At
UN
on Libya, Ban
Ki-moon
Refuses to
Take Questions
on
Leaked Report
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 26 --
Six hours
after UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
plan for
"post-conflict"
Libya was
published
by
Inner City
Press, Ban
purported to
take
questions,
along with the
author's
report Ian
Martin and
waning
mediator Abdul
Ileh Al
Khatib.
But
Ban's
departing
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
allow the
Press any
questions
about the
report,
choosing
instead to
select
questions
about
topics other
than Libya,
and from
another
questioner
about one
aspect of
the "leaked"
report.
Then
Ban walked
away from the
microphone --
"Pyongyang
style," as
one wag
put it. Inner
City Press
continued to
seek answers
to questions
raised
by the reports,
including the
suggestion
that
independent
media should
be monitored
"It's
an
internal
report," Ian
Martin said.
But it was
produced with
UN
money, by
consultants
beyond the UN
who brag
publicly about
it, as
Professor Dirk
Vandewalle has
at Dartmouth
University.
In
two noon
briefings
during what is
said to be his
final week at
the UN, Haq
refused
to answer
questions
about the
report. His
associate, on
a day Haq
skipped,
claimed that
it "is not a
UN document."
Ban's also
departing
political
chief Lynn
Pascoe, when
Inner City
Press asked
him August 25
about his
Department's
then
unpublished
report said "I
won't say
anything on
the fantasy
that some of
you spin out."
But click
here to view
the "fantasy,"
unspun.
Haq,
Ban, Pascoe
& Kim:
answers to
questions not
shown
How
can the UN be
considered a
public
institution if
it creates
plans in
secret?
If it then
denies
that the plans
are even UN
documents?
If refuses to
take questions
about those
plans when
disgusted
whistleblowers
who feel they
work for a
dying
organization
-- more
precisely, an
institution
which is being
killed --
choose at risk
of
retaliation to
leak them?
Ban
Ki-moon's UN
has hit a new
low. Click
here to read
the Martin
(and Vandewalle)
reports, and
ponder why the
UN cannot or
will not take
questions
about them.
* * *
On
Libya,
Leaked UN
Report Sees
200 Military
Observers,
NATO but Not
AU Role Given
by Ban
Ki-moon:
Exclusive
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Must Credit
ICP
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 26 --
Before rebel
fighters
entered
Tripoli, and
before UN
Special
Adviser Ian
Martin
traveled this
week to Doha
and Istanbul
to belatedly
meet with
National
Transitional
Council
officials,
Martin on
August 22
handed a
detailed plan
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
After its
requests to
the UN to
release the
document, at
least to
member states,
were denied,
Inner City
Press obtained
a copy of the
report and is
putting it
online today,
here
(10 page
Martin report)
and here
(longer
background
report).
The
UN Secretariat
is proposing
up to 200
Military
Observers, to
begin with a
Multi-National
Force led by
two member
states, up to
190 UN Police,
and additional
elections and
other civil
staff.
The
report
estimates that
Gross Domestic
Production
could decline
as much as
47%. It puts
frozen Libyan
assets at $150
billion, and
recommends
that many of
the assets not
be sold and
quickly
returned to
Libya
(Paragraph
136).
Martin's
report offers
some praise of
the Qadhafi --
its spelling
-- regime, for
example in the
fields of
health and
education
(Paragraph
71). It speaks
of "reforms"
by Saif
al-Islam, now
indicted by
the
International
Criminal
Court, and
former Prime
Minister
Ghanem.
It asserts
that the (TNC)
opposition
engaged in
some killings
and property
seizures, even
constituting
war crimes,
and like
Qadhafi used
child soldiers
(Paragraph
88). It
several times
expresses
doubt about
Qadhafi's
"alleged" use
of foriegn
fighters or
mercenaries.
The report
assumes at a
minimum
sending
military and
police
advisers and
liaisons,
saying that
"no specific
[Security]
Council
mandate would
be required
for these type
of tasks."
It flatly says
that "the
Security
Council's
'protection of
civilians'
mandate
implemented by
NATO does not
end with the
fall of the
Qadhafi
government
and,
therefore,
NATO would
continue to
have some
responsibilities."
(Introduction,
Paragraph 8)
Significantly,
while
it envisions a
continued NATO
presence,
particularly
in Tripoli, it
allows for no
role for the
African Union.
It archly
notes that
only in
Qadhafi's
post-coup
declaration
was Libya said
to be part of
Africa. As
Inner City
Press has
reported, even
staff in the
UN Department
of Political
Affairs Africa
Divisions have
expressed
outrage at
this, as well
as the central
role assigned
to "the Brit"
Ian Martin,
to the
agitated
displeasure of
DPA chief Lynn
Pascoe when
Inner City
Press asked
him about it
on August 25,
click here for
that.
Troubling,
but perhaps
indicative of
Ban Ki-moon's
UN, is the
report's
recommendation
that non-State
media be
"monitored"
lest it
"rush to
resort to
public
opinion."
Ban & Ian
Martin - nouveau
L. Paul
Bremer?
While
Pascoe called
"extraordinary"
the failed
mediation work
of Ban
Ki-moon's
envoy for
Libya Abdul
Ilah Al
Khatib,
Martin's
report
mentioned Al
Khatib only
once, as a
person
consulted
with. (Al
Khatib has
throughout remained a
paid Senator
in Jordan.)
Also consulted
were UN funds
and programs
(the UN Office
on Drugs and
Crimes wants
in and UNDP
plans a
"Surge" and to
play a role in
procurement),
the
International
Migration
Organization
and the World
Bank -- but,
despite
discussion for
example of
currency
stabilization
and exchange
rates, NOT the
International
Monetary Fund.
Even
to compile the
report, the UN
and Martin
reached
outside of the
UN System and
hired
Dartmouth
professor Dirk
Vandewalle as
a consultant.
When Inner
City Press first asked,
UN deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
even confirm
Vandewalle's
hiring.
This week,
when Inner
City Press asked that
the report be
released in
light of
Vandewalle's
public
description of
his role, Haq
said no,
and his
associate
spokesperson
even claimed
the report is
"not a UN
document."
One
of the many
questions
arising from
the report is
under what
mandate, and
with what
accountability,
the UN
Secretariat
developed this
"post-conflict"
Libya plan,
and then
refused to
share it even
with member
states.
There will be
many other
questions. For
now, in
advance of the
(August 16
video) meeting
convened by
Ban Ki-moon,
Inner City
Press is
making the
UN's plan
public, as it
should have
been. Watch
this site.
, 
