UNITED NATIONS, April 15, updated -- A shift of power has taken place in the UN, with UN Secretariat staff now barred from Security Council consultations, and it is unclear what role ineptitude has in the power play.
Until now, when the 15 members of the UN Security Council met behind closed doors, representatives of the Secretary General's Office of the Spokesman, and UN Peacekeeping staffers, could attend.
Beginning earlier this month, the UN Spokesperson's Office and most Peacekeeping staffers have been barred from consultations. Several of these staffers have complained to Inner City Press, how can they implement or explain the Council's mandates if they cannot hear what members think?
But for Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson's Office to be barred raises other issues, several journalists say. Already, they say, new Spokesperson Martin Nesirky finds it difficult to answer questions, even if he wants to, due to lack of sources.
They marvel that Nesirky did not himself fight for access to consultations, but instead sent his Deputy Marie Okabe. Whether this was because Nesirky was away on travel through Central Asia, or because Ms. Okabe is Japanese like this month's Council president Yukio Takasu is not known. But the reporters slammed Nesirky for allowing his Office to lose power without even putting up a fight.
"Fred Eckhart would never have allowed this," one said, referring to Kofi Annan's long time spokesman.
"Even Stephane Dujarric," chimed in another, referring to the spokesman for the latter stage Kofi, now with UNDP.
In most mature political systems, separation of powers questions are not resolved in such ad hoc, incompetent ways. But perhaps the UN is not a mature political system.
Footnotes: Council president Yukio Takasu on April 15 was asked if there was any progress on restoring to the UN press corps at least as much access as they had on the second floor, before the Council moved to the UN's basement. Takasu called it a work in progress. Later, a UN Security official told Inner City Press, you have good news. Did it refer to access to the stairs, to be able to discourse with willing Ambassadors as they leave the Council? We'll see.
Update of April 16: while access has still not been granted to the stairs, the pen to which the press is confined has been made smaller. There are moves afoot to install a UN TV camera trained on the Council entrance. "There'll be five years of this," one Ambassador quipped to Inner City Press as he left the Council.
While the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General was losing access to information with out a fight, its Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq was doling out response to questions asked at the UN's noon briefing to media other than the one that asked. Such selective propaganda is another low point for the Office, perhaps not unrelated to its increasing loss of access, relevance and credibility.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/ossg1excluded041510.html
