As
Ghana
Loses to
Dinner of Ban,
African Group
Gripes, EU
Takes for
Granted?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
News Muse
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 6,
updated below
-- As Ghana
celebrated its
55th national
day in the
UN tent facing
the East
River,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon hosted
a
dinner for the
Security
Council facing
out on First
Avenue. Inner
City Press
covered one
and than the
other, see
below.
At
Ghana's event,
a trumpeter
played as the
Permanent
Representatives
of Cote
d'Ivoire,
Ethiopia,
Serbia, Sri
Lanka, Sweden,
Fiji and
Cameroon among
others
nibbled on
fish and
exchanged
tales of the
UN's
unfairness.
Much of
the talk
centered on
Ban Ki-moon's
exclusion of
the African
Group
from his
recent
appointments:
handing the
Tanzanian
Asha-Rose
Migiro's
deputy post to
a Swede while
considering an
Egyptian for
the
long unfilled
Special
Adviser on
Africa post.
An
expert from
the
Fifth (Budget)
Committee said
the American
Joe Torsella
seemed to be
gunning for a
post, perhaps
the Department
of Management
job recently
advertised in
The Economist.
"How could the
US get DM as
well as
DPA?" demanded
another
delegate.
"If
they ask
for it they'll
get it," said
another,
longer working
in Ban's
UN. A delegate
stretching
back to the
era of Edward
Koch marveled
as
Albania
lobbied the EU
representative.
"That's how
they do it,"
he said,
adding that
the EU asks
its accession
countries to
sign off
on statements
two hours
after they're
send out.
"They take us
for granted,"
he said
bitterly.
Austria's
Thomas
Stelzer, as
reported, as
given one more
year. But what
of the African
Group, on
this, Ghana's
night?
Update:
less than an
hour after
goodbye to
Ghana's night,
Inner City
Press asked
descending
Council
Ambassadors
for their read
outs or views.
The Permanent
Representatives
of Russia, the
UK, China,
Colombia,
India,
Azerbaiban,
Togo and
others were
there, along
with the
deputies of
France and
South Africa,
the head of
Security
Council
Affairs, DPKO
and Ban's wife
and chief of
staff. It was
mostly joking,
though on
Sudan there
was
interaction
that seemed
serious. We'll
see -- watch
this site.
, 
