By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 5 -- When UN aid official John Ging held a press conference at the UN in New York about his recent visits to Chad and Niger, Inner City Press asked him about displacement in Niger - and also the airstrikes on Yemen, and delays in aid to Nepal. Video here.
Ging called what's occurring in Yemen "inhumane;" he praised aid worker in Niger doing much with little. Diplomatically, he acknowledged bureaucratic hurdles in Nepal after the earthquake, saying that outgoing OCHA chief Valerie Amos raised the issue there. And what of Amos' incoming replacement, Stephen O'Brien also of the UK? We'll have more on that.
Back on February 5 on Ebola, Inner City Press asked Ging about what the Sidney Morning Herald called "a study by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs," here.
Ging said it was NOT an OCHA study, and referred Inner City Press to a response made earlier in the day in Geneva by David Nabarro. On the non-numeric point that the UN system was slow to respond, Ging to his credit agreed, adding that MSF was beating the drum but the UN was slow.
Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access thanked Ging for his candor, and for doing Q&A briefing after his trips, which other officials - notably Herve Ladsous - do not do.
Inner City Press also asked Ging about the IMF's action announced in the morning; Ging said it was what the leaders of the three most impacted countries asked for, they should be supported.
Watch this site.