Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

On Syria, Brit UN Aid Chief Thanks UK, Ban Welcomes G8, But Was He Invited?

UNITED NATIONS, June 18 -- After the G8 summit in Lough Erne was over came two statements from the UN. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he "welcomes" the G8 Communique.

  But still not answered, five hours after it was asked at the noon briefing, was whether Ban was invited to the G8 meeting. As Inner City Press noted Tuesday morning, the International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde was there, as was the World Bank's Jim Kim.

  If Ban Ki-moon was not invited, what does it say? And is that why he arranged to visit China at this time?

  Meanwhile the UN's top humanitarian office, UK Baroness Valerie Amos, tweeted her thanks to one of the donations to Syria at the G8: the UK's. Inner City Press asked if there would be thanks for say, Canada. Amos retweeted American Raj Shah's statement about Obama's giving.

  But Shah works for the US -- Amos works for the UN, and probably should be cautious about serving her own country in the way that, say, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous serves France, for which he was UN Ambassador in 1994 during the Rwanda genocide. Merci!

The UN Security Council met Tuesday afternoon about the Golan mission UNDOF. Afterward, Ladsous did not do a stakeout or take questions. This is a trend.

  To this has Ban's UN descended -- this and still threatening to summarily remove signs of dissent, of the new Free UN Coalition for Access. The question was asked at Tuesday's UN noon briefing, but as with Ban and the G8, five hours later there has been no answer. Watch this site.