UN
Round-up: Poland's President Says Iraq Is Ever-More Tense While Amb. Bolton
Talks Burmese Drugs, Spin on Ivory Coast
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
September 18 -- Even Poland, which among its foreign policies has troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan, has a president who admits the situation is "tense" in the
relatively less contested parts of Iraq.
Responding Monday to two questions from Inner City Press, President Lech
Kaczynski called the situation in Iraq "very difficult." He ascribed "most of
the conflict in the region" to religion, to "conflicts within, in a manner of
speaking, Islam." Video
here.
President Kaczynski did not answer a second question, on proposals to enlarge
the Security Council beyond the current fifteen.
U.S.
Senators Norm Coleman and Barbara Boxer, however, did answer the question of
Security Council enlargement, when asked by Inner City Press in a stakeout
interview. Senator Coleman said the Security Council is "not representative of
the world as it exists" today, and named at least three additional countries for
Council membership: India, Brazil and Japan. It should be noted that Pakistan,
along with Italy and others, is hosting a dinner Wednesday night to ask for
wider enlargement, or perhaps just to block this favor troika from any
privileged place by the door. Earlier on Wednesday in this jam-packed UN week,
Sudan's president Al Bashir is slated to attend an African Union meeting, to
discuss scenarios for Darfur.
Senator
Boxer said that she hasn't studied the Security Council expansion issue yet,
that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not gotten into the issue in
depth. She spoke mostly on Darfur, as did the UK's Minister for Africa Lord
David Triesman. Inner City Press asked Lord Triesman -- one wag joked, None
dare call him Treason -- for the UK's position on Ben Mkapa as mediator for
or about Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
"We don't
view the issue as bilateral," responded Lord Triesman, before describing
accelerating inflation, declining food supplies and trod-on human rights. Lord
Triesman's press officer James Roscoe took a question on whether the UK believes
that those who flee Zimbabwe should be treated as refugees by UNHCR, and not as
they are treated in South Africa, as economic migrants to be forcibly returned.
"Isn't that a question for South Africa?" asked Mr. Roscoe rhetorically. Not
really -- or, no more than Darfur is only a question for President al Bashir,
who will appear at a UN press conference Tuesday.
@
UN, flesh pressed
The
question of Myanmar arose at a briefing on drugs. The head of the UN's Office of
Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, told reporters that there's a nexus
between increased opium crops in Afghanistan and the insurgents in the South.
Inner City Press asked about the reports that less opium was produced under the
Taliban. Mr. Costa acknowledged that production has doubled since then. Video
here.
After the
briefing, Inner City Press asked Mr. Costa directly about drugs and Myanmar. Mr.
Costa stated that Myanmar's production has plummeted and "Burma will probably by
opium free by 2012." Mr. Costa added, "But that's a case that is difficult to
present in light of international public opinion... It is always easier for
totalitarian countries to meet such goals."
Given
that the U.S. has listed drug flows from Myanmar as one of four reasons to put
the country on the Security Council's agenda for expert briefings, including
from the UN's political chief Ibrahim Gambari, Inner City Press Mr. Costa if as
the UN's drug expert he would be willing to brief the Council. "I would be happy
to, obviously," Mr. Costa said.
Hours
later at the Security Council stakeout, Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador
John Bolton to respond to Mr. Costa's statement that opium production has been
declining in Myanmar, and mentioned Mr. Costa's offer to brief the Council.
Video here. As
transcribed by the U.S. mission:
Reporter: One question, on Burma, Myanmar known as Burma in the United
States...
Ambassador Bolton: Known as Burma to me.
Reporter: oh okay... We had a briefing earlier today by the head of the U.N.
Office of Drug and Crime, and it was mostly on Afghanistan, but he said that his
office finds that Myanmar known as Burma, the production of opium is in fact,
declining, and has been in decline. So, he said he'd be willing to brief the
council. I'm wondering just what in your litany of the threat they pose, that
was one of them, is it an outflow from some other source or...
Ambassador Bolton: Well decline, decline from what level? If you look at the
so called golden triangle the areas controlled for many, many years by the Shan
united army; production of narcotics out of that region has been at enormous
levels for years and years and years. So, even a decline doesn't signal the end
of the kind of problem that the government of Burma poses.
On the
idea of Mr. Costa testifying, no answer was given. But it's only the beginning
of the week of UN speeches. Left to the end on Monday were the least development
nations, on which the speeches continued past 9 p.m. At a briefing in the
morning, video
here,
reference was made by the UN's Anwarul Chowdhury to the duties of corporations,
who claimed the UN Global Compact is very involved, and whose press staffer
promised information on corporate engagements, not yet provided.
Later,
the UN's NEPAD presented a panel of five, including three corporations. Inner
City Press' question about the toxic waste dumping in Abidjan was met with a
response by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur that it was all "exaggerated," that the
corporation at issue has already cleaned it up, was already cleaning it up five
days ago. Video
here.
This isn't true. According for example to
Reuters,
the clean up has only now begun, and will take several weeks. Click
here for
the Reuters article. The
UN's own write-up of
the briefing has Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, the Secretary-General’s Special
Adviser on Africa, saying "we all agree the private sector has a key role to
play in Africa’s future." If it doesn't dump toxic waste, of course...
At the
Secretary General's spokesman's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked about
Darfur, the Congo and Mr. Annan's renewly found commitment to make financial
disclosure. In the eastern Congolese district of Ituri, Peter Karim Ugada, who
took seven UN peacekeepers hostage for a month is now described to
Reuters by
unnamed MONUC sources as "continu[ing] to conscript women, children and men into
his ranks so that he has the 6,000 combatants he needs to be given the rank of
general once he is reintegrated into the national army." Earlier this year, Kofi
Annan stated that for the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers, Peter Karim would face
"personal accountability." On financial disclosure, the UN offers this
summary:
"Asked whether the Secretary-General’s
financial disclosure form would be made public, the Spokesman said it would not,
nor would those of the UN staff who filed. The forms would be handled by the UN
Ethics Office... On advice of lawyers, the Secretary-General had not filled out
a financial disclosure form, which he was not required to, so as not tie the
hands of his successor. However, in order to avoid misinterpretation of his
position, the Secretary-General has decided to voluntarily submit a financial
disclosure form. That decision was made on Friday."
On Friday, Mark
Malloch Brown made his calls from Newport, Rhode Island. Monday, UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric characterized as "privileged" even the identity of the lawyer
or lawyers who Mr. Annan says told him not to file, despite having said through
his spokesman that he would. Mr. Dujarric said that he will provide notice when
the form -- which he says will not be public -- is in fact filed. We'll see.
On the DR
Congo, despite saying that on-the-record MONUC sources would be located, no
answer was given. But Kofi Annan will be meeting with Joseph Kabila at 4:20 on
Wednesday, a day when questions can be asked to the presidents of Finland,
France, Sudan and Liberia...
Feedback: editor6
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile: 718-716-3540
At the
UN, Stonewalling Continues on Financial Disclosure and Letter(s) U.S. Mission
Has, While Zimbabwe Goes Ignored
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
September 15 -- "I have nothing beyond what the Secretary-General told you on
Wednesday," UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Friday, responding to Inner City
Press'
continued questions
on whether Mr. Kofi Annan has filed the financial disclosure form his main
spokesman said he would. When Inner City Press directed Ms. Okabe to two
wire
service stories
quoting separate UN sources that Mr. Annan has not, in fact, filed the form, Ms.
Okabe said "those are press reports we cannot comment on."
Minutes later,
asked about
recent reporting
on the turmoil in Ivory Coast and
Laurent Gbagbo's
bid to stay in power, Ms. Okabe said, "we're seen that in the press, we may have
a statement later in the day." Asked then to explain why the UN responds to some
press reports but not, in this case the wires on the financial disclosure form,
Ms. Okabe told Inner City Press, "I have nothing beyond what the
Secretary-General said."
Kofi Annan once castigated some in the press corps for spending time on
improprieties and inconsistencies within the UN rather than on the wider world.
But in this case, it was Mr. Annan's own intentionally vague answer which has
given rise to two additional days of questions, from outlets from AP and Reuters
to the New York Times and Sun. Note to Kofi: we want to cover the wider world,
but you need to file that financial disclosure, as your spokesman said you would
to serve as an example to other UN staff. And the name of the senior UN official
who receives free housing from his government should also be released. And by
the same token, the U.S. Mission should, in the spirit of the transparency they
discuss, release the letter(s) they received on the issue of housing subsidies
by governments.
At a stakeout
interview of U.S. Ambassador John Bolton following the Security Council 10-4-1
vote to put Myanmar on the agenda, Inner City Press asked Amb. Bolton when the
U.S. will release a copy of the letter it has received on the question of
housing subsidies by governments to UN officials.
"I have
the letter," Amb. Bolton confirmed, "I'm still considering what to do. I'll let
you know when I've thought about it some more." Video
here, from Minute
12:10. We'll be here -- passing the time reading the UN annual report
issued September 14 by UN Management's Chris Burnham. On an interim basis the
report is spotty, offering for example under the heading "Areas of challenge"
mostly bullet points blaming the member states for any shortfalls. An honest
"challenge" appears on page 15, noting that Kofi Annan's envoys "were not able
to significantly affect negotiations in Western Sahara and Myanmar." Myanmar was
discussed in the Council on Friday; Western Sahara was raised to Kofi Annan at
his Wednesday press conference, where he responded, "they are probably thinking
about it, they're probably going to come up with a creative solution." We'll
wait for that, too.
Egeland's IRe IN Northern Uganda (Vincent Otti
not shown)
Earlier
Friday in the Council, the UN's Jan Egeland provided a briefing on the
Democratic Republic of Congo, where he said rape by the army continues, and on
Northern Uganda, where he confirmed speaking with the Lord's Resistance Army's
Vincent Otti, but did not mention meeting Otti face-to-face, as the Office of
the Spokesman for the Secretary-General as told Inner City Press that Mr.
Egeland did.
Mr.
Egeland was asked about the UN's man in Congo, William Lacy Swing. Following Mr.
Egeland's savvy praise, Inner City Press asked about MONUC's now-amended
self-exoneration of having been present when the Congolese Army
burned down the village of Kazana
on April 21, 2006. Mr. Egeland responded that yes, the Army is a problem. He
said they need more training -- which is what the
UN's Jean-Marie Guehenno said about Peter
Karim, who after kidnapping UN
peacekeepers for a month was offered a colonel's post in the Congolese army.
Friday Jan Egeland said it takes two minutes to fire a colonel. And apparently
less than a minute of serious thought to hire one.
Four
Security Council members brought up the issue of Zimbabwe, the mass eviction
and the flow of Zimbabweans fleeing. Mr. Egeland reported that the Mugabe
government demolished 92,000 housing units as part of Operation Take Out the
Trash, and has since built a mere 3,325 units, many of which have been given to
people not evicted at all, but Mugabe cronies. UN-Habitat's Anna Tibaijuka
issued a detailed report on the eviction (and was Friday named head of the UN in
Nairobi, where one hopes she can bring sanity to UNPOS and clean up shenanigans
about Somalia by former and present UN staff in Nairobi).
On Zimbabwe, one
wondered why Kofi Annan
backed off in Banjul on
his stated
plan to mediate,
in favor of Ben Mkapa, who has since been shown to
not be the mediator
at all. ("Those are just press reports," Ms. Okabe said Friday.) One wonders why
the Council is not turning to Zimbabwe at least as it now will on Myanmar. Inner
City Press asked Mr. Egeland if UNHCR should not at least for now treat those
fleeing Zimbabwe as refugees, Mr. Egeland did not directly answer. And to his
staff, Inner City Press has in outstanding questions about OCHA and UNDP in
Somalia, more on which anon -- or Annan, as one wag joked.
Update at 5 p.m.
Friday, UN Spokeswoman Marie Okabe provided page 233 of 277 of Paul Volcker's
September 25 report, for the proposition that there might be nothing untoward in
Mr. Annan's financial disclosure form, which he has not filed despite his
spokesman's statement that he would, as an example to other staff. While always
appreciating a response, especially a document, one wonders if the UN would
accept from other senior officials an extraneous document rather than the
financial disclosure form. It also can't be missed that the page provided refers
to Kojo Annan's faxes to family lawyer Michael Wilson -- both are connected in
the public record with
Trafigura, whose toxic waste was dumped in Ivory Coast. Just file already -
or explain why not. Thus we end the work week.
[Ed.'s update Sept. 17: On Saturday night,
the following was issued by email to Inner City Press and presumably other correspondents, that
"On advice of
lawyers, the Secretary-General had not filled out a financial disclosure form,
which he was not required to, so as not tie the hands of his successor. However,
in order to avoid any embarrassment to the Organization, the Secretary-General
has decided to voluntarily submit a financial disclosure form."
Since in May of
this year, this same Spokesman's office had unequivocally stated that Mr. Annan
would
fill out and file the financial disclosure form, the advice of unnamed lawyer
must have come more recently. Was it Nicolas Michel, who at a September 12 press
conference responded to a question from Inner City Press about housing subsidies
to UN official by government by reading a scripted answer from notes? Or was it
an Annan family lawyer from outside the UN system, like Michael Wilson who shows
up in the page of the Volcker report provided on Friday, and more recently in
press reports about payments to Kojo Annan
by Trafigura, which dumped
toxic waste in Abidjan only last month? (See Inner City Press' September 12
story, click
here).
As set forth below, Kofi
Annan at his September 13 press conference was asked by Inner City Press if he'd
filed the UN Financial Disclosure form. His response was a carefully-crafted
phrase, "I honor all my obligations to the UN, and I think that is as I've
always done." Video
here,
at Minute 45:25.
At the
UN, Financial Disclosure Is Withheld As Freedom of Information Is Promised, Of
Hollywood and Dictators' Gift Shops
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED
NATIONS, September 14 -- A day after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan evaded
Inner City Press' media conference
question of if he had filed his financial disclosure form,
the Associated Press Thursday afternoon ran an "exclusive
report" that Mr. Annan has not
filed the disclosure.
Reuters ran essentially
the same story, although
in India at least pushing
Mr. Annan's Wednesday presser to Thursday.
After Associate UN
Spokesman Yves Sorokobi Thursday at noon answered questions from the New York
Times and Inner City Press about the disclosure, rejecting the "has-not-filed"
interpretation of Mr. Annan's answer of the previous day, elite media source
were told that more will be disclosed. Mr. Annan at press time was en route to,
and then had arrived in, Cuba, where apparently there's been an embargo on
telephones through which to directly confirm or deny the filing of the financial
disclosure form.
Mr. Annan had
concluded his Wednesday press conference by calling it a "healthy development"
that "in many countries now [we] are seeing very active press who are being
heard and questioning. In some cases they are suppressed, and we should resist
that." Minutes prior to that statement, Mr. Annan had given an answer that now,
if AP's to be believed, was intentionally evasive. And his Spokesman's office
stuck to that position until and past press time on the following day as well.
Moments before a
Thursday press conference by Christopher Burnham, Under-Secretary for
Management, a hefty 392-page Consolidated Report on the UN was made available.
(USG and book pictured below.) Journalists were hard pressed to read or even
skim the report in two minutes, and therefore questions began with the issue of
housing subsidies by governments to UN officials, and proceeded on to whether
Mr. Annan should have filed the financial disclosure form. Everyone should file,
Mr. Burnham twice replied. Video
here.
UN
as open book? [Ed.'s note: For the record, above is USG Burnham, photo by the
great Devra Berkowitz. Our correspondent today was so busy chasing an upcoming
story his filing was fragmentary but reproduced here in full, in the spirit of
cinema verite.]
On
August 28, Inner City Press had asked U.S. Ambassador John Bolton at a stakeout
interview (transcript
here)
if he knew if Mr. Annan had filed his financial disclosure. Amb. Bolton replied
that he was not aware. The afternoon's
AP story noted
that Mr. Burnham was among those privately urging Mr. Annan to file. Then again,
the United States, for whom Mr. Burnham began his tenure by saying he works for,
has yet to release the Secretariat's two letters about the housing subsidy by
governments issues. Ah, transparency.
But perhaps open
governance is coming. Mr. Burnham spoke Thursday of a proposed UN Freedom of
Information office or procedure, which he said is being considered by the
General Assembly. "It will be the gold standard," Mr. Burnham said. When asked
how and where a person denied access to information could appeal the
withholding, Mr. Burnham said the policy is still subject to improvement.
Mr.
Burnham was asked what parts of the UN system's budget are still
off-balance-sheet. After a brief chuckle, or chortle, Mr. Burnham explained that
UNDP, for example, does its own report. UNDP is apparently a world unto itself,
in that for example neither UNDP nor the UN Spokesman's office has yet given any
answer to Inner City Press' question from two weeks ago on why UNDP partners on
issues of open source software with Uzbekistan's Karimov regime, which uses
software to block access to news websites like the BBC. Thursday at noon,
Associate Spokesman Yves Sorokobi had a prepared statement ready on why UNESCO
had given an award to Karimov. It was not as president, Mr. Sorokobi said. And
the award was a coin that's available for sale in the UN's gift shop in Paris.
But what then of targeted sanctions?
Continuing the chain of free association, one thinks of Uzbek migrant workers
doing construction in Moscow for example. The issue arose at a briefing by the
Secretary-General's point man on migration, BP's Peter Sutherland. With a candor
he
displayed in a previous interview on June
8, Mr. Sutherland let drop that
the notion of a conference on migration is opposed by the United States. Asked
for Russia's position, he said he didn't know it. Asked about Australia, in
light of that country's outsourcing of asylum-seeker review to the sun-baked
island of Nairu, Mr. Sutherland opined that Australia might be another opponent,
and urged reporters to ask nations for their positions.
Two similar
pollings took place. First in the Security Council, a straw poll was held on the
five current candidates to be the next Secretary General. The results, by
country, were reportedly as follows, by encourage, discourage and no opinion:
South Korea, 14-1-0. India (& UN), 10-3-2. Thailand, 9-3-3. Jordan, 6-4-5. And
Sri Lanka, 3-5-7.
The president of
the Security Council and his press counselor Theodossis Demetracoplous were
asked if any candidates were being encouraged to drop out. The former said of
course not, the latter showed reporters, but not for photographs, what the
ballot looked like. Alphabetical, with ST at the bottom.
The other more open
polling took place in Conference Room 9. George Clooney came to town, along with
the author of "Night." The press stakeout was packed, with even radio reporters,
especially the females, crowding in to take photos. A wise and raffish scribe
offered a possible lede: "Clooney today urged the Council to green-light a
mission to Darfur."
The day at UN
Headquarters ended with an event in the basement (video
here),
after which the local Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights reflectively defended the failure to release the Ivory Coast
report of the SRSG on the Prevention of Genocide. Some reports, Mr. Craig
Mokhiber said, are not meant to be released. They're for secret human rights
diplomacy. Secret indeed...
UN's Annan Says Dig Into Toxic Dumping, While Declining to Discuss Financial
Disclosure
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED
NATIONS, September 13 -- Calling for serious enforcement action be to taken
against the companies responsible for
dumping
toxic waste in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on
Wednesday said the world "needs to be careful that the developing world, the
poor countries, do not become the dumping ground for this type of waste."
Inner
City Press also asked Mr. Annan why he has apparently not filed his UN Financial
Disclosure form, despite at least two statements by his spokesman that he would.
Mr. Annan answered, "I honor all my obligations to the UN, and I think that is
as I've always done." (Video
here,
from Minute 45:25, transcript
here.) While technically the UN Financial Disclosure form must be filled out
by all senior UN officials except the Secretary General, spokesman Stephane
Dujarric has said Mr. Annan would file, in at least two press conferences this
year.
On
May 3,
Mr. Dujarric told reporters that Mr. Annan's "form will be filled out, I have no
doubt" including so that the Secretary-General could "be an example to the rest
of the staff who need to fill it out." In
another briefing he
repeated, "The Secretary-General will, as we had said, fill out the form." Now
it's said the form has not been filled out, and Mr. Annan reverts to the cryptic
position that "I honor all my obligations to the UN, and I think that is as I've
always done."
Behind
the toxic dumping in Ivory Coast, which has killed six people and sickened ten
thousand more, is a company which leased the ship and owned the waste,
Trafigura Beheer BV, which also figured in the UN -
Iraq Oil for Food scandal. In Abidjan, the Ivorian directors of Trafigura's
subsidiary Puma Energie have been arrested. For the record, Trafigura
states that it "acted lawfully." Facts on File reports that:
"in May 2001,
the Essex tanker, chartered by Dutch oil-trading company Trafigura Beheer BV,
had been topped off with an extra 230,000 barrels after inspection at an
off-shore Iraqi oil platform. Trafigura had purchased the oil in the shipment
from French oil-services company Ibex Energy France. The cargo had been seized
in the Caribbean Sea after the captain alerted U.S. and U.N. authorities. Later,
according to the Journal, Ibex's general manager, Jean Paul Cayre, in an
affidavit filed with Britain's High Court of Justice, had said the two companies
performed the same routine with the Essex in 2000, under Trafigura's direction,
paying Iraq $5.4 million for the extra oil. At Trafigura's direction, Cayre
said, the two companies had shredded records of the deals and replaced them with
false ones."
Dump in Abidjan
SG
Documents tie French President Jacques Chirac's
friend Patrick Maugein to the 25 million barrels allocated to Trafigura Beheer
BV, which employed Patrick's brother Philippe as a consultant. Trafigura was
accused of evading taxes on oil imports into Thailand; the International
Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has taken testimony on
Trafigura's involving in the Sudanese oil industry.
Public reporting on Trafigura comes even closer
to the current UN. The Financial Times' Claudio Gatti one year ago reported:
"Kojo Annan,
son of Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, received more than Dollars
750,000 from several oil trading companies now under investigation for their
role in the UN's oil-for-food program (OFFP) for Iraq. The funds were dispatched
between 2002 and 2003 to an account Kojo Annan opened under his middle name -
Adeyemo - in a Swiss branch of Coutts bank... In 2003, one company - Trafigura
Beheer BV, a Dutch-based entity founded by traders who formerly worked for the
then fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich - sent $247,500 to Kojo Annan's
account at Coutts... The company found records of the payment in question, but
explained that it was related to a transaction with PPI, the Nigerian company
that employed Mr Annan as a director. 'The request (of payment) was received
from a PPI fax and it was assumed that this was a PPI account.' Mr. Annan's
lawyer said PPI 'conducted business with Trafigura in 2002 and 2003' clarifying
the deals were confined to Nigerian gas oil and petrol. PPI's representative in
Geneva is Michael Wilson, a Ghanaian friend of the Annan family, who has
attracted scrutiny in the oil-for-food investigation. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Annan
both worked for Cotecna, the Swiss inspection company that in 1998 received a UN
contract under the oil-for-food program ultimately worth $60 million. Between
spring 2002 and spring 2003, Mr. Annan's Coutts account received over $200,000."
Paul Volcker, in an
interview last
week, stated that Kojo Annan had lied during the Oil-for-Food investigation, and
that Kofi Annan's failure to launch a credible investigation in a timely manner
is something he will have to answer for. (MP3
here.) Some in the UN believe that Mr. Annan pulled back from his
spokesman's commitments earlier this year that he would file Financial
Disclosure due to complications such as the entrepreneurial projects of his son
Kojo Annan, and believe that Mr. Annan is making an error by refusing to file or
even explain why he has not filed.
Inner City Press last week asked the
spokesman's office point blank if Mr. Annan had filed, and was told that the
official response is that Mr. Annan has met his legal obligation, and that this
means that since the Secretary-General is the one high UN official who is not
required to file, he has not done so. Inner City Press then referenced, without
any response or explanation being given, previous statements on the issue:
Under-Secretary General for
Management Christopher Burnham on February 11, 2005, as
summarized by the UN itself,
said of the Financial Disclosure forms that "the Secretary-General would not
only fill one out, but would probably be the first do so."
On
May 3,
Mr. Dujarric told reporters that Mr. Annan's "form will be filled out, I have no
doubt." In
another briefing he
repeated, "The Secretary-General will, as we had said, fill out the form."
Now it's said the form has not been filled out, and Mr. Annan reverts to the
position that "I honor all my obligations to the UN, and I think that is as I've
always done" - that is, that he "acted lawfully."
Just before 5
p.m. press time, Inner City Press again sought an explanation from the
Spokesman's Office and was again told that the Secretary-General follows all
laws, and no law requires his filing of the UN's Financial Disclosure form.
Asked to explain the change between, for example, the May 3, 2006 statement that
Mr. Annan's "form will be filled out," including "to be an example to the rest
of the staff who need to fill it out" and what has happened (or not happened)
since, there was no verbal response. Tough job, at least on this.
Somewhat similarly, the
incoming president of the General Assembly, Sheika Haya Al-Khalifa, was asked if
she will during the coming year continue the private practice of corporate law
through her law firm, which has represented among others the global banks HSBC,
Mizuho, Arab Banking Corporation and BNP Paribas. (Click
here for a sample project;
video
here,
from Minute 21:55.) The response appeared to be that her firm will
continue such representation; it was not clear that any safeguards are in place,
despite the fact that such
banks have partnered with the UN.
Inner City Press asked about the UN Global Compact, corporations and human
rights more generally. "You mean the NGOs?" was the answer.
Analysis: one
observer longed for the type of language used at times by Mr. Annan, for example
that the world "needs to be careful that the development world, the poor
countries, do not become the dumping ground for this type of waste." Less
appealing is the statement by Mr. Annan, called incipiently Trafiguran by one
wag, that he honors his obligations -- that is,
acts lawfully. One (wag) wonders is that's the standard Mr. Annan was
referring to in his comment that those who dumped toxic waste in Abidgan should
be held to account.
Mr. Annan
concluded his press conference
Wednesday by saying that today "people are aware of their human rights, and
civil society has become very active in this. And I think it is a healthy
development. And you also in many countries now are seeing very active press who
are being heard and questioning. In some cases they are suppressed, and we
should resist that." Hear, hear.
One update:
Inner City Press still not not have a copy of the Secretariat's response to U.S.
Ambassador John Bolton about
housing subsidies to UN
employees by governments. Requests for the document, of public interest,
have been made to the Secretariat and to the U.S. mission, 24 hours ago.
Developing...
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From the
September 13, 2006, transcript:
[Inner City Press] Q:
Mr. Secretary-General, this is on Cote d'Ivoire, following up on an earlier
question. I know that you're meeting on the 20th of September in the G.A., or on
the sideline of the G.A. Do you think with the postponed elections, when should
they be held? Should President Laurent Gbagbo stay in power until the elections
are held? And what about this toxic dumping that's taken place? It's actually by
a company, Trafigura, which shows up in the Volcker report in connection with
Cotecna.
Also, if you could just address one thing, and this is for your able spokesman,
that said, Have you filed your financial disclosure and if so, why not?
SG: Let me take it in turn. First of all, on the question of Cote d'Ivoire, we
are going to have a mini-summit here with all the leaders of the political
parties and regional leaders. And we will resolve some of the issues that you
have raised.
On the question of the toxic waste, I think that this is a serious issue. We
need to be careful that the developing world and the poor countries do not
become dumping grounds for these kinds of waste, and I hope serious action will
be taken against the company and all involved. And of course UN agencies have
been active in helping the Government resolve this.
As to your second, your third question, I honor all my obligations to the UN,
and I think that is as I have always done.
[See above]
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As UN Checks
Toxins in Abidjan, the Dumper Trafigura Figured in Oil for Food Scandal,
Funded by RBS and BNP Paribas
Targeting of
African Americans For High Cost Mortgages Grew Worse in 2005, While Fed
Downplays Its Own Findings
The UN and
Nagorno-Karabakh: Flurries of Activity Leave Frozen Conflicts Unchanged;
Updates on Gaza, Gavels and Gbagbo
The UN Cries
Poor on Lawless Somalia, While Its Ex-Security Chief Does Business
Through Ruleless Revolving Door
At the UN,
Micro-States Simmer Under the Assembly's Surface, While Incoming Council
President Dodges Most Questions
"Horror Struck"
is How UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments Would Leave
U.S., Referral on Burma But Not Uzbekistan
Security Council
President Condemns UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments,
While UK "Doesn't Do It Any More"
At the UN,
Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by
Member States
Rare UN Sunshine
From If Not In Chad While Blind on Somalia and Zimbabwe, UNDP With Shell
in its Ear on Nigeria
Annan Family
Ties With Purchaser from Compass, Embroiled in UN Scandal, Raise
Unanswered Ethical Questions
At the UN, from
Casamance to Transdniestria, Kosovars to Lezgines, Micro-States as
Powerful's Playthings
Inquiry Into
Housing Subsidies Contrary to UN Charter Goes Ignored for 8 Weeks, As
Head UN Peacekeeper Does Not Respond
Congo Shootout
Triggers Kofi Annan Call, While Agent Orange Protest Yields Email from
Old London
On the UN -
Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost
UN Bets the
House on Lebanon, While Willfully Blind in Somalia and Pinned Down in
Kinshasa
Stop Bank
Branch Closings and Monopolies in the Katrina Zone, Group Says,
Challenging Regions- AmSouth Merger
Ship-Breakers
Missed by UN's Budget for Travel and Consultants in Bangladesh, Largest
UNIFIL Troop Donor
Sudan Cites
Hezbollah, While UN Dances Around Issues of Consent and Sex Abuse in the
Congo, Passing the UNIFIL Hat
With Somalia on
the Brink of Horn-Wide War, UN Avoids Question of Ethiopian Invasion
In UN's Lebanon
Frenzy, Darfur Is Ignored As Are the Disabled, "If You Crave UNIFIL,
Can't You Make Do With MONUC?"
UN Decries
Uzbekistan's Use of Torture, While Helping It To Tax and Rule; Updates
on UNIFIL and UNMIS Off-Message
At the UN,
Lebanon Resolution Passes with Loophole, Amb. Gillerman Says It Has All
Been Defensive
On Lebanon,
Russian Gambit Focuses Franco-American Minds, Short Term Resolution Goes
Blue Amid Flashes of Lightening
Africa Can Solve
Its Own Problems, Ghanaian Minister Tells Inner City Press, On LRA Peace
Talks and Kofi Annan's Views
At the UN, Jay-Z
Floats Past Questions on Water Privatization and Sweatshops, Q'Orianka
Kilcher in the Basement
In the UN
Security Council, Speeches and Stasis as Haiti is Forgotten, for a
Shebaa Farms Solution?
UN Silence on
Congo Election and Uranium, Until It's To Iran or After a Ceasefire, and
Council Rift on Kony
At the UN Some
Middle Eastern Answers, Updates on Congo and Nepal While Silence on
Somalia
On Lebanon,
Franco-American Resolution Reviewed at UN in Weekend Security Council
Meeting
UN Knew of Child
Soldier Use by Two Warlords Whose Entry into Congo Army the UN
Facilitated
At the UN,
Disinterest in Zimbabwe, Secrecy on Chechnya, Congo Polyanna and
Ineptitude on Somalia
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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