As
Sierra Leone
Envoy Says Ban
Caving To
Koroma,
Pascoe Says
Speaks For
Itself
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 13 --
While Michael
von der
Schulenburg
was still
the UN envoy
in Sierra
Leone, Inner
City Press reported that
he hit a
staff member,
and that in a
previous
stint for the
UN in Iran had
dealt in
antiquities
and rugs,
dubbing him
"the carpet
bagger."
But
when
Schulenburg
was
unceremoniously
removed by UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon as his
envoy, several
Ban
administration
officials
approached
Inner City
Press to say
Ban had "hit a
new low," as
one of
them put it.
According
to these
UN officials,
who asked for
anonymity due
to fear of Ban
administration
retaliation,
Schulenburg
was removed
not because of
his previous
"misdeeds" as
one put it,
but entirely
because
the government
of Sierra
Leone didn't
like how he
was dealing
with
the opposition
in the run-up
to elections.
Dealing
with
oppositions
is, of course,
part of the
job a UN envoy
is supposed to
do, even if it
has become
less and less
prevalent of
late, in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
Haiti and
South Sudan.
Even amid
this trend of
"sucking up"
to host
countries as a
"way
to stay
relevant" or
at least stay
in the
country, as
one put
it, it was not
thought that
Ban would
simply give in
and pull out
one
of his envoys
in this way.
On
February
9,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: In the
Sierra Leonean
press, they
say that
President
[Ernest Bai]
Koroma
informed [he]
was no longer
willing to
talk to
Mr.
Schulenburg
and that’s why
he was
removed. And I
think since
some seem to
have a concern
that this
involves not
supporting an
SRSG
who was trying
to speak both
with the
Government,
but also to
the
opposition and
in the face of
Government
threats to no
longer deal
with him, to
just remove
him, this is
why I am
asking again,
what was
the reason
that he was
removed? Is
this a
mischaracterization
of the
Secretary-General’s
support, or in
this case
non-support,
of an
SRSG on the
ground facing
threats from
the
Government?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
We don’t have
anything
beyond the
statement that
we have
already issued
on this, in
which it is
very clear
that the
Secretary-General
supported and
was supportive
of the efforts
of Mr.
von der
Schulenburg on
the ground in
Sierra Leone.
Inner
City
Press: Then
why did he
remove him so
abruptly, and
what do you
say to this?
Is it true
that President
Koroma said,
“I won’t
deal with
Schulenburg
any more”?
Spokesperson:
As I say, we
issued a
statement and
I don’t have
anything
beyond
that, Matthew.
Then
a letter from
Schulenburg to
the outgoing
head of Ban's
Department of
Political
Affairs Lynn
Pascoe
emerged, in
which
Schulenburg
wrote
"There
can
be little
doubt, that
the decision
by the
President to
force my
early
departure will
be seen -
rightly or
wrongly - by
virtually
every Sierra
Leonean as an
effort to
remove a
potential
obstacle to
his
re-election
and as opening
the door to
manipulating
the election
outcome in his
favor. I also
feel that we
should engage
the President
directly over
his sudden
flair of
hostility
towards me
before giving
in to his
request for my
departure...
Many Sierra
Leoneans (as
indeed
many among the
international
community) may
see the U.N.
as readily
caving in to
unreasonable
and
unjustified
pressures
without making
even the
slightest
attempt to
protect the
position as
the
Secretary-General's
representative
in this
country."
While
some allege
that
Schulenburg
himself leaked
the letter,
other tried to
say it is
not authentic.
On February
14, Inner
City Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Nesirky
Inner
City
Press: the
letter that’s
now been
leaked —Mr.
Schulenburg’s
letter to Lynn
Pascoe asking
the UN not to
give in to
what he called
pressure by
the Government
of Sierra
Leone to have
him removed as
SRSG — what’s
the response
to his letter?
Because it
makes it
look to some
and he said in
his own letter
that it will
look like the
UN is simply
giving in to
host country’s
displeasure
with either
criticism or
even-handed
treatment by
an SRSG. Is it
in fact a
letter that
Schulenburg
sent to Pascoe
and what is
the
Secretary-General’s
response to
the idea of
some that he
sold out
an SRSG?
Ban smiles at
SRSG before
the Fall,
letter not
shown, (c) UN
Photo
Spokesperson:
First of all,
we put out a
statement, as
you will have
seen, I don’t
have anything
to add to
that, except
to say that we
don’t comment
on leaked
internal
communications.
So
Inner City
Press
sought out
Pascoe
himself, in
the UN's North
Lawn building.
Pascoe
sighed and
said it
"speaks for
itself,"
indicating at
least
that the
letter is
authentic.
Yes, this
speaks for
itself. This
is
Ban's UN.
Watch this
site.
, 
