UN
Bets the House on Lebanon, While Willfully Blind in Somalia and Pinned Down in
Kinshasa
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
August 21 -- While Kofi Annan spent the weekend, according to his spokesman,
making telephone calls about Lebanon,
Reuters and
BBC reported more Ethiopian troops
in Somalia, and
tank fire trapped Annan's envoy in
Kinshasa with the election's
second-place finisher. The UN's head of peacekeeping, meanwhile, is on personal
business in France. Unless that is a euphemism, the UN's timing's out of whack.
The
briefing room was full Monday noon at UN Headquarters. Annan's spokesman
maintained that the rules of engagement for UNIFIL have been distributed for
comment, none of which has been received. After rounds of Lebanon questions,
Inner City Press asked who in the UN system is following or doing anything about
Somalia, as it slides close to regional war.
"Militias" in Somalia per UN (Ethiopian troops
not shown)
"The
Somalia file is been kept by the Department of Political Affairs, I will check
on any calls that may have been made," the spokesman answered. Video
here,
from Minute 31:50. At deadline, the spokesman's office said it had yet to
receive a response from DPA upstairs, but would forward one upon receipt. The
spokesman for Francois Lonseny Fall had emailed Inner City Press:
From: Ian.Steele [at] unon.org
To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com
Sent: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 6:56 AM
Subject: Re: Request for confirmation &
comment, Ethiopian troops in Somalia reported today by BBC, Reuters, VofA, etc.
Matthew Best that you work with the news
reporting and any other sources that you have. UNPOS does not have a monitoring
mandate inside Somalia. We are not in a position to confirm for you. Regards,
Ian Steele
UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS)
Chief, Media & Information (Gigiri)
Nairobi
While
awaiting the telephone logs of Messrs. Gambari or his Somlia designate, one
wonders how narrowly the UN reads its mandate. If it doesn't mention human
rights, for example, would gross violations be ignored? Or is it assumed that
violations of the UN Charter and related documents and treaties cannot be
ignored, no matter how convenient?
As pointed out
at deadline by the office of the spokesman, Mr. Fall's reading of his mandate
does not mean that the rest of the UN can look away. It is time, it would
appear, for the UN to respond.
While
willfully silent on Somalia, the Secretariat responds with comment on matters
Middle Eastern. Inner City Press asked for reaction to the weekend's
seizure of the Palestinian Minister of
Education and other officials.
Video
here,
from Minute 42:23. The spokesman replied that the Secretary-General believes the
arrests undermine the Palestinian Authority institutions which must be preserved
if there is to be a two state solution. Well alright.
It's now
confirmed in
the Congo that Kabila and Bemba will run-off in late October. They are
apparently not waiting. Monday Kabila's forces directed tank fire at Bemba
headquarters where
foreign donors and even SRSG William Lacy
Swing were meeting. The UN's
Ross Mountain told BBC Radio that the UN is short of money to hold the run-off
election. Mr. Mountain said he cannot believe that the international community
would let Congo drown merely ten meters from the shore. Surely the money can be
raised. But before then it raises a question:
Why does
the UN, particularly in conflicts of less interest to media such as Congo and
Somalia, simply take a side or position and then stick to it, regarding of facts
on the ground? In the Congo, the UN was calling the election credible before it
was held, and then despite reports of burned-up ballots. To say, "We want it to
be credible" is one thing; to declare credible-in-advance seems at best wishful
thinking.
In
Somalia, the UN wants the Transition Federal Government to succeed. Therefore
when Ethiopia sends troops to prop it up, the UN looks away, whatever the laws
say. But thus is the House's credibility squandered. It may be on the line in
Lebanon, but it is on the run in Congo and Somalia. And if in Somalia the TFG
falls, and Islamic Courts take over, why would their approach to the UN be any
different than Al-Bashir's in Sudan?
On troop
contribution, the problems have come from all sides. Those with the largest
offers -- Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia -- are disfavored by Tel Aviv for
not having diplomatic relations with Israel. While many other countries question
what the rules of engagement would be, the UN maintains that Thursday's
PointPoint was all that needs to be said. Inner City Press decided to ask where
the head of peacekeeping has been during all this. Video
here,
from Minute 42:23.
"Jean-Marie Guehenno is in France on personal business," the spokesman answered,
adding that Mr. Guehenno has also been "having a number of meeting with French
officials." What about, one wonders. And also, where in France?
Coming
full circle back to UN headquarters, negotiations continue a
treaty for disabled people's rights. The UN's Thomas Schindlmayr briefed
remaining reporters on the status of negotiations, saying that 150 new proposals
came in over the weekend. Inner City Press asked if the United States still
threatens blockage on the issue of treaty monitoring and more meetings, as it
recently blocked on Small Arms. Mr. Schindlmayr diplomatically left the question
unanswered. On the question of why there's no ramp in Room 226, Annan's
spokesman answered, that given capital budget problems, this problem will
persist. The UN's Gordon Tapper, previously called by Inner City Press on this
issue, has apparently said that no ramp can be deployed. It is not, it appears,
in the mandate.
Feedback: editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile: 718-716-3540
Ship-Breakers Missed by UN's Budget for Travel and Consultants in Bangladesh,
Largest UNIFIL Troop Donor
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
August 18 -- Along the beaches of southern Bangladesh, decaying and
asbestos-filled ships no longer useful to the West are disassembled for scrap
metal by Bangladeshi workers with little to no safety equipment, sometimes
without even shoes.
Ship-breaking
chaos
To
address or obscure this potentially photogenic flashpoint of globalization, the
UN Development Programme three years ago committed to fund a project ostensibly
improving the treatment of ship-breaking workers in Bangladesh. There have been
allegations, however, of waste and over-paid consultants, about which Inner City
Press has asked UNDP, see below.
The UN's
relations with Bangladesh are hardly one-way. Earlier this week, Bangladesh
offers 2000 of its soldiers, two mechanized divisions, to the UN Lebanon mission
called UNIFIL. Bangladesh's is the largest commitment to date.
To get
response from UNDP, Inner City Press forwarded to Dhaka this quote from
ship-breaker Zafar Alam, about UNDP's use of funds: "We wanted them to spend the
money on training, development of sanitation, building a hospital, buying
ambulances and installation of tube-wells but they never bothered to listen to
us. Instead, they spent more than Tk 4 crore on consultancy, foreign trips,
well-furnished offices, vehicles and conferences in expensive hotels."
In a
two-page response sent to Inner City Press, UNDP's Najmus Sahar sadiq disclosed
the following budget:
"The Safe and Environment Friendly Ship
Recycling Project has a total budget of Taka 8 crore. This amount includes also
salaries of project staff for the period of 2003-2007. Out of this budget, the
following expenditures have been made (all amounts are in Bangladesh Taka):
Consultancy: 8 lakh taka;
Study tour: 18 lakh; a total of 11 persons
went on the study tour, two representatives from BSBA (yard owners) and two
worker representatives nominated through BSBA.
Office: 16 lakh for renovation; office
space has been provided by the Government.
Vehicles: 30 lakh; one car and
one motor cycle.
Training: so far 6 lakh, totally planned
around 30 lakh
Baseline Survey: 12 lakh."
As simply
one example, this UNDP project has spent five times less on training, one of the
stated substantive goals, than on vehicles, and only aspires to equal with
training its vehicle spending. These same issues surfaced in
Inner City Press' inquiry
earlier this year into UNDP's controversy-plagued and
still-suspended disarmament programs in
Eastern Uganda's Karamoja
region. UNDP-Bangladesh's non-budgetary response included that it is
"not in the project’s mandate to provide
facilities such as sanitation and tube wells as mentioned by Zafar Alam... The
infrastructural changes involve a far higher investment for which the 3-year
budget provided for the project is far from capable of covering. A total of 13
staff is involved in setting up a method of reaching out to 20,000 to 30,000
often illiterate workers. The difficulty of developing a method by which safer
working habits can be taught to these persons is never to be taken lightly. To
be able to reach out to them it was essential to 67find out how the ship yard
workers are actually carrying out their respective jobs. For this a thorough
baseline survey was held...developing a one-day training programme for all
yard-nominated workers where all aspects of unsafe and occupational health
matters can be addressed. The sessions are now being held, and to date (1st
August) we have been able to provide training to close to 900 persons...Another
aspect with which this project will deal is to raise awareness regarding
international concern over the way in which ships are demolished here in
Bangladesh, as well as inform the important stakeholders about the international
guidelines that have been developed by ILO, IMO and Basel Convention (UNEP)."
A recent
visit to the UNEP / Basel convention
web site find a notice that
"The Treaty Section of the United Nations web site is now a pay site, to
subscribe, please e-mail your request to treaty [at] un.org." One wonders how
many ship-breaking workers in Bangladesh can or would pay to subscribe to get
information about the Basel Conventional (UNEP). At another UN level, Friday at
the Security Council stakeout a UN guard from Pakistan, on the topic of
ship-breaking, said that those who make the money should devote more of it to
worker safety.
Ship-breaking, considered too dangerous and polluting to be performed in Europe
or the United States, and now even in South Korea and Taiwan where the industry
first moved, is concentrated in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Lloyd's List of
August 14, 2006, reported for example that
"Bangladeshi
recyclers walked away with the two best deals of the week, picking up two
tankers, Ocean Tankers' 88,396 dwt, 1979 Ocean Star and the Prisco-controlled,
17,725 dwt, 1977 Kamensk-Uralskiy. Chittagong operators revealed they were
willing to dig deep when the tonnage was exactly what they desired and forked
out $385 per ldt for the 18,592 ldt of the Ocean Star and $382 per ldt for the
7,445 ldt of the Prisco vessel. These were offers which could not be matched by
their competitors. Ocean Star happened to be the fifth in a series of sister
vessels sold to Bangladesh and GMS reported that the swift decision-taking
ability of that country's scrappers allowed the deal to be concluded in less
than 24 hours. Unidentified buyers picked up the 53,439 dwt, 1973 Spain-built
bulk carrier Peng Yang, whose 10.561 ldt were sold on 'as is China region' basis
for $315per ldt."
The flow of junk
ships is slated to increase, with the replacement by 2010 of one layer hull oil
tankers. Recent reporting about the scrapping of the old SS France ocean liner
shows the economics of ship-breaking. The SS France, since renamed SS Norway and
then at last the Blue Lady, is worth some $12 million as scrap, which is less
than it would cost to remove the asbestos if one followed European environmental
laws. So tow it to Alang beach in India's Gujurat, and let the ship-breaking
begin. Then to fend off controversy, as a band aid on a cancer, fund a few
consultant in brand new cars.
A more
fundamental approach may be needed. For now, this analysis is provided, from a
Georgetown law review:
"The towing of
old rusted vessels contaminated with hazardous wastes across the Atlantic Ocean
may fall within one of the prohibited acts set out in the U.N. Convention on the
Law of the Sea...Article 19 states that a 'passage of a foreign ship shall be
considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal
State if in the territorial sea it engages in . . . any act of willful and
serious pollution contrary to [the] Convention.' United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea, opened for signature Dec. 10, 1982, art. 19, 1833 U.N.T.S. 3
(entered into force Nov. 16, 1994)."
While the UN's
Bangladesh account may not balance, the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea
may be of use.
Disclosure:
Georgetown Law School's Institute for Public Representation has provided legal
help to Inner City Press, most recently in overturning Delaware's citizen-only
Freedom of Information Act, 3d Circuit Court of Appeals decision
here,
also in NY Times of August 17, 2006, Page C7, and
here.
Sudan
Cites Hezbollah, While UN Dances Around Issues of Consent and Sex Abuse in the
Congo, Passing the UNIFIL Hat
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
August 17 -- As the situation in
Darfur continues to deteriorate,
at the UN powers great and small dance around the need for the consent of
Sudan's al Bashir government to the introduction of UN peacekeepers in Western
Sudan. On Thursday Inner City Press asked Sudan's UN envoy Omar Bashir Mohamed
Manis to explain his president's
analogy of himself to Hezbollah and UN
blue helmets to Israel. He
answered that this merely reiterated Sudan's position against any transfer of
mission in Darfur from the African Union to the UN. Regardless of the situation
on the ground, he said, they want to introduce UN troops. Why?
While
Sudan's president has previously ascribed this to colonialism and a clash of
civilizations and religions, at the UN on Thursday questions were answered with
other questions. The Security Council's president, Ghanaian Ambassador Nana
Effah-Apenteng was
asked by Inner City Press to
respond to the Sudanese analogy of the UN to Israel. "Maybe I can pose the
question back at you," Amb. Nana Effah-Apenteng said. "UNMIS is there already.
How does that effect the sovereignty of Sudan?" Inner City Press said it would
try to put the question to Sudan's president, but for now has reached Sudanese
Ambassador Omar Bashir Mohamed. Video
here,
beginning Second 34.
South
Darfur
U.S.
Deputy Permanent Representative Jackie Sanders held her first media stakeout
after the Security Council consultations on Sudan. She said there will be an
experts' meeting on Friday on the draft resolution put forward by the U.S. and
UK.
Inner City Press asked her
to respond to the request earlier in the week that sanctions be imposed on
senior Sudanese leaders who are blocking the UN. She responded that while in the
Council "we haven't gotten into targeted sanctions," it should be "looked at
closely, we would be supportive."
Whether
or not on Wednesday this was the U.S. position, to support target sanctions on
president Bashir and others, the U.S. Mission Thursday provided this transcript:
Inner City Press:
Does the US have a position on that request? Has it been discussed in the
Council?
Ambassador
Sanders: We haven't gotten into the details of targeted sanctions lately in the
Council. I think it's something that we certainly need to look at carefully, and
we would be supportive.
Meanwhile
the UN's mission in Congo, MONUC, announced it is investigating the involvement
of UN peacekeepers in a prostitution ring involving children close to large
concentrations of blue helmets in South Kivu. Responding to CNN, Kofi Annan's
spokesman's office provided incrementally provided the following data Thursday
afternoon: "there are a total of 256 open allegations of misconduct by MONUC
staff currently under investigation. Of these, 144 are allegations of sexual
exploitation and abuse (SEA). We have 201 completed investigations of sexual
exploitation and abuse resulting in the repatriation from the Democratic
Republic of Congo of 102 military, 11 police personnel, the reprimand of three
civilians and the suspension of six civilians to date." To this spokesman orally
added that "an additional seven civilians were summarily dismissed on the basis
of allegations." It is unclear how sexual exploitation and abuse" is defined,
in relation for example to non-minor prostitution. Also not yet provided,
despite Inner City Press' mid-afternoon request, are similar allegation and
investigation numbers for other UN peacekeeping missions. Developing...
UNIFIL Contribution Update: Brown is
Disappointed
During a
two hour stakeout on the UN's second floor, the German Ambassador spoke of
guarding the whole coast. When asked by Inner City Press about the oil spill,
occasioned by the second power station's bombing, the German Ambassador said no,
the issue didn't come up. So too UK Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, who spoke of
offering a frigate but shrugged at mention of the oil spill. He did, however,
confirm that work continues on the UK-led draft resolution on the Lord's
Resistance Army. The true number two in the U.S. mission, Alejandro Wolffe,
spoke of "muscular" force. In terms of "self-deploying" forces, a term used by a
senior UN official who asked to be unnamed, few meet the definition. Nepal,
Indonesia, Malaysia? Nevertheless, the Deputy Secretary General after expressing
disappointment with the French troop contribution was flush with American
vernacular: we're got this show on the road, "we're in business." With
Dow Chemical,
Soc Gen
and
Microsoft,
yes the UN is...
Heard in
the hall: The ambassador of Kazakhstan, walking smiling between the Security
Council and the delegates' lounge, stopped to tell Inner City Press of an
upcoming briefing on the 15th anniversary of denuclearization of Kazakhstan.
Inner City Press took the opportunity to deliver rare praise, echoing UNHCR's
praise of the non-refoulement of an Uzbek refugee to Tashkent. In the spirit of
the glossy nature photographs passed out at the last Kazakh briefing, "Let the
wild horses run!"
Finally,
an update to yesterday's footnote on the selection of questioners at Wednesday's
briefing by the Israeli foreign minister. It has been pointed out to Inner City
Press that at an earlier UN press briefing, Iran's current president took a
question from a reporter from Israel, then laughed. For that reason, two
television producers from the Middle East opined to Inner City Press that the
comment should not have been made. They also pointed out that Israel's Foreign
Minister granted an interview to Al Arabia television prior to the briefing.
Another pointed out at this TV interview was in Israel. The spokeswoman for
Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman, Anat Friedman, opined to Inner City Press that
the intervention was "rude." There are worse sins, in Darfar for example.
With Somalia on the Brink of Horn-Wide War, UN Avoids Question of Ethiopian
Invasion
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
August 16 -- With the Horn of Africa teetering on the brink of a region-wide
war, the widely reported incursion of Ethiopian troops into Somalia is either
too inconvenient, too controversial or too unimportant to be inquired into by
the United Nations. Kofi Annan’s envoy for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, came
to New York on Wednesday to brief the Security Council and then the UN press
corps. In response to one of five questions from Inner City Press, Francois
Lonseny Fall said that during the morning’s Security Council consultations, the
issue of Ethiopian troops in Somalia "didn't come up." He added that no member
of the Security Council asked about the issue. Video is at
http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/pressbriefing/brief060816.rm
In two
interviews Wednesday with Inner City Press,
Ghana's ambassador who is the president of the Security Council emphasized that
Ethiopia is not the only state violating the Somalia arms embargo. While true,
that does not explain why the UN cannot or will not address or even inquire into
the issue of the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
Francois
Lonseny Fall acknowledged that the UN has staff in Baidoa, the seat of the
Transitional Federal Government where numerous eye witnesses and journalists
have spotted Ethiopian troops. He insisted however, that his "office has no
monitoring capability on the ground to confirm these reports."
Francois
Lonseny Fall
Separately, Inner City Press Wednesday asked the UN's humanitarian arm, OCHA,
for a read-out on its assessment mission to Somalia earlier this month. A
spokeswoman for OCHA confirmed the mission, saying it was the first UN airplane
to land in Mogadishu in fourteen years. Asked if assessment mission have been
made to Baidoa she said yes, some months ago.
In May,
the UN issued a report naming as violators of the Somalia arms embargo six
countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Yemen, Italy and Saudi Arabia. Eritrea
and Ethiopia are engaged in a border dispute for which Somalia threatens to
become a second front. Since Eritrea has tried to tell the UN which
nationalities must be excluded from its UNMEE peacekeeping force, some wonder if
that is not a partial explanation of the UN's seeming siding with Ethiopia, or
equating Ethiopia's incursion with troops to Eritrea's reported delivery of
weapons, into Mogadishu airport.
On
factual matters, Francois Lonseny Fall confirmed the
defection
of soldiers from the TFG to the Islamic Courts, last month and as recently as
yesterday. Nevertheless he said he supports lifting the arms embargo against the
TFG. Who would use the weapons, one wag was heard to wonder: mercenaries? He
also confirmed the opening of an Islamic court in Puntland, an area that has
claimed independence and has endeavored to sell its mineral rights to
Australia-based Range Resources, Ltd.
Inner
City Press asked for a response to the theory that the UN is so committed to the
Transitional Federal Government that it is turning a blind eye to violations of
the arms embargo on Somalia. Francois Lonseny Fall replied that it is not only
the UN that supports the TFG, but also "others in the international community."
This is not, he said, a green light for meddling in Somalia. But to many, it
seems like a green light has been given. Developing...
In other
UN Headquarters news, Israel's minister for foreign affairs Tzipi Livni
briefed
a roomful of UN reporters on Wednesday. After reading a prepared statement, she
took only five questions, from journalists she and Israeli Ambassador Dan
Gillerman conferred on and selected. At the end, a head-scarfed correspondent
noted, "You didn't choose any Arabic journalists." The entourage left the room.
Power speaks and then is gone. [See August 17 update, above].
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
Impunity's in
the Air, at the UN in Kinshasa and NY, for Kony and Karim and MONUC for
Kazana
UN Still Silent
on Somalia, Despite Reported Invasion, In Lead-Up to More Congo Spin
UN's Guehenno
Says Congo Warlord Just Needs Training, and Kazana Probe Continues
With Congo
Elections Approaching, UN Issues Hasty Self-Exoneration as Annan Is
Distracted
In DR Congo, UN
Applauds Entry into Army of Child-Soldier Commander Along with Kidnapper
Spinning the
Congo, UN Admits Hostage Deal with Warlord That Put Him in Congolese
Army
At the UN, Dow
Chemical's Invited In, While Teaming Up With Microsoft is Defended
Kofi Annan
Questioned about Congolese Colonel Who Kidnapped Seven UN Soldiers
At the UN,
Speeches While Gaza Stays Lightless and Insurance Not Yet Paid
At the UN
Poorest Nations Discussed, Disgust at DRC Short Shrift, Future UN
Justice?
At the UN
Wordsmiths Are At Work on Zimbabwe, Kony, Ivory Coast and Iran
UN Silent As
Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army Colonel: News
Analysis
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
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