Inner City Press

Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

These reports are usually available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis

Google
  Search innercitypress.com Search WWW (censored?)

In Other Media-eg Nigeria, Zim, Georgia, Nepal, Somalia, Azerbaijan, Gambia Click here to contact us     .

,



Home -

These reports are usually available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis

CONTRIBUTE

Follow us on TWITTER

Subscribe to RSS feed

BloggingHeads.tv


Video (new)

Reuters AlertNet 8/17/07

Reuters AlertNet 7/14/07

Support this work by buying this book

Click on cover for secure site orders

also includes "Toxic Credit in the Global Inner City"
 

 

 


Community
Reinvestment

Bank Beat

Freedom of Information
 

How to Contact Us



Eide's Taliban Talks Ascribed to Ambition to Lead UN, India Critical, Pakistan Elusive

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 -- Why did former UN envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide start publicly bragging that he spoke with the Taliban? Inner City Press sought answers this week, officially from the UN, then from diplomats from India, Pakistan and Ban Ki-moon's own office.

  The last of these had the most cynical or realistic explanation. In short, Kai Eide dreams of being UN Secretary General. The theory from the third floor of the UN's new building is that after Ban and the Asia Group, Europe is up next. Russia will block Eastern Europe, so Western Europe with his its last chance.

  Beyond Jan Eliasson -- here this week for Water -- and Carl Bildt, candidates include both Kai Eide and his successor in Kabul, Staffan de Mistura. The senior Ban advisor said that in case de Mistura talks with Taliban and peace results, Eide wants it in the record that he began the strategy.


Kai Edie and UN's Ban: the former wants the latter's job?

  India on the other hand told Inner City Press that the UN should not speak with the Taliban. Pakistan, on its national day, was more cagey, characterizing Kai Eide's going public as "sad." And then the hammer blow from the third floor of the new building, the kiss of UN death to Eide. How do they like Galbraith now?

* * *

UN's Eide Spoke with Taliban, then Holbrooke, But UN Claims No Instructions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 22 -- The UN distanced itself Monday from its former envoy Kai Eide's talks with the Taliban. "At no time was Kai Eide instructed to speak to the Taliban," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky read out, in response to a question from Inner City Press. Video here, from Minute 24.

Given that US envoy Richard Holbrooke has said that Kai Eide told the US about his talks with the Taliban, it is hard to believe that Kai Eide did not simultaneously or before tell UN Headquarters about his talks. So for the UN spokesman to carefully said that Eide was never "instructed to speak to the Taliban" misses the point, intentionally.

If Eide told UN Headquarters and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about his talks with the Taliban, and they and he were allowed to continue, that was consent. Why not own up to it?


UN's Ban and Eide (with Kouchner), talks with Taliban not shown

Back on March 18, Inner City Press asked the head of UN Peacekeeping, Alain Leroy, about Hamid Karzai's anger at Pakistan for targeting "moderate" Taliban who could be spoken with. "I don't have to comment," Leroy responded. Video here, from Minute 5:29.

Nesirky pointedly refused at Monday's noon briefing to answer a related questions about the UN in Afghanistan, triggered by a quote from the UN spokesperson in Kabul Susan Manuel that in Kandahar, there "has been a temporary reduction" of UN staff. “We’re trying to determine the profile of the staff, or who needs to be there doing what.”

  The UN and Nesirky often deflect questions by saying that the UN does not speak or wish to see stories about the movements of its staff or other "security" matters. But here, the UN has spoken openly about pulling staff out of the way of an impending military engagement. Watch this site.

UN Footnote: Eide's former deputy and nemesis Peter Galbraith has scoffed at Eide's claims. The UN, at least on background, continues to scoff at him, most recently in connection with a briefing about the upcoming elections in Sudan. Most people understand elections can't be perfect, one senior UN official told Inner City Press. "Except Peter Galbraith." The status of Galbraith's claim of retaliation by the UN is not known. Watch this site.

 Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

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

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Google
  Search innercitypress.com  Search WWW (censored?)

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

            Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -