By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- Less than an hour before UN Peacekeeping budgets would expire, diplomats lounged in the Cafe Austria of the North Lawn building surrounded by liquor bottles and pizza boxes. A well placed negotiator bleary eyed explained to Inner City Press, “this is all a precursor to the upcoming scales of assessment fight.”
France for example has complained it is paying 7.6% of the peacekeeping budget, while it says the 130 countries in the Group of 77 and China pay only 7.4%. Others retort that France got good use out of UN Peacekeeping in Cote d'Ivoire, physically ousting Laurent Gbagbo: “they got their money worth.”
EU Representative Serrano lounged around the cafe. “Now it's at the Ambassadorial level,” a Budget Committee diplomat told Inner City Press. Maged Abdelaziz, Egyptian Ambassador under Mubarak and now, was strutting around at 11 pm. France's Gerard Araud was said to be around.
With the budget expiration only a half hour away, ideas were floated of stopping the clock, or just pretending that June 30 goes on longer that it does, at least in Alaska. It is already July 1 where most of the UN Peacekeeping missions are, in Africa.
In the lull it was confirmed to Inner City Press that its earlier story about the idea of withholding funds from peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse or exploitation hit a nerve. “The Americans introduced it,” a source confirmed.
Under the Republicans, the US Mission to the UN was a “prima donna” on the budget, the source said, on issues like the Durban review. Now, the US is still a prima donna. The difference is that Zalmay Khalilzad actually stayed for the budget fight, the source contrasted.
Sometimes the prima donna is right. But why not have raised it earlier? Watch this site.
