By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 25 -- Even on a slow day at the UN there are questions, if few answers and even less follow-through.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about Yemen and Somalia, war crimes in Sri Lanka, the Green Climate Fund and defunct MassiveGood scam now dubbed MassiveFraud by some. Video here.
The answers ranged from "we're still studying" through "not our fault" to "we'll get back to you."
On Yemen, Inner City Press asked about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's statements Wednesday that Ali Saleh would come to New York, stepping back from power, and that Ban hadn't discussed in any detail with Saleh what's now being protested as the immunity provisions of the deal.
Nesirky noted that Inner City Press was there when Ban spoke and all Ban was doing was recounting what Saleh said: "ultimately it's up to the president to travel as he sees fit."
He said the UN "has a clear position against impunity," and that Ban's envoy -- if not Saleh -- will be in New York on Monday. But what about the at least five dead protesting the deal that Ban applauded?
On Somalia, Inner City Press asked about Ethiopia entering the country, and if Ban thought it required Security Council approval or review. Nesirky said that Ban's office won't comment on what the Security Council should discuss, "that's for the Council to decide."
Inner City Press pointed out that previous Secretaries General -- the primary reference was to Kofi Annan on Iraq -- had spoken about how the UN Charter applies to the entry into one country by another.
On reports that the US and Saudi Arabia won't sign on to the Green Climate Fund, Inner City Press asked for Ban's view. Nesirky said that beyond the Green Climate Fund, Durban's discussions will include other topics, "we need to wait and see." That is, unlike even the UK, no criticism of the Obama administration's positions.
Now that the Sri Lanka's government own Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission report has been leaked, as the UN's was, to The Island, Inner City Press asked about it. "National accountability is always the most important," Nesirky said, "it remains to be seen." Really?
Finally on the MassiveGood program, which after being touted by Ban Ki-moon and Philippe Douste-Blazy as to a way to raise funds for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis spent over $11 million to raise only $300,000, Inner City Press what Ban had learned from this fiasco.
Inner City Press previously asked Ban's office about the waste of money and illegality in MassiveGood, involving former and current French government officials pretending to be based in Geneva when they weren't, for tax purposes, and misuse of funds for, among other things, a Spike Lee directed video.
"We'll find out," Nesirky said. We'll be waiting - watch this site.
