At
UN,
After Kim Jong
Il Minute of
Silence,
Nothing for
Guinea
Bissau Dead
President
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 13 --
When the UN
General
Assembly held
a moment of
silence for
deceased North
Korean
strongman Kim
Jong Il last
month,
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
told
Inner City
Press that Ban
had "no
comment on
what may or
may not
happen in the
General
Assembly,
except to say
that normal
protocol is
being
observed, as I
understand it,
in this period
of mourning
for
the DPRK."
Later
another UN
official came
to Inner City
Press to
emphasize that
normally when
head of state
or government
or uncontested
ruler dies in
office, not
only is there
a minute of
silence in the
General
Assembly, each
of
the Assembly's
Regional
Groups and the
Host Country
(the USA) give
speeches.
So, the senior
staffer
argued, GA
President
Nassir Abdul
Aziz Al-Nasser
had
"negotiated
down" the
normal
tribute.
On
January 13 when
the UN
Security
Council issued
a statement
expressing
"condolences
to the
government and
people of
Guinea-Bissau
on
the death of
President
Malam Bacai
Sanha," Inner
City Press
went
and asked when
the minute of
silence would
be.
The President
of the
General
Assembly's
office is
probably
already
working on it,
replied
South Africa's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Doctor
Mashabane.
Inner
City Press
asked the
spokeswoman
for PGA Nassir
Abdul Aziz
Al-Nasser,
Nihal
Saad, "When
will the
minute of
silence for
the deceased
Guinea
Bissau
president be?"
Ms.
Saad replied:
Subject:
Is
PGA Office
working on a
GA minute of
silence for
deceased
president of
Guinea Bissau?
From: Nihal
Saad [at]
un.org
Date:
Fri, Jan 13,
2012 at 4:13
PM
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress.com
The
Office
of the
President of
the General
Assembly has
not received a
request from
Guinea Bissau
for a minute
of silence for
the deceased
President.
What
does that
reflect?
(c) UN Photo
In
2010, Malam
Bacai Sanha and
Ban Ki-moon,
Kim Jong-Il
not shown
From
the
UN's
transcript of
December 22,
2010:
Inner
City
Press: the
South Korean
publication Arirang
has a story
headlined that
Ban Ki-moon
will not visit
the memorials
set up for
Kim Jong Il,
and it quotes
a UN official
who said that
UN
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
has no plans
to visit the
Mission to
offer his
condolences.
So it seems
like they have
a source. Was
that decision
made, and also
does he have
any comment or
thought on
this moment of
silence for
Kim Jong Il
taking place
this afternoon
at
3 p.m.?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
On the first,
as we have
already said
publicly here,
so you
don’t need an
unnamed UN
official — you
have a name,
the
Spokesperson
sitting right
in front of
you — and what
I said was
that the
Deputy
Secretary-General
had signed the
Book of
Condolences
at the
Permanent
Mission of the
Democratic
People’s
Republic of
Korea on
behalf of the
UN system, on
behalf of the
UN system.
There
are no other
plans in that
regard. No
comment on
what may or
may not
happen in the
General
Assembly,
except to say
that normal
protocol is
being
observed, as I
understand it,
in this period
of mourning
for
the DPRK.
And
what about
Guinea Bissau?
Watch this
site.
, 
