As
UK
Lyall Grant
Regrets UN
Envoy Banned
from Sierra
Leone, Of
Meece's
Meekness,
Frechette in
Breeze
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 4 --
After UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
capitulated to
the government
of Sierra
Leone and
abruptly
removed UN
envoy Michael
von der
Schulenburg
from the
country, some
UN officials
close to Ban
complained to
Inner City
Press about
"the S-G's
weakness."
"What
kind
of message
does it send,"
a senior
Secretariat
official asked
Inner City
Press, "when
Ban sells out
his own
appointees at
at the drop of
a hat?"
On
Friday,
Inner City
Press asked
the Security
Council
president for
March Mark
Lyall Grant of
the UK about
Schulenburg's
removal.
Speaking in
his national
capacity
because the
Council won't
discuss it
until March
22, Lyall
Grant did not
directly
criticize Ban,
but said "the
ERSG was put
in a difficult
position by
the government
of Sierra
Leone.... We
regret that,
he left
earlier than
originally
planned." Video
here, from
Minute 28:45.
Lyall
Grant
went on to
list other
recent
controversies
about "host
country
consent," for
example the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
where, he
said, the
government
threatened
that the UN
Mission should
leave. He
added that was
"resolved."
But how?
In
DRC,
Ban's
envoy Roger
Meece said
almost nothing
amid Joseph
Kabila
electoral
controversy --
the blocking
of opposition
candidates,
the torching
of polling
stations.
While such
meekness may
be Meece's
personality,
Ban is sending
the message
that this is
how to succeed
in his UN.
Notably,
Ban
has refused to
support in any
way his own
appointee as
chair of the
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
Louise
Frechette,
when she
belatedly rule
inappropriate
the
participation
of Sri Lankan
General
Shavendra
Silva, whose
58th Division
is depicted in
Ban's own
Panel of
Experts report
as engaged in
war crimes.
While
other
Permanent
Representatives
of Permanent
Five members
of the
Security
Council make
excuses for
Ban,
intent only on
securing top
UN management
positions from
him, Lyall
Grant has
shown himself
willing to
speak some
truth. Watch
this site.
, 
