UN's Nepal Envoy On Guns, Peacekeeping Split - or
Merger - and Child Soldiers
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, February 26 -- Among the rebels in
Nepal, "there appear to be a significant number of minors," UN envoy Ian Martin
told Inner City Press on Monday. In a briefing for reporters, Mr. Martin
acknowledged a "striking difference" between the number of now-registered
rebels, over thirty thousand, and 3,428 weapons they have surrendered.
Afterwards, in response to Inner City Press' question about the benefits of Ban
Ki-moon's proposal to split the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in two,
Mr. Martin laughed and said he's more in "favor of merger" than of splitting.
He would know: he has
headed a DPKO mission, in Timor L'Este, and now the Department of Political
Affairs mission in Nepal. The merger he referred to would be between DPA and
DPKO. With new DPA chief Lynn Pascoe starting work later this week, the issue
may be raised.
Mr. Martin described a
still-volatile situation in Nepal, in which the government and political parties
have yet to open themselves sufficiently to "excluded groups." After Mr. Martin
said that the question of Nepal's King's role in future politics has been put
off until the elections, slated for June, Inner City Press asked about recent
reports that the
King's property will be nationalized. Mr. Martin said this has grown from the
King's recent statements on Nepal's Democracy Day, and that much of the royal
land was slated to be privatized anyway. Video
here,
from Minute 39:52 to 44:19.
UN's
Ian Martin
On child soldiers, Mr. Martin pointed out
that that most of the recruitment in the UN's recent report took place "during
the armed conflict," and not since the peace deal between the government and
rebels. He said that the rebels have registered themselves with dates of birth
that would make them 18, but that "there appear to be a significant number of
minors," which will have to be checked during the second, verification stage.
The rebel-to-weapon
disparities, nearly ten to one, Mr. Martin sought to explain by referring to the
rebels' use of
improvised explosive devices they call
socket bombs, which for safety
reasons are not being individually counted even when they are turned in. The
Nepali government has
called into question
whether the rebels are turning in all of their guns. Mr. Martin supplied a new
figure, the number of weapons the Nepali army says have been taken by the
rebels: 3430. Ironically, the rebels to date have turned in two fewer, 3428. Mr.
Martin said it is not his role to opine on whether all weapons are being turned
in, only to count them, and compare the rebel and government lists. He said:
"There hasn’t
yet been a definitive statement on the part of the Government…there certainly is
a striking difference between the number of weapons registered, a little less
than 3,500 and the number of combatants, over 30,000. There's undoubtedly going
to be a continuing argument as to whether the numbers do or do not show that the
Maoists have complied with their commitments to register all their weapons. The
UN can't make a definitive judgment, we can only make available the information
as to what has been registered to the Government for it to scrutinize and…that's
what they're doing now."
Mr. Martin's caution in speaking of the
Nepal peace process, yet brief candor about the child soldier and UN structural
reform, are both too rare at the UN. One should give credit where credit is due.
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
In Turkmenistan, UNICEF's Praise of Leader and
Deference on Staff Leads to Salt Ionization
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, February 27 -- In
Turkmenistan under the just-ended rule of President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov,
no political opposition was allowed. In September 2006,
journalist Ogulsapar Muradova was tortured
to death while in state
detention. Children were allowed to read only one book in school,
Niyazov's own tome, Ruhnama.
Nevertheless, in December 2006
just before Niyazov unexpectedly died, the country representative of the
UN Children's Fund, Mahboob Sharif, was
quoted that "Turkmenistan,
being the active and consistent partner of UNICEF, has made significant progress
in such important sphere as ensuring the rights and defending the interests of
children."
In light of the government of
Turkmenistan's denial to children of the most basic educational and other rights
and interests, Inner City Press inquired last month with UNICEF regarding its
programs and policies in the country, including the role of the government in
selecting UNICEF's staff.
Childhood
in Turkmenistan per UNICEF (Ruhnama not shown)
Four weeks after the request, UNICEF
stated that it has been active in the country since 1992, and now has 18 staff
members, three of whom are "internationally recruited professionals."
Since unlike UNICEF's response
about
Zimbabwe,
this did not describe the governmental role, Inner City Press followed-up.
UNICEF responded that no, it accepts no "seconded" staff (staff dictated or
suggested by the government).
But Inner City Press' sources, who have
worked at UNICEF in Turkmenistan, disagree. They describe a situation in which
the resumes of prospective UNICEF hires are reviewed by the government,
including the Ministry of Health -- not for the quantity or quality of
health-related experience, but to check for any involvement in politics, human
rights or journalism. Thereafter, the government is involved in selecting local
hires as well.
Last month new
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon called for audits of UN funds
and programs in countries where
independence of hiring, and payment in hard currency, might be issues. UNICEF
was named by the Secretariat as one of the relevant UN funds. It now appears
that North Korea is not the only (human rights-challenged) country in which
there is a lack of independence in hiring.
On the other side of the
ledger, UNICEF praises Turkmenistan, even under Niyazov, for being among other
things "the first country in Central Asia to achieve universal
salt iodization."
(According to UNICEF, a law for universal salt iodization is now pending in
Islam Karimov's Uzbekistan.)
Shelves
full of iodized salt, per Unicef
While still at an early stage,
this inquiry into UNICEF's close relations with regimes widely described as
despotic raises questions about where UNICEF would draw the line. In Zimbabwe,
in the laudable name of helping orphans, UNICEF has partnered with the teetering
Robert Mugabe government. Click
here for that Inner City Press story.
Earlier this month, UNICEF
issued a
joint press release with the government,
quoting Lancaster Museka, a Mugabe minister who is the one responsible for
justifying the
beating of peaceful protesters in the
streets of Harare, and for the
closing down of non-governmental and human
rights organizations. Is this
particular partnership, this joint press release, necessary? While UNICEF may
think it is unreasonable to expect a response from a person listed on an agency
press release in less than 10 or even three days, such are deadlines. Whatever
explanation of due diligence done before the joint press release is received
will be reported on this site.
In the case of Turkmenistan, was public
praise of the dictator Turkmenbashi necessary in order to have any access to the
country? Incoming president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, elected with a whopping
89% of the vote, took his oath of office with his hand on Ruhnama.
Sources who have worked at UNICEF in
Turkmenistan indicate that country officer Mahboob Sharif has been there long,
"probably too long," one said. On the other hand, inquiries have begun into
previous UNICEF country officers in Azerbaijan -- a question is pending,
regarding Akif Saatcioglu -- and the Maldives. Ultimately, however, leadership
and answers must come from the top.
On February 26, UNICEF's Ann Veneman gave
a speech at the opening session of a meeting of the Commission on the Status of
Women. While the head of the UN Population Fund, and the Undersecretary General
for Economic and Social Affairs both appeared in person, Ms. Veneman's speech
was delivered virtually, by video. The UN's website seems to indicate that Ms.
Veneman has not taken questions in the UN's Briefing Room 226 since October
2006. It is time...
Because a number of Inner City Press'
UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the
poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to
conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the
goals and many accomplishment of UNICEF and the vast majority of its staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we
apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the
information flowing.
In Zimbabwe, UNICEF Partners with Enemies of Human
Rights in Name of Orphans
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, February 26 -- When does foreign aid
serve to prop up a dictatorship? This question was
raised earlier this
year at the Executive Board
meetings of the UN
Development Program, concerning UN aid in North Korea. But the question appears
to similarly arise in the wake of an announcements Friday and
earlier this
month concerning expanded programs in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe by the UN
Children's Fund, UNICEF.
Mugabe's long descent from participant in
the Zimbabwean independence struggle to dictator is widely
known,
certainly to the senior leadership of UNICEF. The UN commissioned a report by
Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, head of the UN's Nairobi hub, on Mugabe's mass eviction
in 2005 of 700,000 perceived political opponents, called Operation
Muarambatsvina / Take Out the Trash (or, "Drive Out the Filth"). Virtually none
of the families evicted were re-housed, according to follow-up reports.
Earlier this month, Mugabe's
government announced a ban on all protests for at least the next three months.
Also earlier this month, on February 15,
UNICEF and Mugabe's Ministry of Public
Service, Labor and Social Welfare issued a joint press release about
a "historic national partnership" in which 21 Mugabe-approved "non-governmental
organizations signed agreements with the Zimbabwean Government and UNICEF to
advance a National Action Plan." The
UNICEF press release included
a quote from the Mugabe regime agency's permanent secretary, identified as " Mr.
L Museka" --
“Let me say
congratulations to the 21 organizations whose proposals were approved,” said the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare,
Mr. L Museka. “OVC programming is a
collective responsibility, which is achieved when we work with all stakeholders,
as displayed today.”
When the Mugabe government controlled
newspaper The Herald wrote its story on the partnership with UNICEF, it used the
Minister's full first name, Lancaster Museka, and quoted him that "My ministry,
with the support from the monitoring and evaluation sub-committee of the Working
Party of Officials, is finalizing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation
system."
As UNICEF knew or should have
known, Mr. Lancaster Museka has previous been involved in shutting down any
foreign or independent, not-Mugabe-supporting NGOs, and in justifying the
beating of union activists who oppose Robert Mugabe. The Financial Gazette of
November 2, 2006,
reported that
the Mugabe
government has
justified its brutal suppression of the planned September 13 protest marches by
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) by declaring that the motive of the
trade unionists -- who were allegedly tortured while in police custody -- was to
unseat President Robert Mugabe through violent demonstrations. In a three-page
response to the International Labour Organization, the Secretary for Public
Service, Labor and Social Welfare, Lancaster Museka, said the ZCTU
leaders had no right to engage in an illegal demonstration. The ILO had sought
the government's response to the torture allegations. Museka, however, did not
say anything about the torture of the unionists, who included ZCTU president
Lovemore Matombo, secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe, first vice president
Lucia Matibenga and others. They were all seriously injured when they were
arrested as they prepared to lead a march into the streets of Harare to protest
against the harsh economic environment and other issues affecting workers...
"A few
politically inclined individuals in the ZCTU leadership called for the said
demonstration in collaboration with the oppositional political party (MDC) and
other quasi-political organizations such as the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and
the National Constitutional Assembly. This demonstration was indeed meant to
provide a litmus test to the proclaimed MDC policy of unleashing a "wave of
demonstrations" in their bid to unconstitutionally remove the democratically
elected Government of Zimbabwe. It is in this respect that the demonstration
ceased to be a workers' activity and thus was subject to the laws of the land
governing political demonstrations," said Museka.
UNICEF's partner Lancaster Museka is not only
the author of this crackdown justification
submitted
to the UN-affiliated ILO, he is also responsible for shutting down NGOs, leaving
only Mugabe supporters for UNICEF to now work with. As
reported by
the Daily Telegraph of July 19, 2004, under the headline "Zimbabwe
charities face being outlawed"
--
Zimbabwe's
human rights groups and aid organizations are in increasing danger after the
government threatened yesterday to use banning orders and arrests to force them
to register with the state. The threat appeared in the state-controlled Sunday
Mail newspaper, a week before laws controlling non-governmental organizations
are due to be presented by President Robert Mugabe to the last session of
parliament before a general election next March. All NGOs have had to be
registered since 2002. But the Sunday Mail quoted Lancaster Museka, the
permanent secretary in the welfare ministry, as saying: "Any organization found
operating without registration will be closed and employees arrested." His
statement followed threats from Paul Mangwana, the welfare minister, that there
was "too much room for NGOs to engage in politics". The proposed law will make
it illegal for hundreds of human rights groups and community organizations to
continue to operate.
So not only is this UNICEF "partnership
with NGOs" limited to those NGOs which pledge support to Robert Mugabe and / or
ZANU-PF -- also, UNICEF's main partner, quoted in UNICEF's own press release, is
a Mugabe operative involved in shutting down monitors of human rights, including
presumably of children's rights. Rights first?
Ann
Veneman overseas (in Afghanistan, not Zimbabwe)
The comments about NGOs of UNICEF's
partner Lancester Museka were not idle threats. As
reported by
the expatriate Zimbabwe Independent of December 3, 2004 --
"A Swiss
charity, Medair, on Tuesday said it was pulling out of the country after
government refused to renew work permits for its expatriate staff. Medair
communications officer Severine Flores told the Zimbabwe Independent: "We were a
WFP implementing partner. We are disappointed at having to leave Zimbabwe at
such a critical time. Medair provided up to 90,000 children in 150 schools with
at least one daily meal. Very often it was the only meal they would get that
day." Medair was banned from distributing World Food Program (WFP)-supplied food
aid in August. The non-governmental organization (NGO) had applied for the
renewal of work permits for its expatriate staff, but the applications were
refused. Flores said they had received no explanation from the authorities. "We
were just not desired to be there, regrettably," she said. It was not possible
to obtain comment from the Ministry of Social Welfare, as the permanent
secretary, Lancaster Museka, had not responded to written questions he
requested from the Independent.
Mr. Museka is not the only one not
answering questions. On February 23, UNICEF and the German government announced
a new $27 million program to assist orphans in Zimbabwe. Inner City Press that
day approached Germany's permanent representative to the UN and asked about the
press release and grant. "I haven't read the press release yet," he answered. A
staffer from the German mission later called Inner City Press, but has not
provided any substantive answer yet, 60 hours after the German Ambassador was
asked.
Inner City Press had in January asked UNICEF
to describe its programs in Zimbabwe and five other dictatorial countries. Last
week, a month after the questions were posed, a one-page description of Zimbabwe
programs was provided, including, as is pertinent here:
UNICEF employs
67 staff in Zimbabwe, comprised of 54 national and 13 international staff...
UNICEF is the lead agency in Zimbabwe's response to an orphan crisis, reaching
100,000 OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) in 2006. In order to scale up the
response for OVC and implement the National Action Plan (NAP) for OVC, a
Programme of Support (PoS) for the NAP for OVC was developed. This PoS
establishes a mechanism for donors to finance OVC interventions, with UNICEF
serving as the manager for pooled donor funds and CSOs as the implementing
partners. The PoS is based on a pooled fund mechanism, where donors contribute
to a common basket where funds are directed straight to NGOs, in support of the
NAP for OVC.
Questions emailed on Friday to UNICEF's
contact on the press release were returned on Monday, with a request to wait
another 10 days for comments. Here were the questions:
Subj: Q from
reporter at UNHQ re Zimbabwe, German gov't contribution, Mugabe gov't, thanks
Date: 2/23/2007
From:
innercitypress.com
To: jelder [at]
unicef.org
Mr. Elder --
...Interested
in your press release about the German government's contribution to assist
UNICEF's work with orphans in Zimbabwe. That the work, and the contribution, are
laudable goes without saying. But I wonder if you could comment on what steps
UNICEF takes to ensure that its work does not prop up or help maintain the
Robert Mugabe government, particularly at this time. What is behind the timing
of this particular contribution? Also, any detail on the pooled fund mechanism,
and the NGOs funded by it (and these NGOs, or some of these NGOs, relations with
and/or opinion on the Mugabe government). How could you characterize relations
between the Mugabe government and UNICEF in Zimbabwe? Is UNICEF concerned about
the human rights and now ban-on-protest issues, and if so, does that concern
lead to any actions? Any response you can send will be appreciated, as you're
the contact listed on the press release.
This was responded to 60 hours later, on
January 26, with a request to wait an additional 10 days for responses. (The
reason given is also laudable -- Mozambique -- but still, an agency's contact on
a press release ought to be able to bring about a response to a
release-triggered question in less than 60 hours, it would seem.) Inner City
Press will run the responses when received. Certainly there are always balancing
acts and trade-offs to be made. But they should not be swept under the carpet,
they should be discussed, debated, explained. Developing.
Other Inner City Press
reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
At the UN,
Mysterious Deletion from Iran Sanctions List of Aerospace Industries
Organization Goes Unexplained
At the UN, Iran
Resolution Passes 15-0 Amid Media Frenzy While Somalia and UN Reform Are
Ignored
At the UN,
Security Council and GA Games and Holiday Spirit As Revolving Door Ban
Disappears on Final Day
UNDP Not Covered
By Weak UN Post-Employment Restrictions, Dervis and Mizsei and Aid to
the Scapegoated
UN
Post-Employment Restriction Are Watered Down for Senior Officials,
Comparison to June Draft Reveals
At the UN, Curt
Eulogies for Dictator, Revolving Door and Budget Left for the Last Day
UNDP's Dervis
Backtracks on Transparency, Promises Accounting of Funds, Denies Role in
Uganda Abuse
At the UN,
Jeffrey Sachs Answers the $75,000 Question But Not on UNDP, Still
Laudable Goals for 2025
Burundi Spin
at the UN, Amid Coup Trial and Ceasefire Not Implemented, Great Lakes
Commission Moves In
At the UN, Iran
Resolution Goes Blue as Ivory Coast is Traded Away With No Follow-up on
Hmung
At the UN,
Annan's Long Goodbye, With Oil for Food in the Air and Hothouse Musical
Chairs
At Kofi Annan's
Farewell, UNDP Transparency is Raised, and Brian Gleeson Steps Up
At UN
in Beirut, Dueling Charges of Job-Trading and
Tax-Evasion, the Burden of
Mervat Tallawy, Retaliation from Below
UNDP Will Be
Called to Greater Transparency, Says President of Spain, on UNDP's
Board, and Flaws of UNOPS
UNDP's Ad
Melkert Says He Will Finally Increase Transparency, Describes Fraud in
Russia, Dodges Uganda
In Eastern
Congo, Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made a Colonel, Clooney And Now
Guehenno Might Stay
At the UN,
Ocampo 1 Says Kony To Jail and Ocampo 2 Sees No Serious Bertucci
Charges, Dueling Parties
In UNDP's Book,
Strong's Scandals Are Missing, While Workers Complain, MMB Schmoozes the
Korean Mission
At UNDP, Flighty
Rhetoric Founders in Mismanagement, MMB's Net, a Genocidaire and Whither
ECOSOC
At the UN,
Disabled Are Freed from a Footnote, Murky Answers from Gbagbo to Kosovo
to a Genocidaire
Countering UN's
Vanity Press, UNDP Histories from Below, Brussels and Two Views of Omar
Bakhet
At the UN,
Indigenous Indignation, Revolving Door Mysteries and Peace Pipe
Belatedly Smoked
At the UN,
Questions of Congo Mass Graves and Kazana, Mugabe and Forests and Rich
German Ships
UNDP Is
Important For The Poor, and Therefore Must Be Made Transparent
As UN
Speechifies, UNDP Audits Are Still Being Withheld, While War in Somalia
and Sudan, Pronk Blogs On
Waste, Fraud and
Abuse at UNDP in Vietnam, While UN Secretariat Urges Censorship
At the UN,
Questions of Humanitarian Aid and Congo Body Count, Despots' Crackdown
on Dissent
In UNDP,
Questions of Money Wasted, Neutrality Trampled, Russian Office Audits
Withheld and Sachs Expenses
From Baidoa
to the UN, Denials on Ethiopian Troops Being in Somalia, Resolution Is
Passed
Retaliation
Found at UNDP, While Dervis Is Focused on Turkey, In Two Weeks Will Take
Questions
Annan's
Spokesman Silent on 150 Dead in Congo, War in Somalia - But in Loud
Defense of UNDP's $567,000 Book
At the UN,
Interlopers into Somalia Are Discussed, With Chadian Pull-Back,
Peacekeepers and Uganda's Karamoja
UNDP Spent
$567,000 on Book to Praise Itself, While the Well-Placed Feed Off UNDP's
Core Budget and Prime Postings
As UNDP Questions
Mount, Mark Malloch Brown Calls Them Irresponsible, Answers Only in
Vanity Press
In UNDP Series,
Questions of Jeffrey Sachs and Associates Payments, From $1 to $75,000
From Sleaze in
Vietnam to Fights in DC-1, UNDP Appears Out of Control at the Top
On Somalia,
Past Arms Embargo Violations Forgiven in Zeal to Contain Islamic Courts
In UNDP, Drunken
Mis-Managers on the Make Praised and Protected, Meet UNDP's Kalman
Mizsei
From Violent
Disarmament in Uganda to the National Bank of Serbia, UNDP Leaves Others
to Answer for It
UNDP Sources Say
Dervis Fires Malloch Brown-linked Officials, Then Offers Hush-Up Jobs
On Somalia, Fiji
and Oil-for-Food, UN Ambiguity Leads to Hypocrisy and Corruption
At the UN,
Indigenous Rights Get Deferred, As U.S. Abstains, Deftly or Deceptively
At the UN,
Threat and Possible Statement on Fiji Spotlights Selection and Payment
of UN Peacekeepers
At the UN, China
and Islamic Dev't Bank Oppose Soros and World Bank On How to Fight
Poverty
At the UN,
Misdirection on Somalia and Myanmar, No Answers from UNDP's Kemal Dervis
UNDP Dodges
Questions of Disarmament Abuse in Uganda and of Loss of Togo AIDS Grant,
Dhaka Snafu
At the UN, The
Swan Song of Jan Egeland and the Third Committee Loop, Somalia Echoes
Congo
UN Silent As
Protesters Tear Gassed in Ivory Coast, As UNMOVIC Plods On and War
Spreads in Somalia
In the UN,
Uzbekistan Gets a Pass on Human Rights As Opposition to U.S. Grows and
War's On in Somalia
At the UN,
Cluster Bombs Unremembered, Uighurs Disappeared and Jay-Z Returns with
Water -- for Life
From the UN,
Silence on War Crimes Enforcement and Conflicts of Interest on Complaint
from Bahrain
En Route to
Deutsche Bank, the UN's Door Revolves, While Ban Ki-moon Arrives and
Moldova Spins
As Two UN
Peacekeepers Are Killed, UN Says Haiti's Improving, Ban Ki-moon on
Zimbabwe?
Nagorno-Karabakh President Disputes Fires and Numbers, Oil and UN, in
Exclusive Interview with Inner City Press
Inside the UN,
Blaming Uganda's Victims, Excusing Annan on Mugabe, and U.S. Blocked
Darfur Trip
U.S. Blocked
Council's Trip to Darfur Meeting, Brazzaville Envoy Explains After U.S.
Casts a Veto
At the UN,
Council Works Overtime To Cancel Its Trip About Darfur, While DC Muses
on John Bolton
UN Panel's
"Coherence" Plan Urges More Power to UNDP, Despite Its Silence on Human
Rights
On Water, UNDP
Talks Human Rights, While Enabling Violations in Africa and Asia, With
Shell and Coca-Cola
Will UN's
Revolving Door Keep Human Rights Lost, Like Bush's Call and WFP
Confirmation Questions?
On Somalia,
We Are All Ill-Informed, Says the UN, Same on Uganda, Lurching Toward
UNDP Power Grab
On WFP, Annan and
Ban Ki-Moon Hear and See No Evil, While Resume of Josette Sheeran Shiner
Is Edited
Would Moon
Followers Trail Josette Sheeran Shiner into WFP, As to U.S. State Dep't?
At the UN,
Positions Are Up For the Grabbing, Sun's Silence on Censorship, Advisor
Grabs for Gun
In WFP Race,
Josette Sheeran Shiner Praises Mega Corporations from Cornfield While
State Spins
At the UN,
Housing Subsidy Spin, Puntland Mysteries of UNDP and the Panama Solution
In Campaign to
Head UN WFP, A Race to Precedents' Depths, A Murky Lame Duck Appointment
At the UN,
Gbagbo and his Gbaggage, Toxic Waste and Congolese Sanctions
WFP Brochure-Gate? John Bolton Has Not Seen Brochure
of "Official" U.S. Candidate to Head World Food Program
Ivory Coast
Stand-Off Shows Security Council Fault Lines: News Analysis
At the UN,
It's Groundhog's Day on Western Sahara, Despite Fishing Deals and
Flaunting of the Law
"Official" U.S.
Candidate to Head WFP Circulates Brochure With Pulitzer Claim, UN Staff
Rules Ignored
Senegal's
President Claims Peace in Casamance and Habre Trial to Come, A Tale of
Two Lamines
A Tale of Two
Americans Vying to Head the World Food Program, Banbury and Sheeran
Shiner
At the UN, the Unrepentant Blogger Pronk, a Wink
on 14 North Korean Days and Silence on Somalia
At the UN,
Literacy Losses in Chad, Blogless Pronk and Toothless Iran Resolution,
How Our World Turns
Sudan Pans Pronk
While Praising Natsios, UN Silent on Haiti and WFP, Ivorian Fingers
Crossed
UN Shy on North
Korea, Effusive on Bird Flu and Torture, UNDP Cyprus Runaround, Pronk is
Summoned Home
At the UN,
Silence from UNDP on Cyprus, from France on the Chad-Bomb, Jan Pronk's
Sudan Blog
Russia's Vostok
Battalion in Lebanon Despite Resolution 1701, Assembly Stays Deadlocked
and UNDP Stays Missing
As
Turkmenistan Cracks Down on Journalists, Hospitals and Romance, UNDP Works
With the Niyazov Regime
At the UN,
Darfur Discussed, Annan Eulogized and Oil For Food Confined to a
Documentary Footnote
With All Eyes
on Council Seat, UN is Distracted from Myanmar Absolution and Congo
Conflagration
As Venezuela and
Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona De-Listed
At the UN, North
Korea Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons Sales
At the UN,
Georgia Speaks of Ethnic Cleansing While Russia Complains of Visas
Denied by the U.S.
At the UN,
Deference to the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of
Slippery Eels and Sun Microsystems
At the UN,
Annan's Africa Advisor Welcome Chinese Investment, Dodges Zimbabwe, Nods
to Darfur
At the UN,
Richard Goldstone Presses Enforcement on Joseph Kony, Reflecting Back on
Karadzic
UN Defers on
Anti-Terror Safeguards to Member States, Even in Pakistan and Somalia
Afghanistan
as Black Hole for Info and Torture Tales, Photos and Talk Mogadishu, the
UN Afterhours
Amid UN's Korean
Uproar, Russia Silent on Murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Chechnya Exposer
UN Envoy Makes
Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and Threat-Filled
Election
Sudan's UN
Envoy Admits Right to Intervene in Rwanda, UNICEF Response on Terrorist
Groups in Pakistan
At the UN, As
Next S-G is Chosen, Annan Claims Power to Make 5-Year Appointments,
Quiet Filing and Ivory Coast Concessions
Chaos in UN's
Somalia Policy, Working With Islamists Under Sanctions While Meeting
with Private Military Contractors
U.S. Candidate
for UN's World Food Program May Get Lame Duck Appointment, Despite
Korean Issues
At the
UN, U.S. Versus Axis of Airport, While Serge Brammertz Measures
Non-Lebanese Teeth
Exclusion from
Water Is Called Progress, of Straw Polls and WFP Succession
William Swing
Sings Songs of Congo's Crisis, No Safeguards on Coltan Says Chairman of
Intel
Warlord in the
Waldorf and Other Congo Questions Dodged by the UN in the Time Between
Elections
In Some New
Orleans, Questions Echo from the South Bronx and South Lebanon
In New Orleans,
While Bone Is Thrown in Superdome, Parishes Still In Distress
At the UN, Tales
of Media Muzzled in Yemen, Penned in at the Waldorf on Darfur, While
Copters Grounded
US's Frazer
Accuses Al-Bashir of Sabotage, Arab League of Stinginess, Chavez of
Buying Leaders -
Click
here for
video file by Inner City Press.
Third Day of UN
General Debate Gets Surreal, Canapes and Killings, Questions on Iran and
Montenegro and Still Somalia
On Darfur, Hugo
Chavez Asks for More Time to Study, While Planning West Africa Oil
Refinery
At the UN, Ivory
Coast Discussed Without Decision on Toxic Politics, the Silence of
Somalia
Evo Morales
Blames Strike on Mobbed-Up Parasites, Sings Praise of Coca Leaf and Jabs
at Coca-Cola
Musharraf Says
Unrest in Baluchistan Is Waning, While Dodging Question on Restoring
Civilian Rule
At the UN, Cyprus
Confirms 'Paramilitary' Investigation, Denies Connection to Def Min
Resignation, CBTB Update
A Tale
of Three Leaders, Liberia Comes to Praise and Iran and Sudan to Bury the UN
UN Round-up:
Poland's President Says Iraq Is Ever-More Tense While Amb. Bolton Talks
Burmese Drugs, Spin on Ivory Coast
As UN's Annan
Now Says He Will Disclose, When and Whether It Will Be to the Public and
Why It Took So Long Go Unasked
At the UN,
Stonewalling Continues on Financial Disclosure and Letter(s) U.S.
Mission Has, While Zimbabwe Goes Ignored
At the UN,
Financial Disclosure Are Withheld While Freedom of Information Is
Promised, Of Hollywood and Dictators' Gift Shops
UN's Annan Says
Dig Into Toxic Dumping, While Declining to Discuss Financial Disclosure
A Still-Unnamed
Senior UN Official in NY Takes Free Housing from His Government,
Contrary to UN Staff Regulations
UN Admits To
Errors in its Report on Destruction of Congolese Village of Kazana,
Safeguards Not In Place
As UN Checks
Toxins in Abidjan, the Dumper Trafigura Figured in Oil for Food Scandal,
Funded by RBS and BNP Paribas
Targeting of
African Americans For High Cost Mortgages Grew Worse in 2005, While Fed
Downplays Its Own Findings
The UN and
Nagorno-Karabakh: Flurries of Activity Leave Frozen Conflicts Unchanged;
Updates on Gaza, Gavels and Gbagbo
The UN Cries
Poor on Lawless Somalia, While Its Ex-Security Chief Does Business
Through Ruleless Revolving Door
At the UN,
Micro-States Simmer Under the Assembly's Surface, While Incoming Council
President Dodges Most Questions
"Horror Struck"
is How UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments Would Leave
U.S., Referral on Burma But Not Uzbekistan
Security Council
President Condemns UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments,
While UK "Doesn't Do It Any More"
At the UN,
Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by
Member States
Rare UN Sunshine
From If Not In Chad While Blind on Somalia and Zimbabwe, UNDP With Shell
in its Ear on Nigeria
Annan Family
Ties With Purchaser from Compass, Embroiled in UN Scandal, Raise
Unanswered Ethical Questions
At the UN, from
Casamance to Transdniestria, Kosovars to Lezgines, Micro-States as
Powerful's Playthings
Inquiry Into
Housing Subsidies Contrary to UN Charter Goes Ignored for 8 Weeks, As
Head UN Peacekeeper Does Not Respond
On the UN -
Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost
Stop Bank
Branch Closings and Monopolies in the Katrina Zone, Group Says,
Challenging Regions- AmSouth Merger
Ship-Breakers
Missed by UN's Budget for Travel and Consultants in Bangladesh, Largest
UNIFIL Troop Donor
With Somalia on
the Brink of Horn-Wide War, UN Avoids Question of Ethiopian Invasion
In UN's Lebanon
Frenzy, Darfur Is Ignored As Are the Disabled, "If You Crave UNIFIL,
Can't You Make Do With MONUC?"
UN Decries
Uzbekistan's Use of Torture, While Helping It To Tax and Rule; Updates
on UNIFIL and UNMIS Off-Message
On Lebanon,
Russian Gambit Focuses Franco-American Minds, Short Term Resolution Goes
Blue Amid Flashes of Lightening
Africa Can Solve
Its Own Problems, Ghanaian Minister Tells Inner City Press, On LRA Peace
Talks and Kofi Annan's Views
At the UN, Jay-Z
Floats Past Questions on Water Privatization and Sweatshops, Q'Orianka
Kilcher in the Basement
In the UN
Security Council, Speeches and Stasis as Haiti is Forgotten, for a
Shebaa Farms Solution?
UN Knew of Child
Soldier Use by Two Warlords Whose Entry into Congo Army the UN
Facilitated
Impunity's in
the Air, at the UN in Kinshasa and NY, for Kony and Karim and MONUC for
Kazana
UN Still Silent
on Somalia, Despite Reported Invasion, In Lead-Up to More Congo Spin
UN's Guehenno
Says Congo Warlord Just Needs Training, and Kazana Probe Continues
With Congo
Elections Approaching, UN Issues Hasty Self-Exoneration as Annan Is
Distracted
In DR Congo, UN
Applauds Entry into Army of Child-Soldier Commander Along with Kidnapper
Spinning the
Congo, UN Admits Hostage Deal with Warlord That Put Him in Congolese
Army
At the UN, Dow
Chemical's Invited In, While Teaming Up With Microsoft is Defended
Kofi Annan
Questioned about Congolese Colonel Who Kidnapped Seven UN Soldiers
UN Silent As
Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army Colonel: News
Analysis
UN's Guehenno
Speaks of "Political Overstretch" Undermining Peacekeeping in Lower
Profile Zones
In Gaza Power
Station, the Role of Enron and the U.S. Government's OPIC Revealed by UN
Sources
UN's Corporate
Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with Microsoft, and
UNDP Continues
BTC Briefing,
Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations
Conflicts of
Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal Reform Rifts
UN Grapples with
Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit, Without
Explanation
UN Gives Mugabe
Time with His Friendly Mediator, Refugees Abandoned
At the UN,
Friday Night's Alright for Fighting; Annan Meets Mugabe
UN Acknowledges
Abuse in Uganda, But What Did Donors Know and When? Kazakh Questions
In Uganda, UNDP
to Make Belated Announcement of Program Halt, But Questions Remain (and
see
The New Vision,
offsite).
Disarmament
Abuse in Uganda Leads UN Agency to Suspend Its Work and Spending
Disarmament
Abuse in Uganda Blamed on UNDP, Still Silent on Finance
Alleged Abuse in
Disarmament in Uganda Known by UNDP, But Dollar Figures Still Not Given:
What Did UN Know and When?
Strong Arm on
Small Arms: Rift Within UN About Uganda's Involuntary Disarmament of
Karamojong Villages
UN's Selective
Vision on Somalia and Wishful Thinking on Uighurs
UN Habitat
Predicts The World Is a Ghetto, But Will Finance Be Addressed at
Vancouver World Urban Forum?
UN's Annan
Concerned About Use of Terror's T-Word to Repress, Wants
Freedom of Information
UN Waffles on
Human Rights in Central Asia and China; ICC on Kony and a Hero from
Algiers
UN & US,
Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty
and Senator Tom Coburn
Human Rights
Forgotten in UN's War of Words, Bolton versus Mark Malloch Brown: News
Analysis
In Praise of
Migration, UN Misses the Net and Bangalore While Going Soft on Financial
Exclusion
UN Sees Somalia
Through a Glass, Darkly, While Chomsky Speaks on Corporations and
Everything But Congo
Corporate Spin on
AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence
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
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
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 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
Citigroup
Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference
Other Inner City Press
reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
Copyright 2006 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com - phone: (718) 716-3540
