By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 16, updated -- After Ban Ki-moon's second term as UN Secretary General was delayed on Thursday in the Security Council, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about it, and whether Ban had spoken with countries in the Latin American and Caribbean states group GRULAC, whose failure to endorse Ban was twice exclusively reported by Inner City Press.
Nesirky declined to provide any readout of Ban's meetings with GRULAC representatives including heads of state. Later on Thursday, a GRULAC diplomat told Inner City Press “we want to send Ban Ki-moon a message that we are not satisfied by his first term, that he must do better in his second. There is no other candidate, so this is all that we can do.”
Meanwhile the Security Council, which would like to say that it recommendation to the General Assembly is just that, and not an unfair domination by the Permanent Five members, decided that it will adopt a resolution recommending Ban behind closed doors on Friday at 11 am, whether or not GRULAC delivers its endorsement by them.
While some see that as a disrespect of the regional groups and their process -- there is, after all, no rush to re-annoint Ban -- others see it as honest: as one GRULAC Permanent Representative told Inner City Press, “Once the Permanent Five express themselves, we are all just window dressing.”
Interestingly, some in GRULAC have endorsed Mexico's Carstens to head the IMF, over France's Christine Lagarde. One said, “At least the IMF has more than one candidate.”
Ban, who traveled this week to Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, might want to look closer not only at the ALBA countries, but also at Mexico (known to want more General Assembly input into the selection of the Secretary General, and more attention to Latin America), Guatamala and Paraguay, peacekeeping contributor countries...
Meanwhile work circulated Thursday that Ban's spokesperson's office was already inviting select UN correspondents to be “briefed” by Ban on June 21, when obviously Ban and his office expect to receive the final General Assembly vote. Some call it jumping the gun, or worse -- watch this site.
From the UN's June 16 transcript of its noon briefing:
Inner City Press: various diplomats early today said that it is because the GRULAC, the Latin American and Caribbean regional group, has not yet endorsed the Secretary-General for a second term, that it was postponed until tomorrow at 11 a.m. Now, what I wanted to know is, is that the Secretariat’s understanding: as of 7 June, five countries in GRULAC had said they hadn’t gotten instructions or weren’t, didn’t endorse. Has the Secretary-General or the Secretariat spoken, do you believe, with those five countries on this topic?
Spokesperson Nesirky: I think anything to do with this matter needs to come from the Member States, and particularly anything related to the Council deliberations, and then indeed the General Assembly deliberations needs to come from the Member States.
Inner City Press: But I guess it’s because sometimes we get readouts of the Secretary-General’s communications with, certainly, Heads of State, but sometimes even foreign ministers. So I am asking really about the Secretary-General’s own communications with Heads of State.
Spokesperson Nesirky: As I have said, we’ve said from the outset and the Secretary-General announced it here that he was making himself available for a second term, should Member States so decide; then he would be honoured to be able to serve a second term. And it is for the Council, in the first instance, to discuss and decide, and then for the General Assembly to follow up on that. And I think that’s the process that needs to run its course, and any other comment at this point is really not for us to make.
But why then already be making invitations to a victory party / briefing?