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At UN, Ban's Team Blames Budget on U.S., Whose
Ambassador Eschews Ferrari-Driving
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City
Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, March 25 -- As governments
all over the world tighten their budgets, including in
light of the fall-out from the meltdown of the subprime mortgage
market, the UN
is proposing a 25% increase in its spending, unveiling an additional
$1.1
billion "add-on" to the over $4 billion approved just before
Christmas. On Tuesday Inner City Press asked Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson since "when the presentation was made, there was only
about a
2 per cent increase, how does the Secretary-General explain this over
$1
billion additional request?" The spokesperson as has become routine
said
that an answer would be provided later.
In the interim, Inner City
Press spoke
with a number of Ambassadors, finding even developing country
representatives
dissatisfied with the disorganized way Ban's first budget has been
presented,
some in December and more in March. One diplomat suggested that a move
is afoot
to require the Secretariat to propose a specific budget and stick to
it, with
no add-ons. At the Security Council stakeout, Inner City Press asked
U.S.
Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, "What's the U.S. position on
this 25% increase requested by the Secretary-General?" Video here,
last question.
Ambassador Khalilzad
replied that "a 25% increase is excessive and we’re going to work with
others to see what can be afforded now and what should be deferred...
I’d like
to have a Ferrari but since I can't afford it you know I'm probably
going to
get a cheaper car when I leave this job."
Amb. Khalilzad, piecemeal non-Ferrari not shown
Subsequently, Ban's
spokesperson's office told Inner City Press that "the Secretariat has
only
provided a projection of how financing needs would evolve, if the
Member States
were to support a wide range of political missions and management
reform
proposals currently on the table. However, that projection is not the
final
amount, since this is a consultative process and its ultimate outcome
will be
determined by the Member States at large in the General Assembly, and
not by
the Secretariat."
So,
does that mean that the $1.1 billion is a negotiating position? The
spokesperson's answer then named two specific missions, both favored by
the United
States, particularly to so-called bunker in Baghdad, noting that "the
costs for special political missions, including Iraq and Afghanistan,
cannot in
any sense be considered 'administrative costs.'" So there. Onward to
the
bunker!
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through
Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet piece 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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