After
UN Breakdowns
in Sandy,
Going Blue at
Home, What
Response to
Haiti?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 1 --
After
Hurricane
Sandy knocked
out the UN's
chiller unit
and turned off
its email and
servers,
and before a
"manual
migration" to
a backup
center kicked
up, UN
Security
Council
Affairs had a
duty
stretching to
the Horn of
Africa.
The
mandate of the
AMISOM mission
in Somalia
would expire
on October 31,
and unlike tax
filings or
other
deadlines of
national
bureaucracies,
it could not
be
automatically
extended by
fiat. The
Security
Council had to
meet in person
and at least
"roll over" or
extend the
mandate.
But
the Security
Council itself
is
bureaucratic.
A resolution,
even one for a
roll-over,
must be put in
blue or
finalized
before it is
voted on. In
this case, the
"putting into
blue" was done
by Security
Council
Affairs staff
from their
homes, outside
even the UN's
(broken)
e-mail system.
The
Somalia
resolution was
voted on in a
special
Council
meeting held
in the North
Lawn building
on October 31.
(Inner City
Press, after
some blockage,
managed to
cover the
meeting in
person; click
here for
that, and see
footnote
below. Click
here for
Inner City
Press'
November 1,
1pm story on
the chiller
unit.)
In a
post-Sandy
press
conference on
at 2pm on
November 1,
three Under
Secretaries
General each
thanked UN
staff for what
they'd done
during the
storm. Inner
City Press
decided to
report on one
such story,
that would not
necessarily be
told on the
UN's in-house
News Service.
Inner
City Press
asked USG
Takasu why it
took so long
to switch to
the UN's
backup data
center in New
Jersey. He
acknowledged
it was slow,
blaming it on
the need to
"manually
migrate."
After
complaints to
Inner City
Press that
facilities in
the UN's third
sub-basement
were flooded
by up to four
feet of water
and now
"stink," it
asked USG
Starr if the
Security
locker room
would be
relocated. He
said it would,
at least until
the locker
room is fully
fixed and
cleaned up.
Inner
City Press
asked "Chef de
Cabinet"
Susana
Malcorra about
Haiti, where
the health
minister has
warned of
increases
after
Hurricane
Sandy (and
Isaac) of
cases of
cholera, a
disease the UN
is said to
have brought
into the
country.
She
extended the
question to
Cuba as well
-- later in
the North
Lawn, a
Caribbean
diplomat told
Inner City
Press,
"Jamaica too"
-- and on
Haiti said
that the
Secretary
General will
be announcing
a program with
the government
later this
year. We'll
see. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
on Somalia,
the Permanent
Representative
of another
African
country on
November 1
told Inner
City Press
that European
cheapness was
killing the
Somalia
mission. A
comparison is
to the
over-compensation
to the naval
component of
UNIFIL off
Lebanon. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
