Abyei, the
entire
peacekeeping
mission in
which Ethiopia
runs.
After
Takasu's
presentation,
Inner City
Press asked
him off-camera
about a
story it's
working on
involving
stealthy
Qatari funding
(Inner City
Press has
asked if Saudi
Arabia will be
solicited too,
a form of
competition
like in Syria
and Egypt, and
also for
transparency).
We'll have
more on this.
Watch this
site.
, 
