On Pakistan, Holbrooke Dodges Drone Questions, Qureshi Says UN Lacks Capacity, UK & Canada Spin on Cameron & Council
UNITED NATIONS, August 19 -- Richard Holbrooke, speaking to the Press outside the UN General Assembly's meeting on Pakistan floods, declined to answer a question about US drone strikes in North Waziristan.
Inner City Press asked about the UN's statement that it is blocked from accessing areas where security operations are underway by the Pakistani military, such as North Waziristan. If the UN cannot enter, who will aid be delivered?
“We are too far in New York from those flooded tribal areas,” Holbrooke answered, adding the Senator John Kerry is there, and USAID's Rajiv Shah is headed there on Sunday along with two members of Holbrooke's team.
But the US drones fired into North Waziristan are controlled from as far away as New York, if not further.
Inner City Press asked Pakistan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi why his country bars the UN and its international staff from parts of the country, as UN humanitarian coordinator Martin Mogwanja conceded earlier on Thursday.
Qureshi finessed his answer that the UN doesn't really have capacity.
In some areas, he said, the National Disaster Management Authority does a better job.
UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell, just back from Pakistan, told Inner City Press that his many meetings with General Nadeem of the NDMA” left him assured that aid will reach its target.
Inner City Press asked about UK Prime Minister David Cameron's assertion that Pakistan exports terrorism, and whether as alleged by Pakistan authorities this undercut contributions to the flooding crisis.
Mitchell emphasized how well Cameron's meeting since the comments had gone with Zardari. But Zardari's extended European trip after the flooding began has caused its own problems in Pakistan.
Canada's Minister for Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon came to the UN, but not with any new pledge. Inner City Press asked if this reflects Canada's longer term strategy, and how it might impact on Canada's desire for a seat on the UN Security Council, for which it is competing against Portugal and Germany.
Cannon noted that his country's plan includes longer term reconstruction, and said the Security Council campaign is going well. We will have more on this.
Footnote: cynics observing the GA's session of speeches noted that Denmark is still trying to make up for the cartoon controversy, and the UAE's royal family has uses part of the Punjab for hunting. Interest, self-interest.
