Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 21, 6 p.m. -- As dusk descended on the headquarters of the UN Friday night, budget negotiations continued in the basement, at higher and higher levels. The Permanent Representatives of Egypt and Norway sprawled on couches outside conference room 5, into which U.S. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace rushed at 4:45 p.m.. Ten minute later he left the building, then Controller Warren Sach left the room. "We're happy," he told Inner City Press, cryptic as ever.
In the absence of transparency, amid the overflowing ashtrays of cafe tables outside Conference Room 5 we're left to compare the 65-page draft called "Rev. 2 of 20 December," on which is notated which delegation made which suggestion. Since the "Package of December 18" which Inner City Press previously uploaded, the target vacancy rates have gone up, from 6.3% to 6.5% for professional staff, 3.3% to 3.5% for general service staff. The enhanced cut, in Paragraph 94 of the December 20 Rev 2, was proposed by Japan.
The draft budget resolution ranges from policy to nitty gritty. It includes criticism of the Secretariat's "piecemeal" budget, and calls for the next one to be submitted all at once. On other disputes, it "calls on the Secretary-General to urgently fill the position of Under Secretary General / Special Advisor for Africa," and "welcomes the Secretary General's assurance that the post of Under Secretary General for the Department of Field Support would go to a qualified candidate from a developing country," rather than the post's current occupant, American Jane Holl Lute.
The draft gets down to the level of "noting with concern" three vacant posts in the UN's "web-services Arabic Unit." In the smoky basement, Egypt's Ambassador threw his arm around other diplomats; the UK's John Sawers put in an appearance. Up at the Security Council stakeout, Amb. Sawers told Inner City Press that the PTF should receive continued funding, and that the question of the UN's proposed new headquarters in Baghdad would be dealt with in the Spring. French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said more grandly that enough money must be provided to carry out the UN's mandate. Video here. The draft budget, at least today's Rev. 2, calls on the Secretary-General "to improve the scope of press releases." And so it goes at the UN.
UN Budget Deal Said Reached, Numbers Crunched for Committee Vote Before Midnight
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 21, 9:55 p.m. -- "Let the numbers crunching begin," a UN budget insider told Inner City Press at 9:20 p.m. in the UN's smoky basement. Deals have been struck, he said. Now there are 45 minutes for the Secretariat to calculate what the deals mean, in dollar terms, and another 40 minutes to try to translate the deal into the UN's six official language. The source indicated that a deal was reached on the Procurement Task Force -- an issue on which the U.S. had threatened to block other aspects of the budget -- as well, apparently, on the so-called Durbin II conference. U.S. representative Bruce Rashkow paced the basement a in disheveled bowtie. Chef de cabinet Vijay Nambiar chatted with Syria's ambassador, who had forwarded to Lebanese journalists drafts concerning the funding of the Larsen office under Security Council Resolution 1559: reportedly, $900,000 a year from the UN, and $36,000 a month from the International Peace Academy.
Other journalists, mostly from Japan, nosed around into the status of a Myanmar-related item. Whether the budget is, in fact, $4.2 or $4.6 or, as U.S. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace first said, $5.2 billion, remains to be seen. The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions will have to check and certify the numbers. They put the figure for the contested new UN building in Baghdad at $181 million, and not $180 million. But even ACABQ, as of 9:45, had not yet seen the numbers. Upstairs the crunching could be heard, aiming toward a 10:45 p.m. vote in the Fifth (budget) Committee. Some say even then, it might not pass directly upstairs to the full General Assembly for vote.
Meanwhile, there were reports of diplomats miffed at their Delegates' Lounge being filled with drinking interns. The Vienna cafe, usually closed at 6, stayed open until 9:30 p.m.. In the basement beers were being drunk, sushi eaten. "Go get dinner," the budget insider said, citing Murphy's Law and projecting broken copies, typos and mistranslations. We note, not for nothing, that ACABQ this year claims only three corrections, two of which weren't the Committee's fault. Hats off, and let the number crunching continue. Watch this site for more interim updates.
UN Budget Deal Hits Durban Conference Hurdle, $4.6 Billion Blocked by $6.7 Million
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 21, 11:45 p.m. -- The vote on the UN budget that had been predicted for 10:45 p.m. has been postponed. The funding of the Durbin II conference has reared its head again as an issue. A U.S. representative told Inner City Press the "preparatory conference" would cost $6.7 million, and that it is a point of principle. A spokesman for the Japanese mission, on the other hand, said there are no budgetary implications of the conference, but that the fight is about how to mention the conference in the budget's text. The Group of 77, which caucused in the half-light of Conference Room 4 -- yes, as snarked by the U.S., rum bottles were in view, Havana Club -- wants the resolution to "endorse" the Durban conference. This language was confirmed to Inner City Press by Angolan Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, who shook his head, "For this they keep us here." Even an American, emerging from Conference Room 5, said "there has to be a better way." Another said it was the G-77 being political: "there's a faulty PBI, that they would usually criticize, why are they trying to push it through?" A Fifth Committee staffer told Inner City Press, perhaps facetiously, "Durban is easy." We'll see.
An hour after the slated vote, G-77 members migrated to Conference Room 2 to caucus. Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar stood schmoozing with Egypt's Ambassador. A senior GA staffer said there'd been a sighting of Nambiar's deputy Kim Won-soo, and that Mr. Ban was slated to arrive, but "later." Only victory has proud parents. Ban's bodyguards loitered by the Vienna cafe, standing at the ready. The vacuum cleaners began in Conference Room 5. There was no turning back.
Down the hall came the American flotilla: Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, Ambassadors Alejandro Wolff and Mark Wallace, accompanied by Controller Warren Sach and the Secretary of the Fifth Committee. In the corner of Conference Room 3 they pow-wowed, as other delegates tried to get in. They discussed the U.S. political ramifications of various ways of voting on the budget. Leave it to the experts, Khalilzad said. But as written, we cannot vote for the budget, he told Inner City Press, as he Googled past midnight.UN Budget Approved, 141 versus U.S., in Committee Vote, Durban II Opposed by 40
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 22, 1:05 a.m. -- The UN budget passed the relevant committee, 141 to 1, after midnight on Saturday morning. The lone negative vote came from the United States. U.S. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, speaking after the vote, said he thought his colleagues in the Group of 77 shared the U.S.'s concerns about the budget being piecemeal, and an incomplete picture of the UN's finances. On an earlier vote, about the Durban II conference, the U.S. garnered more support: it only passed 94 to 40, with six abstentions. Working the room was senior aide Kim Won-soo. On the podium was Management chief Alicia Barcena. One wag joked, of Durban, that someone should have asked Ted Turner to pay for the conference, thus taking it off the General Assembly's agenda. Inner City Press suggested this, and George Soros, to U.S. Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzad. "Soros might not fund it," Khalilzad replied. It is said to be anti-Israel.
Before the Durban vote, the U.S. asked for a suspension. Pakistan opposed it, and its position prevailed. The vote was taken, after which the Canadian delegate said his country opposed the conference, and the structure of the budget proposal as well.
Before the budget vote, a request for a European Union meeting was made, but overridden. After the budget passed, there was a standing ovation. Wallace said he joined it, though he did not appear to stand. In the hallway, the U.S. delegation milled around. At least another hour until the full General Assembly vote, they said. It passed one in the morning.
At UN, Late Night Attempts to Change U.S. Budget Vote, Some Durban II Abstentions Surprise
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 22, 2:35 a.m. -- Even after the U.S. cast the lone vote against the UN budget in a 1 a.m. committee meeting, it and the UN held out hope of a face-saving change before the final vote in the General Assembly. U.S. Ambassador Khalilzad said such a change was possible; the U.S. delegation repaired from the committee meeting room. Calls were made to South Africa, seeking assurances that might allow a positive U.S. vote. But the calls went to voice mail.
Beyond the main budget vote which left the U.S. isolated, 141 to 1, there was a vote on the U.N. Joint Staff Pension Fund, 140 to 1 (U.S.) with one abstaining: Canada. An underlying dispute involves attempts to address problems for U.N. retirees in Ecuador impacted by "dollarization" in that country. A closer analysis of the committee vote on Durban II finds generally that the European Union countries joined the U.S. is opposing. Abstaining rather than opposing were Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Also abstaining were New Zealand and Japan. Entirely absent was Israel, explained by it being the Sabbath.
Back in the committee, it turned into a love-fest, with the Indian delegate praising the outgoing Pakistani head of the Group of 77, and the UK delegate thanking the coordinator of the European Union. The widest-spread praise, however, was reserved for Rajat Saha of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, who will leave the post on December 31. Pakistan feted him, India welcomed him home. The U.S. representative said he expects to here great thing of Mr. Saha's future work. The U.S.'s delegate Ms. McClurg is taking over for Mr. Saha. Whether the ACABQ will henceforth be viewed as independent remains to be seen.
Still on the podium as the clock passed two a.m. were Controller Warren Sach and Alicia Barcena. It ain't over, as they say, until the fat lady sings.
U.S. Opposes UN Budget, Which Passes Assembly 142-1, Mr. Ban into the Dawn
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 22, 6:45 a.m. -- The UN's budget was adopted, 142 to 1, past 6 a.m. the Saturday before Christmas. After hours spent trying to convince the United States to reverse its vote against the budget, explained as a protest of the funding of a conference called anti-Israel, ultimately the U.S. still voted no. Afterwards Inner City Press asked General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim for his view of the vote. "With a little more flexibility," he said, consensus might have been possible. Moments later, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emerged from Mr. Kerim's office, in a tan overcoat. "I was supposed to say something," Mr. Ban told Inner City Press, but it got too late. "I will issue a statement tomorrow. Happy holiday," he said.
The vote had hung in the balance between the 2 a.m. vote in committee and the final approval at 6 a.m. in the full General Assembly. The issue was to convince the U.S. task were a slew of UN top officials, from Controller Warren Sach to Mr. Ban's chief aide Kim Won-soo, all huddled in the second floor office of GA president Kerim. Outside U.S. Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzad paced. Inner City Press asked him, what about reported calls to South Africa, site of the initial Durban conference in 2001 which Israel denounced as anti-Semitic. "The vote is not final yet," he said. When Inner City Press said, "Maybe you'll vote yes," Khalilzad laughed. Could the strategy have been to get others to vote with the U.S. and oppose the budget? Later he was heard to say, "I can't wake Condi Rice for this." And the vote moved toward the dawn.
Despite U.S. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace's broad-ranging explanation of negative vote -- that the budget was piecemeal and incomplete, and added too much money -- Amb. Khalilzad focused his comments exclusively on the Durban conference. In fact, he was heard in the hall musing about which position would be understood by journalists. It was, one wag said, a late night cause by U.S. editorial boards.
Other countries' delegates were surprisingly understanding. While they had loudly groaned down in Committee when Wallace proposed a suspension before the vote, while waiting for GA action they relaxed. In the Delegate's Lounge, bottles of champagne were opened for outgoing chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, Rajat Saha. After the vote, Japan's representative emphasized that the U.S. had been happy with the reduction of the budget, he said, to $4.17 billion. It was "unfortunate," he said, that the U.S. had voted against the budget based solely on the funding of Durban II. But was that the only reason? What of the critique of the process, and of the size of the budget?
On the Procurement Task Force, Singapore's representative said the resolution requires an audit of, and accountability for, the PTF. The PTF has told reporters that it is not only targeting developing world officials and companies, but also, a journalist of record reports, Pacific Architects & Engineers, the Lockheed Martin unit given a no-bid $250 million contract by the UN for infrastructure in Darfur. We'll see if that's true. Happy holidays.
