At
UN,
Deng Admits Making Genocide Staff Work on His Book,
Nambiar Said OK
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 30 -- The UN's Special Adviser on the Prevention of
Genocide Francis Deng on Tuesday issued a five paragraph admission
and defense of his use of UN paid Genocide office “administrative
assistant to help prepare the new sections” of a book he published
in his own name.
When
asked
which
countries his Prevention of Genocide office was looking into, Deng
told Inner City Press he doesn't
like to talk about particular
countries. While those within it complain of a UN Genocide
Prevention Office that is
drifting under a manager who does little, the nitty-gritty problem
even in the UN's unaccountable world is this use of UN resources for
personal literary work.
Back
on October
27, Inner City Press asked
the Office of the Spokesperson for
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, “ I know Mr. Deng is the Special
[Adviser] on prevention of genocide, but… I’ve heard from people
that these books are written on UN time; that this is actually one of
the things that he does in his UN office. And so, I just, I am
unclear of what to make of the book, of the books that he produces. If
they are created on UN time and with UN money, are they UN views?”
Spokesman
Martin
Nesirky protested,
“that is not an established fact, Matthew. You
shouldn’t then turn it into an established fact.”
After
that, no
answer was provided for more than a month, despite repeated
re-inquiries by Inner City Press. Finally on November 30, Nesirky's
deputy Farhan Haq announced that “we also have available in our
office a response by Under-Secretary-General Francis Deng... he makes
clear that the books that have
come out since he joined the UN were written when he was, for
successive years, a Fellow at the US Institute for Peace, the Library
of Congress and MIT, and were in the pipeline for publication.”
But
that's only
part of what Deng's statement said. In fact, even Deng had to admit
that his most recent book, published in August 2010, “I requested
the support of my administrative assistant to help prepare the new
section.”
This
is precisely
the complaint that was brought to Inner City Press: that Deng made
his UN-paid administrative staff work on his book.
His
“New Sudan in the
Making” volume has a chapter by “Eltigani Seisi M. Ateem” --
the former UN staff member at the Economic Commission on Africa who
was drafted, including by joint UN - African Union mediator Bassole,
to lead the Darfur “Astroturf rebel” group the Liberation and
Justice Movement. (Astroturf, the artificial surface in the now
demolished Houston Astrodome, means fake grassroots.)
Even a month
after the question was asked, neither Deng nor the UN Spokespeople to
whom the question was directed can explain why for work produced with
UN resources on UN time, the copyright does not remain with the UN,
and the work become attributable to the UN?
Deng's book, UN staff time invested, UN attribution not shown
Instead,
Deng says
that he asked Ban Ki-moon's Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar is this use
of UN resources was okay, and was told “yes.” Then, four weeks
after the question was publicly raised, Deng “met with the Director
of the Ethics Office on 23 November to seek her advice on these
matters. She assure me that she found no basis for concern.”
How
could there be
no basis for concern that a UN official makes his UN paid staff work
on his personal book(s)?
Here's
another
one: the same sources say that Deng's family owns property in Abyei,
which stands to be impacted by the Sudan referenda process in which
the UN is playing a role. When Inner City Press asked about this, it
was directed to a vague financial disclosure form which merely says
that Deng owns a house in Sudan. The same Ethics Office oversees
these absurdly vague disclosures. What is there position on this
other blatant conflict of interest? Watch this site.
* * *
UN Sudan Debate
Degenerates to Book Sales, In Empire of Deng,
Genocide Forgotten
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October
27 -- When the UN holds an event entitled “Sudan,
a Vision for the Future” six weeks before the referendum on
secession is slated to be held, it seems worth going to.
There
were piles of books for sale by the event's entrance in the UN's
North Lawn building. UN official Francis Deng, charged with
preventing genocide but rarely seen these days, was speaking about
his writings, including “New Sudan in the Making” published,
strangely, by Third World Book of Trenton, New Jersey and Asmara,
Eritrea.
The
event was moderated by Kiyotaka Akasaka of the UN Department of
Public Information, who intervened to cut short the response by
Sudanese Ambassador Dafaala El Haj Ali Osman so that questions could
be asked the audience, including those online.
Inner
City Press asked about the religious differences between South Sudan
and the North, about how external debt might be divided, and the
implications of a planned new oil pipeline to run south through
Kenya. Only one of these questions was answered, and even then only
by saying that debt is being negotiated in Addis Ababa, under the
rubric of Liabilities.
Afterward,
Inner
City Press asked Mr. Deng what other countries he and his UN
Prevention of Genocide are working on, including what he might think
of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel of experts on accountability
in Sri Lanka, which has not even asked to visit that country.
Deng
said “we don't like to single out countries” then said he was
distracted due to an upcoming appointment. He was courteous as always
and patrician -- of Abyei aristocracy -- but one wonders what is being
accomplished.
Sources
say that under Deng, the UN Prevention of Genocide office is largely
devoted to producing and promoting Deng's writings, including the
time of other staff members of the Office.
“Nice
work
if you can get it,” one insider
commented, while noting that a less distracted person might be better
for the UN's Prevention of Genocide post, unless it is by UN design a
no-show job.
Deng earlier at UN, book sales and Prevention of
Genocide not shown
If
Deng's writings are being produced on UN time and with UN money, then
shouldn't they be attributable to the UN? His “New Sudan in the
Making” volume has a chapter by “Eltigani Seisi M. Ateem” --
the former UN staff member at the Economic Commission on Africa who
was drafted, including by joint UN - African Union mediator Bassole,
to lead the Darfur “Astroturf rebel” group the Liberation and
Justice Movement. (Astroturf, the artificial surface in the now
demolished Houston Astrodome, means fake grassroots.)
Also
appearing on the panel was UN peacekeeping's Team Leader of the Sudan
Operational Team Jack Christofides, who afterward briefed a Permanent
Five Security Council diplomat about the “logistics” of the
Security Council's recent trip to Sudan.
What
is the UN accomplishing with all this book publishing and self- and
Deng-promotion? As Deng concludes New
Sudan
in
the Making?,
“the
question
mark... is therefore pertinent.” Watch this site.
Footnote:
as
to
UN DPI and Mr. Akasaka, having debates with Q&A is
generally a good thing. But it was alleged by a panelist after
Tuesday's session that the purpose was to promote sales of a UN
official's book. This should be clarified. Mr. Akasaka at the end
mentioned possible future sessions on Haiti or Pakistan -- perhaps
Jean Maurice Ripert could lead that session, since he is still being
paid despite being relieved of his Pakistan envoy position. Could
there be a book deal in the works?
, 
