In
UN
Moves, ESCWA
To Be Vacated
As NY Park
Taken,
Williams Back
To UK
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 6 --
Amid
complaints in
Lebanon
against the
UN,
Inner City
Press recently
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about the
closure of
roads in front
of the
UN's ESCWA
building
there. Nesirky
said that the
UN does not
talk
about
security.
But
outgoing UN
envoy Michael
Williams, to
his credit,
Thursday
answered Inner
City
Press'
questions to
the extent of
disclosing
that ESCWA,
the Economic
and Social
Council for
Western Asia,
will be moving
out of the
building at
issue as too
unsafe.
Inner City
Press was
asking after Interior
Minister
Marwan Charbel
denied, in a
telephone call
with LBCI
Television,
quotes
attributed to
him by Agence
France-Presse.
“No … it is
not true that
I told the AFP
that there is
a threat of an
attack against
ESCWA,”
Charbel said.
"The
whole
front is
glass,"
Williams said,
after
mentioning the
vehicle
bombing of the
UN in Nigeria
in August, and
attacks after
UN
peacekeepers
in Lebanon
this year:
against
Italians in
May, and
French troops
on July 26.
(Williams gave
an overview of
Lebanon since
it gains its
independence
from French
colonialism in
the 1940s.)
Given
the costs
that would be
occasioned by
such a move,
Inner City
Press asked
Williams if
the building
to be vacated
is owned by
the UN or the
Lebanese
government.
"It is owned
by the company
Solidere,"
Williams said.
Moments
earlier,
Nesirky had
answered Inner
City Press
questions
about what's
described as a
new "UN"
building to be
built on a
playground on
42nd Street in
Manhattan by
saying the
owner and
building would
not be the UN
by the "UN
Development
Corporation."
I
nner City
Press
asked, but
wouldn't UNDC
be getting
rents from the
UN, to pay the
at
least $65
million the
City of New
York is
charging in
the deal?
Baron
Williams &
real estate
baron Ban
Ki-moon, NY
Park &
ESCWA not
shown
Nesirky
insisted on
the complete
separateness
of UNDC and
the UN, as
he has done on
the UN and the
UN Foundation,
which has
hired a
lobbyist for
the playground
deal.
And
in Lebanon?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Inner
City Press
asked Michael
Williams, also
known as Baron
Williams
of Baglan, if
he will be
returning to
the House of
Lords from
which
he took a
leave of
absence on
October 26,
2011. Williams
said he
would like to
take an active
role,
especially in
foreign
affairs and
the Middle
East, but
remains open
to UN service.
With the
UNSMIL
mission in
Libya filled
by Ian "the
Brit" Martin,
could
Williams hold
the top post
in the
Department of
Political
Affairs?
Watch this
site - and
Williams.
, 
