Mood
Is
In Security
Council, But
UN Won't Say
Who Pays Him
Or Status in
Syria
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 24 --
Minutes before
a briefing by
Syria envoy
Kofi
Annan,
Norwegian
Major General
Robert Mood
walked into
the Security
Council in a
tan uniform.
He declined to
answer Press
questions.
For
the past two
days, Inner
City Press has
asked first
Annan's
spokesman
Ahmed Fawzi,
then the Ban
Ki-moon
Secretariat to
which Fawzi
referred the
questions,
"does
Mood
now work for
the UN? Who
paid for Mood
travel to New
York? What
length of
contract?"
As
noted, Fawzi
declined to
answer, saying
that the UN
Secretariat
should be
asked.
So on
April 23:
Inner
City
Press: On
Syria, Robert
Mood has
apparently
said that he
is
coming to New
York or is
already in New
York. Since
there was some
controversy
about him
leaving
Damascus and
going back to
Norway, I
wanted to
know, I had
asked Mr.
Fawzi, Kofi
Annan’s
spokesman, who
said ask the
Secretariat,
does Mr.
Robert Mood
work for the
UN? Who
paid for his
trip to New
York?
Obviously, I
would like to
know if he
is the Force
Commander, but
even if he is
not, what is
his role
coming to New
York to design
this mission
to Syria?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: His role
was to go to
Syria and
engage in the
preliminary
discussions
with the
Syrian
Government. He
accomplished
his mission.
He went back
to Oslo and
now he is
coming
to New York. I
imagine that
they are going
to be
discussing
with him
what he saw on
the ground and
what his views
are. He was on
the
ground in
Syria, he
knows what the
lay of the
land is and he
is the
perfect person
to have this
kind of
relationship
with.
Inner
City
Press: Does he
currently have
a contract
with the UN
system?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I would have
to check on
that, I don’t
know.
One
might assume
that "I would
have to check"
would mean, "I
will
check." But 24
hours later,
when Inner
City Press
asked again,
Del Buey
simply
repeated the
same: "I
really don't
know we'll
have to
check."
"But
I
asked
yesterday, and
you said that
yesterday,"
Inner City
Press
pointed out.
Del
Buey
repeated, "I'm
telling you
again, I don't
have that
information."
Did
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman not
have the
information by
choice? Isn't
the UN
required to
say to whom it
is making
payments?
The
mystery of
Mood began at
least eleven
days ago, when
at the first
of the
Security
Council's so
far two
Saturday
meetings Inner
City Press
asked
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
of Russia
about Mood's
abrupt
departure from
Damascus.
Churkin said
it was
surprising,
and even
unprofessional.
From
that some
thought Mood
would not
necessarily
get the Force
Commander or
SRSG
job. But now
Inner City
Press
understands
that Russia
does not
oppose
Mood. And his
walking into
the Council
just before
the Annan
briefing
would seem to
mean he has
the job. Why
veil it all in
secrecy,
especially who
is paying him
today, from
what pool of
money?
Finally,
for now,
Inner City
Press has
learned from
UN Budget
committee
sources that
despite
initially
indications
that the
Permanent Five
members of the
Council would
like UNSMIS to
be a "Special
Political
Mission"
like Iraq or
Afghanistan,
for which they
pay less, they
will be paid
from the
Peacekeeping
or PKO budget.
But who is
paying Mood?
Watch
this site.
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