North Korea in the UN: Large Arms Supplant the Small, and Confusion on Uganda
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED
NATIONS, July 5 -- On display Wednesday was the UN Security Council as a divided
center of power. Responding to North Korea's launch of six then seven missiles,
the permanent representatives of the US and UK appeared at the stakeout in
support of Japan's demand for a resolution of condemnation. Russia, while
complaining that fragments of one missile landed near its territory, insisted
that no resolution is needed. China has sent the same signals, but China took no
questions, like North Korea. One journalist reported that the North Korean
ambassador, asked what he would say, replied that "I am the permanent
representative of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea -- I come and go as
I please." As with the missiles, and the UN's World Food Programme.
Just
after the missiles' flight, Inner City Press asked WFP as well as UNHCR and of
course UNDP to explain their North Korean activities. This was raised to UNHCR,
in Geneva and New York: reportedly a Mr. Park of
North Korea, in Bangkok, was told by UNHCR they would only give him refugee
status if the US embassy will take him. Then the US embassy said they would
only consider his case if he already had UNHCR refugee status. How does UNHCR
respond?
As of press time, sixteen
hours later, UNHCR does not yet respond. Nor does
UNDP, where questions are building up.
The World Food Programme
provided a transcript of a May 2006 press conference, restarting a slimmed down
program:
the approximate
total food needs of DPRK are about 5.3 million tonnes a year. They produce
around 4.5 million tons, though it varies somewhat from year to year. They have
an annual gap of about 1 million tons. They need to get food to fill that gap.
They can get it through commercial imports, from bilateral assistance, from
humanitarian aid. WFP has played a very important role for the past decade in
helping to provide assistance to the people in the country who were suffering
because that gap hadn’t been filled. The DPRK is going to continue to face a
food gap; they will have to meet it in some way. If they can meet it from
commercial imports or bilateral aid, then the requirement for WFP is less. But
right now they can’t fill the entire gap from other resources...
Under the new operation, given its limited size, we
have had to make very difficult decisions. We decided to concentrate our
assistance mainly on women and children. Elderly people who we helped in the
past are not going to be beneficiaries of this program. Life for some elderly
people in DPRK can be very tough. Their pension is about 900 won a month. The
dollar exchange rate now is about 2,900 won. So they’re getting 34 cents a month
from their pension.
Speaking of pensions and food, or using
them as trope transitions, France holds the presidency of the Security
Council this month, and its ambassador Jean-Marc De La Sabliere took questions
from the press for nearly an hour. Amb. De La Sabliere recited a list of crises
to deal with, from Darfur and the Congo through Cote D'Ivoire and Kosovo. Uganda
was not among them, except cryptically in a footnote. Since more than 24 hours
before, Uganda's Museveni had loudly offered amnesty to Joseph Kony of the
Lord's Resistance Army, despite his indictment for war crimes by the
International Criminal Court, Inner City Press asked for Amb. De La Sabliere's
position on whether war crime indictments can be waived. "That's for the
prosecutor to answer," the Ambassador replied. Video is
here,
with Uganda question(s) and answer running from Minute 46:40 through 51:10, the
third-to-last question. Amb. De La Sabliere acknowledged that he hadn't heard of
Museveni's amnesty offer,
nor presumably of the Ugandan People's Defense Force's
cordon-and-search disarmament in Karamoja.
"I don't know when Uganda will be on our agenda," he said. "We've heard from Jan
Egeland, there's a ten point proposal, no?" We'll see.
In the
basement the conference on small arms continued, overshadowed by large arms in
the sky and two floors up. At two p.m. the UN's lights flickered; this was
later blamed on Con Ed. One wag wondered of the role of North Korea. Many wags
congregated in the basement cafe, from which this is filed, to watch France -
Portugal, the last weekday World Cup game. The mostly pro-French crowd roared
its approval for Zidane and at the game's 1-0 conclusion. A still downcast
German in the crowd recounted how 300 people watched their loss to Italy at the
German mission on Tuesday. "The Italian mission is only one floor in DC-1," he
said, "so they couldn't compete. Except on the pitch." As the afternoon waned
and the experts met in the basement, a stakeout was established in front of
Conference Room 10, but the sum total of expertise filmed consisted of which
selections to make from the potato chips and coffee machines.
After five
p.m., a school of experts swam the basement hallway. One said, "Ask the
Japanese." An American said, "Ambassador Bolton will speak on the resolution. If
I tell you folks anything of substance, I'll be fired." Reporters took
bets on probable outcomes, with a Friday evening statement gaining the
plurality. To re-coin a phrase, and so it goes.
Feedback: editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
USA (UNHQ-NYC)
Tel: 718-716-3540
UN Gives Mugabe Time with His
Friendly Mediator, Refugees Abandoned
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, July 3 -- As thousands of Zimbabweans
seeking asylum are forcibly returned, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said
he will give "time and space" to Robert Mugabe's handpicked mediator. Speaking
to the press about Zimbabwe on July 2 following the meetings of the African
Union, the UN Secretary General announced that "the former Tanzanian President,
Ben Mkapa, had been appointed as a mediator. I told President Mugabe that I was
committed to helping Zimbabwe and the people of Zimbabwe... and we both agreed
that the new mediator, former Tanzanian President Mkapa, should be given the
time and space to work."
At the noon briefing at UN
Headquarters on Monday, Inner City Press began questioning by asked if this
means that the Secretary-General will not visit Zimbabwe to see the mass
evictions, and that the treatment of those being forcibly returned to Zimbabwe
by South Africa, profiled in the current
Frontline World,
will continue unchecked by the UN. (Video
here; questions start at Minute
12.) The spokeswoman responded that the Secretary General would not throw his
weigh behind a process he didn't believe it, but that she would check into Mr.
Mkapa's mandate and get back to reporters.
The questions only grow. Rudimentary
research shows that after the 2002 elections in Zimbabwe, Mkapa wrote to Mugabe
that "your firmness was good for all Africa." (AP of March 13, 2002.)
Then-Foreign Secretary of Security Council member Britain, Jack Straw, said this
"firmness" included having "prevented voters from registering, instructed the
police to break up rallies, had the leader of the opposition arrested and
reduced the number of polling stations in opposition strongholds." Observers
have noted that Mr. Mkapa was appointed by Mugabe himself, less as a mediator
than as an ambassador. Where goes this leave the people in Zimbabwe,
particularly those who fleeing or seeking to flee the country, now said to
number close to three million?
Seeking
asylum
Before the noon briefing, Inner City
Press asked the UN's refugee agency UNHCR to explain its position "on which of
those leaving Zimbabwe are refugees and the propriety of forced return to
Zimbabwe?" Within hours, this response was received:
From: REDDEN
[at] unhcr.org
To: Matthew.Lee
[at] InnerCityPress.com [and 2 at UNHCR]
Sent: Mon, 3
Jul 2006 11:50:23 +0200
Subject: Re: Two UNHCR press questions:
forcible return to China of Huseyincan
Celil, and UNHCR actions /
position
Dear Matthew
There are
indeed many Zimbabweans deported from South Africa. However, we have not found
them to be refugees or asylum seekers in the process of requesting refugee
status. South Africa has strong legal structures in place for refugees to
prevent refoulement -- the forcible return of refugees to the country they have
fled -- and we believe that is the practice. We monitor the process to the
extent that our resources permit, including visiting the detention centre where
most of those deported are held. An area of concern for UNHCR has been the slow
processing of asylum requests -- which affects those from many countries
incluidng Zimbabwe -- but the government has now launched a "backlog project"
that aims to clear some 100,000 pending applications over the next year.
Instead of
being refugees and asylum seekers, the deportations of Zimbabweans have involved
migrants. While the story you noted mentions some two million Zimbabweans in
South Africa, we do not have an authoritative figure. That figure could well be
correct since the lowest estimates are still hundreds of thousands, which may be
rising with the economic deterioration in Zimbabwe. I was there a few weeks ago
and life is clearly difficult. However, relatively few Zimbabweans have
requested refugee status in South Africa. The queue of asylum applications
(submitted by July 2005) facing the backlog project in early April of this year
numbered more than 103,000. Of those, about 10 percent were Zimbabweans. The
largest number of applicants were from Democratic Republic of Congo. Most
Zimbabweans here have not requested asylum and those are the people who are
being deported. This is a situation that UNHCR will continue to watch closely to
ensure those with the right to refugee status receive it, but the problem you
are enquiring about is mainly the bigger, more complex question of migration.
Migration is moving up the list of international concerns and will be discussed
this coming autumn at the United Nations.
Best regards,
Jack Redden, Senior Regional Global Public Information Officer, Pretoria
This is certainly a faster and
more comprehensive response than from, from example, the UN Development
Programme (see
last week's Inner City Press UN Reports,
and see below). But not only does it not address the
headlined case of refoulement from
Uzbekistan to China -- UNHCR
does not explain why people who flee saying that in Zimbabwe they face torture,
rape in prison or even, in the continuum, the destruction of their homes in
Operation Murambatsvina -- "Drive out Filth" -- are not refugees. In fact, Mr.
Redden was quoted last month that "
The number of Zimbabweans
applying for asylum in South Africa rose sharply in the first three months of
this year to 7,211. Zimbabweans account for 38 percent of the total 18,800
requests." And yet by November 2005, only 86 Zimbabweans had been approved for
refuge status.
Some question whether the approach of UN
and UNHCR to South Africa's and others' treatment of those fleeing Zimbabwe is
less a matter of following international law and more a matter of history and
politics. The same may be asked of the fast announcement and seeming deference
to a purported mediator who had already made his position known, and who was
unilaterally appointed by Mugabe himself. We'll see.
Inner City Press also asked if the
Secretary General's discussions in Banjul included the situations in Uganda,
including the negotiations with the Lord's Resistance Army, whose leaders are
under indictment for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. The
spokeswoman said she was not aware of any discussions on the topic, but would
check. The UN Development Program over the weekend, simultaneously with UNHCR,
was asked in writing:
"that if and when UNDP restarts
disarmament programs or assistance to disarmament programs in eastern Uganda /
Karamoja, an announcement be made. The decision to halt is still not on UNDP
Uganda's web site (or UNDP's web site); this request is that confirmation and
any restart be announced, as was the halt, and last week's Fenway Park award
ceremony, at the noon briefing of Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General, hence the cc's [to Kofi Annan's Spokesman's Office].
Also, we'd like to request an interview
with either UNDP's Africa regional director Gilbert Houngbo and / or the
Administrator. You could tell Mr. Houngbo, to whom this is cc-ed, that the
interview will concern not only the Uganda issues, but also, inter alia,
UNDP's activities in Somalia and the DR Congo (the disarmament component of
which we would like information on, beyond that at
http://www.so.undp.org/Themes/ROLS/DDR.htm
and
http://www.cd.undp.org/docs/ituri_dcrp.pdf,
respectively). Also, Kenya.
For your information, I am pasting below
two articles from Uganda, in which the UPDF reiterates it will continue with
cordon and search disarmament,
and a particular incident in
Karamoja;
also, one re disarmament in Kenya. Please ensure confirm that notification will
be provided of any restart by UNDP disarmament programs or assistance to
disarmament programs in eastern Uganda / Karamoja. Thank you.
As of
mid-afternoon Monday, no response had been received. A next question will
concern UNDP's engagements with Zimbabwe.
And the beat goes on.
Postscript 8 p.m. July 3: Monday afternoon
lethargy was palpable at UN Headquarters. In the basement in Conference Room 4,
the Small Arms Conference plodded on. Three speeches in a row criticized the
lack of translation of documents. In any language, human rights were lacking. In
an otherwise nearly-full room, there were empty seats behind the name plate of
Uganda, as that nation continues forcible disarmament and abuse of civilians in
Karamoja. The UNDP seat was empty, then temporarily filled. There was a stack
of UNDP Statements by Ms. Kathleen Cravero, with no mention of UNDP halting, or
restarting, programs parallel to abuse by the Ugandan government.
At 6:15 in the Dag Hammarskjold auditorium
a dozen people gathered for a screening of a near-snuff movie of child soldiers
in Liberia, Les Petits Soldats. Young teens were repeatedly asked, "How
many people did you kill?" They answered in pidgin English. One's nom de guerre
was Notorious B.I.G.. Another told of his commander ZigZag Master cutting out
hearts to eat them. Afterwards there was no discussion. The audience trooped out
through the empty UN HQ. There was still no response from UNDP. Another request,
with an addition on Zimbabwe, has been sent. The host country and city prepared
for fireworks. Mesmerized by gunpowder...
At
the UN, Friday Night's Alright for Fighting, But Bolton Goes Missing
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, July
1 -- "If it's all night, it's all right." So said John Bolton at a
5 p.m. Security Council
stakeout.
But in the General Assembly from nine to eleven p.m. he was nowhere to be seen.
The major vote was left until last. Four member states disassociated themselves
from the raising of the UN budget cap: the U.S., Japan and Australia, and a
last-minute addition, Canada. Speaking to reporters just after the vote,
outgoing Canadian Ambassador Rock predicted slow progress on management reform
and mandate review. "Next week is only three days," he said. For John Bolton,
the weekend started early.
Bolton's foil
Mark Malloch Brown conferred with two advisors in the lobby outside the G.A..
Inner City Press approached and asked if Canada's vote had come as a surprise.
MMB, as they call him, stayed Sphinx-like. His colleague said Canada's eloquent speech spoke for
itself.
Among the U.N.
press corp, only Japanese media, AP and Inner City Press remained on the scene.
In garbage time the G.A. President was asked about the strange-shaped gavel he
uses. "It's a gift from Iceland," he answered. Thursday afternoon he'd said he'd
cancelled Friday plans. But in New York at 11, the night was still young.
In
under-the-radar diplomatic skirmish news, a vote on Lebanon turned on paragraphs
about Israel, debts from '96. The U.S. and Israel were joined by Palau in
opposition. The Marshall Islands were nowhere to be seen. The development
resolution passed, but with Qatar excluded from paragraph 62.
Earlier in the
afternoon, two lower profile Ambassador briefed on background about this
resolution on development, with its over sixty operational paragraphs, include
three which gentle chide the World Bank and IMF. They said optimistically that
it would be voted on at 4 p.m., it fact it got tied to the rest, and began at
nine p.m.. A speech by UAE began without translation. The gavel from
Iceland banged down again and again.
Before he left
the building, at the 5
p.m. stakeout John Bolton declined to call the kidnapping a month ago of UN
troops in Ituri an act of terror. He didn't criticize the UN's slow approach,
saying only that events are being closely followed.
On other
African topics, during the U.S. holiday there'll be news from the African Union
in Banjul. Before he left, Inner City Press shout-asked the Secretary General if
he'll be meeting with Robert Mugabe. After a pause, Mr. Annan answered "yes."
(Click here for the video; Mugabe's at Minute 6:15.) Annan's spokesman's office
followed this up with two earlier statements, and a no-comment as to any visit
to Zimbabwe.
Update: On July 1,
it's reported that the UN Secretary General met for 40 minutes with Robert
Mugabe. Also in the meeting held at the Sheraton Hotel were foreign affairs
minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, foreign
affairs secretary Joey Bimha and the UN Under-Secretary General for African
Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari (a/k/a specialist in the Kofi Annan legacy). Sudan and Somalia will also be discussed in Banjul - watch this
site.
Following
up on violence against civilians in disarmament in Eastern Uganda, Inner City
Press Friday at noon
asked the
director of the UN's Institute for Disarmament Research about UNDP's current
halt of programs, "pending clarification from the Government of Uganda on the
current disarmament approach in Karamoja." The director drew analogies to Mali
and Iraq, and suggested a talk with UNDP's Robert Scharf, who's in New York for
the small arms conference. Another person present at the
noon briefing said
she'd make Mr. Scharf available in the afternoon. As of 8 p.m., Inner City Press
had not heard from Mr. Scharf. In the UN basement a table sat unmanned, with a
sign saying "UNDP Promoting Security for Development."
Burning
in Uganda, Questions for UNDP
There is
a request that if and when UNDP resumes funding disarmament in eastern Uganda,
an announcement be made, in New York as well as Kampala. Kofi Annan's
spokesman's office
says it
is not an enforcement agent. But who then holds a UN agency to the statements it
provides, in this case about Ugandan government troops' abuses of civilians? And
as
reported on UN OCHA's IRIN,
UNDP played a role in celebrating the destruction of weapons collected,
presumably by voluntary and involuntary means. (Click
here
-- the article quotes UNDP's Bob Scharf.) In Kampala, the Minister of State for
Defense Ruth Nankabirwa "denied reports
that the UPDF has suspended the 'cordon and search' for guns." How much more
clear does UNDP want it? And where else is it funding such programs?
While the
General Assembly provided only anonymous background on its development
resolution, an on-the-record briefing was held on DESA's "Diverging Growth and
Development" report. This report, like the resolution, approaches the Bretton
Woods two with velvet bureaucratic gloves. A call is made for "gradual,
country-specific and home-made institutional reforms," and for using for
developing countries what shrinking space the WTO allows for protections. In
1950, Africa's income was 40% of the developed world's. The figure is now seven
percent. The rich are getting richer and vice versa for the poor, this UN report
concludes. Dog bites man, some say. From the World Bank / IMF to the Security
Council's P-5, power talks and the rest of the world just walks and walks and
walks. Or wait and votes 'til late on Friday night.
In
his last UN talk, outgoing German Ambassador Gunther Pleuger said the budget cap
games put pressure on the wrong target: the Secretariat. He said he had no
regrets about his G-4 gambit. Days earlier in the half-hit Council stakeout,
he'd opined that Japan walked behind the U.S., until the chips are down. He said
not to quote him until he leaves his post, which has just happened. Buena
suerte!
In lieu of fireworks,
and speaking of the need for reform and impunity's end, we offer this blind
item: Which outgoing SRSG was pushed rather than jumped due to an illicit taste
for the topic of his charge? Just throwing in the word conflict does not make it
go away...
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www.InnerCityPress.org -
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In the Sudanese
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Empty Words on
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What is the Sound
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