Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

For Gambari, From Iraq Swan Song to Darfur on Thursday, UN in Transition

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- With the UN in transition, its Ibrahim Gambari's losing his job in Iraq. Monday was the swan song, in a standing room only conference room in the UN's new North Lawn building.

  The Press was invited to attend, but was then told it had to leave after Gambari's speech. "Good turn out," Inner City Press complimented the staff. The response, delivered with pride, was"Seventy Ambassadors!"

Well placed sources say "they had to call around to get the Ambassador to come." Several came late, and UN staff asked non Permanent Representatives to give up their seats. The Palestinian Observer, for example, displaced a lower ranked Asian. The Observer swept in half an hour later, with his Egyptian counterpart. Presumably the walling off of Gaza was not being discussed.

  Gambari recounted how Iraq's leadership came to resent the International Compact with Iraq, to feel it was a test whose questions had to be answered. Iraq's Ambassador said he wished Gambari had added that Iraq had passed the test.

  While Inner City Press and a TV station filming were told they had to leave, a source who remained in the meeting says that after the Deputy Special Representative spoke about good governance and human resources, Iran's Ambassador called his foreign minister's visit to Baghdad historic.

  Both the EU and UK spoke, which after the Lisbon Treaty seems strange. According to the source, Lebanon's Ambassador erred and called for better relations between "Iraq and Iraq." Presumably he meant Iran, representing as he does Beirut's Hariri faction.

Afterwards in the hall Inner City Press stopped Mr. Gambari and asked two questions about his new job in Darfur. A staffer says Gambari's Darfur bound on Thursday. The rebels are calling for the UN to protect civilians in North Darfur. Gambari'd yet to hear about it.

UN's Ban and Gambari on ICI, focus on Darfur not (yet) shown

  The question's been put to UN Peacekeeping, along with one about Chad's statement that MINURCAT's mandate should not be renewed in March. And they said Darfur and its spill over were a major priority. Perhaps Gambari's role in Darfur is to shut UNAMID down. Come and visit, Gambari gamely said. Time will tell.

   There is, sources tell Inner City Press, a connection between the end of Gambari's job with the Compact with Iraq and him being assigned to UNAMID. Part of his salary came from Iraq, and part from Myanmar. When the Iraq stream stopped, something had to be done. With Nigeria clamoring for one of its nationals to take over UNAMID, after their Martin Luther Agwai was replaced by a Rwandan as force commander, it was two birds with one stone. But the Secretariat has yet to describe Gambari's salary structure, or whether Bob Orr's ASG position legally exists and how it's funded.

Footnotes: the Temporary North Lawn Building is looking better. The Great Wall of China, from the old Delegates' Lounge, now hangs on the first floor. Contractor Aramark tells Inner City Press that, following requests and complaints from diplomats, it is looking more likely that a bar will re-open in the new building. A Delegates' Lounge in exile has been tried, but not the same. On this, watch this site.