On
Pakistan,
Ripert out of a UN Job, Schulenburg Tried Carpet Bagging,
Musical Chairs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27, 2010 -- On Monday UN “Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Rauf Engin Soysal of
Turkey as Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan. The
Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Jean Maurice Ripert,” France's
former ambassador to the UN. But what will Ripert's next job be? And
who else competed for the Pakistan post?
On
the latter,
Inner City Press is told by well placed sources that Ban's
representative in Sierra Leone Michael Schulenburg, previous the UN's
Resident Representative in Iran, was lobbying member states to try to
get the Pakistan position.
Schulenburg
is
already a controversial figure, having been accused of physically
hitting a UN staff member in Sierra Leone. But there's more: these
well placed sources say that while ostensibly serving the UN in Iran,
Schulenburg engaged in the export of Persian carpets, including for
profit. They joke that this focus on rugs explains his interest in
Pakistan.
As
for Ripert,
who
more and more obviously fled from the Press during his time in the
Pakistan post, the buzz among Inner City Press' sources is that he
will be getting a job at UN Headquarters. They point out, for
example, that the top job at the UN Office of Partnerships is being
vacated by Amir Dossal, who intends to set up another corporate
social responsibility entity in and around the UN.
UN's Ban and Ripert: carpet bagging not shown
The
Deputy
Permanent Representative from one of Pakistan's neighbors notes that
the UNOP job is at a lower UN level than the Pakistan post, which was
at the Under Secretary General level. He also notes that Mr. Rauf
Engin Soysal, as a Deputy Undersecretary in the Turkish foreign
service, implies for the UN Pakistan post after Ripert, who was
France's Permanent Representative to the UN, a downgrading. We'll
see.
Footnote:
On
the Pakistan front, there are rumors of a September 28 meeting
between the foreign minister of India, staying at the Palace Hotel,
and of Pakistan, staying at the Roosevelt. We'll see. Watch this site.
* * *
With
Pakistan
Blocked
by IMF from Debt Relief, EU Stalls GPS+, Ripert
Dodges Press
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September
19 -- As at the UN countries jostled to give
speeches about past contributions to Pakistan, Inner City Press asked
UK International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell about the IMF's
requirement that Pakistan not seek any relief of its $500 million a
year in debt payments in exchange for a $450 million loan.
Mitchell
responded
that
Pakistan's debt service is “only 3% of its gross national
income.” He said he was sure negotiations would continue on the
debt.
But
a letter submitted to the IMF on September 10 by State Bank
Governor Shahid Hafiz Kardar and Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez
Shaikh committed, at the IMF's demand
“To
make sure Pakistan’s international trade and financial relations
continue to function normally, we will not impose any restrictions on
payments and transfers for current international transactions nor
introduce any trade restrictions or enter into any bilateral payment
agreements that are inconsistent with Article VIII of the Fund’s
Articles of Agreement.”
Inner
City
Press
asked Pakistan's foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi about
this, and he replied that his country's finance minister is speaking
with the World Bank, the IMF and Asia Development Bank and he is
“sure he will take it [debt relief] up with them at the appropriate
time.”
But
he and the
country appear precluded from taking it up, by the IMF's own demands.
Inner
City
Press
also asked Mitchell about whether the EU will grant Pakistan GSP Plus
trade benefits. Mitchell made much of his Prime Minister Cameron
pushing for this, but the EU has yet to move on it, reportedly due to
protectionist opposition by France, Italy, Poland and Portugal (which
is seeking a UN Security Council seat). It was impossible to ask the
EU, as Catherine Ashton unceremoniously canceled her scheduled
stakeout.
To
the side of
Minister Lectureship’s stakeout, against his will, stood UN envoy
Jean-Maurice Ripert. He had refused to speak to the Press outside the
General Assembly's pledging session on Pakistan, and this time had to
be summoned after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left without taking
questions, due to the need to swear in Michelle Bachelet at the head
of UN Women.
Inner
City
Press
asked Ripert, by name, to explain his and the UN's failure to push
for humanitarian access to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
including Waziristan. Ripert tried to get OCHA's Valerie Amos to
answer in his stead, but Inner City Press said Ms. Amos had already
taken the question last week. (Ms. Amos later on Monday introduced
and praised her previous UK colleague Andrew Mitchell in a way some
correspondents found noteworthy, “like Le Roy and the French,”
one said.)
Ripert
came
to the
microphone and offered nothing but praise for the government, then
referred to “security issues,” saying it is “quite normal that
the UN has to discuss with the government” issues of access.
Qureshi with Ripert in a previously life, IMF and
Ripert's dodges not shown
Just
like
UNAMID
has not had access in Darfur to parts of Jebel Marra since February,
the UN and NGOs have been denied access to Wazirstan. And what has
the UN and Ripert done?
Footnote:
Ripert
has
been avoiding the Press for days. On September 17, greeted
by Inner City Press, he scowled and walked away, smoking a long white
cigarette. Later he was seen chatting euphorically on his cell phone
in the UN's Vienna Cafe. On Sunday evening he was on CNN
International saying that the floods have impacted an area “as
large as Italy.” Some in the Pakistani press corps have stories of
Ripert in the Alps -- others say Geneva -- but everywhere but
Pakistan. Watch this site.
, 
