UNITED
NATIONS, April
3 -- When UN
Peacekeeping's
so-called
Senior
Advisory
Group was
appointed, the
inclusion of
Shavendra
Silva, a Sri
Lankan
military
figure
depicted in
the UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
own report as
engaged in war
crimes, was
first exposed
and covered by
Inner City
Press.
Ban
told
Inner City
Press, Silva's
inclusion
is a decision
of member
states. His
chief
of
Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous refused to answer
Inner City
Press
questions
about it.
Now
in the endgame
of the SAG,
there are at
least three
issues. And
April 3,
diplomats met
until 8 pm
about them,
including UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant, French
Deputy PR
Martin Briens,
Pakistan's DPR
and others.
The SAG
recommended
setting troop
rotations at
every 12
months.
But
many
Latin American
countries say
their constitutions
do not allow
more
than six
months; India
is said to
share this
position.
The
longer
deployments
would save the
UN, or Ban
Ki-moon as
SAG-ers put
it, $21
million.
The
SAG also
proposed that
if a country
deploys troops
but
malfunctioning
equipment,
they should
not be paid
for personnel.
Surprisingly,
this
would save
$170 million
according to
SAG sources.
After
a dispute
about the
survey
mechanism, the
proposed
increased
troop
compensation
would be $80
million.
And
so even now on
April 3 in the
UN's North
Lawn building,
Permanent
Representatives
and
Deputies were
dueling about
how to jibe
these three.
If the
cost savings,
of longer
deployments
say, are
foregone, how
to pay the
increased
compensation
to the troops,
without going
back to
recalcitrant
taxpayers for
more money?
Earlier on
April 3, Inner
City Press
sought to ask
Ladsous a
question.
While others
also leaving
the Security
Council, such
as DPA's
Jeffrey
Feltman and
DFS' Ameera
Haq, were
willing to
answer,
Ladsous was
not. This is a
pattern.
UN
Budget
Committee
chair Miguel
Berger of
Germany was on
the scene on
April 3. He
remarked to
Inner City
Press, again
you are the
only one
covering it.
He talked up a
de-mining
event on April
4, which
stonewalling
Herve Ladsous
is slated to
also attend.
Click here
for notice
of event on
the site of
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access. Watch
this site.
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