UN
Squawks
9am Syria
Session Then
Says
Disregard, As
Togo
Confirms,
Stonewalls
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
News Muse
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 3 --
During the UN
Security
Council's
Syria
Superbowl and
negotiations
this week, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
away, getting
shoes thrown
at his car for
refusing to
meet with the
families of
Palestinian
prisoners, for
example.
But
Ban's Office
of the
Spokesperson
continued to
at have the
responsibility
of
answering the
questions of
and providing
logistical
information to
journalists
who cover the
UN.
The
Office is
falling down
in both
responsibilities,
repeatedly
refusing to
answer
questions for
example about
Sudan and
South Sudan,
and on Friday
haltingly
announcing, at
first only to
some, a
Saturday
meeting on
Syria, and
then saying
"disregard"
without
explanation.
The
Council
put a
draft
resolution on
Syria "into
blue" on
Thursday
night;
Inner City
Press obtained
and published
the draft just
after midnight
Friday
morning.
During
the day on
Friday the
Security
Council
chamber was
quiet. Inner
City Press
went
to the new
North Lawn
building,
where Ban
Ki-moon has
his office, to
cover a
meeting in
large
Conference
Room 1: the
"NGO
Committee."
There,
Sudan was
opposing a
range of
non-governmental
organizations
which support
the
International
Criminal
Court. Sudan's
president Omar
al Bashir has
been indicted
for genocide
in Darfur by
the ICC; the UN's envoy
to
Darfur Ibrahim
Gambari
last month
took photos at
a wedding
reception,
greeting
Bashir.
In
other NGO
committee
action,
questions were
asked about
the Australian
Lesbian
Medical
Association,
and about
Asylum Access
having, or not
having, a
license said
by Ecuador to
be required.
Civil society
groups, of the
type Ban ended
up not meeting
with in Gaza,
are being
excluded from
the UN. It
seemed worth
covering but
it came to an
end. Why?
Another
journalist
arrived to say
that Ban's
Office of the
Spokesperson
has "squawked"
-- using the
loudspeaker
system that
does not
extend to the
North
Lawn where
most of the
UN's work take
place -- that
the Council
would
meet on Syria
at 9 am.
Later
Ban's
Spokesperson's
office sent
out an
otherwise
empty email
saying to
"disregard"
the earlier
announcement.
Inner City
Press
sought
clarification
via the
Office's
Twitter
account, which
cranks
out canned
statements
methodically,
like another
Twitter
account, Ban
Ki-moon first
person, saying
he is
attending
meetings that
are over
or canceled or
with himself.
Receiving
no
answer via the
UN's "social
media"
machinery,
Inner City
Press headed
to the
Security
Council
itself, where
a diplomat
from
Togo, the
country that
hold the
Council's
presidency for
February,
confirmed that
there'll be a
meeting "a
neuf heures du
matin"
-- 9 am -- on
Saturday.
Back
in the North
Lawn Sudan
went on
blocking NGOs;
one imagined
that the
Office of the
Spokesperson
was shutting
down, putting
on "the lid"
despite
unanswered
questions.
(c) UN Photo
Ban and
spokesman
Nesirky,
answers and
updates not
shown
At
Friday's noon
briefing Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
was asked to
confirm the
UN's
inquiry into
its own
failing in Sri
Lanka has
stalled or
ended, but
did not
answer. He
again did not
provide an
answer that
Ban's envoy
to South Sudan
promised on
January 23.
He declined
even to
confirm Inner
City Press'
story about
Ban's UN
system task
force on
Syria, chaired
by a former
minister of
Yemen dictator
Ali Saleh.
The
unanswered
questions pile
up, and the
disorganized
announcements
and
retractions
join them. But
we're be here
- watch this
site.
, 
