At
UN, Asked for Council Statement on Gaza, US Says “Not on
a Friday Afternoon”
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 8 -- A Palestinian diplomat, his voice full of hope,
told Inner City Press Friday mid-afternoon that the UN Security
Council would be meeting about “the escalation in Gaza” a few
hours later, when they finished with Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya's
request to suspend International Criminal Court prosecutions.
Hours
later the
Council's president for April, Nestor Osorio of Colombia, came out to
brief the Press on the afternoon's business. He expressed the
Council's concern about Cote d'Ivoire, and lack of agreement on any
ICC suspension for Kenya.
Osorio
did not say
anything about Gaza. Inner City Press asked him to confirm that the
Palestinian Observer Riyad Mansour had requested consultations on the
escalation in Gaza. Osorio confirmed that it had been discussed, but
said there was no result.
Mansour
thanked
countries he said had spoken up in the Council's closed
consultations, and said he regretted that one delegation had blocked
there being any statement.
Inner
City Press
asked Mansour to confirm that this was the “host country,” the
United States.
“You know which
country it is,” Mansour said.
Afterward,
sources
who were in the Council's closed door consultations told Inner City
Press that the US had even cut off any debate, blaming the
Palestinians for brining the issue in on the Friday afternoon.
One
source
complained about this US “attitude,” saying that if problems
arise and escalate on a Friday, the Council should be able to address
them. But by then everyone had left for the weekend. Watch this site.
* * *
On
Libya,
Whack
Talk in Senate, Silence from UN, Filipina Nurses on Both
Sides
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
6 -- Military action in Libya is ostensibly
coordinated by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, under Security
Council Resolution 1973. But his name barely came up in the US Senate
hearings about Libya on Wednesday.
Rather,
Senators
asked
if Gaddafi should be assassinated, and what is known about the
Benghazi based Transitional National Council.
Professor
Dirk
Vandewalle,
whose “History of Modern Libya” makes clear the
pre-existing rift between Tripoli and Benghazi -- in fact, the black
“royal” flag being flown by the rebels is to some extent a
Benghazi flag, as Western created King Sanusi was based there --
acknowledged he knows little about the TNC's 31 members.
Tom
Malinowski of
Human Rights Watch, on the other hand, said that the TNC has the type
of leaders HRW would select for Libya. Perhaps there was a better way
to phrase this: is it HRW's job to select leaders?
After
the
UN in
Geneva released a statement on Libya quoting Ban's key Moon-lighting
envoy Al Khatib that the TNC has asked for some UN help to sell oil,
no clarification was given.
Khatib, Ban & (Deputy) Spokesman:
disclosure of pass & payments not shown
Inner City
Press asked Ban's spokesman
Martin Nesirky, who claimed that the issue had been addressed when Al
Khatib visited the UN on April 4. But the question was about an April
6 UN statement.
Meanwhile,
Inner
City
Press asked the Philippines Permanent Representative to the UN
how much Filipinos remain in Libya. Five hundred, he said, mostly
nurses, in both Tripoli and Benghazi. They are on both sides. Watch
this site.
* * *
UN
Refuses
to
Say
If Libya Envoy Khatib Has UN “Staff” Pass While Paid by Jordan,
Tries to
Block Questions
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
5
-- The UN Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon hit a new low on Tuesday, refusing to answer
basic questions from Inner City Press about Ban's envoy to Libya
Abdul Ilah Al Khatib: how he gets paid, if he has a UN Staff member
pass, and why there is no written documentation for the payments. Video
here.
A minute later, Inner City Press was urged to stop asking the
questions by the head of the UN Correspondents Association -- to which
Nesirky said he would complain -- citing Nesirky that "when there's no
answer, it's finito."
For
weeks Ban
spokesman Martin Nesirky and his acting Deputy Farhan Haq have refused
to answer if Al Khatib is still
being paid by Jordan as a Senator, and how this complies with UN
rules. Finally on April 4 Inner City Press asked Al
Khatib himself,
who acknowledging he is still a Senator said he is not a UN staff, it
is being negotiated. Video here.
On
April
5
Inner
City Press asked Nesirky if Al Khatib has an “S” Staff pass to
the UN, and how his claimed lack of contract complies with UN
Financial Rules & Regulations Rule 105.9, “Obligating
documents,” which provides that
“An
obligation must be based on a formal contract, agreement, purchase
order or other form of undertaking, or on a liability recognized by
the United Nations. All obligations must be supported by an
appropriate obligating document.”
Nesirky
did
not
answer,
instead saying “I have not seen his pass, perhaps you did”
-- it was tucked into Khatib's jacket -- and concluding “I'm sure
it's all being looked into” then leaving the briefing room.
Moments
later the head of the UN Correspondents' Association approached Inner
City Press and said Nesirky
complained about the questions and how they were asked: “he's
saying that when he doesn't answer, that's it, you cannot keep with
the same question... If he doesn't answer you, it's finito.”
Previously,
when
Nesirky
refused in a briefing to explain why his Office had “amended”
a statement they put out by Ban Ki-moon in which he estimated that
50% of the post earthquake rubble would be addressed this year and
then chided Inner City Press for asking the question, Nesirky
said
“shut up” and then “I'm going to have to tell UNCA about this.”
Inner
City
Press
did
not quote Nesirky regarding UNCA at that time, but does now.
Inner City Press believed, and believes, that this is an
inappropriate use of UNCA, on whose Executive Board this reporter
serves. The repeated attempt is both a waste of time and may debase
UNCA. But it seems this UN will try anything in order to not answer,
or even get asked, questions about how it spends money in
contravention of the UN's own rules. Watch this site.
Footnotes:
Ban's
spokesman
Nesirky
began the April 5 “noon” briefing at
12:20, without explanation or apology. (He began on April 4 at
12:16.) Facing questions about UN military action in Cote d'Ivoire,
he told Inner City Press that the UN had not fired on Laurent
Gbabgo's residence.
When
a
French
reporter followed up by saying the
France's Force Licorne had fired on Gbabgo's palace and asking if
Licorne's acts are attributable to the UN, Nesirky answered that it
is legal for the UN to call in Licorne. OK, but did they fire at
Gbagbo's residence?
Likewise
on
Sudan,
Nesirky did not answer Inner
City Press' April 4 question about government air strikes in Darfur
or April 5 question about the government's blockade of the ZamZam IDP
camp. The series of unanswered questions continues.
* * *
, 
