UN
Move to
Oversee
Special
Political
Missions, Talk
of Deals
of Ban &
P5
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 13 --
Some of the
largest UN
missions in
the field,
in
Afghanistan,
Iraq and
Libya, are not
classified,
overseen or
paid
for as
peacekeeping
missions. And
many UN member
states don't
understand or
like this.
Led
by Mexico and
Eygpt, they
have proposed
a General
Assembly
resolution
which would
direct
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to
disclose how
missions are
classified, as
peacekeeping
or these
"Special
Political
Missions," and
to consult
more with non
Security
Council
members about
them.
This
is opposed by
the Permanent
members of the
Security
Council, most
recently
Tuesday
morning by
France,
sources tell
Inner City
Press.
France insist
that decisions
about SPMs
must be kept
in the
Security
Council. The
sources say
this is not
surprising,
given how
France
"used the UN"
in Cote
d'Ivoire, for
example.
There's
dark
talk about
"deals"
between Ban
Ki-moon and
some of the
P5 members,
who selected
him.
But
the Special
Political
Missions draft
resolution, a
current but
soon
to be slightly
amended
version of
which Inner
City Press is
putting
online
here,
would be a
step toward
democratization,
its proponents
say.
There's
pressure to
get the draft
resolution
withdrawn. But
Inner City
Press hears
that another
slight
re-draft is
forthcoming.
Watch this
site.
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