As
Libya Ejects UN Refugee Agency, Libyan PGA Treki Does Nothing,
Withholds UNHCR Letter
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 10 -- As Libya
moves to expel the UN's refugee agency,
Inner City Press has asked the office of UN General Assembly
President Ali Treki, former foreign minister and senior adviser to
the country's longtime leader, if Treki is doing anything to avoid a
cut of in assistance to refugees and involuntary migrants in Libya.
Rather
than
describe any efforts, his spokesman
said that Treki "is not
representing the Government of Libya. He is in his capacity as
President of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly."
But UNHCR is a organ of the General Assembly. Shouldn't Treki try
something?
Many
in the UN
system feel that Treki should try. Others say that Treki gets along
so badly with Libya's Mission to the UN that his intervention might
be counterproductive.
Ali Treki at UN, action on Libya expulsion of UNHCR not shown
On June 8
Inner City Press asked
Treki's
spokesman Jean Victor Nkolo:
Inner
City
Press: On this question of Libya expelling the UN refugee
agency, I just wonder if the President, given that he was Foreign
Minister of Libya and a special or senior adviser to Muammar Gaddafi,
does he see any role for himself in trying to ensure that the country
for which he served in both those functions doesn’t expel the UN
system in this way?
Spokesperson:
Well, the President, in this whole matter, is not representing the
Government of Libya. He is in his capacity as President of the
sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly. I can confirm that the
Office of the President of the General Assembly received a letter
from the Head of UNHCR, Mr. [António] Guterres on this subject.
But
I really cannot say more at this stage.
Inner
City
Press: As PGA, but do you think, in particular, as a former
Libyan senior diplomat with an ability to somehow solve this
important issue?
Spokesperson:
Well, that’s a conclusion that you may be drawing, but…
Inner
City
Press: Can you release the letter?
Spokesperson:
For the time being, the President has not even seen the letter yet. He
is resting; he is in Turkey. I think we’ll have to get there
when he has seen the letter and we ask him if he has a statement or
an opinion to make. He received the letter in his capacity as
President of the General Assembly. As you know, UNHCR is a
subsidiary body that reports to the General Assembly, and it is in
the capacity of Dr. Treki as President of the GA that this letter was
received.
Inner
City
Press: [inaudible] ask him to take some action with regard to
his former senior advisee, Muammar Gaddafi?
Spokesperson:
You will understand that I cannot comment on the content of the
letter for the time being.
Two
days later,
still nothing has been said, or done. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
India & Pakistan United Against DFS Move to Italy, Peacekeeping
Politics
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 28 -- The UN is trying to move parts of its $5 billion
peacekeeping support function to Italy, over the objection of troop
contributing countries like India and Pakistan, with little to no
disclosure or other press coverage.
When
the UN Department of Field Support proposed
to move unspecified functions from New York to Brindisi, Italy, the
UN's own Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions
told DFS chief Susana Malcorra of Argentina to be sure to consult
with the troop contributing countries.
According
to
Permanent
Representatives of major TCCs interviewed by Inner City
Press on May 28, when the proposal was slated to be voted on, Ms.
Malcorra never made the consultation. "She's asking us to vote
on a slogan," one of the TCC Perm Reps said.
Another
described
the
strategies used to try to pass the proposal in the UN's Fifth
(Budget) Committee over the objections of the countries most
impacted. "They tried to turn the Africans against us,"
this TCC Perm Rep said, "by tying the proposal to Entebbe,"
an new DFS hub in Uganda. "We separated those two."
An
African Perm
Rep told Inner City Press that Entebbe is an insubstantial proposal
anyway.
"Then
they
tried
to turn GRULAC" - the Latin American and Caribbean Group
-- "against us," the TCC Perm Rep continued, "using
that Ms. Malcorra is from Argentina." He laughed. "But that
didn't work either."
UN's Ban and Malcorra, gun-jumping on shift to
Brindisi not shown
The
first TCC Perm
Rep continued. "DFS handles about five billion dollars a year,
supporting peacekeeping operations. Half of that gets paid to TCCs'
Permanent Missions in New York, largely to India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Bangladesh and Morocco. Now they want to move unspecified functions
out of town. Which functions? Even the ACABQ report, at Paragraph
109, says she should have consulted with us."
Inner
City
Press
asked Ms. Malcorra about the proposal at her and Alain Le Roy's press
conference on May 28, at the tail end because Inner City Press was
only allowed a second question after others got four and five
questions in. Inner City Press had to ask about any follow-through on
the death of UN staffer Louis Maxwell; Ms. Malcorra had very little
update. Video here.
On
the reform /job shift proposal, Ms. Malcorra offered a rosy view,
not
responsive to these TCCs' concerns.
The
first TCC
Ambassador then leaned forward. "Even without any approval,"
he said, "they have moved a Police Unit to Brindisi, and already
advertised jobs."
It
is reminiscent
of when the Department of Peacekeeping Operations held a ribbon
cutting for its technology center in Valencia, Spain before they had
any approval. Except this time, DFS is on notice of the opposition of
the large TCCs. So who runs the UN? Watch this site.
* * *
To
UN's
11th
Hour Africa Union Proposal, Russia Says Too Late,
Procuring Votes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 27 -- In the UN
budget committee, the day before its
session on peacekeeping is to end, a proposal for a $10 million
office in Addis Ababa was turned in. The African Group immediately
"regret[ted] the timing of the submission of the report... the
afternoon of the day before the scheduled last day of the second
resumed 64th session of the General Assembly."
The
Ban
Ki-moon
administration has seven months to prepare and submit the proposal,
but waited until the 11th hour.
The
Russian delegate said perhaps we will not even be able to discuss
this proposal, there are other issues we must address before the end.
These include a proposal to restructure the Department of Field
Support.
Russia
is
opposing
that, Inner City Press has learned, because of the proposal to
decentralize procurement of services including air services. Russia
has cornered that market while the contracts have been doled out in
New York; it would be less certain if decentralized.
Some
delegates say Russia's
position on the Addis Ababa office might not be unrelated to its
fight to retain control of UN air contracts. But the Ban Ki-moon
Administration's inept late submission was making this gambit easy --
intentionally?
UN's Ban and Maurer: one's out of town, the other
leaving, budget in flux
Making
the
proposal
for the Ban Administration was Taye-Brook Zerihoun, who recently
replaced, if only temporarily, Haile Menkios on this day represented
the UN at the inauguration of Sudan's Omar al Bashir, indicted for
war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
Zerihoun,
rather
than
addressing the delay to the penultimate day of the Ban
Administration's proposal, apologized for his boss Lynn Pascoe not
being there. He had planned to be present, Zerihoun said, but had to
rush a few hours ago to go with Ban on his trip to Africa.
The
argument then
was that although the UN's actual plan for Africa was slapped
together at the last moment, Ban's flight to Africa shows his
commitment. He will play soccer with Yoweri Museveni and Nicholas
Cage in Uganda -- where students are preparing to protect his and the
UN's and ICC's inaction on human rights abuses -- and later to
attended the opening of the World Cup in South Africa.
So
is this proposed
merged office in Addis Ababa nothing but a political football?
The
Department of Field Support restructuring proposal is also, for now,
being opposed by large troop contributing countries Pakistan and India.
DFS chief Malcorra is said to be arguing that it is not worth trying to
do the reforms piecemeal. So perhaps nothing will be passed.
Chairing the
meeting was Peter Maurer of Switzerland, who has been moonlighting
this month as a Swiss minister. He ended the meeting by saying he
will"consult with the Bureau" given the views expressed. As
he left the Conference Room, Maurer chatted with Zerihoun. Why turn
in an ostensibly important proposal so late? Watch this site.
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