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As UN Plans $100 Million Bunker
in Iraq, UNrest in Haiti and Cote d'Ivoire
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, February 3 -- The
UN's envoy to Iraq Staffan de Mistura Tuesday painted a rosy picture of
local
elections in Iraq, and described the UN's planned $100 million campus
there as
a signal that the international community believes in the future
stability of
Iraq. Inner City Press asked about reports of voter confusion and corruption
in
Ninewa province, particularly in Mosul, and about the curfew in
effect in Anbar
province.
De
Mistura countered with a
rise in Sunni turn out from two to 42 percent, and did not comment on
corruption. Nor would he say how much the
new UN
headquarters would cost. Rather, he emphasized that it would not be
"luxurious," but more than "campers or containers covered with
sandbags." Video here,
from Minute 12:30.
While sources have raised questions to Inner City
Press about the
ability of the UN and its Department of Field Support to manage a $100
million
project in such an environment, DFS chief Susana Malcorra on Tuesday
afternoon
told Inner City Press it is the UN Mission in Iraq, UNAMI, which will
run the
project, with DFS and the Procurement Division in New York providing
oversight.
She disagreed that this would be DFS' largest project -- the so-called Super
Camps in Darfur come to mind.
UN's de Mistura sees how ballots are cast,
$100 M bunker not shown
Inner City Press asked Ms. Malcorra about reports of
staff unrest in the
UN Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, about which a question has been pending
with the
UN for five days. Malcorra shook her head, yes there is tension there,
that she
thinks can be resolved. Sources tell Inner City Press that
international UN staff
face a reduction in benefits.
Also on Tuesday, UN deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe
announced that still
the UN Mission in the Congo is understaffed. Inner City Press asked if
India
has been asked for peacekeepers, given that Congo has said it does not
any more
troops from India.
Inner City Press also asked if the UN has any comment on
renewed fighting by rebels in the Ivory Coast, alongside the planned
removal of
300 French solider there. On both counts, Ms. Okabe answered, "Let's
ask
DPKO." Yes, let's.
For five days,
the Haiti and unrest questions have been pending, along with one about
the UN's
purported grown in Afghanistan. We will wait for
answers.
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
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
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[at] innercitypress.com
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