Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban2valencia073108.html
UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- In Spain on November 17 of last year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the Spanish Vice-President "unveil[ed] a plaque at the site of the future United Nations Peacekeeping Logistics Base." To the Spanish media and people, it was implied that the approvals and funding were in place. The message in context was that President Zapatero's donations to and support of the UN were bearing fruit; "Bambi is bringing home the bacon," as one wag put it, using one of Zapatero's nicknames.
There is a problem, however: there had and has been no approval of the funding or location of this UN Peacekeeping Logistics Base. This week the UN confirmed that it was not approved in May, despite the "expectation" that it would be. Now it is envisioned it will be approved, if at all, in the next General Assembly session.
On April 7, Inner City Press e-mailed the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) "as asked at today's noon briefing, what are the specifics of the planned peacekeeping logistics base in Valencia, Spain, when was it proposed and has it been approved by the General Assembly? If so, was it approved before November 2007?"
DKPO's spokesman replied on April 9 that
"The Valencia site will be utilized to provide ICT services to UN peace operations. In conjunction with current operations in UNLB (Brindisi), the creation of this secondary active telecommunications facility will mitigate the single point of failure risk that exists in our current infrastructure and will ensure the safety of peace operations' information/data assets in the event of a catastrophic incident. It will also provide continuous voice, data and video services to field missions in case of short-term disruptions. The proposal to establish this facility is with the General Assembly and it is our expectation it will be taken up in the second resumed session."
This "second resumed session" took place in May 2008. But why, then, did Ban jump the gun and along with Spanish Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega unveil a plaque in Valencia in November 2007, which the UN captioned as Ban and the Vice President "unveil a plaque at the site of the future United Nations Peacekeeping Logistics Base." How could he be so sure?
In fact, the proposal was not even approved at the May 2008 budget session.
To confirm, Inner City Press again asked DPKO to explain, and received this week in return a similar statement, but for the addition of a paragraph portraying the siting decision as having been competitive and adding at the end that DPKO again "envisions" that it will be approved -- in the next General Assembly session:
The establishment of a secondary active telecommunications facility is being sought to provide additional and complementary capacity for the information and communication technology infrastructure currently in place in the United Nations Logistics Base (UNLB) in Brindisi, Italy. The proposed facility will be utilized to provide ICT services to UN peace operations and will operate in conjunction with current operations in UNLB to ensure the safety of UN' data assets in the event of a catastrophic incident. It will also serve to provide continuous voice, data and video services to UN missions in cases of short-term disruptions.
In July 2006, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) submitted requests to 43 Member states (located within a predefined geographical area translating into a satellite footprint) to submit proposals to the host the facility. Several Countries, including Spain, submitted firm proposals. Following an exhaustive selection process, the proposal submitted by the Government of Spain to establish the facility in Valencia was selected as meeting all of the selection criteria, while also representing the most advantageous offer to meet this requirement for the Organization.
The request to the General Assembly for approval to establish the facility is currently being reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) as part of a comprehensive review of the Secretariat's information and communications technology. It is envisaged that the proposal, along with the ACABQ’s recommendation, will be considered by the General Assembly during the main part of its Sixty-Third session.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban2valencia073108.html
