Why the disconnect between U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. press corps concerning his trip to Iraq?
Fielding questions at the noon briefing Thursday, Maria Okabe said the Secretary-General's one-day meeting in Baghdad with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was not mentioned for security reasons. The Secretary-General went quietly with a very, very small delegation of which the traveling press was neither informed nor included.
"For security reasons we did not make it public", Spokesperson Maria Okabe told the press in response to questions concerning the mortar attack outside the compound which Ms. Okabe said was, in fact, 100 meters away in an open field, contrary to 30 or 40 metres as reported by some news agencies. "In fact, no one was hurt, the Secretary-General nor members of his delegation", she added. Occurrences like these happen almost daily in Iraq and they are not able to say if this attack was directed at the Secretary-General. An investigation is under way.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's trip to Iraq is seen as a sign that the United Nations will be increasing activity in Iraq. Maria further stated this trip was to show the U.N.'s commitment to bring peace and stability to Iraq after convening the Iraq Compact a week ago here at the U.N. Ban Ki-Moon wanted to keep the Iraq Compact as the main focus of this trip.
Asked what her personal feeling was when she heard about the mortar attack, Maria Okabe said first she noticed that Prime Minister Maliki didn't flinch as the Secretary-General did. She was able to watch the meeting on television and noticed the Secretary-General was fine when he proceeded to take the rest of the questions, two of them, before proceeding to get to the rest of his agenda.
Elisa Burchett
U.N.OBSERVER & International Report
Fielding questions at the noon briefing Thursday, Maria Okabe said the Secretary-General's one-day meeting in Baghdad with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was not mentioned for security reasons. The Secretary-General went quietly with a very, very small delegation of which the traveling press was neither informed nor included.
"For security reasons we did not make it public", Spokesperson Maria Okabe told the press in response to questions concerning the mortar attack outside the compound which Ms. Okabe said was, in fact, 100 meters away in an open field, contrary to 30 or 40 metres as reported by some news agencies. "In fact, no one was hurt, the Secretary-General nor members of his delegation", she added. Occurrences like these happen almost daily in Iraq and they are not able to say if this attack was directed at the Secretary-General. An investigation is under way.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's trip to Iraq is seen as a sign that the United Nations will be increasing activity in Iraq. Maria further stated this trip was to show the U.N.'s commitment to bring peace and stability to Iraq after convening the Iraq Compact a week ago here at the U.N. Ban Ki-Moon wanted to keep the Iraq Compact as the main focus of this trip.
Asked what her personal feeling was when she heard about the mortar attack, Maria Okabe said first she noticed that Prime Minister Maliki didn't flinch as the Secretary-General did. She was able to watch the meeting on television and noticed the Secretary-General was fine when he proceeded to take the rest of the questions, two of them, before proceeding to get to the rest of his agenda.
Elisa Burchett
U.N.OBSERVER & International Report