UNITED
NATIONS, July
30 -- This UN
is lawless and
unresponsive.
Arrogance
can be added,
as least in
the case of UN
envoy on
Cyprus Alexander
Downer.
On July 16,
after publishing
a story on the
question,
Inner
City Press asked
the UN in New
York how
Downer could
run to head
the
South
Australian
Liberal Party
while still
ostensibly
being a UN
official.
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
said, "the
principle is
well taken in
the question
that you are
posing, and I
will see if my
colleagues
have
anything." But
the UN
Department
of Political
Affairs, which
ostensibly
oversees
Downer, has
provided
no answer for
two weeks.
And
so today after
he met Greek
Cypriot Leader
Nicos
Anastasiades,
and
before the UN
Security
Council
extended its
Cyprus
mission's
mandate
over
Azerbaijan's
abstention,
Downer
misrepresented
the question
and
said he was
"flicking it
away." From
the transcript:
Question:
If
and when the
talks resume
in October,
will you be
around,
because
of certain
information…?
Alexander
Downer:
I really enjoy
the job and I
haven’t any
intention to
give
it up. I have
seen
speculation,
which is some
speculation,
let’s
confront it,
as you all
want to ask,
speculation
that I might
be the
ambassador in
Washington. I
am not sure I
ever want to
be an
ambassador. I
was the
Foreign
Minister for a
long time, and
to be an
ambassador you
have to live
permanently
out of your
own country.
That’s not so
much something
I’ve been
particularly
enthusiastic
about. No one
who is in a
position to
appoint me as
ambassador to
Washington has
ever raised
this with me
ever. It is
just a
speculative
piece in one
newspaper. And
I congratulate
people here on
picking up
something in
one newspaper.
It’s Google
alert, I
suppose. It
was just a
speculative
piece written
by a
journalist
that
if the
Liberals won
the next
elections in
Australia, the
Liberal
Party won the
next elections
in Australia
that I would
be the logical
person to make
the Ambassador
in Washington.
I am not sure
about that
and I am not
sure whether I
would want to
do it. Nobody
has ever
mentioned it
to me who
would be in a
position to
decide. So, I
can
just flick
that one
straight away.
But
the question
is not whether
Downer could
be Ambassador
to the US and
a UN envoy at
the same time
-- though with
the way things
are going
under Ban
Ki-moon, who
let his Sahel
envoy Romano
Prodi run for
office in
Italy while
still a UN
official, who
knows?
Rather,
the
question is
whether being
in the running
to head a
political
party is
in conflict
with being a
UN official,
under the UN
Charter.
Here's
what Inner
City Press asked
on July 16,
after publishing
this on July
15:
Inner
City Press:
Downer is the
good offices
envoy on
Cyprus, but
he’s
announced, and
I haven’t seen
it retracted,
that he is
going to be
running to be
the President
of the South
Australian
Liberal Party.
This came up
for a moment,
regarding Mr.
Prodi, but I
wonder, what
are the rules
applicable to
running,
particularly
if he were to
win,
the presidency
of a political
party in a
country, and
at the same
time being
admittedly a
part-time when
actually
employed UN
envoy?
Spokesperson
Nesirky: Well,
I mean, I
think the
caveats that
you have
provided
in your own
question
partly answer
it. And, if I
have anything
further from
the Department
of Political
Affairs, I
will let you
know. But, I
don’t have
anything
further on
that at the
moment.
Correspondent:
It seems like
if it’s a
conflict if he
wins, this may
be a
conflict
running,
because he’d
have the same…
Spokesperson:
…the principle
is well taken
in the
question that
you are
posing,
and I will see
if my
colleagues
have anything.
Two
weeks later,
nothing except
Downer
misrepresenting
the question
and
flicking it
away.
Alongside
the
Cyprus vote,
Pakistan did
an explanation
of vote on
Cote
d'Ivoire (as predicted
last night
by Inner City
Press, here),
concerned
about drawing
down too
quickly, and
the Darfur
mission was
extended.
Afterward
UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant
approached the
stakeout
microphone,
with prepared
notes. But he
never spoke on
camera -- he
ended up
speaking to a
wire service
reporter who
notably is on
the
Executive
Committee on
the UN
Correspondents
Association -
no request
that Lyall
Grant speak in
a more
accessible
way.
This
is the
problem, one
of many being
pointed out by
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
with an
ostensibly
pro-correspondents'
association
being
dominated by
big media
wires services
- they have
no incentive
to promote
access. In
fact, they
hold private
briefings
only
publicized to
those who pay
them money.
Oh, and in the
case of
UNCA and its
first vice
president
Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters, they
spy for the UN
- click
here
for story,
here
for audio,
here
for document.
Watch this
site.
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