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At UN, Of Missing Staff and Letters, Venom in the
Council Triggers Mistranslation Charge
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, March 25 -- "There's been a
mistake in translation," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday
told
the Security Council, of which he serves as President this month. "The
time limit on statements is five minutes, not fifteen or twenty."
The
UN's now-routine monthly briefing on the Middle East included
back-and-forth
between Israel and not only the Palestinian Permanent Observer and
Syrian
Ambassador, but also Cuba and Sudan. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman
denounced
Libya for having blocked action after the killing of religious students
in
Jerusalem, referred to Sudan as the "monsters of Darfur," and
questioned whether Cuba really speaks for the Non-Aligned Movement. Yes, Cuba answered, it spoke for all of NAM's
118 members.
Meanwhile,
Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson maintained that the Group of 77's letter
protesting
Ban's proposed merger of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa
with Small
Island Developing States and other mandates had still not been
received. A G-77
member expressed wonder at what he called the breakdown in the UN's
postal
system. "It's that they don't want to answer the substance of the
protest," he said. "So they say the letter's not been received."
We'll see.
Speaking
of letters, Inner City Press asked the head of the UN's Alliance of
Civilizations Jorge Sampaio, at a briefing about an upcoming event on
tuberculosis,
about the letter
he wrote to Pakistan's Pervez
Musharraf back in December, with condolences for the
still
unsolved murder of Benazir Bhutto. Did Sampaio check with the
Secretariat or
his board of advisors and friends before issuing the letter? No, he
said. It
was only a condolence. Video here,
last question. And now the new Prime Minister of
Pakistan is asking for a UN investigation of Bhutto's murder.
Inner
City Press asked the spokesperson's office Tuesday morning for a list
of the 40
missing, arrested or detained staff members listed in the UN's press
release.
Twelve hours later, no such list was provided. This was the day of
solidarity with missing staff, celebrated Monday by attendance at a
film about Sergio de Mello, click here
for that. The most recent
Secretary-General's report lists 22 "staff members under arrest,
detained
or missing." So where are the other eighteen -- missing? There are
other
outstanding questions. Watch this site.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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