On
Libya, Ban
Soft on Probe
of NATO,
Mis-Cites Ian
Smith,
Official
Being Let Go
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 25 --
After making
claims about
how he is
reforming
the UN, but
with the press
and public
banned from
his question
and
answer session
with UN member
states,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
on Wednesday
was asked "on
Libya, do you
think that
there is a
role for a UN
Security
Council
investigation
into civilians
casualties of
NATO
bombings?"
This
has been a
controversial
issue at the
UN, even more
so after Ban
last month
claimed that
NATO fully
complied with
the protection
of civilians
mandate of
Security
Council
resolution
1973. But
even with a
month
to think about
it, this was
Ban's answer:
"I
understand
that NATO
authorities
have also
mentioned to
the issue of
how to address
the
accountability
of the
civilian
casualties in
the
course of
military
operations in
Libya. But I
am waiting for
all
their
consultations."
Beyond
mocking
what he calls
his "quiet
leadership,"
many have
noted that
on
some issues
Ban defers
entirely to
member states
(or here,
"NATO
authorities")
while on
others he
woodenly urges
member states,
or the
Council, to do
things. There
is no
consistency.
There
is not even
much accuracy.
In his opening
statement, Ban
said that "on
Libya, my
Special
Representative,
Ian Smith, and
High
Commissioner
Navi Pillay
briefed the
Security
Council this
morning." Video
here, at
Minute 7:10.
Ian
Smith, of
course, was
ruler of
colonial
Rhodesia,
renamed
Zimbabwe. The
UN
modified
its transcript
of Ban's press
conference,
changing it to
"my
Special
Representative,
Ian [Martin]."
(In
another place,
Ban
mis-said the
first name of
the expert on
Children and
Armed
Conflict as he
announced she
will be
leaving;
the UN simply
omitted
the
embarrassing
error from the
transcript.)
After
the Libya
briefing to
which Ban
Ki-moon
referred,
Inner City
Press asked
Navi
Pillay for her
view of if
NATO's
casualties in
Libya should
be
investigated.
She answered
that NATO is
now
cooperating
with the
Commission of
Inquiry, whose
report will be
awaited. She
noted that
some in the
Security
Council would
like the
reporting to
be to the
Council.
"Rhodesia's
Ian Smith,"
Ban
malapropism
(and Migiro)
not shown
Ban's
trick at
times seems to
be to
outsource
statements to
Pillay. For
example when
Ban spoke with
Yemen's Ali
Saleh in
November, he
claimed to
Inner
City Press
that the
matter of
immunity was
not really
discussed.
Later Pillay
denounced the
immunity law
that Saleh
got. But where
is
Ban Ki-moon?
Quiet
leadership,
indeed.
Again, on
the question
of
Ban's now
outgoing
deputy from
Tanzania,
Asha-Rose
Migiro, Inner
City Press on January 21
exclusively
reported that
she
is out, to
be replaced by
Susana Malcorra
(who has a
role in the
lack
of military
helicopters in
South Sudan.)
On January 23
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky about
it, but he
claimed
ignorance.
Inner City
Press wrote
about it again
on January 24,
after the UN
resident
representative
in Tanzania
confirmed it.
At his press
conference,
Ban belatedly
confirmed it,
saying that
Migiro offered
to
leave. In
fact, multiple
sources in the
African Group
at the UN say
Migiro lobbied
them to try to
stay, and say
that Ban has
again
rebuffed the
African Group
as he has on
their demand
he appoint a
full time
Special
Adviser on
Africa.
This
is Ban's UN.
But we will
not stop asking.
Watch this
site.
, 
