As
Ban
& Kim Head
to Sahel,
Softball
Questions
Ignore Tuareg,
Rape, Dams
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 1,
updated --
With World
Bank president
Jim Kim
appearing by
video from
Washington, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
Friday
morning
announced his
and Kim's
upcoming trip
to the Sahel:
Mali,
Niger, Burkina
Faso and Chad.
Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
then chose
four
questions. The
first, in
a politicized
process that
has become
more
indefensible
by the day,
went to the UN
Correspondents
Association.
This
is a group
which,
beyond
trying to get
investigative
media thrown
out of the UN,
in
July held
a faux "UN
briefing" for
Saudi-sponsored
Syria
rebel boss
Ahmad al
Jarba.
Two
of the three
other
questions were
also given to
UNCA Executive
Committee
members: a
softball and
one not even
about the
Sahel. The
only non-UNCA
question
turned out to
be about money
laundering and
corruption.
Directly
on
Mali and the
UN
Peacekeeping
mission
MINUSMA which
Ban bragged
about, he
should have
been asked
about the allegations
of gang rape
against
MINUSMA,
and its troops
leaving their
posts in
Northern Mali
after not
being paid.
No
one asked if
Ban will
travel to Gao
or Northern
Mali, or if
the World
Bank's money
will benefit
the Tuaregs.
Even on the
Great Lakes
trip
both Ban and
Kim bragged
of, no one
asked about
opposition to
dam
projects, or
about why the
International
Monetary Fund
still has not
revived the
program it suspended with the DRC due to murky mining
contracts.
This is how
this UN is
working - or
not. Watch
this site.
Update:
only after Ban
left did
Nesirky take
questions on
the trip from
members of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info.
To Inner City
Press on the
rape charges,
Nesirky said
it is mostly
up to the
Troop
Contributing
Country: Chad,
which Kim and
Ban will also
visit. No
answer on if
they'll go to
Gao, or how ensure
World Bank
funds reach
Northern Mali.
We'll have
more on the
trip.
, 
