At UN, Experts Change UK's Nepal Draft, UN's Role Clipped, Government's View Enshrined

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 22 -- The UN's resolution on Nepal, which had been scheduled to be adopted Monday, has been pushed back to Jan. 23. In closed-door meetings, China and others objected to a UK draft, saying that in the draft, the UK was trying to go beyond what Nepal was requesting from the UN. Inner City Press has obtained documentary evidence of the changes, including changes from the first draft to the final one put "in blue" on Tuesday night. Click here for the changes to the initial draft, which included dropping "urges all party to take full advantage of the expertise and willingness in UNMIN to support the peace process" and "stressing the need for co-ordination and complementarity of efforts between the mission and all the UN actors in the UN area." Here's the UK's draft Nepal resolution, Page 1 and Pages 2 & 3.

            In fact, the final / "in blue" version of the resolution even drops the reference to the UN's Human Rights Office in Nepal. Also dropped is the call on the government of Nepal to recognize the capacity of UNMIN Police Advisers to advise the national police on security. While the draft called said that the Secretary-General should take into account "the views of the parties," the final version says only "the views of the government of Nepal." This is how sausage is made. The place of its making in this instance was Conference Room Six in the basement of the UN. Reporters stood out front on Monday, but only to cover a meeting of Arab Group ambassadors about Gaza. Those from the Security Council countries who negotiated and changed the Nepal draft worked in obscurity, but the changes are quite telling.

UN in Nepal, changed draft resolution not shown

            Back on January 10, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson that, "there is a report in the Indian press that these rebels in the Terai region, they say, 'Even Ban Ki-moon is aware of our demand for a separate homeland in the Terai region'... is he aware of that?" Spokesperson Michele Montas responded, "He has not received any official communications on that." But what does official communication mean? Watch this space.

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These reports are 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

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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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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