UN
Still Silent on Somalia, Despite Reported Invasion, In Lead-Up to More Congo
Spin
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED
NATIONS, August 1 -- When troops of one country invade another, what does the UN
do? It depends.
In the
face of widespread reporting of Ethiopian troops in Somalia, Inner City Press
has for the last two days asked Kofi Annan's spokesman's office for confirmation
and comment on this fact. Monday the response was that the UN "is not in the
position" to ascertain whether there are Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia.
Tuesday the spokeswoman quoted Kofi
Annan's envoy to Somalia
Francois Lonseny Fall "at the IGAD meeting in Nairobi" on the importance of
continuing the "dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government and the
Supreme Council of Islamic Courts." Given that the TFG had in the past 24 hours
postponed the dialogue in Khartoum for at
least 15 days, Inner City Press
asked what Mr. Fall was referring to, whether it took into account the
postponement and the further defection of ministers from the TFG cabinet. "He's
aware of press reports," the spokesman answered.
Among the
members of the regional group IGAD are Ethiopia and Eritrea. So Inner City Press
asked, did Francois Lonseny Fall at least at the meeting ask the Ethiopian
representative if his country's troops have cross into Somalia? "I have his
statement," was the answer. And nothing more to say? Apparently not.
In
the UN's blind spot
The next
part of the
noon briefing,
much longer -- one wag said "disproportionate" -- concerned events in Lebanon.
It was said that three hospitals in south Lebanan have closed for lack of fuel.
Inner City Press asked for the hospitals' names and locations, beyond Bint Jbeil,
and asked for more information on the attack on the UN's building in Beirut. The
spokesman emphasized that the Lebanese government and Hezbollah both appealed to
the crowd to stop the attack. There were no injuries, he said. The staff had
been evacuated. The scope and cost of material damage has yet to be assessed.
And what
of the less tangible damage to the United Nations' image? At UN Headquarters
Tuesday, the mood was slow and languid. Drifting out from the Security Council
were the U.S. Jackie Sanders and the income Council president, the Ambassador of
Ghana. Maybe later this week, both in essence said. Maybe.
What if
the Council has a building in Beirut? The operational side of the UN is not
paralyzed. The World Food Program is charged with getting fuel into Beirut.
Twenty-five WFP staff
were in fact in the building
in Beirut was it was attacked. Monday's New York Times spoke of the U.S.
teetering on the brink of a public relations disaster. But the U.S. has stronger
building, further set back from the street. The UN Secretariat brings out the
big guns on Lebanon, without as yet effect. On another invasion, and the crisis
in Somalia, very little is said or done.
Monday
the spokesman's office referred Inner City Press, on the current question of the
TFG's allegation that Egypt, Libya and Iran are supporting the Islamic Courts
Union, to a months-old experts report on sanctions violators, S/2006/229. The
report describes arms shipment to the warlords and TFG; only Eritrea is
presenting at supporting what the report calls militant Islamic fundamentalists.
According to the report, Ethiopia drove 10 trucks to Jowhar, including 2000
AK-47s and 100 rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers. Yemen provided the TFG
with 15 Toyota Land Cruiser pickup trucks, to be converted into technicals. The
report refers to "clandestine third-party involvement in Somalia" in support of
the "Alliance for Peace Restoration and Combat Against Terror," APRCT. The
report states that the "Monitoring Group did not specify third-country
involvement because at the time of the writing of the present report it had not
completed its investigation." And now? Francois Lonseny Fall, where are you?
Fewer
questions exist about William Lacy Swing, at least tomorrow. At 2 p.m. Wednesday
in New York, Mr. Swing will appear on a video screen on the 32nd floor of UN
Headquarters. With
new allegations of fraud in the elections,
and outstanding questions about the incorporation of warlords into the Congolese
army and the quickly-released and now-apparently-ongoing investigation into the
events at the village of Kazana, here's hoping that the video hook-up stays
strong.
Feedback: editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile: 718-716-3540
UN's Guehenno Says Congo Warlord Just Needs Training, and Kazana Probe Continues
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, July
31 -- The allegations in the Congo that UN troops stood by while the army
destroyed the village of Kazana in Ituri are still being investigated, the UN's
head of peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said Monday. Inner City Press had on
Friday asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the just-announced exoneration
of the UN's Congo force, called MONUC; Mr. Annan said he'd look into it. Mr.
Guehenno, asked Monday by Inner City Press when the investigation has been
completed responded that "we got a report from MONUC, we are looking into it...
we'll continue to look at it." Video
here,
Minutes 23:50 to 30:30.
Asked
about the offer of a colonel's position in the Congolese army to Peter Karim,
who held seven UN peacekeepers hostage until earlier this month, Mr. Guehenno
said, "I know he wanted to be a colonel... if he does become a colonel in the
Congolese army, he will need a lot of training, let me say that." Video
here,
at Minutes 40:35 to 43.
Mr.
Guehenno had previously said, without any indication that it was off-the-record,
that during the negotiations to get the UN peacekeepers released, Mr. Karim was
erratic, frequently changing positions, and was "on drugs." At a minimum, the
training to which Mr. Guehenno referred on Monday would have to include
detoxification.
Mr. Guehenno
said, "let's look at the facts and not at the spin machines." Mr. Guehenno
defended MONUC on Kazana by referring to the phrase, "Damned if you do, damned
if you don't... MONUC was accused of not being strong" in fighting eastern
militias' "work of destruction and death." But one of the most destructive
militias has been Peter Karim's.
Questions
remain about the culpability of the UN, in acceding to and / or participating in
a deal in which a warlord the UN knows to be on drugs is offered a colonel's
position, putting more civilians at risk.
The
disparity between the statement in the New York Times on July 28, that MONUC
never asked for video footage of Kazana, and the statements of Kofi Annan's
Congo envoy William Swing, repeated by Mr. Guehenno on Monday, that the video
tapes were requested, also needs to be resolved. It was announced Monday at the
noon briefing that Mr. Swing will take questions from reporters at UN
Headquarters later this week. Developing...
Update: Vice
president Jean-Pierre "Mange-Twa" Bemba, who during the campaign
proclaimed "I am
not a cannibal," claims to be ahead in the voting and like many "warned
he would not accept defeat by President Joseph Kabila if he felt the process
was rigged." We'll see.
Voting
line in DRC
Also at the UN: Of Georgian Gorges and
Blindness in Baidoa as Somalia's Invaded
In other
UN news, beyond the 14-1 passage of the resolution on Iran, and paralysis in the
face of Qana, the outgoing permanent representative of Georgia Rezav Adamia
Monday gave what he promised is his last press conference, for a mere six
minutes to a nearly empty room. It concerned events in the Kodori Gorge, which
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had addressed in a stakeout interview on
Friday. Amb. Churkin had denounced Mr. Adamia as engaged in "blatant
disinformation" about the discussions in a Security Council consultative meeting
which Mr. Adamia did not attend. Inner City Press asked Amb. Churkin if Mr.
Adamia had been invited or allowed to attend the meeting. Video
here,
at Minute 3:00 to 3:30. Amb. Churkin replied that is not the procedure for
consultative meetings. Inner City Press asked, in light of previous Russian
blocking of Georgia attendance at Security Council meetings on Abkhazia, if Mr.
Adamia had in effect been blocked this time. No, Amb. Churkin responded, before
going on to admonish the press to report things more accurately. Note to
Churkin: this is not Moscow, said one wag at the stakeout.
Finally,
at Monday's noon briefing, spokeswoman Marie Okabe maintained that the UN is not
in the position to ascertain if Ethiopian troops have invaded Somalia. Beyond
the obvious questions -- why now? and, who is? -- Inner City Press asked if the
UN or Mr. Annan's envoy on Somalia Francois Lonseny Fall have any comment on the
assertion by the prime minister of the UN-supported transitional government in
Baidoa that Egypt, Libya and Iran are illegally supporting the Islamic Courts
Union. At noon now answer came; later in the afternoon this arrived:
"Re: Your question on Somalia at noon
today
The SRSG for Somalia, Francois Lonseny
Fall, has no comment on the Somali Prime Minister's claim that Egypt, Libya, and
Iran are arming the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. While such
statements are noted for what they are worth and, if necessary, their veracity
is probed within the larger context of the mandate of the UN Political Office
for Somalia, the SRSG is not in a position to comment on each and every
allegation made by the parties or their representatives on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, though, the Security Council-mandated Monitoring Group on Somalia has
provided useful hints on possible sources of arms flow into Somalia in the
Group's most recent report to the Security Council."
We've
already read the report -- which refuses to name the "clandestine party" then
providing arms to the since-defeated warlords -- but hey, reading's always good.
We close with this question: whether before the cursory vote Monday on the DR
Congo sanctions, the Security Council members bothered to read the report of the
Group of Experts. If they did, they'd know that hundreds of kilos of uranium
among other things are going missing...
With Congo Elections Approaching, UN Issues Hasty Self-Exoneration as Annan Is
Distracted
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED
NATIONS, July 28 (updated 7/30, below) -- Two days before the elections in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, the UN hastily issued a six-paragraph statement that
allegations of abuse and negligence by UN asserting that allegations of abuse
and complicity by its mission in the DRC "have been thoroughly investigated and
found untrue."
Hours
before this exoneration was given to reporters, the day's New York Times
appeared with an
op-ed by
the television journalist who had filmed the underlying events and their
aftermath in Kazana village in April. He wrote that "United Nations
investigators never asked to see the many hours of footage we took."
While the
UN's Kofi Annan attended a Security Council briefing on Lebanon, his spokeswoman
Marie Okabe was asked by Inner City Press about the op-ed. Video
here. On
June 19 and
July 18,
Inner City Press had also asked about the UN's investigation of events at Kazana,
and on July 26 Inner City Press asked the UN's head of peacekeeping in Africa
Dmitry Titov about the status of the investigation. Mr. Titov called the
investigation "ongoing," and added that "we are interested... to come out of
this as clean as we can."
Less than
48 hours after Mr. Titov's statement about the ongoing investigation, the
investigation was ostensibly concluded, and all allegations deemed "untrue."
Mr.
Annan in DCR, March 23, 2006
The UN's
one-page statement, provided to Inner City Press full of typographical errors
andnot even on letterhead, states that "fighting against militiamen is not an
easy task, as demonstrated by the recent death of a Nepalese Blue Helmet in a 28
in operation" [sic; full MONUC statement is below].
The
referenced UN peacekeeper from Nepal was killed on May 28, when East Congo
militiaman Peter Karim took hostage seven other UN peacekeepers. Earlier this
month after negotiations involving Peter Karim and the UN, the peacekeepers were
released and Mr. Karim was offered the post of colonel in the Congolese Army.
After initial waffling by the UN spokesman's office, Dmitry Titov on July 26
acknowledged that the offer of "a post" to Peter Karim was "as a result of the
deal" to release the UN peacekeepers.
Kofi
Annan took questions from the press on Friday afternoon. Inner City Press asked
about the hastily-issued exoneration of the Kazana allegations, without the UN
having asked to see the underlying video, and about Peter Karim being offered a
colonel's post in the Congolese army. Video
here,
at Minutes 16:45 through 18:18)
"With these two as the backdrop,
is the UN system so committed to the elections that it is issuing half-dash
exonerations" and "why would Peter Karim, who you said would face personal
accountability, be allowed into the Congolese army?"
Mr. Annan answered, "I do not
have details on the issues you've raised... I was not aware that Karim had been
abducted, recruited into the Lebanese, Congolese army."
"But Mr. Titov--"
"Titov. But I am not aware of it.
I will have to follow up."
But on
Monday Mr. Annan was provided, in hand, a Reuters article describing the offer
of a colonel position to Peter Karim. Inner City Press waited more than an hour
outside a meeting between Mr. Annan and the chief executives of large
pharmaceutical companies, endeavoring to ask Mr. Annan about Peter Karim. When
Mr. Annan emerged, he said his mind was too full with the pharmaceutical and
other issues, but he took the Reuters article, in the margin of which was
written, "Personal accountability? May 30, 2006. Or impunity?"
The May
30 reference was to Mr. Annan's answer, at another
stakeout interview, to Inner City Press'
question about the then
just-kidnapped peacekeepers. Mr. Annan said
"we have been in
touch with Karim's group – we think that is the group holding them, and
demanding their release. And hopefully, we will get them released. But Karim and
others who get involved in these sort of activities, must understand that they
will be held accountable... They will be held individually accountable for these
brutal acts."
On the
afternoon of July 28, two months later, Mr. Annan said: "I will have to follow
up." We'll see.
Update of July 30:
During the afternoon of Friday, July 28 in New York, Kofi Annan answered Inner
City Press' stakeout question -
"I do not have details on the issues
you've raised... I was not aware that Karim had been
abducted, recruited into the Lebanese, Congolese army."
Further
cursory web research shows that earlier on July 28, Kofi Annan's Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary General in the DRC
Haile Menkerios said, in an
interview on the UN's Monuc.org, that " the
agreement with Peter Karim’s group and the MRC is very positive not only for the
elections, but for the future extension of state authority."
Click
here
for the interview, at
http://www.monuc.org/News.aspx?newsID=11944,
click here
for SRSG William Lacy Swing's letter to the IHT, which among other things
doesn't specify just when this investigation was completed; Developing...
Resources:
UN MONUC statement as
distributed July 28, 2006
"There are media
reports alleging that a number of civilian casualties may have resulted from a
military operation by the Congolese armed Forces (FARDC) with the support of
MONUC troops on 22 April 2006, in the village of Kazana, Ituri District, in
North East DRC. These allegations have been thoroughly investigated and found
untrue.
KAZANA OPERATION
"On 22 April 2006, a
joint MONUC (1 Pakistani company, 1 company South African) FARDC (3 companies)
operation was launched against militia positions in Kazana. After being fired
upon by hostile elements, MONUC and FARDC forces engaged the militia positions
with mortar fire from 0600 to 1000hrs. At 1200hrs, MONUC and FARDC troops
entered the village which was condoned and searched. During the operation which
lasted was over [sic] at 1600hrs, 1 FARDC soldier was killed in action, 3 others
were wounded, and 4 dead bodies were recovered.
OPERATION ITURI
EXPLORER
"On May 20 the
operation ITURI EXPLORER was launched in Tchei, 65 kilometers south west of
Bunia, to clear it of the presence of militiamen. Approximately 1000 MONUC
soldiers as well as 3000 FARDC were involved in this operation.
"Ex-FPRI militia
armed groups had stepped up their activities and presence in the territory of
Irumu since the beginning of the year. MONUC, in support of the FARDC, conducted
operations in order to re-establish the authority of the state in this
territory. These actions culminated with operation ITURI EXPLORER which removed
the militia from Tchei. Isolated groups of militiamen, who managed to escape,
were on rampage, killing and robbing civilians in the vicinity of Komanda and
Marabo, North of Tchei. Operations were conducted to make the area more secure.
"MONUC forces do not
open fire indiscriminately and investigations are conducted in case of alleged
infringement of their rules of engagement. Fighting against militiamen is not an
easy task, as demonstrated by the recent death of a Nepalese Blue Helmet in a 28
in operation [sic]. Armed men in civilian attire often take position in
villages, don't hesitate to hide among the population and use it often as human
shield. Moreover, women and children have, oftentimes, been among combatants
engaging MONUC and FARDC troops.
"In spite of
challenges and often facing greater number of hostile elements, MONUC forces try
to put an end to the impunity of the armed groups they are battling and help
re-establish the authority of the state in Ituri, in order to allow the coming
elections to take place. Collaborating with the FARDC is a necessity, as it is
the Congolese national army which has the primary responsibility for the
security of the country and its people. Any FARDC wrongdoings are brought to the
attention of their command."
* * *
June 19, 2006 briefing
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General
...Question: Over
the weekend, on British television Channel 4, there was a documentary, or kind
of expose, about MONUC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) having
provided support to Government troops in razing a town called Kazana -- torching
of huts and deaths of civilians -- so it seems like a pretty serious charge.
It's also in the Observer newspaper of the Guardian. I don't know if the
UN has checked into this... if there is a response from the UN?
Associate Spokesman:
In fact, we are checking into this. I don't have anything for you on it now,
but the Department of Peacekeeping Operations did inform me today that they are
looking into this, and so we will examine what these charges are and what's
behind them.
Question: Can we
expect some kind of update in this room? How will this be handled?
Associate Spokesman:
We'll provide you an update when we have some more information.
* * *
July 18, 2006 briefing
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General
Associate Spokesman:
Matthew.
Question: Two
questions about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's reported that Peter Karim, who kidnapped seven UN peacekeepers that were since released, has now
been made a Colonel in the Congolese army. So, I guess my question is: was the
UN deal to get the peacekeepers released -- did it envision Mr. Karim being
incorporated into the Congolese army?
Associate Spokesman:
Release of the Nepalese peacekeepers was unconditional. We did not try to have
any conditions attached to their release. No ransom was paid and no other
arrangements were made.
Question: Was the UN
aware that this would be the end-game of that?
Associate Spokesman:
Well, this is something that has happened afterwards. And this is, frankly,
news.
Question: The reason
I am asking, and I am asking you, I guess, to respond to this: given what Mr.
Karim did, and other reports about it, it seems like a setup for further abuse
of civilians. What's the UN's position on the individual who kidnapped UN
peacekeepers being made part of the Congolese army? That's my question.
Associate Spokesman:
I have no specific guidance on this, and, you know, it is not my place to
comment on decisions that are made by the Government of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. But, at the same time, the basic point is, as a principle, we
don't believe that people who kidnap out personnel or any others are to be
rewarded for their actions.
Question: Four weeks
ago, MONUC said it was going to investigate a documentary on English television
about the burning down of the town of Kazana with UN troops standing by -- is
there any update on that?
Associate Spokesman:
The latest is simply that our investigation into that is continuing. When we
have something more, we will share it with you.
[Note that the MONUC self-exoneration was not read out as part of Kofi Annan's
spokeswoman initial presentation on July 28, but was only raised once inquiry
was made into that morning's NYT op-ed].
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
At
the UN, New Phrase Passes Resolution called Gangster-Like by North Korea; UK
Deputy on the Law(less)
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
At UN, North
Korean Knot Attacked With Fifty Year Old Precedent, Game Continues Into
Weekend
UN's Corporate
Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with Microsoft, and
UNDP Continues
Gaza Resolution
Vetoed by U.S., While North Korea Faces Veto and Chechnya Unread
BTC Briefing,
Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations
Conflicts of
Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal Reform Rifts
At the UN, A Day
of Resolutions on Gaza, North Korea and Iran, Georgia as Side Dish
UN Grapples with
Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit, Without
Explanation
In North Korean
War of Words, Abuses in Uganda and Impunity Go Largely Ignored
On North Korea,
Blue Words Move to a Saturday Showdown, UNDP Uzbek Stonewall
As the World
Turns in Uganda and Korea, the UN Speaks only on Gaza, from Geneva
North Korea in
the UN: Large Arms Supplant the Small, and Confusion on Uganda
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 in Denial on
Sudan, While Boldly Predicting the Future of Kosovo/a
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?
At the UN, a
Commando Unit to Quickly Stop Genocide is Proposed, by Diplomatic Sir
Brian Urquhart
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
At the UN,
Internal Justice Needs Reform, While in Timor Leste, Has Evidence Gone
Missing?
UN & US,
Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty
and Senator Tom Coburn
In Bolton's Wake,
Silence and Speech at the UN, Congo and Kony, Let the Games Begin
Pro-Poor Talk and
a Critique of the World Trade Organization from a WTO Founder: In UN
Lull, Ugandan Fog and Montenegrin Mufti
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
AIDS Ends at the
UN? Side Deals on Patents, Side Notes on Japanese Corporations,
Salvadoran and Violence in Burundi
On AIDS at the
UN, Who Speaks and Who Remains Unseen
Corporate Spin on
AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence (May 31, 2006)
Kinshasa Election
Nightmares, from Ituri to Kasai. Au Revoir Allan Rock; the UN's
Belly-Dancing
Working with
Warlords, Insulated by Latrines: Somalia and Pakistan Addressed at the
UN
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
In Liberia, From
Nightmare to Challenge; Lack of Generosity to Egeland's CERF, Which
China's Asked About
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
At the UN, Dues
Threats and Presidents-Elect, Unanswered Greek Mission Questions
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 Congolese
Chaos, Shots Fired at U.N. Helicopter Gunship
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
Who Pays for the
Global Bird Flu Fight? Not the Corporations, So Far - UN
Citigroup
Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
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
for five ways to
contact us,
with or for more information.
Copyright 2005-2006 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editors [at] innercitypress.com - phone: (718) 716-3540