|
On Obama vs. Osama, UN's Ban Says Bombs Away, Some Opine,
Second Term in Mind, Questionless
Town Hall Meetings
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 5 -- Less than 12 hours
after Barack Obama was elected as US President, UN Secretary-General
Ban
Ki-moon summoned the Press to transcribe his congratulations, noting
that he
has put in a request to speak personally to the President-elect. But
what would
Ban say? Inner City Press asked Ban for his response to Obama's
statement that
he would bomb Pakistan if he knew Osama Bin Laden was there, and
whether
between now and January 20 he will try to get the US and Pakistan on
the same
page on such strikes. Ban said, "I would refrain from taking any
position on the part of United Nations on any specific issues involving
questions which you have raised." Video here,
from Minute 12:22; UN transcript here.
Afterwards,
a South Asian diplomat groused to Inner City Press that Ban could have
answered
better. To some, Ban's answer can be
contrasted for example to the two previous Secretary-Generals'
approaches to
the US. Kofi Annan called Bush's war on Iraq illegal under
international law;
Boutros Boutros Ghali's criticism of the US led President Clinton to
limit him
to one term. Those who conclude that when
the
time comes Obama will want his own Secretary-General will see Ban's
dodging of
questions about Obama's statements and actions as an attempt to win a
second
term.
Ban Ki-moon, between two flags -- second term not shown
Ban
recounted meeting Obama on a shuttle flight between New York and
Washington in
February 2007. He recognized me as the Secretary-General, Ban marveled.
One wag,
remembering Ban's story that he met and chose his Deputy Secretary
General by similarly
meeting her on a plane, muttered regarding Obama, did you ask him for his
autograph?
A senior
advisor to Ban stayed in the UN hallways after Ban had left,
communicating to
reporters that Obama "is a UN person." But is he a Ban person?
Footnote: Ban
Ki-moon's communications are
criticized even by those close on his team. Following his speech to
senior
staff in Turin, in which in a phrase some called disastrous Ban said "I
tried to lead by example but no one followed," Ban held what was
described
as a town hall meeting with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
As relates
to communications, he declined to take any questions. "Some town hall
meeting," more than one DPKO staff said afterwards. Others groused that
Ban's speech was strangely tone-deaf on peacekeepers' issues, given
this his
then-speechwriter is the girlfriend of a DPKO Assistant Secretary
General.
Later on
November 5, at least prior to his now-planned trip to Kenya to meet
Presidents
Kabila and Kagame of the DRC and Rwanda, Ban is scheduled to hold
another town
hall meeting, this time with the Department of Public Information.
While the
Press will in all probability be excluded, the question is, will he
take DPI's
questions, or will the focus be on finding who might leak descriptions
of his
communicative performance?
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
