At
UN,
Nepal
Letters Arrive Late in Council, Dodged by Ban, Nepali
Police Investigated
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September
7 -- With Nepal on its agenda, the UN Security
Council began closed door consultations on Tuesday morning in New
York. As Philip Parham, the Deputy Permanent Representative of the
UK, the Council's lead country on Nepal, began to speak, suddenly
Nepal's letter to the Council about the future of the UN Mission
UNMIN was distributed to members, sources tell Inner City Press.
Parham
immediately
expressed
displeasure at the letter's late arrival, the latest yet in
the series of short term roll overs the Council has given to UNMIN.
Major player China said it was no longer prepared to set forth its
position at the meeting, but would have to study the letter.
Meanwhile
another
critical
letter, this one from former Nepalese Prime Ministers, was
directed at Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, picking apart his latest
report on Nepal. At Tuesday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked
Ban's acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to confirm receipt of the
letter, and for the Secretary General's response.
Haq
dodged the
question.
UNMIN mills around in Nepal, response to critique not shown
He referred Inner City Press to the written testimony of
Ban's envoy to Nepal, Karin Landgren, which was written before the
ex-Ministers' letter, signed by Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepali
Congress Party, KP Sharma Oli, Communist Party of Nepal (UML),
Chakra Prasad Bastola, Nepali Congress Party, and Prakash Chandra
Lohani, Rastriya Janashakti Party.
Inner
City
Press
has obtained a copy of the former ministers' letter, and places it
online here.
Watch
this site.
Footnote:
Nepali
members
of a UN Formed Police Unit in Haiti are accused of a
role in the death in Cap Hatien of 16 year old Haitian Gerard Jean
Gilles on August 17. Inner City Press on Tuesday asked the UN about
it, and was directed to a MINUSTAH Mission press release confirming
that an investigation has begun. But will it be followed through?
Update
of 5:29 pm -- It is predicted that the technical roll over will be only
for two months, with no change of mandate. "How can we change the
mandate without hearing from the Maoists?" one Council diplomat asked
Inner City Press. "The Russian," he continued, "said his country
appreciates the diplomatic skills of Ms. Landgren -- and she should use
them."
* * *
UN's
New
Rape
Unit Eyes Colombia, Nepal and Kabul, Congo
Trip, Menkerios Runs
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
27 -- Margot Wallstrom, the UN's Special
Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, was asked Tuesday by
the Press what countries outside of Africa she is looking to
investigate for rape as a tool of war. She listed three: Afghanistan,
Nepal and, to some surprisingly, Colombia.
Nepal
and
Afghanistan
are
on the agenda of the UN Security Council, which Ms.
Wallstrom briefed on Tuesday. But Colombia is not, and its
representatives have in the past chaffed when their conflict has been
mentioned even near the Council, such as by the UN's expert on
children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy.
Ms.
Wallstrom told
Inner City Press she aims to have as many staff as "Madame
Coomaraswamy's office." For now, Inner City Press has met
staffers who assisted on her recent Congo trip working on a couch in
front of the UN library.
Inner
City
Press
asked
on camera when this mandate, called important by the UN, will
actually have an office. Austria's Ambassador told Inner City Press
his recent meeting with Wallstrom had been in "temporary
quarters." Ms. Wallstrom said she is in the DC-1 building, but
looking at space in what's called the Alcoa Building on 48th Street.
Video here,
from
Minute
6:15.
Wallstrom's
first
trip
was
to the Congo, where she said that the UN Mission should not
leave. Council members are headed on a much abbreviated trip to
Kinshasa on May 13. "We are staying over only one night,"
one attended complained to Inner City Press. "It's hard to see
what we'll accomplish."
This
attendee
recounted
that
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, too, said her colleagues
should go to Eastern Congo -- but that French Ambassador Gerard
Araud, who is leading the trip, wondered why Ms. Rice would complain
if she herself is not going on the trip.
UN's Ban and Ms. Wallstrom, office space,
Colombia and vetting not shown
Inner
City
Press
asked
Ms. Wallstrom if she thought one night in Kinshasa was enough
for this serious
issue,
and
also about the UN working with units of
the Congolese Army which are been accused of rape, even by UN
expert
Philip Alston. Wallstrom said "hopefully there will be a vetting
procedure." Video here,
from
Minute
1:46. Yeah, hopefully.
Footnote:
At
least
Ms. Wallstrom briefed the Press. Later on Tuesday the head
of the UN Mission in Sudan, Haile Menkerios, briefed the Council
about the elections there. While Department of Peacekeeping
Operations staff had promised a stakeout by Menkerios, he ran up the
stairs from the Council, thus taking no questions.
This
may
be a
shame, as we are learning more and more about his posting to UNMIS,
the length and replacement(s). More on this anon.
Click here for Inner
City
Press' March 27 UN debate
, 
