UN Says It Will Only Help in Bhutto Investigation if Musharraf Makes Request

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 2 -- A week after the killing of Benazir Bhutto, from Pakistan there are many requests for UN involvement in investigating the assassination. At UN headquarters on Wednesday, spokesperson Michele Montas was asked if the UN will get involved. Only if requested, she said. Inner City Press asked who the request would have to come from -- could it only be made by Pervez Musharraf, whose role would be one of the subjects of any credible investigation? The request would have to come from "the executive branch," Ms. Montas said. Video here, from Minute 11:18. She added that to such a request, the Secretary-General  "would respond... it wouldn't have to be the Security Council," which was the UN body which authorized an investigation of the assassination of Rafiq Hariri in Lebanon.

   But when pressed what she meant by the UN "responding," it became clear that it might be limited to simply responding to a letter with another letter. "I can't answer a hypothetical questions," Ms. Montas insisted. But given the postponement of the elections, questions of who can make a request, and how the UN would respond, are questions that should be answered.

            The response of the U.S., at least of the Bush administration, is now known: the UN need not be involved, since Musharraf has invited the UK's Scotland Yard. But why wasn't that done, for example, after the death of Rafiq Hariri? In fact, Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who reportedly was to meet with Bhutto about her complaints that Pakistan's ISI was planning to rig the election, was said by Reuters to have written to

"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask that he appoint an investigating commission that could include agencies like Scotland Yard and the FBI. 'It is obvious that a UN investigation would have greater public credibility,' Specter said. The United Nations is ready to help if Pakistan asks, but Musharraf's government has made no such request, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said."

            That's just the issue, the request being limited to a suspect in the case. Did Sudan's president al-Bashir ask for UN peacekeepers in Darfur? Click here for Inner City Press' story today on Darfur.

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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