Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

As UN Cameras' Footage Can Be Used to Identify Whistleblowers, They Remain in Place

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- A day after the UN promised to move the surveillance cameras it installed over the area to which it has moved journalists during its Capital Master Plan renovation, the UN specified that the footage could be used by its Office of Internal Oversight Services. Since OIOS investigates, among other things, leaks by UN staff including to the press, concerns about the cameras placement over the desks of investigative reporters only grew.

Inner City Press first exposed the cameras on December 13-14. On December 15, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky how the cameras' footage was used, and who could see it. At the December 16 UN noon briefing, Mr. Nesirky read a statement that

"I was asked yesterday about the cameras being relocated... how recorded data is used. In accordance with General Assembly rulings, there are very strict guidelines regarding the use of data taken from cameras... only used for legitimate security reasons, on rare occasions the Office of Internal Oversight Services may request some data for its work."

OIOS investigates, among other things, leaks by UN staff.

UN surveillance camera over journalists' desks, OIOS not shown
So according to Mr. Nesirky's statement, OIOS could request and review at least a month's footage and see who met with or gave documents to reporters covering the UN.

Twenty four hours after Mr. Nesirky said the cameras would be moved, they were still in place. Watch this site.

* * *

As UN Says It Will Move Cameras from Journalists' Offices, No Answer on Filming

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 15 -- The UN has belatedly acknowledged that to have security cameras directly over journalists' desks may be a problem.

A day after Inner City Press' exclusive report about the cameras, installed above the replacement "swing space" the UN has built for media use during its Capital Master Plan renovation, spokesman Martin Nesirky told the Press that the cameras will be moved.

Inner City Press asked who has been watching the cameras, whether any recordings are kept and for how long. On each issue, Mr. Nesirky said he would inquire and return with the information. Meanwhile a meeting has been requested and promised with the UN Department of Safety and Security about the issue.

The first camera moved was above China's state owned Xinhua news service. Some reporters found this ironic, given China's regime of surveillance, of the Internet and otherwise.

But one long time correspondent pointed out that officials from China's Mission to the UN have been known to go into Xinhua's offices, "putting the statement in state owned." It is these contacts that perhaps Xinhua did not want filmed. In any event, Xinhua's pro privacy advocacy is commendable.

Inner City Press' concern, raised months ago when the UN announced that unlike current offices, those in the swing space would not have floor to ceiling walls, is for whistleblower access.

UN camera over journalists' desks, Dec. 14, 2009 (c) M.Lee

Witnesses to misdeeds in the UN -- not only corruption but also, as detailed about the Congo this week, implication in crimes of war -- are often afraid to go public for fear not only of losing their jobs, but being deported from the United States.

Most UN professional staff are not American citizens. They are only in the U.S. under a G-4 visa, which expires 30 days after termination of employment by the UN. This double threat is held over whistleblowers' heads -- like the security cameras for now still over journalists' heads in the UN's swing space. Watch this site.

From the UN's December 15, 2009 transcript, video here, first question --

Spokesperson Nesirky: Do you have any questions? Matthew.

Inner City Press: Two quick questions. One is, can you confirm that Vijay Nambiar is being given the Myanmar portfolio now that Mr. [Ibrahim] Gambari is being assigned to Darfur? Something that I’ve heard. It seems important to know who is in charge of Myanmar for the UN.

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, as I think I’ve mentioned before, we’re in a kind of a transitional phase, and the new appointment for Mr. Gambari takes effect at the beginning of January. And so that’s why we’re in a transitional phase. And in the meantime, through the Secretary-General’s good offices, there will be a continued focus on Myanmar. And precisely who is involved in that, I will need to double check. But you can take it as a given that within the Secretary-General’s immediate team, there is a close eye being kept on Myanmar.

Inner City Press: Speaking of eyes, I just wanted to get your comment -- above the new journalists’ space in the Library, there are security cameras that appear to be 360 degree and that film journalists at work. I wonder if you can say the rationale for that and whether one of them has already been moved. Are the other ones going to be moved? Who watches it? Is the film kept? What was the thinking behind that?

Spokesperson: A couple of things. First of all, those cameras are not 360 degree. They just focus on the doors. They’re security cameras for the doors. That’s the first thing. The second thing is, as you already noted, one has been moved. There are another two that are considered intrusive. They are also being moved. And the reason that they’re being moved is for the concerns that you’ve mentioned. They are simply security cameras and they focus on the doors. They are being watched in the security command centre. As to whether things are being recorded, I will find out for you. But there are cameras all around the Secretariat. The reason for them is security, and it’s for no other reason.

Inner City Press: I was wondering if you can find out where the films are kept and things like that -- I’m just saying because they are above journalists’ offices, that’s what led to the concern.

Spokesperson: As I said, there are three cameras that we’re talking about; all three of them are being moved. And they are not roving eyes; they are single focus, okay? Like me.

* * *

UN Installs Cameras to Film Reporters' New Offices, No Whistleblower Zone

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 14, updated -- As UN correspondents were moved over the weekend to smaller offices without floor to ceiling walls, the UN's lack of respect or understanding for independent media became clear. Directly above the journalists' cubicles, Inner City Press discovered a spherical black security camera. Even investigative journalists meeting with UN whistleblowers would be filmed under this arrangement.

One long time correspondent, when Inner City Press pointed out the camera, called it "creepy." Another asked how it is different than the UN bugging journalists' telephone conversations or reading their mail.

Those in charge of the relocation space for the media during the UN's Capital Master Plan renovation have problematic relations with independent media.

CMP chief Michael Adlerstein, for example, demanded of the Press "did you make a mistake" regarding reporting of a death at the UN, and asked "how should you be punished?" He has also barred the Press from his Town Hall meetings about the CMP.

The head of the Department of Management, Angela Kane, convened and summarized a meeting in May 2009 at which the UN's top legal officer, spokesperson and speech writer strategized on legal threats against three publications, including this one, which they sought to be removed from the Google News data base.

At UN, a new swing space, surveillance camera not shown

As one Greek correspondent has confirmed, with documents leaked from within the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN system including the UN Development Program pays and controls many of the journalists which cover it.

But to actually monitor and film in their offices the journalists who are trying to hold the UN accountable to member states and the public is a new low. Watch this site.

Footnote: one wonders, too, if this means that Ambassadors and other diplomats will also be surveilled.

Update I: a UN official with responsibility over the swing space into which UN correspondents are being moved has argued to Inner City Press that the cameras are only there to film the doorways, to see who enters. But they are round and film 360 degrees. Watch this site.

Update II: one of the surveillance cameras has been moved, after a threat to cover it with paper or disable it. But if one has thus been moved, shouldn't all be moved or removed? Watch this site.

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UN Violates Law in Congo, Leaked UN Legal Memo Shows, Doss on Grill in NY

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 13 -- What are the consequences if the UN violates international law, as defined by the UN's own Office of Legal Affairs? The question is now squarely raise by an October 2009 memorandum to the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC) from chief UN legal office Patricia O'Brien, obtained by Inner City Press and published online here.

In the October 12 memo, marked "Priority Confidential" and addressed to top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy, MONUC's policies for providing assistance to the Congolese army (FARDC) are found to violate international law. Specifically, MONUC's policies, then and now, do not provide for suspending assistance to operations of the FARDC in which laws are violated, but rather only partial suspension to particular units.

OLA notes that MONUC, even in the cases (so far only one) in which is suspends assistance to a particular unit, might just increase support to other units in the operation. Before publishing this memo, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky for an answer, and received a three paragraph UN Peacekeeping response which does not even address OLA's critique of the lack of a policy for initiating support to an FARDC operation.

The UN's own Special Rapporteur on extra judicial execution Philip Alston has noted that MONUC worked with - and continues to work with - units under Colonel Zimulinda, which he charges with murder and mass rape.

These decisions are made by the chief of MONUC Alan Doss, embroiled since the summer in a nepotism scandal in which as exposed by Inner City Press he asked the UN Development Program to show him "leeway" and give his daughter a job, in violation of applicable rules.

Doss is scheduled to be in New York from December 14 on, to brief the Council -- but perhaps hide from the Press -- on December 16. In the interim there will be press conferences about among other things MONUC's violations of international law under Doss' tenure. Watch this site.

In Congo, UN's Doss under fire, legal violations not shown

As noted, Inner City Press before publishing this October 2009 OLA memo asked the UN about reports its own Office of Legal Affairs advised MONUC not to work with units of the Congolese army involved in these and other crimes. The response:

Subj: your question on the DRC
From: unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 12/10/2009 1:33:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

I. The tasks carried out by MONUC are determined by the Security Council. The mission has a mandate to provide support to the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in disarming illegal armed groups while protecting the civilian population. MONUC continues to give the highest priority to protection of civilians.

II. In furtherance of this mandate, MONUC and DPKO requested advice from the Office of Legal Affairs regarding the conditions governing their collaboration with the FARDC. In full transparency, the Secretariat and the Mission advised the Security Council of the risks involved and potential consequences of cooperating with the FARDC. The Security Council has repeatedly expressed their unanimous support for MONUC and for the joint operations with the FARDC against the FDLR, with full respect for International Humanitarian, Human Rights and Refugee Law.

III. After extensive consultations between the Secretariat the Mission and OLA, a policy was developed, setting out the conditions under which the Mission would support FARDC. This policy was transmitted to the DRC Government in November. It specifies that all MONUC participation in FARDC operations must be jointly planned and must respect international humanitarian law, human rights and refugee law. The policy also includes measures designed to improve FARDC performance as well as to prevent and sanctioning violations. This 'conditionality' provision is why the Mission suspended support to a specific FARDC unit believed to have been involved in the targeted killing of civilians in the Lukweti area of North Kivu.

But this response does not address the October 2009 memo, which says that MONUC should have had a policy before begin to support FARDC operations, and should suspend assistance to entire operations, rather that particular unit. Watch this site.

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IMF Studies Congo Deals by India and China, Quid Pro Quo by Canada at Paris Club on Mining, UN's Kivu Spin

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 11 -- The Congo battles for and is embattled by its natural resources, the International Monetary Fund made plain on Friday, perhaps inadvertently. During a press conference call explaining the IMF's $550 million facility to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the IMF's Brian Ames put the DRC's external debt at $13 billion.

Inner City Press asked about new debts to China and prospectively India, about conflict and mining in the East, and Canada's use in the Paris Club of debt relief to strong-arm for two of its mining firm.

Ames, who traveled to Kinshasa to negotiate about what he called the "China deal," described how with IMF pressure the deal decreased in size from $9 billion to $6.2 billion, with "only" $3 billion guaranteed by the Congolese government.

Even this guarantee, he emphasized, could only become due in 25 years. Still, the IMF urged the restructuring of the China deal. Inner City Press asked about a newly reported loan proposal by India to the Congo, for $263 million.

Ames said that was just an announcement, when Congolese officials were in India. To Inner City Press, a connection with the Congo's loud demand that Indian peacekeepers leave the UN Mission in the Congo, MONUC, is inescapable. India is paid by the UN and makes money on these peacekeepers. How does this sum relate to whatever concessional rates India will offer to the Congo?

Inner City Press asked what the IMF thinks of Canada's delay of a Paris Club vote on debt relief to the Congo based on contracts canceled to Canadian mining firms. Ames agreed that this had happened, saying it was really about 1st Quantum. But what about Toronto-based Lundin Mining, whose 24% stake in the Tenke Fungurume mine and its $1.8 billion contract are being "re-negotiated"?

After Ames said that Canada had, after a week's delay in November, agreed on a conference call to go forward with debt relief, Inner City Press him if 1st Quantum's contract was restored. No, he answered, but the Congolese government, which already won a round of litigation in its own courts, has agreed to international arbitration.

Congo's Kabila and China's Hu Jintao, Indian UN peacekeepers and IMF and Canadian pressure not shown

Ames' colleague, whom Ames instructed to "earn his paycheck," added the 1st Quantum has other mines in the Congo, that the dispute involves only one mine. Yes, but that is the $553 million Kolwezi copper and cobalt project.

Inner City Press asked if the IMF has concerns, similar to those evidence on the China deal, about the prospects of an Indian infrastructure loan. It is just a proposal, Ames said, adding that it would be for two hydro electric projects and one water project. Actually, the third would be $50 million towards the rehabilitation of the rail system in Kinshasa.

When Inner City Press asked about reports, including by the UN's Group of Experts, of illegal mining in the Kivus, Ames said that since this revenue stream has yet to go to the government, its diversion does not have an impact and is not considered. Actually, the UN Group's report shows that units of the Congolese army are involved in the illegal mining.

Inner City Press asked the UN about reports its own Office of Legal Affairs advised MONUC not to work with units of the Congolese army involved in these and other crimes. The response:

Subj: your question on the DRC
From: unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 12/10/2009 1:33:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

Let's remember that the IMF is ostensibly part of the UN system. We will continue to follow this -- watch this site.

* * *

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.

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