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As Greece Burns in Police Shooting's Wake, UN's Ban
Has No Comment, and Letters Not Received
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
December 9 -- As the death of a 15
year old boy, shot by Athens police, has triggered four days riots
throughout
Greece, the UN on Tuesday still had no comment. Similar or lessen
incidents
elsewhere garner formal statements by the UN's Ban Ki-moon or his
spokesperson Michele Montas. Is the
silence in this
case explained by the political power of Greece compared, for example,
to
Nigeria or Guinea Bissau? Or rather is it Greece's unimportance?
This
latter theory appears to be supported by another answer on Tuesday,
that the UN
has not received or processed a letter the Turkish Cypriot leader Talat
says he
send to Ban Ki-moon. Such letters
appear
to get lost. How else to explain the Secretary General's upbeat, some
say saccharine,
last report on Cyprus, compared to the threats of naval confrontation
over oil
exploration. Ban's report admonishes the two leaders in Cyprus not to
negotiate
through the press. Does this mean not answering questions? If so, it
can be
said to be catching.
In Greece, streets afire. At UN in New York, no comment
From
Tuesday's
UN transcript:
Inner City Press: it’s reported
that the Turkish Cypriot leader, [Mehmet Ali] Talat, wrote a letter to
the
Secretary-General, I guess responding to what Cyprus had written making
other
points. Has it been received and is Ban
Ki-moon, does he have a response to it?
Spokesperson Montas: Well, it
would go first, as you know, to our
Special Envoy dealing with the issue of Cyprus.
In terms of the Secretary-General receiving another
letter, I can check
for you whether the letter was received.
[She later added that no such
letter had been received.]
Inner City Press: Okay, and does
he have any either comment or (inaudible)...is there any UN response to
the, in
Greece, to the shooting and rioting that’s taking place in the last
three days?
Spokesperson: No, except that
the Secretary-General has
been following that issue quite closely.
He has no comments on it at this point.
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