At UN, Troop Contributors Will Not Hear from Clooney, Said to Be Pro-Serb Along with Sharon Stone

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 30 -- On the eve of George Clooney's "unveiling" at UN headquarters as a Messenger of Peace, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters that "to lend his support to United Nations peacekeeping efforts, Mr. Clooney will make a statement to a meeting of troop contributors. During that meeting, Assistant Secretary-General Lute will brief Member States." Clooney traveled earlier this month to Sudan with Jane Holl Lute, who asked the Sudanese mission to the UN for a visa for Clooney as part of a "technical" mission to negotiate about the stalled peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Sudan granted the visa -- in exchange for the UN dropping what other demand, is not clear -- and Clooney was on his way, stopping in three other countries on his way back to New York, where Ms. Lute scheduled him to participate in a closed-door Troop Contributors meeting.

            Inner City Press on Wednesday morning asked a Security Council official if there was any precedent for Clooney inclusion in a TCC meeting. No, was the answer. In fact, the official recounted, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin took issue with Clooney's participation and the precedent it might set. Then again, Churkin continued, Clooney is reported to be opposed to independence for Kosovo, so Russia might use him for another purpose, once he's at the UN.

            There are online reports of the position of Clooney and Sharon Stone on Kosovo, purportedly ascribable to Sharon Stone's childhood friendship with Serbs. See, e.g., Croatian Javno, "Clooney and Stone Against Independent Kosovo," complete with Ms. Stone's famous pose; RTS SAT TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 19 Jan 08 (as transcribed by BBC). Who knew? And who knew that such articles would be dug up for, and circulated in, the UN Security Council?  

Clooney at UN in 2006, Kosovo position not shown or known

  In a more solid UN - Kosovo connection, Inner City Press on Wednesday asked for comment on a study which criticizes the UN's Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, for failing to respect the rule of law, failing to run fair trials, failing to rule on war crimes cases, failing to appropriately choose and train judges. Given that UNMIK refuse to comment on the report, purportedly as a matter of policy, Inner City Press asked, does the UN Secretariat have any statement, including on the propriety of a policy not to response to NGOs' reports? 

            Hours later, the Secretariat replied in writing that UNMIK "takes note of the report, as it takes note of all reports issued by non-governmental organizations related to Kosovo.  It has no immediate comment on the report." And they said the UN was a "learning organization"... Watch this site.

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These reports are 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

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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