On Lebanon,
ICP Asks Kaag
of World Bank
& White
Phosphorus,
Delattre of
Killed
Peacekeeper
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
17 --
When the UN's
Special
Coordinator on
Lebanon Sigrid
Kaag emerged
from the UN
Security
Council on
March 17, she
said that the
"UN family"
stands ready
to help with
Lebanon's
development.
Inner City
Press asked
Kaag if the
World Bank,
which
considers
Lebanon a
middle income
country and
won't make
grants to it,
is part of the
"UN family."
Inner City
Press also
asked Kaag
about the use
of white
phosphorus by
Israel, cited
in Paragraph
10 of the underlying
1701 report.
On this
last, Kaag
said to ask
the UNIFIL
spokesperson -
done.
(On the
killing of a
Spanish UNIFIL
peacekeeper,
of which Inner
City Press
asked the
Security
Council's
president for
March,
Francois
Delattre of
France,
Delattre make
a point of
answering,
saying that
the
investigation
is ongoing but
to check that
with the UN
Spokesperson -
to be done).
Kaag said
there is a debate
about the
financing for
development
implications
of "middle
income" status,
that Lebanon
is not the
only country
facing
humanitarian
issues which
faces this problem.
The question
remains, how
will the "UN
family"
address it?
“It is absurd
that Lebanon
has no access
to World Bank
grants because
it is
considered a
middle-income
country,” UN
High
Commissioner
for Refugees
Antonio
Guterres'
prepared
remarks to the
UN Security
Council on
Syria on
February 26
said.
When he
delivered the
remarks, he
added in
Jordan. So
Inner City
Press, when
Guterres came
to the
Security
Council
stakeout after
that meeting,
asked him
about this
addition, and
if he -- and
UN Deputy
Emergency
Relief
Coordinator
Kyung-wha Kang
beside him --
would be
pushing for a
change at the
World Bank,
which is
official a
part of the UN
“family.”
Guterres
replied that
development
assistance
should taken
into account
this new
world, where
Lebanon and
Jordan but
also Chad,
Niger and
Cameroon with
respect to
Nigeria, and
Ethiopia and
Kenya with
respect to
Somalia, are
the “first
line of
defense for
global
collective
security.” Video here.
Lebanon's
Ambassador to
the UN Nawaf
Salam told
Inner City
Press, "This
is unfortunate
indeed," here.
, 
