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UN in Gaza Was Quiet on Aid
Suspension, 10 Million Little Dollars
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, January 25 -- The
UN in the Gaza Strip has begun to lose credibility. It began with the
UN Relief
and Works Agency's John Ging called Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
articulate. Two
other recent examples concern UNRWA's now-confirmed suspension of aid
trucks,
on which it never reported and which the UN inaccurately denied, and
even the
entry of cash into the Strip. On January 23, John Ging told the Press
that cash
had finally gotten in, to "some international organizations."
When
Inner City Press asked if this meant the reported $10 million to UNRWA,
Ging
said that UNRWA was the only organization allowed cash entry by Israel
-- why
then the use of the plural, organizations? -- and he then refused to
confirm
the $10 million figure, only saying, "a small amount." Why be
evasive, particularly on a topic on
which UNRWA has been consistently
complaining?
UN's Ban at UNRWA, $10 million and
suspended aid trucks not shown
On January 21, Inner City Press asked about
a report,
on the Palestinian Ma'an News
service, that a truck of Jordan-given aid was hijacked and diverted
at the
Karem Shalom crossing, and UNRWA suspended other deliveries. Ms. Montas said she would get back with an
answer. This is what arrived:
Subj:
your question on UNRWA trucks
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To:
Matthew Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Sent:
1/21/2009 1:14:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
We
haven't seen the media reports you were referring to, and our colleagues at UNRWA didn't
mention anything like this when we spoke with them right before the
noon
briefing today. [Emphasis added.]
Inner City Press immediately sent the UN
Spokesperson's
Office in New York and the Chris Gunness of OCHA in the OPT a copy of
the Ma'an
article about with a request for comment, "if UNRWA does not deny
the
diversion, please explain why the UN has not commented on it, and UNHQ
says
it's unaware of it." But for two days there was no answer at all. Then
on
January 23, John Ging while stating that the initial diversion did not
occur,
acknowledged that UNRWA had temporarily suspended entry. So did UNRWA
not even
mention this to the UN in New York?
While Ging has for weeks stressed that there must be
accountability for
the deaths and destruction in the region, Friday he dodged Inner City
Press'
question of if the UN system's shift from his call for an independent
investigation to one for an Israeli investigation, at least in the
first
instance, has impacted and decreased the expectation of justice and
accountability among Gaza residents. The litmus test will be down the
road, he
said. But what about now?
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.
* * *
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reports are
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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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