As
UN's Amos
Leaves, It's
Syria Only,
Sudan Border
Disparity Not
Explained
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
28 -- When it
emerged that Valerie
Amos was
leaving the UN
and her post
as Under
Secretary
General for
Humanitarian
Affairs, the
focus turned
to who would
replace her:
David
Cameron's
first choice
Andrew
Lansley, or
one of
Cameron's two
second
choices,
Caroline
Spellman or
Stephen
O'Brien, would
get the (UK)
post.
The shift in
interest
wasn't
entirely fair
to Amos, who
while
sometimes
reliably
following the
line of her
country, which
has now held
the OCHA post
three times in
a row, also
showed
independence,
most
recently by
chiding if
only
implicitly
Saudi Arabia
for trying to
politicize aid
to Yemen,
which it has
bombed.
In her final
media stakeout
on May 28,
however, Amos
insisted she
would only
speak about
Syria and not,
when Inner
City Press
requested, on
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile in
Sudan.
Those areas
have suffered
throughout
Amos' tenure
at OCHA. But
neither she
nor OCHA
explained why
they made a
formal request
for cross
border aid
into Syria,
but not Sudan.
Clearly, the
Western P3
Permanent
members are
more
interested in
Syria. But
what are the
humanitarian
grounds, if
any, for the
disparity?
Amos at this
final stakeout
wouldn't
answer on
Sudan; she
said "Syria
only" but then
answered an obsequious
question about
"What will you
do next?" (Go
on vacation,
was the
answer.)
There are
still many
good things to
say about Amos,
that got lost
in the focus
on which Brit
would replace
her.
But that was
made up for on
May 14, when a
large area
outside the
General
Assembly on
the UN's third
floor became
"Club
Valerie,"
complete with
a jazz band,
Beyonce by
video and
Forest
Whitaker in
the flesh.
This last was
a
propos --
one of the
speeches said
that Amos had
toured with
Idi Amin, who
Whitaker
played in "The
Last King of
Scotland."
The
first speech
was by
UNICEF's Tony
Lake, relaying
Amos' love of
the Tottenham
Spurs (while
offering her a
jersey of F.C.
Barcelona,
with its
UNICEF logo.)
Then
came Ban
Ki-moon; his
security
detail hushed
the crowd
while he
spoke. He said
he hope the
journalists
present would
also come to
his
farewell
- then
conflated all
of them with
the
increasingly
divisive and
discredited
UNCA, now
known as the UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
including on
one of Ban's
low points,
Sri Lanka.
Kung-hwa Kang
recounted a
story of Lee
Kwan Yew of
Singapore,
coming back to
set things
straight,
adding that
she doubts
Amos will do
that, instead
looking
forward.
She declared
this the
biggest party
in New York
City in the
year 2015 so
far.
Amos herself
spoke
movingly,
recounting a
story of
trying to get
into Homs in
Syria,
generously
shouting out
her Syria
Humanitarian
Coordinator
who was
present,
adding that
she wished her
parents had
been alive to
see her get
the OCHA post.
Amos' niece,
who had
introduced the
speakers,
added details
about Aunt
Val, calling
her an idol
growing up,
like a mother.
She screened a
re-make of
Beyonce's "I
was here "
video, turned
into "Valerie
Was Here with
footage of
Amos in
Pakistan,
Jordan and in
North Korea,
with Ban's
adviser - now
on disarmament
- Kim Won-soo.
The video cut
off, and
acting moved
into what has
been known as
the Ex-Press
Bar but should
perhaps be
renamed, at
least for some
time, Club
Valerie.
But was Amos'
successor
Stephen
O'Brien
present?
Inner City
Press was
first to
report
Cameron's
begrudging
submission of
the alternate
candidacies of
Spellman and
O'Brien, and
the victory of
O'Brien, as
credited in the
Telegraph,
UK Channel 4
and
IRIN
(which was
spun off from
OCHA under
Amos' watch).
Inner City
Press offers
this admitted
partial recap:
After taking
over the OCHA
post in 2010,
following
fellow Brit
John Holmes
(he of passionate
ambivalence
about the
Tamil
Bloodbath on
the Beach
in Sri
Lanka),
Amos started
quietly. In
2011 when
Tony Blair
visited the
UN, it was by
her side.
But she
branched out:
for example
into Blue Nile
and Southern
Kordofan in
Sudan, on
which she
always to her
credit took
questions.
On Syria, Amos
was unwilling
ever before
ISIS' takeover
in Iraq to
talk about
OCHA operation
in Raqaa; she
did however get into
specifics on
aid workers
killed and
kidnapped.
In 2014, she
told Inner
City Press she was
disappointed
by MSF's
criticism of
the UN in
Central
African
Republic.
But given that
in 2015 it is
revealed that
the UN system
-- not OCHA --
helped
cover up rapes
of children in
CAR by the
French
Sangaris
forces,
and that Amos'
fellow USG
Herve Ladsous
pushed
to get the
whistleblower
who revealed
this fired,
according to a
UN Dispute
Tribunal rule
not contested
by OHCHR (only
Ladsous denies
it), we'd bet
MSF was right.
This is the
balance, this
is the dance:
the MSFs and Aids-Free
Worlds of
the world tell
the truth, and
the range of
UN USGs push
back, some as
colleagues,
others like
Ladsous as
unaccountable
drone.
Amos was and
is no drone,
that we can
say. We wish
her well in
future
endeavors. We
will have more
on this.
, 
