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At UN, China Complains Its Name Was Erased, Blair By Video
Only, Croatia
Takes No Questions
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
December 11 --A generally slow day
at the UN ended in the General Assembly not with a whimper but a bang
as China
insistently complained about mistreatment by the UN Secretariat. After
Turkey
intervened to clarify it had erroneously been listed as the sponsor of
a
resolution with which it does not agree, China said the opposite, that
it had
wished to be a sponsor but was denied.
The
Tanzanian Ambassador, chairing the plenary meeting, asked the
Secretariat for
an explanation. There is no evidence of any sponsorship by the
delegation at
issue, was the flowery but terse ruling. And then the Tanzanian
Ambassador
gaveled the meeting closed.
The Chinese
representative raised his voice, asking
for translation, and said he personally had gone on December 10 to the
29th
floor of UN Headquarters, to be listed as a sponsor. There a woman he
called
Donna but others phonetically call Nada told him the forms were not
available,
but took down China's request. On December 11, China was not told that
any more
information was need. "No voicemails," he said. And then the failure
to be listed.
The
Tanzanian Ambassador spoke again, saying the further explanations would
be
forthcoming. For weeks Inner City Press has asked that the head of the
unit at
issue, Shaaban Shaaban of the Department of General Affairs and
Conference
Management, come and give a briefing, answer question. Still he has not
done
so. Will Thursday's incident finally result in the requested briefing?
We'll
see.
Even when
questions are supposed to be answered at the UN, often they are not. At
the end
of the morning's Security Council session, this month's president,
Croatia's
Neven Jurica, came to the stakeout microphone and read out a statement
about
Guinea-Bissau. When he was finished, he
immediately started to walk away from the microphone. Inner City Press
immediately said, "Can I ask you a question?" But he did not turn
back. Even a recalcitrant President earlier this year used to wave or
shrug
apologetically. So far, December has been the most silent month, in
terms of
Council Presidency.
Croatia's Neven Jurica, answers on Tony Blair not
shown
The
question Inner City Press wanted to ask was about Tony Blair of the
Middle East
Quartet. At Amb. Jurica's opening of the
month press conference, Inner City
Press asked if Blair had been invited to brief the Council. At
first Amb.
Jurica indicated yes, then he switched to no. Now Inner City Press is
told that
two letters exist, one to Blair and one by Blair, saying he will not
come until
February.
At the
December 11 UN briefing, Inner City Press asked if Blair will be
physically
attending the December 15 meeting of the Quartet in New York. The
following
came in response:
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not
Reply
To: Inner City Press
Sent: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:32 pm
Subject: Your questions about
participants at the Quartet meeting on 15 December
In addition to the normal
principals (the SG, Ms. Rice, Mr. Lavrov, Mr. Solana and Ms.
Ferrero-Waldner),
it is also likely that Foreign Minister Kouchner will attend the
meeting and
that Tony Blair will participate by video-link. But details remain to
be
confirmed.
Some in the
Security Council say that Blair is not coming to New York so as to
avoid having
to brief the Council. But who works for whom?
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
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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