Conflict Cocoa in Cote D'Ivoire But Maybe No Election; In Security Council, Late
Night on Timor L'Este; In Kosovo, UN Uses Tear Gas Though the Spin
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, May
25 -- In Cote D'Ivoire, thirty percent of cocoa production leaves the country
through informal channels, according to the UN's Abdoulaye Mar Dieye. This
constitutes, among other things, tax evasion. Inner City Press inquired at
Thursday's
briefing into the use of child labor in cocoa production, an issue on which
Nestle and ADM have been sued. Abdoulaye Mar Dieye responded by referring to a
study that's about to come out. In a subsequent interview he suggested that
cocoa production might need something akin to the Kimberly process on conflict
diamonds. (Click
here for
information on the Kimberly process).
Abdoulaye Mar
Dieye reiterated the recent
statements of
Gerard Stoudmann that elections by the October 31, 2006, deadline are "still
technically feasible," although they would require bending if not breaking some
procedural rules; he acknowledged that the deadline might not be met. Abdoulaye
Mar Dieye stated that there are 700,000 internally displaced people in Cote
D'Ivoire (OCHA's
web site put
the figure at 500,000.)
Guiglo per UNHCR
On another
displacing issue further east in Africa, with the government in South Sudan
offering to mediate between Uganda and Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army,
Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman if the Secretary-General, now in
Bangkok, has a position on whether South Sudan should arrest Kony, who has been
indicted by the International Criminal Court.
It was
said that a response will be forthcoming.
What are the
odds? A day after the UN's Soren Jessen-Petersen
denounced as misinformation
reports of attacks on Serbs in Kosovo, in the village of Krushe e Vogel / Mala
Krusa stones were thrown at two Serb defense lawyers. he UN Police responded
with tear gas. The previous day's
press release had
"analyzed 1,408
Kosovo Serb convoys that were escorted by the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) during
January to early May this year. It was found that there had been six incidents
of stone throwing at these convoys and police had made five arrests in those
cases."
That is, less than
four-tenths of one percent of convoys were attacked. So what were the odds of it
happening the very next day? TInner City Press raised the incident at the
noon briefing; the questions, both unasked and unanswered, is why the UN attempt
to spin in some areas while remaining silent on many others, for example on the
"clandestine" violator of the arms embargo in Somalia and the metering of oil in
Iraq.
As the
meeting of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues winds down, a briefing was
held and these numbers presented: 1200 indigenous representatives attended along
with 55 member states. Three of the states, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand,
openly spoke out against the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, not only against the notion of requiring the consent of indigenous
people to projects on their land but also the reference in Article 3 to the
right to self-determination. Inner City Press inquired into Indonesia's
position on self-determination for indigenous people, in light of West Papua.
The chairwoman responded that Indonesia was not involved in the drafting process
in Geneva, nor in this Permanent Forum meeting. Asked about the issues of
missionaries, conversions and adoptions, under the rubric of loss of culture,
Forum member Wilton Littlechild said the matter is not only in the draft, but
also before the Commission on the Rights of the Child. In a separate interview
in the basement outside Conference Room 2, Mr. Littlechild described several
class actions in Canada on these issues, alleging cultural genocide. Since the
treatment by courts of claims of cultural genocide is an open question, one
wonders if the Declaration -- in one its 19 perambulatory paragraphs or 45
articles -- shouldn't address the need in nations' laws for just such a cause of
action.
Finally,
on Timor L'Este, events in Dili were murkily described at the Security Council
stake-out at 5:40 p.m. by the UN's head of peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno.
"Often we leave too early," he said. Inner City Press asked if events in Timor
L'Este might cause a rethinking of fast UN pullouts from such locations at
Burundi. "Generally," Mr. Guehenno answered, "one should not be penny-wise and
pound-foolish." He added that before leaving, one should make sure that the
majority and the minority get along in a democratic fashion. Yes, one should...
The Security
Council was to re-convene at 10 p.m.. Knowledgeable correspondents ascribed this
to the need for the Chinese delegation to get word from Beijing; drained
correspondents awaited the recently-dancing Chinese press attache, past
deadline.
In the lull at the
Security Council stakeout, informed / uniformed sources opined that next month
World Cup soccer games will be broadcast in the lounge outside the Security
Council, but not outside ("If it was still Mr. Lavrov [as Russian envoy to the
UN] and it was up to him, it would be on TV in the Council too," one said).
At 9:56 p.m., a
spokesman for China passing through the stakeout explained they had to call
their Ministry, and didn't want to wake people up. "Now it's 10 a.m. in Beijing,
we've gotten our instructions, it should all go quickly now." -Filed 9:58
p.m. Eastern
At 10:10 p.m., a
passing spokesman disclosed that, with the word "warmly" dropped, it is being
passed. -Filed 10:11 p.m.
At 10:23 p.m.,
Japan's envoy expressed hope that the UN will not have to reconstitute a
peacekeeping force, but stated that when Ian Martin reports back, this too may
be considered. There was much joking about returning to dinner, with references
to Chinese takeout, and Japanese tea. Some looked for stronger fare. -Filed
10:25 p.m. Eastern
At
the UN, Too-Rosy Light on Myanmar, More Clarification on Timor L'Este and a
Dance
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, May
24 -- Myanmar was illuminated, briefly, by rosy light at the UN Headquarters on
Wednesday. Following his visit to Myanmar including its new capital Pyinmana,
the UN's Ibrahim Gambari told journalists that Aung San Suu Kyi, who he called
A.S.S.K., is in good health, that the military regime is working well with the
UN's anti-drug office and, generally, that things are looking up. Inner City
Press
asked
Mr. Gambari if he raised to the regime the issues of press freedom, and of the
Karen and stateless people, and about reports that Myanmar is defaulting on
payments to the state-owned Ukraine arms supplier UkrspetsExport and on
construction of its new capital in the jungle. Mr. Gambari said his visit was
not about the defaults (or, by implication, about arms sales), but he was
willing to describe his one hour visit to the new capital, stating that although
most ministries have moved there, it is still fairly empty. Mr. Gambari made an
analogy to when his country, Nigeria, moved its capital. But the Myanmar
regime's move seems not about rural economic development, but rather about
staying in power.
Refugees
from Myanmar (c) UNHCR
Relatedly,
Mr. Gambari was repeatedly asked about his and Kofi Annan's involvement in
seeking an endgame for the Mugabe era in Zimbabwe. While the spokesman turned
questions away, Mr. Gambari appeared to respond that he's involved, then backed
away. We talk to a lot of people, was essentially the answer. Ah, diplomacy.
Also
diplomatic was the UNAIDS director's spin on more than fifty countries' failure
to respond to UN surveys on AIDS. At a briefing on Wednesday he characterized
such an inquiry as pessimistic. While tomorrow can always be a better day, for
the UN to excuse failure to provide basic information seems counterintuitive.
On an
issues
raised at
the noon briefing, the UN's reaction to disturbances in Timor L'Este which has
now invited back in foreign forces from four countries, in light of the critique
that the UN left too quickly, the Secretary General's spokesman subsequently had
an answer,
on-
and off-line. It was the U.S. and Australia which wanted to pull out when they
did. He also stated, in the briefing, that the UN would not look kindly on the
reported coup attempt by foreign mercenaries in the Democratic Republic of
Congo. Well, unlike on Somalia and even Montenegro, it is a response. On
Tuesday
as Monday, the spokesman declined to comment substantively on the weekend's vote
in Montenegro, despite Russia and now Serbia conceding the result.
An
observer noted that perhaps the UN made little of Montenegrin's vote for
independence because the victory and credit for the peaceful transition, so far,
is for the European Union and even Serbia. Another noted that Timor L'Este is
considered one of the UN's coups, so to speak, so perhaps the UN is reticent to
highlight the temporary unraveling of things there. But what explains the lack
of information from Somalia, in particular from the UN's envoy Francois Lonseny
Fall? Most recently his office still has no comment on the UN-backed
transitional government inviting in peacekeeper -- from which it seems fair to
infer that the UN was not involved in this development. He still has no comment
on the attempted sale by the breakaway region of Puntland of mineral rights to
the Australian company Range Resources Ltd. In fact, the UN system insists on
characterizing those who flee into Puntland as "internally displaced persons"
and not full fledged refugees. (Click
here
for the wider humanitarian issues.) It was however observed: if you're going to
play politics and put more energy into always siding on a one-state solution for
Somalia, you should at least fully play the game and both be involved in seeking
peace(keepers) and in speaking out against a breakaway region's sale of
resources to a first world corporation, in what others in the UN have called a
vulnerable conflict zone. If the UN doesn't speak on these matters, who will?
Footnote: When the
day was done (and before this report was filed), the
UN
Correspondents Association threw
a party for the release of its new directory. There was champagne and there was
dancing, including by the press liaisons of the Canadian and Chinese missions.
It was good to see. As one slick-dancing correspondent was heard to say (and not
only as a song title), We are family.
At
UN, Silence Greets Birth of a Nation, Montenegro, and Continuing Collapse of
Another, Somalia
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, May
22 -- What if a nation was born and nobody came? The birth today of a nation,
Montenegro, was met at UN Headquarters with a shrug, a confused look, even a
yawn. Over the weekend, just over the required 55% of Montenegrins voted to
break away from Serbia, the next to last shoe falling from the break-up of the
former Yugoslavia. The Kosovar question remains. At the noon briefing Inner City
Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman if the Secretary General had any comment on
the birth of this nation. As
summarized in the briefing's highlights,
"Asked if the Secretary-General had any
comment to make on the independence referendum held in Montenegro over the
weekend, the Spokesman said that the UN had no official comment to make as it is
awaiting the official results to be announced. He added that the UN had taken
note of the peaceful manner in which the referendum took place. Asked what the
referendum meant for possible membership of the UN general Assembly, the
Spokesman said membership is decided by the General Assembly."
The
spokeswoman for the GA president said she hadn't
spoken with Jan Eliasson about Montenegro, but "we'll check on it for you." By
press time, no comment was forthcoming, nor any description of the process
Montenegro must follow. A call to the permanent mission to the UN of Serbia and
Montenegro found the answering machine still listing the two countries
together. At 7:40 p.m., as Puccini's
Madame
Butterfly reverberated in the General Assembly (and one listener was seen
with the white one-ear
headphone on,
clicking the
translation knob)
this response came in:
"I raised your
question about Montenegro with General Assembly Affairs. The process is that
Montenegro would apply for UN membership by sending a letter to the
Secretary-General. The Security Council would make a recommendation to the
General Assembly, and the General Assembly would adopt a resolution. An item to
address such situations is on the agenda of all sessions of the Assembly."
Jan
E. w/ FM of S&M
Inner
City Press sat in the Serbia and Montenegro seat, between the Philippines and
Spain, in Conference Room 2 throughout the afternoon, for an otherwise
well-attended meeting of the
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, including details on Indonesian
plantations, mass evictions and the killings of 46 indigenous leaders in The
Philippines. On agenda item 4B, the delegate from the Russian Federation spoke
too fast for the translators, and too long for the chair. On the matter of
requiring the "free prior informed consent" of indigenous communities to
projects which impact them, a contrary joint statement by the U.S., Australia
and New Zealand rejected consent, and also bad-mouthed the draft Declaration of
the Rights of Indigenous People.
What
if a nation was (re) born and nobody came?
In another
state disintegrating less peacefully, Somalia, parliamentarians in Baidoa voted
over the weekend to
invite in peacekeepers
from Uganda and Sudan. Last week, the spokesman for Kofi Annan's envoy Francois
Lonseny Fall had no comment on this. At Monday's noon briefing, Inner City Press
asked if Lonseny Fall had any involvement in the Baidoa announcement of inviting
in peacekeepers (which would required UN Security Council approval, as it would
contravene the arms embargo in place since 1992). "We can check into it," the
spokesman said. At press time, nothing on Lonseny Fall's involvement if any.
Meanwhile Puntland reiterated its lack of respect for and submission to Baidoa,
on the question of selling its mineral and energy resources. In Puntland,
General Adde Muse Hersi
told reporters
that "the government of premier Gedi has no land to rule and we will continue
the missions to produce our resources and we are prepared to defend ourselves
against any assault." Presumably including by any troops from Uganda or
Sudan...
In Brussels --
The
Place of the Cost-Cut UN in Europe's Torn-Up Heart;
Deafness to Consumers, Even by the Greens
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee, in Brussels
BRUSSELS, April 28 --
Ears ringing with the talk of waste within the UN system, an Inner City Press
reporter yesterday visited the consolidated, scaled back and renamed UN Regional
Information Center (UNRIC) in Brussels, to see how an early attempt at
cost-saving is working out.
On
narrow, car-filled Rue de la Loi, just passed the European Commission, the UNRIC
is tucked in on the 7th and 8th floors of a stately building in the Residence
Palace compound. Outside are construction zones, the city literally torn-up to
build office space for the ten new EU members. Inside UNRIC it is spacious, with
hardwood floors and uncaptioned photos of each Secretary-General. The UNRIC's
deputy director is an engaging Dane who is among other things the answer to the
UN system Jeopardy question: who was the spokesman for the president of the
General Assembly when the World Trade Towers were demolished by hijacked plane?
Who is... Jan Fischer. Mr. Fischer also served the UN in Iraq in 1993, along
with a stint in Australia. He knows the System, and the context of the
cost-cutting he's witnessed at the UNRIC.
The
travel budget the more than half-dozen country desk officers based in Brussels
is $16,000 for six months. This has resulted in fewer trips to the countries
covered by each desk officer, and even to them staying with family and friend on
such trips. There's a striking correlation between surname and country covered:
Carlos Jimenez for Spain, Fabio Graziosi for Italy, Dimitrios Fatouros for
Greece and so forth. The desk officers were once "national information
officers," which required this consonance. Now that they've had to move to
Brussels, they've been "professionalized," in the parlance of the UN civil
service. Still some stay with friends and family on their UN trips back home.
In
Brussels some 15,000 journalists cover the doings of the European Union and to
some degree NATO. It is hard, Jan Fischer says, for UN news to break through.
They hold press conferences, and briefings by visiting UN envoys, from conflict
diamonds to the rights of the child. Across from the well-guarded United States
embassy, there's a storefront for UNICEF, with its tell-tale blue sign. The UN's
refugee agency, it appears from a list, has a dozen Brussels employees, seeking
EU funding for their far-flung operations. UNRIC tries to get their stories
told. Mr. Fischer says he'd rather say too much than too little; he suggests
that the media not abandoned UN staffers who go off script and speak their
minds. It's a plan that makes much sense, and one that we will follow. This
series of occasional visits with continue from Inner City Press, consonant with
the cost-cuts as they come.
Footnote: in a
third-floor room in the European Parliament on April 27, Green party delegate
Heide Ruhle listened while nodding to consumer advocates despairing of non-bank
input into the pending Consumer Credit Directive. When asked, with an
administrative colleague, about merger review in the Euro zone, the Green
response was that review by particular nations is outmoded. Will Brussels'
review consider predatory lending? That remains unclear.
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
Kinshasa Election
Nightmares, from Ituri to Kasai. Au Revoir Allan Rock; the UN's
Belly-Dancing
Working with
Warlords, Insulated by Latrines: Somalia and Pakistan Addressed at the
UN
The Silence of
the Congo and Naomi Watts; Between Bolivia and the World Bank
Human Rights
Council Has Its Own Hanging Chads; Cocky U.S. State Department Spins
from SUVs
Child Labor and
Cargill and Nestle; Iran, Darfur and WHO's on First with Bird Flu
Press Freedom?
Editor Arrested by Congo-Brazzaville, As It Presides Over Security
Council
The
Place of the Cost-Cut UN in Europe's Torn-Up Heart;
Deafness to Consumers, Even by the Greens
Background Checks
at the UN, But Not the Global Compact; Teaching Statistics from
Turkmenbashi's Single Book
Ripped Off Worse
in the Big Apple, by Citigroup and Chase: High Cost Mortgages Spread in
Outer Boroughs in 2005, Study Finds
Burundi: Chaos at
Camp for Congolese Refugees, Silence from UNHCR, While Reform's Debated
by Forty Until 4 AM
In Liberia, From
Nightmare to Challenge; Lack of Generosity to Egeland's CERF, Which
China's Asked About
The Chadian
Mirage: Beyond French Bombs, Is Exxon In the Cast? Asylum and the
Uzbeks, Shadows of Stories to Come
Through the UN's
One-Way Mirror, Sustainable Development To Be Discussed by Corporations,
Even Nuclear Areva
Racial
Disparities Grew Worse in 2005 at Citigroup, HSBC and Other Large Banks
Mine Your Own
Business: Explosive Remnants of War and the Great Powers, Amid the
Paparazzi
Human Rights Are
Lost in the Mail: DR Congo Got the Letter, But the Process is Still
Murky
Iraq's Oil to be
Metered by Shell, While Basrah Project Remains Less than Clear
At the UN, Dues
Threats and Presidents-Elect, Unanswered Greek Mission Questions
Kofi, Kony,
Kagame and Coltan: This Moment in the Congo and Kampala
As Operation
Swarmer Begins, UN's Qazi Denies It's Civil War and Has No Answers if
Iraq's Oil is Being Metered
Cash Crop: In
Nepal, Bhutanese Refugees Prohibited from Income Generation Even in
their Camps
The Shorted and
Shorting in Humanitarian Aid: From Davos to Darfur, the Numbers Don't
Add Up
UN Reform:
Transparency Later, Not Now -- At Least Not for AXA - WFP Insurance
Contract
In Congolese
Chaos, Shots Fired at U.N. Helicopter Gunship
In the Sudanese
Crisis, Oil Revenue Goes Missing, UN Says
Empty Words on
Money Laundering and Narcotics, from the UN and Georgia
What is the Sound
of Eleven Uzbeks Disappearing? A Lack of Seats in Tashkent, a Turf War
at UN
Kosovo: Of
Collective Punishment and Electricity; Lights Out on Privatization of
Ferronikeli Mines
Abkhazia:
Cleansing and (Money) Laundering, Says Georgia
Post-Tsunami
Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives
Who Pays for the
Global Bird Flu Fight? Not the Corporations, So Far - UN
Citigroup
Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
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