| Ambassador Ivan Barbalic 2011 (photo Cia Pak - Webpublicapress Archive) |
Ivan Barbalic is a good reader of English. In his monthlong role as Security Council president in January, the permanent representative of Bosnia-Herzegovina relied on press statements when he met with the United Nations press corps. Barbalic, a 35-year-old Bosnian Croat, took over the rotating presidency as a nonpermanent member of the council, presiding over briefings, consultations and open debates ranging from such topics as the country referendum in Sudan to the political jam in Cote d’Ivoire to the Middle East. Bosnia-Herzegovina, a country of nearly five million people, joined the council in January 2010 for a two-year term and was admitted to the United Nations in 1992 as a former federal state of Yugoslavia.
As president, Barbalic (pronounced BAR-ba-lich) first addressed the press corps early in the month, as is the custom, emphasizing that the country wanted to have “permanent and regular communication with journalists in order to make our common work better.” Yet throughout the month, Barbalic rarely veered from reciting council statements, taking questions from the press so occasionally that when he responded with answers, they were often in the mode of “Allow me not to comment on that.” The press corps hardly peppered him with questions, as they expected few enlivened quotes, one reporter said.

















