At
UN as Ban
Takes States'
Questions
on Sandy Email
Failures,
Press Ordered
Out
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 9 --
During and for
days after
Super Storm
Sandy,
the UN in New
York did not
send so much
as an e-mail
to its member
states.
On November 5
in the UN's
Budget
committee,
diplomats
strongly
criticized
two Under
Secretaries
General: Yukio
Takasu of
the Department
of Management,
and Gregory
Starr of the
Department of
Safety and
Security.
Inner
City Press,
which covered
the UN even on
the day that
Sandy hit, and
its first
Security
Council
meeting two
days later,
has been told
by
well placed
sources that UN Departments
disagreed for
up to three
hours as water
rose on
whether to
turn off the
electricity to
save UN
equipment.
Inner City
Press asked
just this
question at
the UN's
November 8
noon briefing,
but the answer
was deferred.
On
November 9,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon came
to address the
member
states. The
Press was
allowed in,
but only for
Ban's speech,
not for
the question
and answer.
During Ban's
speech, he
said that the
UN's
list of emails
for member
states had
been out of
date.
But
as Denmark's
Permanent
Representative
said in the
November 5
session,
all member
states have
current lists,
to lobby in UN
elections. The
UN couldn't
just ask for
the list, or
keep its own
list up to
date?
The
November 9 UN
Journal
suddenly lists
a new website
for weather
emergencies,
and Ban said
that the media
covering the
UN can use it
as well. Fine.
But what about
the other
questions,
just those
raised
on Monday --
what happened
with the $50
million
allocated for
the
"backup data
center" in New
Jersey?
While the UN's
communications
were down, its
Security
Council
Affairs unit
for example put "into
blue" a
resolution to
extend the
mandate of the
Somalia
peacekeeping
mission, as
exclusively
reported by
Inner City
Press.
As simply one
more example,
UN staff from
the publishing
unit have been
lobbying and
trying to fix
the printing
equipment down
in their
basement
workshop, in
the face of
what they call
threats to
privatize.
They have
enlisted Group
of 77 members
in the Budget
Committee, who
at a minimum
have questions
to ask.
Also
complained of
on Monday and
since, but not
directly
addressed in
Ban's public
remarks, was
damage to and
destruction of
cars which the
UN had just
directed be
moved even
lower in the
UN's
underground
garage.
As
the first
question, by
the European
Union, began
on Friday
morning,
Inner City
Press was told
to leave the
conference
room. Across
the
hall of the
North Lawn
Building, the
Budget
Committee was
electing by
acclaimation,
from "clean
slates" with
no
competition,
representatives
to oversee the
UN's
investments.
Another
election went
past the first
round; during
the break
there were
complaints
that UNTV
showed the
European
Union's
response to
Ban, but not
the more
critical
interventions
by Algeria and
then others.
Some also
questioned by
the EU, not a
member state,
spoke first.
We'll
have more on
these and
other
elections.
Watch this
site.
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