Why
Does UN
Central Asia
Office
Exist If Not
For Kyrgyz
Uzbek Border
Fight?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 29 --
What does the
UN Regional
Center for
Preventive
Diplomacy for
Central Asia
do?
For
example, what
has it done on
the border
fight between
Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan,
complete with
blockades of
Barak and
Sokh,
helicopters,
threats?
UNRCCA
was
set up by the
former chief
of the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs, Lynn
Pascoe, mostly
because
Turkmenistan
was willing to
invite the UN
in.
Once every six
months
Miroslav
Jenca, Special
Representative
of the United
Nations
Secretary-General,
comes and
briefs the
Security
Council, and a
press
statement is
issued.
But
the briefing
are always
closed. And
Jenca does not
do stakeouts
to
take press
questions.
On Tuesday
after the
Security
Council's
president for
January Masood
Khan came out
and read the
most recent
Council press
statement,
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
border
fight between
Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan.
Khan
said things
hadn't come up
in that level
of detail.
Then what is
UNRCCA working
on? What
accountability
ever was there
for the pogrom
against ethnic
Uzkeks in
Kyrgyzstan?
You never find
out from
Jenca.
What is the
point of the
Office?
In an era when
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
ordered
another $100
million in
cuts, calling
those who
oppose him
"selfish" and
triggering
a "No
Confidence"
Staff Union
vote Inner
City Press has
put
online here
- what is the
VALUE of the
UNRCCA? Watch
this site.
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