On
DRC, UN Says
No "Formal
Communication"
from
Uganda, SC
Vetted Hege
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 6 --
The UN
continued
Tuesday to
deny it had
heard
from Uganda
about pulling
its troops out
of
peacekeeping
missions in
Somalia and
elsewhere,
despite
acknowledging
a Ugandan
delegation
meeting with
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson.
Inner City
Press
question, and
answer, here
from Minute
10:51.
Meanwhile,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
told Inner
City Press
that vetting
the
coordinator of
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
Group of
Experts
Steve Hege and
his writing
about the FDLR
militia was
and is
entirely up to
the Security
Council.
On
November
5, Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
Inner
City Press:
Uganda has
said... a
delegation is
coming to New
York and
specifically
going to meet
with the
Secretary-General.
I don’t see
it on his
schedule yet,
but is there
such a plan
for such a
meeting
and what are
the
Secretary-General’s
thoughts of
Uganda
saying that it
would pull its
peacekeepers
from Somalia,
Central
African
Republic and I
believe one
other country
in response to
the
report?
Spokesperson
Nesirkry:
Well, first of
all, I am not
aware of any
meeting
scheduled
today of that
nature. And
we’ve
obviously seen
the media
reports; there
have been
varying and
various media
reports —
we’ve
seen all of
them. What I
can confirm at
this point is
that the
United Nations
has had no
official
communication
from the
Government
of Uganda in
relation to
this matter.
This
last line was
reported. But
once Inner
City Press was
informed that
the Ugandan
delegation met
not with Ban
but his Deputy
Eliasson, on
November 6
Inner City
Press asked
again.
Nesirky
acknowledged
the meeting
with former
Ambassador
Rugunda, and
said
"the
discussion was
about this
report of
Independent
Experts
that falls
under the
Security
Council."
He
insisted there
still had been
"no formal
notification
of the
kind we are
speaking of...
no official
communication
from the
government of
Uganda related
this matter."
The delegation
and
meeting was
official.
Perhaps the
reference is
to not stating
the
troops will be
pulled out?
In
Kampala, the
government
says "don't
call our
bluff."
Rugunda, at
the UN even
after he left
as Permanent
Representative,
delivered the
African Union
position on
Libya in and
after a closed
meeting in the
UN's North
Lawn building.
Inner
City Press
asked again
about Hege, if
the
Secretariat
had vetted, or
any "lessons
learned."
Nesirky said
"no, but
again, as
I've mentioned
before,
including just
a couple of
seconds ago,
this
is under the
Security
Council."
But
Council
sources, while
acknowledging
they could
have blocked
Hege or
tried to,
assign a role
to the
Secretariat.
Perhaps Rwanda
now taking
the Council
seat it was
elected to
last month
will help get
to the
bottom of
this. Watch
this site.
, 
