Can
UN
Cyprus Envoy
Downer Also
Head
Australian
Political
Party,
Conflicts?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 15
Cyprus was the
topic of the
UN Security
Council
on Monday
morning;
afterward the
head of the UN
Mission there
said
support was
expressed for
more dinners
of the kind
hosted after
some
controversy by
envoy
Alexander
Downer on May
30 between
presidents
Anastasiades
and Eroglu.
Call
it dinner
diplomacy,
then. But what
about conflicts
of interest?
When July's
Council
president
Rosemary
DiCarlo of the
US came out,
Inner City
Press asked
her if it is
acceptable for
Downer to
continue as UN
envoy while
running for
the presidency
of the South
Australian
Liberal Party.
At
Monday's noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press had
planned to ask
the same
question to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
but
Nesirky
abruptly ended
the briefing
after a Press
question about
the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
the Geneva
Conventions,
declaring it
the last
question.
Ambassador
DiCarlo
said to ask
Downer about
his plans, she
hadn't heard
of them, which
is fair the
Secretariat
should be
policing this.
Downer has
been
quoted,
"Steven
Marshall
approached me
. . . and I
told him
I'd be happy
to do it.
Ban's
Secretariat
has allowed
its envoy on
the Sahel Romano Prodi
to run for
office in
Italy while
remaining a UN
official;
Resolution
1540 envoy Terje
Roed-Larsen
also runs the
International
Peace
Institute,
which opened
an office in
Manama with
money from the
government
(that is,
Royal
family) of
Bahrain.
As
Inner City
Press exclusively
probed and
reported on,
Downer was
allowed to
work
in an advisory
firm, Bespoke
Approach,
while serving
as UN Cyprus
envoy.
But
to be the
president of a
political
party while
representing
the UN on
Cyprus?
Watch this
site.
, 
