Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

At UN, Preparations for Korean President, Ban to Japan But Olympics Maybe Not, Verbeke to Lebanon, Dari Zal

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

UNITED NATIONS, April 9 -- South Korean president Lee Myong-bak, who will visit Ban Ki-moon at the UN later this month, "will be accompanied by 13 official attendants and 105 unofficial attendants," according to Lee's spokesman. This size of entourage was echoed by a group of security officials who moved past the UN's press briefing room and Security Council chamber on Wednesday afternoon, just after Ban's deputy spokesperson diplomatically deferred answering Inner City Press' question whether Ban will attend the Beijing Olympic. He has been invited, that was confirmed. But his office has nothing to say at this point about responding to the invitation. Video here, last question.

  Inner City Press' sources on the UN's executive floor say that because during Ban's trip to the G-8 meeting in Japan earlier in the summer, during which he will in all probability makes stops not only in Seoul but also in Beijing, there are thoughts of him not attending the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Particularly given the protests that are following the Olympic torch, a no-show by Ban would not sit well with China, however. One might think that accepting China's invitation would be a no-brainer for Mr. Ban. But apparently not.

Lee Myung-bak back in the day, bringing briquets to the poor

  In the hallway outside, reporters stopped to stare at what one called the "flotilla" of dark-suited officials. "It's just a security protocol," Inner City Press was told, by a member of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, who then pointedly added that it is done "for any president." Thou dost protest too much, a literary-minded journalist mused, marveling at the size and seriousness of security check. "Please allow the team to do its work!" one reporter, not this one, was advised. Another commented that if they didn't want this "circus" to be covered, they shouldn't have done it at 12:40 in front of the briefing room, just when press conferences let out.

            Inner City Press stood staring after the contingent, one of whose members, in a  light jacket, turned back and took Inner City Press' photo. "Are you sure they are from South Korea?" another reporter, not this one, commented.  As with Ban's Olympic plans, we'll see. Now a move appears belatedly at foot to cancel Beijing and even Seoul from Ban's G-8 trip, and keep Beijing for... August, and the Olympics.

  This information, on the other hand, is more solid. Belgium's Ambassador to the UN, Johan Verbeke, is slated to replace Geir Pedersen as the UN's Lebanon special coordinator. There is a draft letter to this effect from the president of the Security Council for this month, South Africa's Dumisani Kumalo, and Amb. Kumalo confirmed the move to two reporters, including this one, outside the Council on Wednesday morning. "There is a new government in Belgium," Kumalo said. So Verbeke will be replaced, and will head to Lebanon. Kumalo asked jokingly why he wasn't given the Lebanon post.  But as recent events at the UN show, including the controversial placing the leadership of UNIFEM in the hands of a representative of Spain, UNIFEM's largest funder (and grantor of $700 million to the UN Development Program), some posts may require that you pay...

Dari Zal

Footnote: in other only-at-the-UN news, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on April 7 attended the opening reception for an art exhibition by Afghanistan's Amanullah Haiderzad featuring a coin of Hamid Karzai and a woman at a lectern. Amb. Khalilzad gave an interview in Dari to Ariana television, after which members of his entourage asked the Afghan reporter what Khalilzad had said. They were onto something - two days later, AP reported that "Zal" had said in Dari that he will leave his post "in the next few months." Funny way to announce it. Or perhaps a move well played on the UN lobby's chess board floor...

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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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