UN's Ban Ki-moon Prefaces Qatar Ammbassador's Book, After Free Jet Flights, Vuk Jeremic & d'Escoto Brockmann Not Shown

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- For whom would UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon write a book preface? While it's not clear how many people have asked Ban, he did say yes to former Qatar Ambassador to the UN Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, who after serving one year as President of the UN General Assembly has written, what else, “A Year At The Helm of The United Nations General Assembly.”

  Would Ban write a preface for other recent GA Presidents, like Nicaragua's Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann or Serbia's Vuk Jeremic? What we can say is that Ban recently accepted free private jet travel paid for by Qatar, click here for Inner City Press exclusive, credited by Newsweek.

  On October 7, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban has taken any country-paid travel since then. After initially not answering, Dujarric seemed to indicate “no.” Such disclosures should be automatic, the Free UN Coalition for Access has argued. But if there have been none since, it makes the private jet - book preface connection all the more unique.

  On October 9 at NYU, there will be a reception for the publishing of the book, by NYU Press. While the shortexcerpt offered on Amazon.com doesn't show one way or the other, one wonders if notably moments of Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser's GA Presidency, like having the UN Television cameras cut off when Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari spoke, are included in the book.

  Or, in Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser's time as Qatar's Ambassador before becoming PGA, getting the head of the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate Javier Ruperezsacked. Description of these would be interesting.

  Who will be the Leon Panetta of the UN of the era of Ban Ki-moon and, for one year, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser? These are the exposes we are awaiting; it's not clear if we'll get them from NYU. Watch this site.

   

In UN Musical Chairs, Sigrid Kaag For Middle East, Inner City Press Is Told Eliasson Mulled as New Brahimi, Ban Ki-moon Replacement?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- How will the UN play musical chairs in the Middle East? 

  Amid the UN's search for a new envoy to Syria to replace Lakhdar Brahimi, Inner City Press on June 25 asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric if it is true that the mandate of Robert Serry as Middle East Coordinators expires at the end of 2014.

   Dujarric said he didn't know. When Inner City Press asked if we can find out, Dujarric said flippantly if he finds out, he'll say. Or course he could find out.

   One reason Inner City Press is asking is that the Permanent Representative of a P5 member of the Security Council told Inner City Press that while current Syria chemical weapons envoy Sigrid Kaag would be a good replacement for Brahimi, she wants another post in the Middle East?

  Which one? At Kaag's last stakeout, Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq did not allow any Inner City Press question,going “all Western” (or another observer noted, “All UNCA,” the United Nations Correspondents Association a/k/a the UN's Censorship Alliance).

A good UN source exclusively told Inner City Press that Kaag “wants Lebanon,” seeming to mean the post currently held by Derek Plumley. But he's been in place for a shorter time than Serry. Is that the post? 

  Inner City Press is also told there are some “visa issues” that make Kaag moving to New York or the US difficult. Again, banning Press questions to Kaag does not make resolution of these questions easier.

  In terms of who might replace Brahimi, here is what good UN sources are exclusively telling Inner City Press: current Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson may be interested in keeping that post and taking on the Syria envoy assignment, explaining the delay in selection.

  And could he be the next Secretary General as well, instead of Helen Clark of whom only nine percent of UNDP staff have confidence (another question not answered by Dujarric, and not allowed by UNDP on June 24), former PGAs Kerim or Jeremic, or one of the two Bulgarian women candidates? More on all this to follow. Watch this site.

   

UN Lawyer Refused To Appear Before GA, Jeremic Says,HRW's Roth Reversed, No Oversight, Least of All by UN's Censorship Alliance

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 16 -- Of all the things Vuk Jeremic said at his hour long press conference about last week's debate on the “Role of International Criminal Justice in Reconciliation,” what seems most Pressing is the total lack of accountability of officials of Ban Ki-moon's Secretariat.

  Jeremic recounted asking Ban's top lawyer Patricia O'Brien to speak on a panel, on this legal topic directly within her responsibilities. According to Jeremic, O'Brien refused, saying that she had other unspecified more important things to do that day.

  The General Assembly is supposed to oversee the UN. How can a Secretariat official just refuse to appear before it, citing other more important things to do without saying what they are?

  Imagine, in the US, Attorney General Eric Holder trying to tell Congress that he wouldn't come, he had something else to do. He would soon be having nothing ELSE but something else to do.

  But in this UN system there is no oversight; there is no accountability.

  Given this, the role of the media in trying to watchdog and question UN official is all the more important. This too often breaks down. 

  The lapdog relationship between Agence France Presse's Tim Witcher as well as Reuters and Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping, has already been detailed.

   But it is pervasive. Louis Charbonneau of Reuters, who demanded the first question in the Jeremic press conference in the name of the UN Correspondents Association, has written to the UN claiming that Inner City Press' question have harassed certain diplomats and UN officials, making them reluctant to give press conferences.

  So asking hard questions is a bad thing for a journalist to do? What kind of association IS this UNCA? It's now called the UN's Censorship Alliance.

Inner City Press on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access asked Jeremic about criticism it has received from some African Permanent Representatives, that his upcoming debate on Africa seems focused on “conflict rather than renaissance.”

  Jeremic pointed out that the sub-title involves the nexus of development and conflict, and that the panels will go (assuming, of course, no cancellations).

  Inner City Press asked about the draft Syria resolution, on which it first reported and put online two drafts. Jeremic said he has been traveling - China, Istanbul - and will now become more engaged. He said switching Syria seat to the opposition raises concerns for many, as a precedent.

  Following up on the “Role of International Criminal Justice in Reconciliation” cancellation, Inner City Press first tweeted the question to Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth, then sent him and Jeremic's office this:

This is a Press request for all correspondence concerned the PGA's February 13 invitation, the stated February 18 confirmation and March 13, 2013 cancellation regarding the April 10 debate on the “Role of International Criminal Justice in Reconciliation.” A request was an explanation of the reversal was sent via Twitter during the PGA's press conference:

https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/324208864616652801

While no explanation has been received, we are following up on the PGA's direction to e-mail a request for all correspondent, with a cc to the interlocutor Ken Roth. Here it is.

Watch this site.

For UNSC, Some Say Too Many Europeans Now, Luxembourg as Dark Horse or Just Deep Pockets?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 11 -- The three way race for two UN Security Council seats has entered its final week. Thursday morning alongside a lightly attended General Assembly meeting on its own long delayed revitalization, the Permanent Representatives of the three -- Australia, Finland and Luxembourg -- arrived at the GA. But they went into side Indonesian Lounge, not the GA Hall.

  When Australia's Permanent Representative left, he told Inner City Press with a smile, "just seven days left... I need revitalization, too." His good humor, a number of delegates have told Inner City Press, will serve his country well.

  Finland's Permanent Representative left, telling Inner City Press, "We usually say." And his country has been active in the committees in the North Lawn building. 

  But leaving as the Revitalization of the General Assembly meeting was ongoing was no shame: new President of the GA Vuk Jeremic, after giving a more interesting than usual speech citing Carlyle, left at 11 am.

   Luxembourg is something of the dark horse in the race, having campaigned a lot "in the field," as well as around Peacebuilding within the UN in New York.

   Not to put too much on a single quote, but one African Permanent Representative stopped and told Inner City Press that "some in the African Union are saying there are already too much Europeans on the Security Council."

   When Inner City Press conveyed this to another diplomat, he replied, "You got it -- Finland and Australia." We'll see.

  Meanwhile as Inner City Press reported yesterday, the African seat being given up by South Africa still seems destined for Rwanda. 

   "So far it's still a clean slate," a source observed to Inner City Press, wondering if another African country might emerge to challenge Rwanda. To us, this still seems unlikely.

  The other contested race, between South Korea, Cambodia and Bhutan for a single seat, spread out to the other side of the otherwise empty stakeout where Inner City Press covered entrants and Webcasts of meetings on the North Lawn, and Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium. 

   There was even an extensive campaign pitch made to Inner City Press. We will have more on this. Watch this site.

Mali Denies It Recognized Kosovo, As Thaci Claimed, What Next?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 24 -- On August 21, Inner City Press reported that Mali had recognized Kosovo, and noted that "the fact that Mali just had a coup d'etat, and doesn't control the northern half of the country, was not mentioned."

   On August 24, Inner City Press was sent a report that "the Malian presidency would wish to inform both the national and international community that the president has not yet signed any document recognizing the Republic of Kosovo and reserves the right to take appropriate measures to identify and punish the authors of the false document."

  But it was Kosovo's Hashim Thaci who said it, on August 21, offering "thanks... to the Republic of Mali for the recent decision to recognize Kosovo." Video here, Minute 44:30.

   So now what Thaci said in the UN Security Council about Mali's recognition has been contradicted by Mali. What next?

  On August 21,  Inner City Press ran back from the day's UN noon briefing to try to ask Prime Minister Hashim Thaci for the specifics of the Malian recognition.

  But Thaci at the stakeout wasn't answering in English, and there was no translation, nor Press question taken.

  Back in May 2010, incoming President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic as foreign minister of Serbia praised pre-coup Mali for NOT recognizing Kosovo, saying "it is not easy to support sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia nowadays. It takes autonomy, principle and courage to do so, and Mali definitely has that."

   Now, after the coup, beyond Thaci, Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Behgjet Pacolli has bragged of recognition. Now what?

In January 2011, US state media Radio Free Europe broadcast that Guinea-Bissau had recognized Kosovo, calling it the 74th recognition.

  Then in September 2011 it was reported that Guinea-Bissau and Oman rescinded recognition. Which is it? No questions were taken. Watch this site.