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Me vs. the UN |
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When I said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon sounded weak regarding the issue of sending peacekeepers into Somalia, UN bloggers bloggers affiliated with the UN responded strongly - by pointing out that the UN doesn’t just sound weak, it is weak.
The thing is, if you read the recently released report on Somalia from which the 27,000 is drawn, it’s clear that Ban is certainly not calling for a peacekeeping force anytime soon. Rather, as envisioned by the report (which the Security Council is to discuss today) before peacekeepers can even be considered, other hurdles must first be crossed. For example, the security situation would have to permit the UN to move its Somalia headquarters into Somalia. Then, at least 70% of the factions would have to sign onto a cease-fire. Following that, a broad-based political agreement would have to be forged. Only after these conditions have been met does the Secretary General contemplate a peacekeeping force for Somalia.
As Joe Rogan would say, “Yeah…and a bunch of other shit that’s never going to happen.”
To pick just one item, what does “70% of the factions” mean? How does one measure that? A phone poll? From my understanding, the current conflict pits Ethiopian occupiers and their puppet government against the remnants of the Union of Islamic Courts, and I imagine a number of other mafias, warlords, and clan-based groups are operating in the country as well. Show me 70% of that. Beyond that, even if we could define what 70% would look like, this blogger is basically saying that the UN won’t send in troops until the war is over. So why talk about it in the first place? It continues to make them sound weak.
I guess one admission of weakness wasn’t enough, so they doubled up:
The Secretary-General’s suggestion of possibly deploying peacekeepers in Somalia (eventually, at least) was not always his idea. As Edith Lederer of the AP reminds us, Ban has previously actually resisted pressure to push for a peacekeeping force.
In December, the Security Council called on Ban to plan for the possible deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to replace the African Union force now in Somalia. The council was reiterating a request it initially made in August that Ban rejected.
Compare Ban’s most recent report to the one he gave in November. From Reuters:
“Under the prevailing political and security situation, I believe that the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation cannot be considered a realistic and viable option,” Ban said in a report to the Security Council.
Ban’s latest report is not simply a clarion call for another mission for over-stretched UN peacekeepers. Rather, by assessing the prevailing political, security, and humanitarian conditions, Ban is cautiously laying out the process by which blue helmets could most reasonably and effectively be deployed. This would not only result in a more effective mission, but would also alleviate the pragmatic problem of securing troops from Member States.
Let’s face it guys, we’re talking about something that sounds extremely unlikely. Does it change my mind to hear that a bunch of red tape will prevent deployment, or that Ban has been inconsistent? No, and in fact it only makes the central problem worse. So let me be very, very clear about what I am saying:
Your messaging is poor.
As a citizen, I have a responsibility to stay informed. I certainly do not mean to leave out parts of the story. But as an organization, the UN has a responsibility to communicate effectively with the world.
The UN is sad to me because I believe in the work it does, but I find both its results and its rhetoric disappointing. I am not John Bolton, I am a concerned citizen. In a time when the world is filled with problems, and my own government pays only the barest of lip-service to humanitarian concerns, I wish the UN would/could provide strong leadership. I recognize the myriad factors, most of all a lack of international political will and the stubbornness of various superpowers, that prevent that leadership from materializing. Still, I also believe that part of the UN’s reputation for ineffectiveness is due to its habit of constantly raising expectations and then dashing them. Is that not what is happening here in regard to Somalia? Show me what you can do, are doing, not what you dream of doing.
Because it’s funny, isn’t it? Instead of dwelling on how the red tape ties their hands, these bloggers could have talked about what the UN is doing to cut through that red tape - aside from releasing reports. I am, after all, a constituent of the UN. Is this how you message to me?
And lest you think I’m just tearing you down without offering an alternative, let me repeat: focus on your achievements, even the small ones. I’m happy to hear about them. I’m happy to read IRIN, a great news source provided by the UN. And I have found some of the UN’s reports on development to be informative and important. But if you’re going to convince me that the Secretary-General is using his platform effectively, you’re going to have to try harder. If you have the peacekeepers ready to go into Sudan but the Sudanese government won’t let them in, that conversation doesn’t stop there. Maybe Ban could spend less time spinning out unrealistic scenarios regarding Somalia and more time on the phone with al-Bashir, Wen Jiabao, Gordon Brown, Vladimir Putin, and George Bush. And maybe you could spend more time telling me about his efforts in the latter arena, and less about his shortcomings in the former.
UPDATE: I’ve learned that the phrase “UN bloggers” may not be entirely accurate for describing the writers at UN Dispatch. The connection, as far as I can make out, is that UN Dispatch is sponsored by the UN Foundation, whose relationship with the UN is described as follows:
The Secretary-General established the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP) in March 1998 to coordinate, channel and monitor contributions from the UN Foundation. UNFIP is the central administrative vehicle within the UN system to identify and select projects for UN Foundation funding, receive and distribute UN Foundation funds, and monitor and evaluate the use of UN Foundation funds.
The UN Foundation and UNFIP work closely together in the development of UN Foundation programs, the review of UN Foundation-funded projects, and the monitoring and assessment of project and programmatic activities. In the spirit of the Secretary-General’s call for reform, the UNFIP/UN Foundation partnership brings together UN agencies and funds through joint programming to encourage complementarity of action.
So they’re not UN officials, but nor are they a couple of chaps who just blog about the UN for fun.
