On
UN Ban's Relief at Killing of Bin Laden, NY
Exception to Extrajudicial Execution?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 3 -- After Sunday night's announcement of the killing in
Pakistan of Osama Bin Laden, on Monday morning in his office at the
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “I am very much relieved by
the news that justice has been done to such a mastermind of
international terrorism.”
By
the next day,
Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky was being asked if by this quote, Ban
wasn't embracing what some call an extrajudicial execution. The
questioner said that while relief and more might be natural emotions
in the United States, should a UN Secretary General be speaking this
way?
Ban's
spokesman
took a strange tack in response, emphasizing that since Ban himself
was in New York on September 11, 2001, he “personally” felt
relief, a sort of honorary New Yorker.
But
the question
remains: should a UN Secretary General jump so quickly into
expressing relief at the shooting death of anyone, and calling it
“justice be[ing] done”?
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky when Ban will hold the next of his promised monthly
press conferences.
Obama & Ban, some ask, should relief be shared?
Nesirky replied that Ban
held a stake out, a week
ago. But that is not a sit down press conference with twenty or so
questions.
Ban is
heading on
another trip, beginning in Bulgaria. Staffers accompanying him have
airplane tickets costing over $9,000 a piece. Where is this all
leading? Watch this site.
* * *
In
Run Up to UN SC Statement on Bin Laden, Pakistan Diplomat In and Out of
Chamber, Afghan Snark
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 2, updated -- When Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN
Abdullah Hussain Haroon came out of the Security Council Monday
afternoon, he did not
speak to the press. Earlier in the day, the Pakistani Mission put out
a press release that
“earlier
today, President Obama telephoned
President Zardari on the successful US operation which resulted in
killing of Osama bin Ladin. Osama bin Ladin’s death illustrates the
resolve of the international community.”
Inner
City Press
asked a Permanent member of the Security Council to confirm that there
might be a
Council Presidential statement on the killing of
Bin Laden. Yes, was the answer,
along with a joke about Pakistan's belated “non-objection” to the
US raid on Abbottabad.
Afghanistan's Permanent Representative Tanin told Inner City Press,
"This is a Pakistani issue... He was at the end of the day in
Islamabad."
“Osama was
living
right next to Pakistan's West Point,” another diplomat scoffed.
Still, Pakistan's Ambassador went into the Council, where Gerard
Araud of France was meeting with each of the Council's members about
May's program of work. Pakistan, a source said, wanted to protect its
interests.
Update of 4:20 pm --
after this piece was published, Araud of France came out and told the
press, Statement meeting at 5 pm...
Pakistan's Haroon, previously with John Holmes, UBL
sanctuary not shown
In
some other
news, as Brazil's Ambassador left her meetings with Araud, she told
the Press that her country had been ready to sign on to Council press
statements on Yemen and Syria.
Inner
City Press
asked about the European Union's drive for special rights in the
General Assembly. While Brazil's concerns were addressed, she said,
Brazil is sensitive to the concerns of CARICOM. When asked what
Brazil thinks of Syria's campaign to be elected, on a “clean”
slate, to the UN Human Rights Council, she said Brazil believes in
the right of any country to run for any position. Watch this site.
* * *
Echoes
of
Abbottabad Raid from Pakistan Mission in NY But Not UN Itself, the
Silence of Ban Ki-moon
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 2, updated -- More than
eleven hours after US President Obama
announced the death of Osama Bin Laden in a shootout in Pakistan,
from the UN and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon there was only silence.
Update: And when Ban belatedly
spoke, it was on an unexplained 20 minute delay, without Press told in
the usual ways. See below.
Everyone
from Pakistan's Mission to the UN to State Senators from
Upper Manhattan in New York had rushed out press releases.
In
New York Mayor Mike
Bloomberg had canceled his Monday appearance at the opening in
Central Park of an installation by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, which
itself had been postponed.
The
UN had not
taken the weekend off: Sunday afternoon in a “Note to
Correspondents” Ban's
Spokesperson had told UN correspondents that
the UN's 12 international staff members in Tripoli had left the
country, just after a NATO bombing which killed one of Gaddafi's
sons, and would henceforth serve Western Libya from Tunisia.
On
Friday, the UN sent a similar note that Ban had met with the foreign
minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, with a focus on “the status of negotiations between
Athens and Skopje on the 'name' issue.”
The
UN is assigned
such issues and, at least for eight hours, has no comment on or role
in events like Sunday's raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in
Pakistan. As acknowledged on a background call for the Press by
“Senior Administration Officials” on Sunday night, the US did not
even tell Pakistan about the raid before it occurred.
Hours
afterwards,
Pakistan's Mission to the UN put out a press release that “earlier
today, President Obama telephoned President Zardari on the successful
US operation which resulted in killing of Osama bin Ladin. Osama bin
Ladin’s death illustrates the resolve of the international
community.”
The
UN, of course,
is said to represent the international community. But its Secretary
General had nothing to say. The US, it was expected, could ask for
some statement from the UN Security Council, which on Monday had
bilateral meetings scheduled under the Presidency of France.
Update: While
covering the Security Council bilateral meetings at 10:50 am, the Press
heard the UN announced that Ban would be on UN Television shortly. To
another journalist, Ban's spokesperson's office could or would not even
say where it would be.
Inner City Press ran to the North Lawn building which
contains Ban's office, but was told by UN TV it was over, already
filmed, with select journalists present. At the noon briefing Inner
City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky to explain the delay.
He did not, except to assert that it was announced in the normal
way. If this is normal for the UN, something is wrong. Watch this
site. Here is / was Ban's statement:
Good
morning,
ladies and gentlemen. The death of Osama bin Laden,
announced by President [Barack] Obama last night, is a watershed
moment in our common global fight against terrorism. The crimes of Al
Qaeda touched most continents, bringing tragedy and loss of life to
thousands of men, women and children.
The
United
Nations condemns in the strongest possible terms terrorism in
all its forms, regardless of its purpose and wherever it is
committed. This is a day to remember the victims and families of
victims, here in the United States and everywhere in the world. The
United Nations will continue to fight against terrorism and will lead
this campaign to fight against terrorism.
I
remember,
personally, vividly, the day of September 11, 2001. I was
in New York on that dark day. The United Nations is committed to
continue to lead this campaign with world leaders to fight against
international terrorism. I thank you very much. Personally, I am very
much relieved by the news that justice has been done to such a
mastermind of international terrorism. I would like to commend the
work and the determined and principled commitment of many people in
the world who have been struggling to eradicate international
terrorism.
The
United
Nations General Assembly has adopted a global
counter-terrorism strategy, and on the basis of that, we will
continue to work together with Member States of the United Nations to
completely eradicate global terrorism. Thank you very much. I need
your support. Thank you.
, 
