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Africa at the UN,
from Slides of UNCTAD to Senegal Fights, Somalia Resolution and
Protests
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
May
15 -- Three sides of Africa, if not more, were discussed Thursday at
the UN.
The happy side was the basement, where photos of Accra, Ghana were
displayed as
part of a report on the UNCTAD XII conference held there last month.
That's the
UN Conference on Trade and Development; Inner City Press' sources who
went to
Ghana spoke of huge posters of Kofi Annan towering over Ban Ki-moon,
and of
electrical power cutting out. A presenter on Thursday said, we spoke
about
development in a developing country, with all of its challenges.
Afterwards, Inner City Press asked UNCTAD's man in New York Khalil
Rahman about the use of the vacant post of deputy chief of UNCTAD to
park
previous human resources chief Jan Beagle in Geneva. That was been and
will be
our post, Rahman said. He spoke of the impact of speculators on food
prices, as did UN official Jomo K.S., who briefed the press about the
world
economy.
Inner City Press asked Jomo about the presence in the UN Global
Compact of companies which have bet on rising food prices. The UN does
not
regulate, Jomo said, while saying the Compact should do more. In light
of
Senegal's president Wade's call to sue or disband the Food and
Agriculture
Organization, run by Senegalese Jacques Diouff, Jomo said that as a UN
official
he should not criticize the leader of a member state. Then he said that
Wade
versus Diouff is personal and political, and not really about food.
Well then.
BAN on red carpet at UNCTAD XII, Beagle's
post use not shown
Meanwhile in the Security Council, a
resolution was passed on Somalia, with an addition proposed by South
Africa, to
the effect that UN peacekeeper might, just might, be sent, in the
appropriate
situation. South Africa's Ambassador called it a great day, and praised
UK
Ambassador John Sawers for including authorization of protection of
humanitarian ships to and from Somalia. "How is that different from the
piracy resolution?" Inner City Press asked Sawers. The latter's about
chasing pirates, he said. When Inner City Press asked if the UK got a
letter
from the Somalia sanctions experts, he paused and then said yes. Video here.
He also said that
all of the sanctions experts' questions have been answered. But what
were the
answers? The report should come out soon.
Across First Avenue, there was a
protest of Ethiopia's actions in Somalia, the Ogaden, and right in
Addis Ababa.
Few crossed the newly-paved street to speak with them. By the
afternoon, it was
monks from or about Myanmar. And so it goes at the UN.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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