UN
Peacekeepers
Win Raise,
After
Push-Back, to
$1332 then
$1410
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 3 --
Three days
after the UN
Budget
Committee went
late into the
night without
agreement on
how much to
(under) pay
peacekeepers,
on the morning
of July 3
sources told
Inner City
Press the deal
was reached,
and before the
noon briefing,
Inner City Press
published :
$1332
(+$10), 2nd
year, $1365,
3rd yr $1410
(2017)
This was an
increase to
the "partner
countries''"
low ball offer
of $1150 then
$1250, on both
of which Inner
City Press
reported.
Defending this
dissing of
peacekeepers
had been none
other than UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row atop DPKO.
He spun about
cutting costs
in Darfur,
where he's
accused of
covering-up,
and in Haiti
where he
previously
supported the
ouster of
Aristide.
During
the Budget
Committee vote
early on the afternoon
of July 3,
Ladsous sat in
the front then
left mid-session
for a meeting
with Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon it was
said. What on?
In the Budget
or Fifth
Committee, the
only recorded
votes were on
requests in
the UNIFIL
(Lebanon)
resolution for
Israel to re-pay
for the Qana
attack in
1996. In the Fifth
Committee,
only four
voted against
this: the US,
Canada, Israel
and Palau.
(This fell to
three in the
full General
Assembly: Palau
did not vote).
In the full
General
Assembly,
after the
Office of UN
Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric had
closed down
for the three
day July 4
weekend, Syria
slammed Ban's
reports on
UNDOF.
India and
Pakistan noted
the belated
raise in
peacekeeper
pay
(Pakistan's
Permanent
Representative
Masood Khan
had spoken in
the morning on
command and
contro). India's
representative
advised the
partners not
to come back
in four years
talking about
another
financial
crisis. And
then it was
over.
Back
on June 30,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
it:
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Matthew?
Inner
City Press:
Sure, I want
to ask about
troop
reimbursement
and also this
Sunday press
encounter.
the
Secretary-General
had a Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
which suggest…
which proposed
that
peacekeepers
get $1,700 a
month.
There was a
survey
done.
And now, it
seems like
it’s come down
to a deadline,
in which
rather than
$1,700, the
donor
countries are
offering
$1,250.
And I wanted
to know, since
it was the
Secretary-General’s
own Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping,
did he think
that Group is
credible?
Did he think
the $1,700
number is a
reasonable
one? And
does he think
that $1,250 is
sufficient for
peacekeepers?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I think, you
know, those
numbers… the
work of the
Senior
Advisory Group
came up with
what it came
up with.
These
discussions
now are deep
in the heart
of the Fifth
Committee,
being
discussed
amongst Member
States, and I
think that’s
where I will
leave it for
the time
being.
Ah,
leadership.
On the evening
on June 30 UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve
Ladsous, who
refuses to
answer Press
questions,
dissembled
behind closed
doors to the
Fifth
Committee, as
several
representatives
told Inner
City Press.
Ladsous
pontificated
about his
visit to Haiti
- and said he
would further
cut back the
mission in
Darfur, where
his UN
Peacekeeping
is already
accused of
covering up
killings.
"He's gotta
go," one
representative
said, and
others agreed.
But this is
the UN.
Now Inner City
Press hears
that Ban
himself may be
headed to
Haiti this
month - as
luck would
have it, to
open a
football (or
soccer)
stadium. Watch
this site.
, 
