Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

At UN, Holmes Denies UK Slows Somali Aid, Five Small CERF Deadbeats, HSBC for Gaza

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 9 -- The UN's humanitarian coordinator John Holmes, in his previous life a UK diplomat, on Wednesday told the Press that he is "not aware that the UK government has followed [the] example" of the United States in slowing aid to Somalia following concerns of diversion. Video here, from Minute 4:48.

But on December 8, the Office in Charge for Somalia of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Graham Farmer, told the Press that not only the U.S., but also the UK have slowed their aid based on these concerns.

The UK's Minister of State for International Development Gareth Thomas, speaking to the Press earlier on December 9, was asked for the UK's position on the claim by the African Group that they had been promised the number two post in the UN Development Program. He declined to comment on the fact that the UNDP top was given this week to Rebecca Grynspan, a decidedly non African Costa Rican.

In response to another question, about his praise of Fair Trade certification for the Nestle Kit Kat chocolate bar despite non governmental organizations' call for a boycott of Nestle for child labor, water overuse and breast milk issues, he said the government is trying to get UK supermarkets to source six percent of their goods from Africa. Video here, from Minute 13:12.

He also would not comment on the UK's attempts in the UN's Fifth Committee to change the "scale of assessment" to pay relatively less into the UN's budget.

On Holmes' office's chart of donors to the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund, the UK is on top, albeit paying 15% less in 2009 that in 2007 and 2008. At the bottom of the list are several relatively small countries such has Tuvalu, Benin and St. Lucia which have given one or two thousand dollars. Holmes said these are signs of political support.

UN's Holmes in his element, UK aid to Somalia not shown

The Maldives, much in the news these days for having its ministers meet underwater to publicize climate change, pledged a thousand dollars in both 2007 and 2008, but has not paid on either pledge. El Salvador pledge two thousand dollars in 2007 but still has not paid. The other "deadbeats," as reporters called them, are Djibouti, Haiti and Mongolia. The last of these has sent doctors to Darfur.

On the corporate side, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited contributed $10,000. Inner City Press asked Holmes about it, and he said "I think there's a link there probably to Gaza." Video here, from Minute 6:14.

HSBC is known to have branches in the unregulated Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Meanwhile, UNICEF uses a bank on the terror sanctions list, just as UNRWA was exposed as doing earlier this year. Watch this site.

In Somali Chaos, Japan and Germany Offer Separate Training, U.S. Cuts Aid

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 8 -- Mirroring the chaos of the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, donors and vultures and purported helpers are all working at cross purposes. Among the vultures we place a company called "Phoenix," which brags of having contracts with the TFG to train security forces in Jordan for deployment in Somalia. We will have more on this.

Meanwhile while the UN claims that it alone is authorized to train Somali forces, a senior UN official on Tuesday complained to Inner City Press that Japan and Germany are moving toward doing their own trainings, outside of Somalia.

This has reportedly angered the UN's envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdullah enough that he has traveled to Tokyo. His spokesperson has repeatedly declined to answer questions from Inner City Press in the past.

Three top UN humanitarian managers for Somalia briefed the Press on Tuesday, about shortfalls in fundraising. Inner City Press asked if they have solved their dispute with the United States, which slowed aid because transfers to Al Shabaab would violate U.S. anti terrorism laws. Mark Bowden, the UN's Nairobi based humanitarian coordinator, confirmed his talks with "donors," stressing that time is of the essence.

Inner City Press asked Bowden about the UN urging the TFG president not to fire the police chief of Mogadishu, which nevertheless took place. Bowden confirmed the UN has concerned, but said they "come from the political side." Then what is Ould Abdullah doing in Japan?

In belated disclosure of how the TFG's parliamentarians were paid, Inner City Press was told that when the parliament contained 250 members, countries including the U.S., UK and Norway paid their salaries. When the parliament swelled to 500, the UN Development Program started paying, Inner City Press was told. UNDP itself has repeatedly refused to answer questions about its funding in Somalia.

UN's Ban and Somalia's president, Germany and Japanese training not shown

Al Shabaab has ordered the UN World Food Program to stop importing food, to buy locally or not bring food in. The Food and Agriculture Organization's Graham Farmer conceded that bringing in food aid during the harvest season depresses the prices farmers get.

Does WFP buy locally in Somalia? Farmer said WFP tries to buy locally elsewhere, but does not do so in Somalia. Why not? Watch this site.

Footnote: Bowden's press conference was delayed, a spokesperson said, because he was blocked at the UN's visitors' entrance. Afterwards, Bowden told Inner City Press he showed his pass from the UN Office in Nairobi, but that this wasn't accepted at the UN in New York. Ironically, Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders impersonator got into the building with no problem, but the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Somalia was stopped...

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UN's Congo Expert Covers Up for MONUC, Chides Press He Was With Under Other Name

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- The coordinator of the ostensibly independent UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo appeared in the UN briefing room on Monday to criticize the Press for focusing on portions of the Experts' report which show the UN working with murderous former rebels engaged in Congo mining. Video here.

Even before the press conference, Dinesh Mahtani on December 4 declined to answer on the record Inner City Press' questions about the UN's role in providing logistical support to units of the Congolese army which were until recently the rebel forces of Laurent Nkunda and indicted war criminal Jean Bosco Ntanganda.

In a large conference call at the German Mission to the UN, filled with an audience of several dozen, Mahtani said "I can't speak on the record," and referred Inner City Press to his press conference on Monday. Dinesh was introduced, by former head of UN Peacekeeping Jean Marie Guehenno, as having been a journalist in the past. Guehenno also declined to answer questions.

Three days later, when Mahtani took to the UN's rostrum accompanied by an employee of the UN's Department of Political Affairs, he emphasized that the Group is independent. He criticized press accounts of his report, previously leaked to Reuters, BBC and others in Kinshasa, which emphasized on the findings against the UN.

He said the report, now available online here, is mostly about two groups, the FDLR and the CNDP, that latter of which has become a part of the Congolese army. The UN's Mission in the Congo, MONUC, provides logistical support to these former CNDP units, for example one led by Innocent Zimurinda, who identified as Zimulinda is charged by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston with murder and multiple rapes.

Inner City Press asked Mahtani if he believes the UN should be working for example with these "Innocent" units. Mahtani replied that his report mentions Zimurinda several times. But should the UN be working with him?

From there, things got more surreal. Mahtani told one long time wire service correspondent that her question was "strange." Dinesh Mahtani, as it happens, reported from the DRC for Reuters, on other monkey business, under the name Dino Mahtani. Why so defensive?

In Bunia, mine awareness- land mine, that is, Experts not shown

Mahtani also defended China, which is named in the report as flying in weapons without accounting for them to the UN Sanctions Committee. Defending itself is the company Niotan, identified as a wrong-doer in the report: it claims it has another name, Refractory Metals Mining Company Limited. Sort of like Zimulina and a certain Mahtani... To be continued.

Footnote: the Report at paragraph 119 zeroes in on a Western Union transfer to "the program manager of the Ahadi Institute, Edison Bashimbe Nshombo [whose wife] reportedly administers medical treatment to wounded FDLR in the region." But, hat tip CanWest, the Ahadi Institute has as a supporter the UN's own UNESCO, click here for that, and watch this site.

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As Congo's Gold Hits 60 Minutes, UN Is Let Off Hook, Wal-Mart's 10% Solution

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 29 -- The Congo's conflict gold was the subject of a fifteen minute feature tonight on the American television program Sixty Minutes. A former rebel said he used collected gold to buy weapons and ammunition from the Congolese army. A woman said she was raped by men in Army uniforms.

Sixty Minutes accepted UN escort and showed a UN camp, but neglected to mention that the UN now provides logistical support to the Congolese army, which beyond weapon sales and rape has been documented for the mass murder of civilians, by the UN's own special rapporteur and experts.

But the UN's top envoy to the Congo Alan Doss has told Inner City Press there is not enough evidence, and has yet to act on Special Rapporteur Philip Alston's report detailing mass rape by Congo's Army. (Click here for coverage of Congo trip by Inner City Press.)

Rather than at least mention this perversion of the UN's peacekeeping mandate, Sixty Minute showed a UN camp to which 13,000 internally displaced people fled. Bags of flour and beans and cooking oil were distributed on the day of filming, for the first time in five months.

Neither Sixty Minutes nor the two non governmental organizations which appeared on screen, HRW and the Enough Project, explained the starvation just outside a UN camp.

UN's Ban and Doss in Congo, continuing support of rogue Army units not shown

The point of the show was that just as conflict diamonds were focused on seven years ago, conflict gold now cries out for action.

Sixty Minutes said without explanation that the UN tries to stem the flow of conflict gold. But if the UN is supporting Army units which rape, kill and sell weapons, and which themselves control mines, how is the UN trying to stop the flow?

Footnote: Back in the U.S., Sixty Minutes quotes Tiffany's as identifying the source of nearly all of its gold -- in Utah -- while Wal-Mart will only say that it will track the source of 10 percent of its gold by next year. If it were rap music with profanity, Wal-Mart would take action. But conflict gold from the Congo? Ten percent sourcing, maybe, by next year...

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IMF Murky on Angola's Oil, Bond and China Deals, Doles Out $1.4 Billion

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 25 -- Days after announcing a $1.4 billion arrangement with Angola, the International Monetary Fund held a press conference call to offer explanations. At the end, things were murkier than before. Inner City Press asked if the IMF had been able to fully assess the income and distribution of revenue from the state owned oil company Sonangol.

The IMF's Lamine Leigh, who led the Fund's missions to Angola in August and September, replied that "in the context of our negotiations, Sonangol participated fairly well." Inner City Press asked, since Sonangol has accounts in off shore financial centers and tax havens, if the IMF had gotten to the bottom of these accounts.

After a long pause, Lamine Leigh proffered another answer, that the government has "committed to steps in the more general area of resource revenue transparency." But what about the Sonangol accounts?

Oil in Angola, Sonangol's accounts not shown

Inner City Press asked about the statement by IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair Takatoshi Kato that in Angola "measures will be taken to strengthen further the regulatory and supervisory framework." The IMF's Senior Advisor on Africa Sean Nolan replied that the IMF analyzed the effect of the exchange rate on borrowers and "on the banks."

In fact, Angola's government has gotten billions in pre-export oil loans from, for example, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank. The latter has made similar loans in Turkmenistan, assailed by transparency and human rights advocates. How much of the IMF's new arrangement benefits these banks?

In fact, the questioner after Inner City Press, cutting off follow up, was from Standard Bank. Other than Inner City Press, the only other media questioner was from Reuters.

Before the call ended, Inner City Press was able to ask about Angola's reported $4 billion bond sale planned for December. Sean Nolan said that the IMF's "understanding" with Angola does involve a "fundraising effort," but that the timing was not agreed to, the IMF does not "micromanage" to that extent. Nolan added that there is an agreement on an "overall limit."

"Is it four billion dollars?" Inner City Press asked.

Nolan replied that the precise limit will be "clear in the documents," which have yet to be released. Why play hide the ball?

Nolan praised the country for "appointing reputable financial and legal advisers for the transaction" -- JPMorgan Chase will be the manager.

Nolan continued that the actual size of the bond sale will depend on how much "concessionary lending" Angola gets from "countries with a strong record of financial support to Angola."

Inner City Press asked if the size of China's loans to Angola -- China gets 16% of its foreign oil from Angola -- were known by the IMF or considered.

"That hasn't figured in our discussions," the IMF's Nolan responded. Why not? Watch this site.

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On Food Speculation, UN's Expert Says Nothing's Being Done, S. Korean Land Grabs from Madagascar to Sudan, Brazil on Ethanol

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 21 -- After many speeches at the UN about the need to crack down on financial speculation in food, nothing has been done, the UN's expert on the right to food told Inner City Press on Wednesday.

Olivier de Schutter, a Belgian law professor just back from a visit to Brazil about, among other things, the loss of land for food to ethanol, replied that "nothing is moving at the inter-governmental level." This despite a statement by the G-20 in April favoring the regulation of hedge funds which present systemic risk. The argument is that commodities index funds which speculate in food present systemic risk to net food importing countries. But nothing has been done.

De Schutter spoke about the monopolization of the seed industry, and made a slew of recommendations for governments. The three top monopolizers -- Monsanto, Dupont and the Swiss-based Syngenta -- are all members of the UN Global Compact, and claim to comply with human rights. De Schutter pointed out the antitrust law is directed as national and not global or subnational markets. It is all very heady but one wonders what effect it has.

Brazil might be one of de Schutter's claims to impact. He spoke glowingly of President Lula, saying that Brazil has said that only 19% of land can be used for sugar cane for ethanol, and has committed to monitor labor rights. But what about, for example, Indonesia and Malaysia?

De Schutter, action on food speculation not shown

After De Schutter's briefing, Inner City Press asked his staffer for an update on the proposed land grab in Madagascar by South Korea based Daewoo, which was reputed after the coup in that country. De Schutter had been scheduled to visit, but it was put off by the coup. The same thing happened in Honduras. So perhaps De Schutter does have an effect after all, mused one wag.

Footnote: immediately after De Schutter's briefing, the UN's Haile Menkerios was scheduled to speak to the Press about Madagascar. While the UN usually compartmentalizes its work such that a rapporteur looks at land grabs, while the Secretariat remains on "political affairs" narrowly defined, this land grab played a role in the change of government. Now it's said the South Korean deal is being pursued from India, while South Korea appears to have moved on to 690,000 hectares in Sudan. Watch this site.

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations