On
UN's Syria
Fund, Ban Not
in Position to
Disclose,
After
10 Chevies,
When?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 23 --
Ever since UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
proposed
setting up a
"trust fund"
for Syria
chemical
weapons work,
and the
Security
Council
approved it by
a mere letter
in return,
Inner City
Press has
asked: what
disclosures
will be made?
At
the October
22 UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City Press:
the US State
Department
yesterday put
out a press
release
saying that
they’re
providing 10
armored
vehicles,
Chevrolet
Suburbans to
the UN’s work
in Syria on
chemical
weapons. It
might
seem a strange
question, but
are these
fully given to
the UN or are
they just for
use in the
mission and
would be
returned? Are
they part
this trust
fund. How is
it going, and
is there going
to be an
ongoing
update on who
is giving
what?
Spokesperson:
On the first
part, I think
you’d need to
ask the US
Mission on
what basis
they have
provided those
vehicles.
Obviously, it
is
extremely
welcome, given
the precarious
security in
Damascus and
across the
country, it is
imperative
that the joint
team members
have
the safest
possible means
of transport
and to do the
work that they
need to do in
a very tight
time frame.
And as for the
trust fund, I
can only speak
for the UN
trust fund.
You’d need to
speak to OPCW
about their
trust fund. We
would be
intending to
provide some
details. It
has been in
the process of
being set up,
so I don’t
have any at
the moment.
Okay, I am
looking to see
if there are
other
questions,
otherwise you
can ask what
it was, Abyei
and Trinidad
and
Tobago,
so?
So
of
contributions
to the UN's
work in Syria,
Nesirky said
"we
would be
intending to
provide some
details," put
into the
future
or conditional
tense because
"it has been
in the process
of
being set up."
But
on October 23
when Ban
Ki-moon was
asked about
Norway and
facilities
to destroy
chemical
weapons, Ban
answered,
"We may need
support
from the
Member States.
Norway is one
of those
countries. I
was told
by Prime
Minister
[Helle]
Thorning-Schmidt
yesterday that
the Danish
Government
would also be
ready to
provide their
full support,
whatever it
may be, and I
really
appreciate
such kind of
very
positive
support from
Member States. I am not in
the position
to
disclose which
countries."
So
why wouldn't
Ban Ki-moon be
"in the
position to
disclose which
countries"?
By
the Security
Council on
October 22,
Norway's
Permanent
Representative
Geir Pedersen
told the Press
openly and
transparently
about Norway
and the
chemical
weapons,
emphasizing
that the new
government has
only been put
in
place
recently. So
requests, and
one must
assume actual
contributions,
are not under
any policy not
to be
disclosed.
Why
is the UN
choosing not
to disclosure
them? Or put
otherwise,
when and
where will the
UN be
disclosing
them? The
clock is
running. Watch
this site.
, 
