In Ban's UN, Few Answers Amid Speeches on Conflict Prevention in Africa, Non-Council Members Speak

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, August 28 -- Conflict prevention in Africa was debated, or at least speechified about, for over five hours on Tuesday in the UN Security Council. By the time it was over, not a single reporters other than this one was standing outside the Council chamber at the stakeout. The president of the Council, who had scheduled and led the "debate," decided not to come to the stakeout microphone. At the coffee machine, a well-placed UN source complained that they should keep this gab-fests shorted, allowing speeches only by regional groups. "But they all want to show off for their foreign ministers," he added, taking his eighty-cent coffee.

            Ban Ki-moon's speech in the morning tried to (further) reduce expectations:

"I would like to inform you that I am going to visit Sudan early September, from September 3rd to 6th... Let me emphasize, from the outset, that this is not a trip about breakthroughs. Rather, this visit is about consolidating the progress and laying the groundwork for forward movement. In Juba, I plan to underscore the UN's commitment to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and the South - the cornerstone of peace in Sudan. I also want to show solidarity with colleagues working in very difficult conditions in the field."

    After Ban's closely controlled press conference on Tuesday, Inner City Press has the opportunity to ask Sudan's Ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, if Ban has said anything to Sudan's government about its move to expel the representative of the non-governmental organization CARE. That is a matter of sovereignty, was the response, and that Ban has been respecting Sudan's sovereignty including in this context -- as in most other human rights contexts all around the globe, another reporter noted.

            Questions about the UN's mission in Chad and the Central African Republic, a topic jotted on the Ban staffer's pre-briefing list, were not addressed in any way at Ban's press conference. Ban is not even visiting the Central African Republic. His own report -- well, written by staff, seemingly hold-overs -- about Chad and CAR admits that while there are 30,000 internally displaced people in northeastern CAR, there are 180,000 IDPs in northwestern CAR. But Ban is only even proposing sending police to the northeast.

Ban on Africa, August 28, 2007, credibility not shown

            Ban also said that the UN Department of Political Affairs

"has moved to create a standing team of mediation experts. It is establishing a comprehensive databank of peace agreements and lessons learned on peacemaking. It is undertaking proactive mediation efforts in such places as Sudan and Northern Uganda."

            There has been no confirmation of the envoy to Northern Uganda, Joaquim Chissano, opening his office in Kampala. Click here for this correspondent's Reuters AlertNet piece about the UN's involvement with the Lord's Resistance Army.

            According to SCR, in October 2006, the Department of Political Affairs launched a year-long pilot program to strengthen the Secretariat's mediation capacity, including activities such as mediation training for UN staff, the development of an on-line database with mediation-related materials and the creation of a standby cadre of specialists to support mediation efforts. The last of these initiatives seems particularly promising. Through it, the Norwegian Refugee Council, utilizing voluntary funding from the Government of Norway in a partnership arrangement with the UN, will administer six high level officials (one leader and five specialists) who will be available to assist mediators in their activities.  Such individuals are expected to make an initial commitment of six months to a year to the project... The Department of Political Affairs requested nominations for mediation specialists from member states in June 2007, and applications were to be submitted by 15 August.

            But there was no opportunity on Tuesday to ask about this. A staffer Inner City Press asked on the sidelines of the Council meeting said that they'd been told very little what Jan Egeland is up to, including on his mysterious UN mission to Bolivia. Who's been nominated as mediation specialist?  In Ban's UN, maybe we'll never know.

            In speeches by non-Security Council members, Switzerland's Andreas Baum spoke in favor of mandatory, assessed funding for DPA's Mediation Support Unit, saying that conflict prevention is not just "nice to have," but a core UN activity. Not addressed was Switzerland's refusal to accept a contingent of 500 refugees from the conflict in Iraq. Some other involved countries, of course, have also refused.

            Namibia's Freida Ithete decried Member States' failure to reach agreement to track small arms and light weapons.  Numerous speakers, from Africa and elsewhere, questioned the UN's and the Council's requirement that there be a peace to keep before making a commitment, with Somalia the prime example. Portugal's Joao Salgueiro said that the UN's new Rule of Law unit -- to be headed by DPKO's Titov -- would help. We'll see.

* * *

Clck here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (which had to be finalized without Ban's DPA having responded.)  Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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