UNITED
NATIONS, May
10 -- The UN
has not paid
its
peacekeepers
in Western
Sahara since
February 2011,
nor for their
equipment
since October
2010.
In
Abyei,
payments for
equipment
stopped in
March 2012,
and to
Ethiopia
for its
peacekeepers,
one of whom
was recently
killed by the
Misseriya, UN
payments
stopped in
December 2012.
This
information
was included
in two
footnotes to a
presentation
made by
the UN's Under
Secretary
General for
Management
Yukio Takasu
on
Friday.
Inner
City Press
asked him
about a
proposal, made
by Togo and
others in the
context of the
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
that the UN at
least pay
interest on
its debts to
Troops
Contributing
Countries.
Takasu
responded that
unless the UN
could charge
interest to
countries
behind on
their dues, it
would not be
possible. UN
Controller
Maria
Eugenia Casar
added that
there are
proposal for
Peacekeeping
missions
to begin
lending to
each other.
There
are financial
problems of UN
Peacekeeping;
there are
other
problems,
video
here.
There is also
the question
of what is
being
accomplished.
On May 14, South
Sudan
Ambassador
(and former UN
official)
Francis
Deng said the
mission in
Abyei does not
protect
civilians from
the
Misseriya
tribesmen.
In
a UN Budget
Committee
session just
after Takasu
spoke to them,
the
Mission in
Haiti was
discussed with
no mention of
UN
Peacekeeping
having brought
cholera to the
country, and
Ban Ki-moon's
terse
dismissal of
the
claims, giving
rise now to a
threat to sue
in 60 days.
Inner
City Press
also asked
Takasu about
other
management
issues: the
New
York Staff
Union vote of
"no confidence
in Ban,"
Publishing
Section staff
being required
to re-apply
for their
jobs, and the
conditions in
the basements,
for example
the Video
Library in 2B
being left
working with
sheet plastic
barely
covering leaks
in the
ceiling.
Takasu
expressed
concern and
spoke of
"lessons
learned."
Inner
City Press has
photos but has
not run them
-- in part
pending the UN
coming clean
on who was let
into its
office during
the Department
of
Public
Information's
non-consensual
raid on March
18, and how
photographs
including of
Inner City
Press' desk
and bookshelf
were
leaked to
BuzzFeed on
March 21 after
their
publication
called Ban's
spokesperson
to ask about
the raid.
Now,
this weekend,
the press
corps is
moving back to
the renovated
Secretariat
building: some
to large
offices,
disproportionately
those
on the
Executive
Committee of
the UN's
"partner" UNCA
(which made a
point of
thanking
Takasu, so the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
did as well);
others to
smaller and
smaller
places.
There
are many
complaints,
including by
UNCA members,
about how
decisions
were made, by
the UN and its
partner. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
