After
UN
Security
Beaten, Ban
Apologizes to
Turkey, "Buys
Silence,"
Stonewalls
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 26,
updated --
After an
apology to
Turkey's prime
minister
Recep Tayyip
Erdogan for an
incident that
left UN
security
officers
injured, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
through his
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
told Inner
City Press
Monday at noon
that
"unfortunate
misunderstandings"
with "security
officials of
member
delegation...
have been
satisfactorily
resolved."
Inner
City Press,
which first
reported the
fight between
Turkish and UN
security on
Friday,
earlier on
Monday exclusively
reported
eyewitness
accounts and
dissatisfaction
within UN
Security
at Ban's
apology
and the
suspension of
UN Security
officers.
Nesirky
refused to
confirm the
suspensions,
saying that
since it's
been "resolved
[there's]
nothing to be
gained by me
giving
chapter and
verse."
In
follow up
interviews
with UN
Security
staff, who
requested
anonymity due
to
fear of
retaliation,
Inner City
Press has been
told that "the
emergency
response team
was
suspended."
The number of
suspensions
was put at
six, with
Team Ban now
shifting to
calling it
"modified
duty."
In
the incident,
in the General
Assembly
balconies
during
Palestinian
President
Abbas'
speech,
Erdogan's
delegation was
informed where
they could and
could
not walk.
A scuffled
ensued, with
Officer
Matthew
Sullivan being
injured in the
ribs, and
according to
sources a
female
Jamaican
officer being
injured in the
face.
"They
called a
Code Thirteen,
calling all
officers
available," a
source told
Inner City
Press. "I saw
my colleagues
on the ground,
with blood
on the floor.
They didn't
let us
approach."
Now
the
suspension of
the nine
officers has
been deemed
"with pay,"
which at least
one source
characterized
as "buying
silence"
after selling
the officers
out. The
source asked,
referring to
member
state's budget
woes and
debates,
"Who's paying
for this?"
Nesirky
refused
to comment on
any of this,
telling Inner
City Press,
"I've told
you what I
have to say...
We are
grateful for
the
understanding
and
forbearance
shown by all
involved."
Ban
Ki-moon &
Greg
Starr,
disclosure
&
requested
press
conference not
shown
Turkey
has
already
bragged about
getting an
apology.
Turkish
Mission
sources
tell Inner
City Press
that Erdogan
had a similar
incident two
years
ago outside
the Clinton
Global
Initiative in
Midtown, when
his
entourage was
stopped by
security. He
has not since
returned to
CGI,
the sources
say, noting
that Bill
Clinton was
around when
Ban met
with Erdogan
to apologize.
Ban
has often
said he is
committed to
defending UN
personnel.
This did not
take
place after UN
Security's
Louis Maxwell
was killed by
Afghan
National
forces in
Kabul -- in
fact, the UN
covered up the
murder, then
begrudgingly
said Maxwell
was a
hero.
Inner City
Press
asked UN
Security chief
Greg Starr,
who replied,
“The problem
is, in many
cases you're
asking the
Afghans to
really follow
up on one
person. How
many thousands
of Afghans
have died?
So you've got
to be
sensitive
culturally.”
But
beyond
"cultural
sensitivity,"
Ban's
decision in
this case to
apologize
seems to many
in UN
Security, and
beyond, as
eminently
political, and
now lacking
any
transparency.
"If
he won't even
defend his own
people," one
UN Security
officer
asked, "how
can he pretend
to defend
civilians?"
How
indeed. Watch
this site.
* * *
Turks
Broke UN
Officer's Ribs
But UN Guards
Suspended,
"Sold
Out" by Ban
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 26,
updated -- The
fight on
September 23
between UN
Security and
the Turkish
delegation, on
which Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported that
afternoon
including the
hospitalization
of
a UN Security
officer with
broken ribs,
has now
resulted in
the
suspension of
nine UN
Security
officers.
They
feel they
were not to
blame, that
too many ID
passes were
given to the
Turkish
delegation,
and that
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon did
not back them
up.
Ban
met with the
Turks, and
with UN
Security at
7:15 am on
Saturday. Nine
officers
were
suspended, and
all were told
not to talk
with the
press. Some
analogize it
to the UN's
cover up of
the killing of
UN Security
officer Louis
Maxwell in
Afghanistan by
Afghan
National
Forces,
for
which no one
has ever been
held
accountable.
"We're
just
pawns to Ban
Ki-moon," one
officer
complained to
Inner City
Press. "He
sells us out.
Ban will do
anything to
avoid a
confrontation
with the
Turks, even
after they
broke
[officer] Matt
Sullivan's
ribs, and beat
up that
Jamaican
officer."
On
September 23
alongside
publishing its
exclusive
story, Inner
City Press
asked
Ban's Office
of the
Spokesperson
for a comment
and was told
that a
"line" was
forthcoming.
More than
sixty hours
later nothing
has been said,
although the
Ban
Administration
through
channels
indicates a
statement is
forthcoming.
Watch this
site.
Update
of 10:27 am --
outside the
Security
Council
(further
outside than
usual as the
press is
banned from
the regular
stakeout) a
Permanent Five
member
diplomat told
Inner City
Press that the
incident,
learned about
from Inner
City Press'
Friday report,
was causing
ripples: "We
need to beef
up the
capabilities
of UN
Security." Or
of the S-G?
As several
Security
officers
complained to
Inner City
Press, they
are now not
allowed to use
or even carry
their
non-lethal
security
equipment.
"We've been
defanged by
Ban," one
said. Echoes
of Southern
Kordofan, even
of Rwanda,
another said.
This not be
seriousness
but structure:
UN Secretariat
leaving
peacekeepers
or security
officers
immobile due
to politics.
, 
