On
Feltman Staying Atop
UN DPA, ICP Asks Nikki
Haley If US
Supports, She Says Yes
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 22 – When US
Ambassador to the UN Nikki
Haley spoke to the press on
February 16, she questioned
why the UN Security Council
meets every month about
Palestine.
Inner City
Press, returning from the UN
noon briefing where it asked
about UN corruption, asked or
tried to ask Ambassador Haley
if the US supports the UN's
decision to extend the
contract of Obama-nominee
Jeffrey Feltman atop the UN
Department of Political
Affairs through April 2018. Video here.
Now on
February 22, Inner City Press
got a second chance to ask the
question to Ambassador Haley
and did: Is the US comfortable
with Jeffrey Feltman staying
on at DPA? Ambassador Haley,
on the steps in front of the
Security Council, said "Yes."
Video
here.
The answer
is appreciated - we've
provided it directly to
Feltman and will report as
always any substantive
comments received. Next USUN
questions include when and
with whom replacements atop
UNICEF and the World Food
Program will come. Watch this
site.
The US
blocked UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' nomination
of the Palestinian Authority's
Salam Fayyad to be UN envoy to
Libya.
Inner City Press asked the UN
about the nomination earlier on
February 10, noting that its
sources told it the nomination
was really by Jeffrey Feltman,
the Obama administration's
appointee to head the UN
Department of Political Affairs.
Can Feltman stay on, given the
new Administration in
Washington?
Did Antonio
Guterres err in nominating the
PA's Fayyed on February 8, then
heading out on a 12-day trip
just as the US expressed
disappointment and blocked the
nomination?
Nikky Haley, US Permanent
Representative to the UN,
issued a statement on the
evening of February 10 that
“The United States was
disappointed to see a letter
indicating the intention to
appoint the former Palestinian
Authority Prime Minister to
lead the UN Mission in Libya.
For too long the UN has been
unfairly biased in favor of
the Palestinian Authority to
the detriment of our allies in
Israel. The United States does
not currently recognize a
Palestinian state or support
the signal this appointment
would send within the United
Nations, however, we encourage
the two sides to come together
directly on a solution. Going
forward the United States will
act, not just talk, in support
of our allies.”
That the UN would
be naming a successor as its
Libya envoy to Martin Kobler
of Germany was reported
by Inner City Press in
December along with the name
of one of the candidates, the
UK's Nick Kay.
Later,
after Antonio Guterres took
office at Secretary General, a
Permanent Member of the
Security Council confirmed to
Inner City Press the candidacy
of Kay adding that there was
"another strong candidate"
while declining to name that
candidate.
Guterres
has written to the Security
Council that "following the
usual consultations" he is
giving the post to longtime
Palestinian Authority
politician Salam Fayyad, some
are asking of just what these
consultations consisted.
Already
significant forces in Libya
are opposing the nomination;
others are linking it to
Jeffrey Feltman, the Obama
Administration's head of UN
Political Affairs who has
arranged to stay on until July
4 so that his UN pension
vests. How will this sit with
Washington?
On
February 10, Inner City Press
asked the UN spokesman, Transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
there's a silence
procedure. Right?
Because the letter dated 8
February is out, and it says
that António Guterres,
following the usual
consultations, is… is
proposing Salam Fayyad as the
new… I mean, people have seen
the letter. So I guess
what I'm wondering is, what
were these
consultations? Did he
speak to the US Mission?
Did he speak to people in
control in Benghazi? Can
you give some sense… I guess
there's already some
questioning of this, and I'm
wondering, what
consultations? Is it
only with the Security Council
or with others?
Deputy Spokesman:
There's a normal process of
consultations that occurs when
envoys are selected, and part
of that policy for envoys that
report to the Security Council
involves informing the
Security Council. That's
the only real detail I'd be
able to share at this stage.
The
president of the Security
Council, Ukraine, told Inner
City Press silence expires at
5 pm on February 10...
They note
that the Trump administration,
in its draft
Executive Order,
proposes cutting US funding to
any UN entity which allows the
Palestinian Authority as a
member, and is discussing
cutting funding to the PA. Was
the US
Mission to the UN
consulted? Which Mission?
And what
of Nick Kay, formerly UN envoy
to Somalia, now back with the
US FCO? Does Kobler return
immediately to the German
foreign service, where he
still has a position as he
told Inner City Press when
questioned about his
predecessor at UNSMIL
Bernardino Leon selling out to
the UAE diplomatic academy?
What Under Secretary General
post will Germany get in the
UN? Watch this site.
***
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