UN
Peacekeeping
Cuts Defended
by Ladsous,
G77 Counters,
SAG Said $1762
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 30 -- Two
years after
fair pay for
developing
world soldiers
who serve the
UN was
discussed in
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
arriving at a
figure of
$1762 a month,
a very low
ball offer was
made on June 27:
$1250.
Defending this
dissing of
peacekeepers
was none other
than UN Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row atop DPKO.
He spun about
cutting costs
in Darfur,
where he's
accused of
covering-up,
and in Haiti
where he
previously
supported the
ouster of
Aristide.
This is the
probably with
ceding UN
Peacekeeping
to France, a
"partner"
which wants to
underpay
peacekeepers:
the official
who is
supposed to
advocate for
peacekeepers
actually sells
them out.
But
much to the
group of the
Group of 77,
there is a
fight back
afoot. Inner
City Press is
told by
sources that
based on a
proposal by
Brazil and
Cuba, strongly
supported by
Nigeria and
South Africa,
the low-ball
numbers are
not being
accepted. We
are following
this.
On
June 30, Inner
City Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
it:
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Matthew?
Inner
City Press:
Sure, I want
to ask about
troop
reimbursement
and also this
Sunday press
encounter.
the
Secretary-General
had a Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
which suggest…
which proposed
that
peacekeepers
get $1,700 a
month.
There was a
survey
done.
And now, it
seems like
it’s come down
to a deadline,
in which
rather than
$1,700, the
donor
countries are
offering
$1,250.
And I wanted
to know, since
it was the
Secretary-General’s
own Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping,
did he think
that Group is
credible?
Did he think
the $1,700
number is a
reasonable
one? And
does he think
that $1,250 is
sufficient for
peacekeepers?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I think, you
know, those
numbers… the
work of the
Senior
Advisory Group
came up with
what it came
up with.
These
discussions
now are deep
in the heart
of the Fifth
Committee,
being
discussed
amongst Member
States, and I
think that’s
where I will
leave it for
the time
being.
Ah,
leadership.
On the evening
on June 30 UN
Peacekeeping's
Herve
Ladsous, who
refuses to
answer Press
questions,
dissembled
behind closed
doors to the
Fifth
Committee, as
several
representatives
told Inner
City Press.
Ladsous
pontificated
about his
visit to Haiti
- and said he
would further
cut back the
mission in
Darfur, where
his UN
Peacekeeping
is already
accused of
covering up
killings.
"He's gotta
go," one
representative
said, and
others agreed.
But this is
the UN.
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