By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 23 -- Two days before hearings about problems in the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the US House of Representatives, Ban's spokespeople refused to answer basic questions about the case against the UN's lead investigator and Ban's admitted delays in reform.
Even on an African election Ban said he would be “following with anticipation,” his Spokesperson's Office refused to answer questions about the UN's role in irregularities in voting.
Midday on January 22, Inner City Press submitted to Nesirky and a staffer basic questions including:
Ban Ki-moon is quoted by Bloomberg, which he sought out, that Congressional Republicans' "only complaint they may have is the lack of much faster progress than they might have expected.” What specific areas of "progress" was the SG referring to? Namely, which areas does the SG acknowledge not having met expectations and for which progress should have been made "faster"?
Michael Dudley, the acting head of OIOS' Investigations Division, is under investigation, for among other things, retaliation and evidence tampering. Given that Ban Ki-moon says he prides himself on the transparency of his administration, what specifically are the facts surrounding the investigation process regarding Mr. Dudley, and will the UN be reassigning him to other duties during the investigation?
Not only did Nesirky not answer these on January 22 - he and his deputy Farhan Haq also ignored the questions on January 23, when posed in relation to the upcoming House hearing, failing to even acknowledge the questions.
Nesirky's job description states that he “answers press queries in person, by telephone and e-mail, around the clock... including ability to present and defend difficult positions often in unanticipated situations.”
On January 21, after he left the briefing room amid unanswered questions, Nesirky's Office put out this statement, in his own name:
Statement Attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General: Elections in the Central African Republic
The Secretary-General will be following with anticipation the presidential and legislative elections due to be held on 23 January in the Central African Republic... The United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) and the UN Country Team have been working with the Central African authorities to help consolidate peace in the country.
It is not clear under Ban and Nesirky what “following with anticipation” means. On January 23 Inner City Press asked Nesirky and Haq:
What is the UN's comment on, involvement in and action on the reported delays and irregularities at the polls in Central African Republic? See, e.g., http://www.minews26.com/content/?p=4457 & http://af.reuters.com/article/centralAfricanRepublicNews/idAFLDE70M09J20110123?sp=true
More than six hours later, the question about breaking news of irregularities in this election Ban was supposedly “following with anticipation” was not even acknowledged. This is the UN of Ban and his staff, including Nesirky. The hearings are brewing in DC. Watch this site.
