Inner City Press -- Investigative Journalism from the United Nations

With All Eyes on Council Seat, UN is Distracted from Myanmar Absolution and Congo Conflagration

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, October 17 -- After twenty two rounds of voting, the race between Guatemala and Venezuela for a UN Security Council seat has still not yielded a winner. After six p.m. on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton came out last to the stakeout in front of the General Assembly. "Venezuela has lost 21 of 22 votes," he said. "In normal circumstances, they would honorably drop out."

These are not, however, normal circumstances. Earlier on Tuesday, Venezuelan Ambassador Francisco Javier Arias Cardenas brandished a copy of the El Pais newspaper, with its front page picture of Amb. Bolton whispering into the ear of the Guatemalan foreign minister. The Venezuelan translator Melina Garcia -- who twice pointed out that she is not a spokesperson -- spoke darkly about extortion and intimidation carried out by the United States. A copy of a crumpled October 4, 2006 letter was flashed, addressed to the Foreign Minister of Antigua and Barbuda from U.S. Ambassador Mary Ellen T. Gilroy, urging a vote for Guatemala in light of Hugo Chavez's speech to the General Assembly, and Chavez' characterization of terrorist Carlos the Jackal as "a friend." The web site of Harper's Magazine has the underlying quote, click here to view.

The Venezuelan ambassador announced that if John Bolton or George Bush would come to the microphone and announce that countries are free to vote their conscience, Venezuela might be willing to accept "a consensus." This statement appeared to assume that Venezuela would in that case be the consensus candidate.

Inner City Press asked the Guatemalan representative Gert Rosenthal what he thought the vote tally would be, if the U.S. announced that all could vote their conscience. He responded that he didn't think countries were pawns of the United States.

The upshot is that the Latin American and Caribbean group, known by its comical acronym GRULAC, will hold an informal meeting late Wednesday morning. The Guatemalan representative will attend; in response to Inner City Press' question, he stated that Guatemala had initially refused to attend a meeting which would have been conditioned on Guatemala dropping out of the race. Video here. As to when and if Guatemala might drop out, he would not specify the point at which Guatemala would be willing to withdraw, adding that Guatemala is concerned with the integrity of GRULAC. So are we, so are we, muttered one wag at the stakeout.

Inner City Press used Amb. Bolton's moment at the mike to ask him about Myanmar, called Burma by the Ambassador. On October 13, the Group of 8's Financial Action Task Force removed Myanmar from its money laundering blacklist. Click here for Reuters, here for Associated Press. Money laundering, along with drug exports and refugee flows, were reasons given that Myanmar poses a threat to international peace and security and should be on the Security Council's agenda. Inner City Press asked if the U.S. thinks this FATF decision is legitimate. Amb. Bolton said he was not yet aware of the FATF decision. Video here. Now the news has been provided to his staff; developing.

Meanwhile, the Security Council held, or purported to hold, consultations on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Neither U.S. Ambassador Bolton nor most other ambassadors attended. Deputy Head of UN Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi declined to take questions on camera. Inner City Press spoke with Mr. Annabi by the elevator and asked him about the requests that the UN actively defend broadcasting antennae and facilities which have been under attack. Mr. Annabi expressed concern for such attacks, but opined that the most recent one was the result of a short circuit, not arson.

Inner City Press asked about the replacement of presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba's helicopter, a matter previously raised to the UN spokesman, who replied that it was not a UN, but rather a Congolese, decision. The forces of current president Joseph Kabila destroyed Mr. Bemba's helicopter, and Mr. Kabila had said it would be replaced. But as the election entered its final two week stretch, the helicopter had not been replaced. Sources indicate that then an attempt was made by the UN to get a third country to lend Mr. Bemba a helicopter to campaign. Other sources argue that even before it was destroyed, Mr. Bemba's helicopter was hardly in shape for campaigning in a country that is, as the UN often says, a large as Western Europe except -- still! -- with the roads.

Mr. Annabi on Wednesday told Inner City Press that the UN has now provided two helicopters, one each for candidates Bemba and Kabila, through the independent electoral commission. Why this was not announced at a noon briefing, or at least in a stakeout interview, is not clear. As was heard at its headquarters on Wednesday, the UN has a story to tell, but needs to tell it better. Or to tell it at all. Tuesday after 12 days of delay from the UN Development Program in providing an update on a program defunded by UNDP, the UN spokesman was informed of the delay. We'll see.

MMB Stands Up for Poverty, North Lawn

There was a briefing in honor of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Inner City Press asked French Ambassador de la Sabliere to explain the discrepancy between Monday's UN briefing on the booming of foreign direct investment in the developing world, and UNDP's statement that fully 38% of sub-Saharan Africa will not attain the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty rates by 2015. Amb. de la Sabliere answered that fighting poverty is not the Security Council's work, except in post-war zones. Video here. But why not then the Congo, which is subject to Security Council resolutions? How long will it be, that the old saw of "no roads" will remain?

Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor referred to Europe's subsidies for cows, and acknowledged the need for a new fair trade regime. The chef de cabinet of the General Assembly president said that both NGOs and charities are important. The GA president's spokeswoman, to her credit, answered a previous Inner City Press question about Venezuela's JFK airport complaint by providing a press release summary of the Host Country Committee meeting.

At the UN spokesman's noon briefing, two more questions went unanswered. The prime minister of the UN-supported Transitional Federal Government in Somalia has reportedly written to the UN complaining about the objectivity of the mediators in Khartoum. Has the UN or its Department of Political Affairs (DPA) received the letter? Don't know, the spokesman said. Video here. What about the critique of the DPA in the just-released audit by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, which recommends that "the Secretary-General should amend the official mandates of the Departments of Political Affairs and Peacekeeping Operations to include reference to the lead department policy in order to enhance its visibility and transparency"?

The Secretariat will respond at some point, the spokesman said, but had no comment at the time. When might OIOS speak to reporters about this and other audits? Never, apparently. The spokesman continues to say he has asked. OIOS during a recent visit told Inner City Press that he hasn't. While we know whom we believe, between the two, the solution here would be for the spokesman's office to call, say, the Under Secretary General for Management and remind him, with his glossy UN Annual Report co-signed by the head of OIOS, that transparency starts at home. Or is the current administration just giving up?

Venezuela and Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona De-Listed

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- As Venezuela and Guatemala faced off in ten separate votes for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the names of dark horse or compromise candidates swirled outside the General Assembly, where the voting was taking place. Uruguay and Costa Rica were much mentioned, along with the Dominican Republic. A quick check of the list of countries which have paid their UN dues, and of the nine countries recently excused from this duty, reflected that the Dominican Republic is not on either list and therefore, it seems, ineligible.

Italy, Belgium and South Africa each won non-permanent Council seats, which will go into effect on January 1. In one of two contested elections, Indonesia trumped Nepal 158 to 28. The Venezuela - Guatemala contest will resume on Tuesday.

The longest such contest was in 1979, when after 154 ballots between Cuba and Columbia, Mexico won out as a compromise candidate. As night fell on Turtle Bay and cell phones buzzed, there were dreams of following this dark horse Mexican path.

To win a two-year seat on the Security Council, a country must win two-thirds of the votes cast in the 192 member General Assembly: in this case, over 120 votes. After the tenth vote of the day -- the results each being about the same, with Guatemala moving from 109 votes to 110, and Venezuela from 76 to 77 -- representatives of the two parties, and Guatemala's main backer the United States, took questions from reporters. Venezuela's ambassador used the word dignity repeatedly, saying his country will be in it until the last vote. U.S. Ambassador Bolton characterized the day as nine losses and one tie for Venezuela. Guatemala's representative was more whimsical, saying that his country will certainly stay in a few more rounds.

Inner City Press asked the Guatemalan representative about the status of the UN's investigation into the deaths of eight Guatemalan peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Video on UNTV, here. Sources have told Inner City Press that Guatemala has been less than pleased with those in the UN who blame the deaths on the soldiers themselves, saying that they came upon the Lord's Resistance Army and then "fell asleep." But on camera, the foreign minister said only that recently the UN Department of Peacekeeping, DPKO, gave Guatemala first draft of the report to solicit comments on it. Developing.

At the margins, some complained that the Venezuelan delegation was handing out chocolates despite it being Ramadan, a time in Islam for daytime fasting.

During a break in Council voting, the director the Global Compact, Georg Kell, spoke with reporters about the UN's World Investment Report 2006, a 340-page tome that presents foreign direct investment (FDI) as growing in every region. The Global Compact is the UN's vehicle to engage the private sector on issues of labor and human rights and environmental protection. To critics, it has allowed corporations with no standards to drape themselves in veneer of the UN's blue flag without being held to the principles they say they have espoused.

Monday Mr. Kell acknowledged that most of the growth in FDI is made up of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, only some of which bring benefits to anyone in the target counties, much less those most in need. Nevertheless, the book presents many useful lists and snapshots of the world economy, based on 2005 data.

Inner City Press asked Mr. Kell about these aspect of the report, and then about the Global Compact. Video on UNTV, here. Specifically, Inner City Press raised as an example the case of Deutsche Bank, which is the private banker for the dictator of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, click here for more on Deutsche Bank. Mr. Kell responded that the Compact is about "learning, dialogue and positive change." To Inner City Press' ongoing urging that corporate CEOs who come to the UN seeking positive publicity from meeting the Secretary-General (for example, Turkey's Koch) or lunching with the Deputy Secretary-General (for example, Dow Chemical), be urged to take questions from the press, Mr. Kell said that will take place, the decision to do so has already been made. His spokesman said he will scope out the logistics of allowing question from UN Headquarters to an upcoming Compact corporate get-together in Geneva.

A number of companies have been de-listed from the Global Compact, mostly for failure to file even the most basic updates. Among those de-listed are banks (Banca Monte Parma, Nedbank, Punjab National Bank and Dena Bank of India), accounting firms (Deloitte and Ernst & Young - Brazil), Franklin Covey, Mitsubishi Motors, Petronas and perhaps most intriguingly, the team of F.C. Barcelona. Ronaldino and the club's president Laporta were at the UN recently talking about corporate social responsibility. Apparently, this did not include basic filings with the UN. And given Deutsche Bank's non-response on the Turkmenistan issues, one wonders why it is allowed to remain a Global Compact member...

One wonders, too, why the UN continues working with the Congolese Army, regarding which the most recent report concerns enslavement and forced labor from civilians in Ituri. Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman for a response to the report. Video on UNTV, here. The spokesman answered that the UN is concerned. "But why then does the UN continue supporting this Congolese army?" Click here for the Human Rights Watch report, and watch this space.

At the UN, North Korea Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons Sales

UNITED NATIONS, October 14, 3:20 p.m. -- "Six days after the North Korean test, the passage of a Security Council resolution is imminent," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters just after noon on Saturday. By one o'clock Amb. Bolton emerged with Chinese Ambassador Wang to announce a vote by 1:30. "What led to the deal?" a reporter shouted.

"Good diplomacy," Amb. Bolton deadpanned. Then he and Amb. Wang ambled north along the UN's second story hallway, surrounded by security guards.

Update of 3:15 p.m. -- in serial stakeout interviews following the Council's 15-0 vote, North Korea's Ambassador called the resolution "gangster-like," then strode down the hall, ignoring the questions shouted after him. Chinese Amb. Wang called the cargo inspection language "watered down." Amb. Bolton deadpanned that resolutions are binding.

Inner City Press asked Argentine Ambassador Mayoral if this can really be called a resolution -- if it has been resuelto, in Spanish -- since it leaves a 14 day window to make final decisions. Video here. Amb. Mayoral said Council President Oshima will decide how to use the 14 days. On this question of putting off finalizing what can and cannot be transferred to North Korea for 14 days, Russian Ambassador Churkin explained that even earlier today, he was pointing out to other delegations some unintended consequences of the proposed lists. After declining to answer Inner City Press' question about Georgia, Amb. Churkin also panned recent U.S. legislation which purports to cover other countries on transfers to both Iran and North Korea. Video here. He quickly added that he was not connecting those two countries. The scuttlebutt is that the U.S. will try to make the coming week all about Iran. Others are focused on the Venezuela - Guatemala vote(s) for Security Council membership, slated of Monday. Watch this space.

Update of 1:59 p.m. -- Chinese Amb. Wang, speaking after the 15-0 adoption of the resolution, now named Resolution 1718, said that China does not approve of cargo inspection and urges nations to avoid provoking North Korea. Apparently, the phrase "as necessary" in the resolution can be read any number of ways.

1:37 p.m. update -- The new Paragraph 8(a)(ii) puts off for 14 days a decision on the range of "items, materials, equipment, good and technology" which can't be transferred the North Korea. A UN diplomat explained that "Russia is not a party to the Australia list" [in the resolution, referred to via document S/2006/816] and so "we had to cut them a break." The scope of this loophole is in the process of being explored -- watch this space.

Another U.S. diplomat provided further details: the most recent sticking point has been cargo inspections. The diplomat emphasized that "as necessary" would mean to nearly always inspect at this point, given the grounds for suspicious that North Korea is seeking imports to further its nuclear weapons program.

"There is no annex," the U.S. diplomat replied. Rather, the draft resolution refers to other UN documents that list the prohibited materials.

The run-up to the vote demonstrated again that it is a five-member Council. The Tanzanian Ambassador spoke with reporters about a draft he'd seen at 7 p.m. on Friday, before the Permanent Five members' two-hour meeting on Saturday morning.

The Ambassador of Ghana was stopped by reporters but said, "I don't know anything, they haven't told me anything."

Greel Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis, meanwhile, lost $5.10 in the automated food machine in the Security Council foyer by choosing, after paying, to open a box that was empty. Next to it, in a still-locked box, was the sandwich the Ambassador wanted. Amb. Vassilakis did a full rotation and tried to get at the sandwich. But for $5.10 you only get to open one box -- even if it's empty. And so it goes at the UN.

At the UN, Deference to the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of Slippery Eels and Sun Microsystems

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- "If it's all night, it's all right." U.S. Ambassador Bolton said this phrase with relish to a gaggle of reporters at 6 p.m. on Friday. While the reference was to the still-pending Security Council resolution response to North Korea's nuclear test six days ago, the night-right rhyme is from a lyric sung by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.

Heard on the grapevine is that Russia's opposition or delay springs from the inclusion of tanks in the list of weapons it could not sell to North Korea. A U.S. diplomat said Russia's opposition on Friday afternoon started out as technical, then became more substantive and intransigent. Amid reporters' questions about the draft resolution's provisions for searching North Korean ships and barring the sale to North Korea of armaments listed in the resolution's still not firm annex, no one asked for John Bolton's view on another James Brown lyric, "Say it loud, I'm black, I'm proud."

A hour after being confirmed by the General Assembly as the next Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon held a 20-minute press conference. He took only six questions; it was not clear if any of the questions were answered. A question about Africa was left entirely unresponded-to. (See below in this Report.)

So to at Kofi Annan's spokesman's noon briefing. In response to two questions about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the spokesman said that the DRC is a sovereign nation, not run by the UN. From the transcript:

Spokesman: The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a sovereign Government. The helicopter is for the Congolese Government to settle. It is my understanding that the helicopter was provided to Mr. Bemba in his capacity of Vice-President. Obviously, Mr. [William Lacy] Swing has been trying to smooth the relations between Mr. Bemba and Mr. Kabila, but the issue of the helicopter is not one, as far as I understand, that we are getting directly involved in. On the issue of ministers, once again, it is the prerogative of the Government to appoint its ministers. The Congo is not a UN-administered territory.

This hasn't stopped the UN Secretariat and its envoy from routinely exhorting the Congolese to remain calm, to disarm, to eschew hate speech and the like. But when Joseph Kabila, three weeks before the run-off election, puts his military staffers in control of the Ministry of the Interior and the governorship of Kinshasa, the UN then has no comment, out of respect for sovereignty. Even on the open question of Mr. Kabila not having fulfilled his previous pledge to replace his opponent's destroyed helicopter, the UN has no comment. Thus even in a disarmed Kinshasa is ammunition given to those Congolese who allege that the UN has spent half a billion dollar merely to re-anoint Joseph Kabila.

Speaking of money's ability to talk, Friday afternoon as part of a briefing about the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit, the high-tech company Sun Microsystem was presented as a UN partner, for sponsoring a web site for the summit. Inner City Press asked how Sun Microsystems was selected to partner with the UN, and whether Sun was asked, as Intel was recently asked by Inner City Press, what safeguards it has in place not to use conflict coltan from the Congo. Video here, from Minute 31:24. Sun was described as a long-term UN partner. But there are more questions: Sun is known to have assisted for Internet blocking and surveillance both China and Myanmar. Global Compact, anyone?

In fairness to Ban Ki-Moon, after his 20-minute, six-question briefing in Conference Room 2, he met with Korean media and was more expansive. He explained that his nickname, Slippery Eel, can be transcribed in Chinese as "Moves All The World," a moniker he prefers. In his speech to the General Assembly, he spoke eloquently of modesty. He told reporters he plans to appoint a special envoy for North Korea.

Another hotspot on which Inner City Press will be reporting more, shortly, is Georgia and its contested Abkhazia region. Watch this site, over the weekend.

For reporting about banks, predatory lending, consumer protection, money laundering, mergers or the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), click here for Inner City Press's weekly CRA Report. Inner City Press also reports weekly concerning the Federal Reserve, environmental justice, global inner cities, and more recently on the United Nations, where Inner City Press is accredited media. Follow those links for more of Inner City Press's reporting, or, click here to contact us with or for more information.