By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/banrep2nepal110809.html
UNITED NATIONS, November 8 -- On the eve of a UN Security Council session on Nepal, the ruling alliance of parties of that country lashed out at UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's statement in his report to the Council that "a government of national unity remains desirable."
The parties called this a violation of Nepal's sovereignty. "The United Nations has no right to meddle in our internal political affairs," said Pradeep Gyawali, a senior party leader.
Inner City Press has learned that things could have gone worse: the penultimate draft of the UN's report on Nepal called a national unity government necessary. At the last minute it was changed to desirable, and still drew fire.
Ban's envoy to Nepal Karin Landgren briefed the Security Council on the morning of November 6. Inner City Press waited outside at the Council stakeout microphone, where briefers take questions from the press. But Ms. Landgren didn't stop, instead heading into the elevator and leaving. Under previous envoy Ian Martin, one wag mused, there was less of a problem of too little information.
Later at the UN's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's outgoing spokesperson Michele Montas to respond to the criticism from Nepal. . Video here, from Minute 11:32. From the transcript:
Inner City Press: On Nepal, several parties have issued statements criticizing the Secretary-General for what they say is “meddling in their internal affairs” by issuing a statement. Have you seen that? She didn’t do a stakeout, the SRSG. What is the Secretariat’s response to this pushback by the Nepalese Government?
Spokesperson Michele Montas: It was the ruling alliance of parties; they were criticizing the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council. And the observation of the Secretary-General is consistent with his repeated calls for unity and consensus among the political parties in order to assure the success of the peace process. They are quoting extensively what the Secretary-General said in the report. But the report is intended to encourage Nepal’s political parties to achieve what they themselves have expressed about the desirability of a unity Government and does not in any way represent a form of interference.
Ironically, earlier in the week Ms. Montas told Inner City Press that the UN does not respond to statements by member states. Inner City Press asked this month's Council president, Austria's Thomas Mayr-Harting, if the Council's carefully worded press statement on Nepal is a position different than Ban's. "Ask the Secretary General," was his response. Video here, from Minute 1:49.
Later on November 6, Ban's chief of Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe, leaving the Security Council during a briefing on Afghanistan, told Inner City Press of Ban's report on Nepal that "it's the same" as previous report. But things on the ground change, and one expects the UN to be paying attention. As noted things could have been even worse, and only weren't due to luck or a last minute change.
