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UN Silent on Cypriot Tensions, What a
Downer, UNIFEM Forgets FYROM
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 26 -- A day after UN
Spokesperson Michele Montas told Inner City Press she would seek a
comment from
Cyprus envoy Alexander Downer about the naval and oil exploration
dispute
between Turkey and Cyprus, the indirect answer was that Downer and the
UN have
no comment. They argue, against all logic, that this dispute has no
impact on
the talks about the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Is this just
sloppy
and wishful thinking, or something more?
Following
Cyprus' complaint to Ban Ki-moon about the naval run-in, Turkey has
said it
will file its own complaints. Cyprus then moved to file complaints
about air
space incursions.
As Inner
City Press previously inquired into and reported on, Downer has
another,
for-profit job, with the business consultancy, Bespoke
Approach. His web page
there mentions, in context as a reason to hire him, his envoy
position with the
UN. Is this proper? What safeguards are in place? These questions were
never
answered when Downer was appointed, or since. Wednesday, Inner City
Press asked
a senior UN official, who acknowledged that sometimes conflicts are not
considered until after an envoy is appointed, if then. Nor, apparently,
is
Downer's employment contract with the UN a public document.
Downer's
fellow Australian Joel Fitzgibbon, far from withholding comment, has
aggressively criticized the UN and its Afghanistan envoy Kai Eide,
click here
for that. So Downer's silence is neither national character or
strategy. Is it
just bad diplomacy, or laziness?
Downer at UN, Bespoke Approach consultancy not shown
Downer's
silence in the face of this escalation can be contrasted with the
near-immediate comment issued by another envoy in the region, Matthew
Nimetz.
When the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia sued Greece in the
International
Court of Justice for blocking its application to join NATO, Nimetz
issued a
statement that FYROM had assured him this would not impact talks on the
name
issue.
UNIFEM Forget FYROM
Following
Inner City Press' exclusive
report on
November 25 that UNIFEM's handout about the UN Trust Fund to End
Violence against Women refers not to FYROM but to "Macedonia," the
spokesman for the UN Development Program had told Inner City Press that
"Re
FYROM, this fund and project is managed by UNIFEM. They are aware of
the error
in the pamphlet and are addressing it."
Inner City
Press called and spoke with UNIFEM's media consultant Beatrice Frey,
who said
she would obtain and provide information from officials of the Trust
Fund, with
whom she was then in a meeting. Inner City Press also asked what UNIFEM
does on
the issue of violence against women and sexual exploitation and abuse
by UN
Peacekeepers. Six hours later, no information had been provided on
either
topic.
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and 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
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