UN
Court Rules Egyptian Official "Not Concerned With Truth,"
May Pay $20,000
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, February 2 -- In a little noticed proceeding in the basement
of the UN's near empty headquarters building, the Under Secretary
General in charge of General Assembly and Conference Management,
Egypt's Shaaban Shaaban, is being lambasted by a UN Dispute Tribunal
Judge.
At
a hearing last
week at which Inner City Press was the only media present, UN Judge
Adams demanded to know which UN lawyer was communicating with Shaaban
Shaaban. A new hearing was set for this coming week.
Later in the
hallway, Inner City Press asked Shaaban Shaaban about the case. He
smiled and said, as his chief of staff earlier had, that it is still
in the UN court, still "sub judice."
But
the findings
and statements in Judge Adams written decision -- which Inner City
Press is putting
online here -- are scathing,
including for example that
“I do not go so
far, I should say in fairness, as to conclude that he [USG Shaaban]
was actively dishonest...I am left with the powerful impression that
he was not concerned to tell the the truth…”, “…the proper
performance by Mr. Shaaban of his duties was adversely affected by
affronted self-importance”, or “Incompetence is an alternative
explanation, but I saw no evidence of this”
The
decision,
which should have been but was not as of late January put on the UN's
website, contemplates a referral to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for
discipline.
UN's Ban and Shaaban Shaaban, accountability not yet
shown
It orders a
review on whether Shaaban should be held
personally accountable for the financial damages: whether Shaaban's
paycheck gets docked for the $20,000 being awarded. Shaaban Shaaban
is the highest ranking Egyptian in the UN system. A cynic asked Inner
City Press, how will they make this one go away? Watch this site.
* * *
As
Menkerios Sent to Juba from UN's Shallow Bench, Sudan's Acceptance
Assessed
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, January 31 -- Speaking at a meeting on Sudan in Addis Ababa
on January 31, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced
that "Joint
Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari has started his intensive
work. And I have the intention to appoint Haile Menkerios as head of
UNMIS as of the end of February with a view to facilitate the
political process."
As Inner City Press reported
in June 2009 with sourcing inside
Sudan's Mission to the UN, Khartoum was less than enthused by Ban's
proposal of Menkerios (and Said Djinnit) to replace Rodolphe Adada in
Darfur. Finally, after extensive delay, Ibrahim Gambari was given
the
job, with Khartoum's support.
The UN's "shallow bench" is reflected by its
continuing recycling of a small number of UN insiders to job after
job -- the list would have to include Staffan de Mistura, recently
given the UN's top Afghanistan post despite being called a faceless
bureaucrat by the New York Times but having given a job while he was
in Iraq to Ban's son in law Siddarth Chatterjee.
Why would the Al Bashir government accept
Menkerios at this
time? For one thing, he resists speaking to the press. For example,
when confronted with a
pattern of his underling Mr. Buo hiring his
relatives in the UN's Central African Republic mission, Menkerios
told Inner City Press this was a management issue only.
UN's Ban and Menkerios, action on BONUCA
irrregularities not shown
"It will be responded to in a management
way," Menkerios said. But
in the six months since, nothing has been done. How does this relate
to Ban's confidence that Sudan would accept Menkerios? Watch this site.
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