By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 28 -- With the UN under fire on at least three continents in Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, Haiti and Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon's spokesman's office appears to have taken a vacation.
On December 26 and 27, Inner City Press submitted questions about mercenaries and communications in Cote d'Ivoire, promised UN visits to Sri Lanka, and the killing of civilians in Darfur.
While these questions could easily have been answered by e-mail, the first day UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq provided only a five word answer: “UNHQ is closed on Monday.”
Did that mean there is no support for example for the UN Mission in Ivory Coast, or that no questions could be answered?
Inner City Press re-submitted questions on the evening of December 27, for a deadline of 12:30 pm on December 28. Haq had already announced that UN noon press briefings would be canceled, allegedly because UN correspondents this week wanted less access to information.
But Haq said that Ban's main spokesman Martin Nesirky would be back and answering questions.
The December 28 deadline came and went without even an acknowledgment that these questions were received:
What does the UN / ONUCI know about, and what has it does about, the communications used by the Jeunes Patriotes in Cote d'Ivoire to coordinate the reported attacks?
Please state whether or not the UN / UNAMID have participated in any way in the inquiry into the Tabra / Tabarat killings of September 2010 reportedly being conducted by NCP-appointed special prosecutor for Darfur Abdel-Dayem Zumrawi. http://www.sudantribune.com/Pursuit-of-justice-in-Darfur,37410
Particularly in light of Ban Ki-moon's recent sejour in Cambodia, what if anything has the UN done about “On December 17, Seng Kunnaka, a Cambodian employee with the United Nations World Food Program in Phnom Penh, was arrested on charges of incitement under article 495 of the new penal code after he shared an article with two co-workers. While the contents of the article are unclear, it was printed from KI-Media, a website that publishes news, commentaries, poetry, and cartoons that are sharply critical of the government, including a recent series of opinion pieces lambasting senior officials regarding a border dispute with Vietnam”? http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=23621
Please state what if anything the UN has done to seek accountability for the killing of Charlotte Wilson and 20 other people traveling on Titanic Express bus in Burundi in 2000. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19158
Haq had left questions about Haiti, Somalia and other hotspots unanswered before he left, setting an auto-responding e-mail to say he would not return until January 4. Where was Nesirky?
A close member of Ban Ki-moon's team meanwhile wrote to wish Merry Christmas. The questions were put to him to, to try to get some answers. So far, none. And so it goes in Ban's UN.
Footnote: while it is often argued, not least by South Korea's Mission to the UN, that Ban Ki-moon works hard, the unprofessional lack of response and accountability by his two lead spokesman speaks volumes. Watch this site.
