At the
UN, As Next S-G is Touted, Annan Claims Power to Make 5-Year Appointments, Quiet
Filing and Ivory Coast Concessions
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- Ban Ki-Moon appears
nearly certain to be the next Secretary-General, it emerged Monday afternoon
after a Security Council straw poll. Rather than this month's Council President,
Japan's Kenzo Oshima, it was Chinese Ambassador Wang who
delivered the news
to a crush of reporters, who had assembled to await the equivalent of the
Vatican's white smoke signaling a new pope. On the side of the stakeout, the
numbers trickled out.
Encourage - Discourage - No Opinion
Ban
Ki-Moon 14
0
1
Shashi Tharoor 10
3
2
Tharoor's discouragements reportedly included the
veto of China. Soon after Amb. Wang's king-maker announcement, word spread that
Shashi Tharoor would come down to deliver his concession. When
he did, he declined
to comment on Ban Ki-Moon's qualifications, beyond the congratulatory fax he'd
sent. He was asked, willl you return to India? "I've had no plan B," he
answered. And now the planning starts. Including, some say, for one or more last
minute stabs in the coming week.
It was already 5:40 when Kenzo Oshima
spoke. By
gentlemen's agreement, he said, I cannot give the results. I hope there are many
gentlemen. Nor would he confirm the Council confirmation vote on October 9, the
date named by
Ambassador Bolton. Gentlemen, indeed...
On the
day the Security Council decided on its nominee as the next Secretary-General,
beginning a five year term on January 1, the spokesman for outgoing
Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters that it is Mr. Annan's position that
he can and will hand out five year appointments even in the less then three
months remaining in his term.
S-G/Ban
Ki-Moon
Inner City Press asked about the candidates to
replace James Morris at the UN World Food Program, including the U.S.'s pick,
Josette Sheeran Shiner. "That selection process is ongoing," the spokesman said.
"We do expect the appointment to be made."
But is it Kofi Annan's position he can
and should make five-year appointments at this time?
"His position is that he can," the
Spokesman said.
Also, the spokesman responded to Inner City
Press' question about Mr. Annan's financial disclosure form by stating that the
form was filed "eleven days ago," subsequently specified as September 22. When
last Inner City Press raised it, the spokesman committed to tell reporters when
it was filed. From the September 19 noon briefing
transcript:
Inner City
Press question: An issue arose at his press conference about his financial
disclosure. I know many people thought he gave an answer that was unclear and
then, Friday, Mark Malloch Brown called the New York Times and said he would be
filing. I guess my question is, when will he be filing? Will you tell us when
he’s filed? Will any portions of it be made public? Why was there the
unclarity about the filing? He said he spoke to lawyers that advised him not to
file. Where these UN lawyers? And how do you decide to release information
that many people had been asking for?
Spokesman:
None will be made public. That form will not be made public as any of the
financial disclosure forms of any UN staff members are not made public. They
are handled by the ethics office. I think Mr. Burnham, on a number of
occasions, gave you detailed briefing on how those forms would be handled and
you had the ethics office here as well. The legal advice the Secretary-General
gets is privileged, as the legal advice anyone is entitled to get. The
Secretary-General from the first moment he entered office, has abided by every
commitment required of him by the Organization. If you go back to the Volcker
report of 2005, as part of the Volcker investigation, he had to release to the
investigators his finances. He did so. I would urge you to look at the
conclusion of that report, which says his financial records did not raise any
suspicion. As you know, the Secretary General is not a staff member of the
Organization. He stopped being a staff member when he became
Secretary-General. However, to avoid any misinterpretation of his position he’s
decided to voluntarily submit his financial disclosure form. And, I will be
happy to tell you as soon as that is done.
But the Spokesman did not announce it, on September
22 or thereafter, until Inner City Press asked again on October 2. Apparently
the desire was to have the issue drift away. Now, the filing has been covered by
AP.
Meanwhile the
UN's Mission in Congo carried Reuters on
discussion of the European Union pulling its troops from the Congo on November
30. Even candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba
says that's
too fast. Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman if the Secretariat has a
position, and whether it or MONUC have communicated with the EU.
The spokesman said he would check into
such communications, but that the UN would like to "see sustained engagement by
the international community in Kinshasa and the greater DRC." We'll see.
Also arising at Monday's noon briefing
was the statement by UN-installed and -supported prime minister of Cote
D'Ivoire, Charles Konan Banny, that
"My mission
consists of normalizing the situation, with priority given to unification,
freedom of circulation, restructuring the administration, but also identifying
populations to pave the way for free, open elections. "Elections should crown
this program" and "not constitute an end in themselves."
Monday Inner City Press asked, does
this mean that the UN Secretariat is paving the way to allowing Gbagbo to
continue to stay in power, despite twice overstaying his mandate? The spokesman
answered vaguely that he has no guidance on this. Video
here,
from Minute 9:45.
Meanwhile, some say that Gbagbo is
thumbing his nose at previous commitment as he seeks to
cement business ties not unrelated to
gaining veto support on the
Security Council. Developing.
Feedback: editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile: 718-716-3540
U.S. Candidate for UN's World Food Program May Get
Lame Duck Appointment, Despite Korean Issues
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, September 29, 3:05 p.m. -- With three
months remaining in the term of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a search is on
to pick the next executive director of the UN's World Food Program. A memo
circulated by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, obtained by Inner City
Press, names the U.S. candidate for the position. She is Josette Sheeran
(Shiner), with perhaps notable ties to Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church
including praise for North Korea.
Tuesday at the UN, before the
WFP nomination had become public, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters
that Kofi Annan's appointment of new UN officials would only be okay if these
officials' contracts ended "soon after January 1." Video
here,
at Minute 4:43.
Friday at the UN, Inner City
Press asked Ambassador Bolton if the U.S.'s position is that Josette Sheeran
(Shiner) could be given a five-year WFP term even before Kofi Annan leaves the
UN in three month. Ambassador Bolton answered that the appointment could be made
before January 1, that "the precedents have differed." Video
here,
from Minute 8:15, the US mission's transcript:
Inner
City Press: On the secretary-general transition and the World Food Program
looking for a new executive director, I've heard that the U.S. put forward
Josette Sheeran Shiner. Is it your position that this should not be done until
January 1st or that she could be appointed and given a five-year term prior to
that?
Ambassador Bolton: She could be appointed prior to January 1 or thereafter. And
the precedent has differed from reappointment to reappointment.
While there has reportedly been some
dissention within the Bush administration regarding the nomination, open-source
research finds that Josette Sheeran (Shiner) was an active member of Rev. Sun
Myung Moon's Unification Church from 1975 through at least 1996. After that
date, it is reported that she went "into the world," including into William
Bennett's Empower America organization and then the U.S. State Department, in
order to spread the Unification Church's message and position. Beyond
controversial views on abstinence,
mass-marriage and other matters,
including the
UN, these include business ties
with and praise of North Korea.
WFP's
outgoing Jim Morris
The internal U.S. State Department memo
obtained by Inner City Press states that
"For the past
several weeks, we have been working with the White House to search for a highly
qualified candidate to succeed Jim Morris as Executive Director of the World
Food Programme. We now have an excellent candidate in Ambassador Josette Sheeran
(Shiner)... Through the course of a distinguished career in government, business
and journalism, Ambassador Sheeran has excelled as a diplomat, humanitarian,
business leader and development policy leader."
The reference to journalism is to Ms.
Sheeran's tenure as managing editor of the Moon-owned Washington Times.
In that capacity, in 1992 Ms. Sheeran
went on an 11-day visit to North Korea, leading up a feature article
commemorating the 80th birthday of Kim Il-Sung's 80th birthday. "Even if the sky
is falling down on us, there will always be a hole for me to rise up through,"
said Kim -- a sentence Sheeran-Shiner later recollected, as recounted by the
American Prospect, as "this wonderful thing which I printed in the paper."
Sheeran-Shiner's interview with Kim
Il-Sung painted him as a "self-confident, reflective elder statesman rather than
the reclusive, dogmatic dictator he is usually portrayed as in the West."
Now Kim Il-Sung's son is being
portrayed by Ms. Sheeran-Shiner's nominator as a threat to international peace
and security. More documents on the North Korea - Moon connection are online
here.
Josette Sheeran's first appearance in the
media was in Time magazine of November 10, 1975, in an article entitled "Mad
About Moon" --
"One
typical worried parent is New Jersey's state insurance commissioner James
Sheeran, three of whose daughters—Vicki, 25, Jaime, 24, and Josette, 21—are Moon
converts. He wants laws to protect people from 'cruel and exotic entrapment of
their minds, souls and bodies.' Late one night last August, Sheeran decided to
act when Josette, normally compassionate, showed little interest upon learning
that her grandmother was in the hospital. He, his wife and a son drove to Moon's
school to seek Josette. Fifteen Moon men materialized, a scuffle ensued, and
state police arrived amid mutual charges of assault."
Inner City Press' sources say that also
in the running to lead WFP are
Canada's ambassador to the WFP in Rome, Robert
Fowler, as well as senior foreign aid officials from
Switzerland and Norway.
Given that the latter two countries already have nationals in Under-Secretary
General positions, these sources say, the WFP competition for now is between the
U.S. and its neighbor to the North. Friday Amb. Bolton expressed his view that
the U.S. has the best candidate so "I'm sure we're going to prevail."
But whether either should be considered for
a five-year term before the next Secretary-General is in office is an open
question. At deadline, a UN official -- who has asked to be identified as such
-- indicated that while Mr. Annan may want to make a five-year appointment as a
"lame duck," the incoming Secretary-General would also have to assent.
On that, speculation at the UN
concerns whether the "discourage" and "no opinion" ballots for yesterday's South
Korean front-runner Ban Ki-Moon ("no relation," the UN diplomat joked) involve
France and/or the U.K... "Japan is not a fan," the UN diplomat notes. An
unrelated update: the U.S. Mission has yet to release to the public and press a
copy of the Secretary-General's response about
housing subsidies from
governments by UN officials. The wait continues. Developing...
William Swing Sings Songs of
Congo's Crisis, No Safeguards on Coltan Says Chairman of Intel
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, September 27
-- The run-off election in the Congo, the United Nations' focus in that country,
is on schedule for October 29 and looking good, UN envoy William Lacy Swing said
Wednesday.
Swing
briefed the UN Security Council, whose president emerged to
say he
hopes the second round goes at smoothly as the first. Since the first round was
followed by clashing militias in the capital, and since even Swing acknowledged
the recent
arrest of hundreds of street children,
either the UN has low standards for the Congo, or Swing is behind the closed
Council doors painting a decidedly rosy picture.
In front of the TV camera outside the Council
chamber, Inner City Press asked Swing about the UN's changing story on an
incident at Kazana in Eastern Congo's Ituri region in which a village was burned
down.
"The
huts that were burned down were militia huts," Mr. Swing said. But Inner
City Press' sources, including eyewitnesses in Kazana that day, state that the
burned huts had well-tended gardens, swept walkways and household utensils not
associated with militia, in Congo or anywhere else.
"We have never declared an
intention to do an investigation as such" of Kazana, William Swing said into
the camera, click
here to
view from Minute 5 of 9. But the UN's head of peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno
answered an
Inner City Press question
in late July of this year by saying he was "studying" the Kazana investigation
carried out by the UN's mission in Congo, MONUC.
Since
then, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has had to change the date they
had ascribed to the Kazana incident, and has
had to admit that huts were burned down.
The claim by Swing that all huts belonged to militia, and that there will be --
and has been -- no investigation is questions unanswered that must continue to
be asked.
UN's
Ross Mountain in Ituri
So too with question
surrounding the Congo warlord who kidnapped seven UN peacekeepers for a month
this past July. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had said, on camera, that Peter
Karim
would face
"personal accountability." But Wednesday Mr. Annan's envoy William Swing said
that from "early on" in the negotiations leading to the peacekeepers' released,
there was an intention to offer Karim a rank on the Congolese army. That has not
been "fully consummated," Swing said. There are reports that Karim is
conscripting more fighters, including children, to order to gain the title of
general.
Inner City Press has been told that
during the month-long negotiation with Peter Karim, that Karim was a Muslim and
a member of Al Qaeda floated through one or more agencies of the U.S.
government, and the U.S. quickly got involved in the negotiations. Wednesday
Inner City Press asked Mr. Swing about this. Swing responded that in and around
Ituti there are many "Muslim adherents" and mosques, but that he was not "aware
of that."
Aware of Peter Karim's
status, or if the U.S. had gotten interested? Neither, Mr. Swing said, on
camera. Video here, from Minute 8:15. That question will continue to be
explored. After the ten minute Q&A, Inner City Press showed Mr. Swing an article
which had come up -- click
here
-- and on which comment should be forthcoming.
At an earlier briefing on the
digital divide, Inner City Press asked Intel's chairman Craig Barrett about any
safeguards in place to ensure that the used
coltan
does not come from conflict zones in the Congo. Are there any safeguards? "Not
that I'm aware of," Mr Barrett answered. Click
here to
view, at Minute 27:14.
The UN Spokesman's office
provided two post-briefing answers. Inner City Press has asked about reports
that Sudan's Al-Bashir government sabotages military equipment that comes in
bound for Darfur, as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Frazer told Inner City Press
last week. The UN's responses on Wednesday were not entirely consistent: that
UNMIS in Khartoum has not received complaints, but that UN envoy Jan Pronk spoke
about this issue before Ms. Frazer did. Which is it?
Asked about a request by the opposition
in Zimbabwe that the UN cease for now accepting Zimbabwean troops as
peacekeepers, given the issues in Harare, the UN responded that it will only act
on such requests when they come from governments. On a related
report that at least one Zimbabwean soldier was involuntarily returned from
a UN peacekeeping mission after reports of abuse, the UN responded that its
personnel actions are generally confidential. An exception was made for a list
on sexual exploitation and abuse recently provided to Inner City Press because
these "are crimes," the UN said Wednesday. These issues and the situation in
Zimbabwe, in which Mr. Annan stepped back from mediating due to the
now-questionable involvement of Ben Mkapa, will continue to be followed closely.
Among the closest followers of
speeches and resulting online news articles in the latter stages of the UN's
General Debate must be Azerbaijan. Reacting to a UN News headline, "Armenia
Azerbaijan and Armenia Exchange Accusations on Nagorno-Karabakh During UN
Debate," which was sent out by email at 5 p.m. Tuesday to Inner City Press and
others, Azerbaijan complained and the story was unceremoniously taken down, the
headline's "trade accusation" switched to "address
issue" and the article substantially edited. But the two countries did
trade barbs, as Inner City Press recently
reported
after dueling statements in the General Assembly about even jointly putting out
fires in the disputed region. Or shouldn't we use the word "disputed"? To
paraphrase New York tabloid columnist Cindy Adams, "Only at the UN, kids, only
at the UN."
Warlord in the Waldorf and Other Congo Questions Dodged by the UN in the Time
Between Elections
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press
September 26-27, 2006 -- The United Nations Mission in the Congo, MONUC, is the
UN system's largest peacekeeping project. In the run-up to MONUC chief William
Lacy Swing's September 27 briefing to the Security Council, five questions have
been raised to the Office of the Spokesman for the UN and MONUC. One was
referred to the U.S. State Department, one was ignored and another awaits
response.
Two questions,
regarding the mass arrest in Kinshasa of 500 woman and children and the German
Defense Minister's desire to pull out the European Union force in November,
garnered terse responses. On the former, " more than
a dozen children and some 100 other men and women, some with babies, remained in
custody on Tuesday inside the police compound in Kinshasa." Click
here.
The UN responded, "About recent violence, he
Secretary General has repeatedly appealed to Congolese and their leaders to
ensure that the elections proceed peacefully."
On the statement
by German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, the UN's response is that it did
not expect the EU force to stay.
A question about
William Lacy Swing's previous service in Liberia in the time Samuel Doe, during
which current president Sirleaf-Johnson was locked up, was referred to the U.S.
State Department, or to Swing "in his personal capacity."
The
UN in Kinshasa
A question about
the continued boycott of the second round of elections by the largest opposition
party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress
and its leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, has yet to
be answered. UPDS released a
statement saying
that the UN has excluded it; the UN has not responded. And a fourth question,
pending for 48 hours, has been entirely ignored. This was the question, and
context, posed to the Spokesman's office on the afternoon of September 25:
[Please]
provide any background or comment on ex-militia leader Mbusa Nyamwisi, formerly
of the Armee Populaire Congolaise of the RCD / KML and now minister for
regional cooperation of the DR of Congo? This question is asked in the context,
among other things, of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Frazer's comment last
week [to Inner City Press] that MONUC must closely scrutinize the FARDC and
wider DRC government if MONUC is going to continue to work with them]
The further context of this
still-unanswered question is that on September 22 at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel
on Manhattan's Park Avenue, Inner City Press spoke with ex-warlord Mbusa
Nyamwisi, who said he was staying in room 1612 of the Waldorf through the
weekend, even though Joseph Kabila had left town. Mbusa Nyamwisi was the
counterparty to Jean-Pierre Bemba in the latter's Operation "Effacer Le
Tableau" (Erase the Blackboard) in Eastern Congo, in which villages were
burned, civilians killed and pygmies were reportedly eaten. Friday Mbusa
Nyamwisi's belly was larger and softer as he settled in for a weekend in New
York. In the first round of the election, Mbusa Nyamwisi threw his weight
behind Kabila. Is this the UN's work plan? One would expect some comment. In any
event, we will soon have a longer, more nuanced view of Mbusa Nyamwisi.
Inner City Press has had in a request to
interview W. L. Swing. Tuesday at noon it was announced that Mr. Swing will take
questions after he briefs the Security Council on Wednesday. Inner City Press
aims to be there, to get these questions answered. Watch this site.
At the
UN, Tales of Media Muzzled in Yemen, Penned in at the Waldorf on Darfur, While
Copters Grounded
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
September 22 -- This week's Yemeni elections, mentioned as a sign of hope by
U.S. President George W. Bush in his speech to the UN General Assembly, have
resulted in charges of fraud by the opposition. On Friday at a UN press
conference, Inner City Press asked Yemen's Minister of Foreign Affairs Abubakr
A. Al-Qirbi about the opposition's charges. Al-Qirbi responded that since the
opposition is also attacking the credibility of European Union observers, their
claims should be taken with skepticism.
Inner
City Press then asked about a
report
by the Human Rights Information and Training Center, that state-run television
in Yemen favored the incumbent
Ali
Abdullah Saleh. Foreign Minister
Al-Qirbi responded that in the run-up to
the election, opposition parties founded human rights groups to raise claims on
their behave. Inner City Press then asked if Al-Qirby was stating, beyond just
implying, that the Human Rights Information and Training Center was a front for
opposition parties. After some hesitation Al-Qirby said, "As far as a know, it
was not founded by opposition parties."
Then
Yemen's Ambassador to the UN, who'd sat with Al-Qirby at the podium, added that
"Our neighbors say: 'This is unprecedented that you allow the opposition to come
in and attack you on the official TV." Video
here,
following Minute 20:30. This quote showed up mis-attributed to Al-Qirby himself
in a hastily-issued Associated Press
article without
a byline, entitled "Yemen's
FM denies vote-rigging, praises advances toward democracy."
These things happen, apparently, during a grueling week of General Assembly
debate.
West Darfur per UN
Other
exhausted reporters gathered Friday from 4 to 6 at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel on
Park Avenue. In the Hilton Room just off lobby where a piano tastefully played,
Mark Malloch Brown, Condoleeza Rice and the foreign ministers of Denmark, Ghana,
Senegal and other countries met about Darfur. Reporters were ejected from the
room once opening statements were over. In the lobby, U.S. security personnel
pushed reporters into an impromptu pen, after a dog has sniffed their equipment
(TV equipment, we mean). To while away the hour and a half of the meeting,
reporters who'd accompanied Condi Rice from DC swamped stories. One well-groomed
Fox News reporter told the tale of a woman who'd just ended a relationship of
six year, because she caught her partner cheating with another man -- the third
time this had happened to the woman. "I told her it's not her, it's societal,"
the Fox man said. Later Condi Rice called on him by name, for a question why the
U.S. is not being harder on Iran. And so it goes...
On Darfur,
beyond set-up Condi Rice stakeout at the Waldorf, at the UN reporters asked Amre
Moussa, secretary-general of the League of Arab States, about the lack of Arab
League support for the African Union mission in Sudan, AMIS, on which Inner City
Press reported yesterday. Amre Moussa answered vaguely that now that AMIS'
mandate has been extended through the end of the year, financial support will be
forthcoming, in an amount yet to be determined.
On the
U.S.'s charges -- video now online
here
-- that Sudan's Al-Bashir government has been sabotaging armored personnel
carriers en route to AMIS in Darfur, and delaying the issues of visas, Inner
City Press asked these questions at the UN Spokesman's noon briefing on Friday,
as summarized by the UN:
Asked about comments from U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer that the Sudanese Government has
been dismantling armored personnel carriers and other equipment intended for the
African Union Mission in Sudan, the Spokesman said that the United Nations
intended to move more than 100 UN personnel, as well as communications
equipment, to help bolster the AU Mission prior to the transition to a UN force.
He said that, as with any peacekeeping
force, the United Nations in Sudan would have to work with the sovereign
government, but it would expect all equipment that it delivers to be 'in one
piece.' He noted that UN personnel would accompany the equipment being
transported to the African Union Mission
In
further inquiries, Inner City Press has heard that the Sudanese Army has been
allowed to tamper with AMIS' helicopters at night, removing for example the
motor oil so that the helicopters can't fly in the mornings, and military
actions against civilians can continue. A correspondent reports that the UN's
man in Sudan, Jan Pronk, speaks of equipment languishing in Port Sudan, under
control of the Al-Bashir government.
Back in
media-world, penned in at the Waldorf, among the unrelated news-bits learned is
that Ghana's Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, whom Inner City Press
interviewed during Ghana's Security Council presidency in August of this year,
click
here
to read, plans to run for the presidency of Ghana in 2008. One correspondent at
the Waldorf Friday reminisced about Ghana's Council presidency, compared to the
current president, who at Friday afternoon declined to do a stakeout interview
after a Council meeting at which a President Statement on Congo was issued and
Sudan acted on. When a business-minded reporter asked him if the UN's political
chief Ibrahim Gambari might be the one to brief the Council on Myanmar, the
current Council president responded, "You are asking about unimportant matters."
Unimportant to whom?
Third
Day of UN General Debate Gets Surreal, Canapes and Killings, Questions on Iran
and Montenegro and Still Somalia
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
September 20 -- On the sidelines of the unfolding UN General Assembly meeting,
surreal scene unfold, such as Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov speaking with
reporters in front of a graphic photo exhibition of victims of terrorism, while
canapes go like hot cakes, literally. This took place Thursday evening,
three-quarters of the way through a day of speeches. Iranian president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in a press conference in Conference Room 4 mused which of his
questioners were Zionists, and which one "work for the UN... trying to enforce
Security Council resolution" like Resolution 1701 barring weapons in Lebanon
except for that country's government.
Ahmadinejad said
repeatedly that he supports people who are getting killed, anywhere and by
anyone. Time or the MC did not allow for these questions to be asked: what about
in Darfur? Or in
Xingjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, or
Chechnya?
PeaceDay@UN
Thursday at the UN
began with a ceremony for the International Day of Peace, including without
explanation Michael Douglas, Jane Goodall and on cello, Yo-Yo Ma. There was
singing by a choir of 193 children -- one wag wondered if this was a harbinger
of the outcome of the Kosovo status talks, given that there are currently only
192 member states of the UN.
Number 192,
Montenegro, told Media Accreditation, which told the Spokesman's Office, which
told correspondents, that the new nation's prime minister would appear at the
Security Council stakeout to take questions. Inner City Press passed through
metal detectors with two questions to ask. But there was no microphone, no
camera, and no Montenegrins. Here though are the questions: what will happen
with the weapons Montenegro
says it will sell, now that it has split with Serbia? And what are the prime
minister's
plans, to step down or not? And what about cigarette smuggling? But that
would be the third, unanswered question...
Some statements
are so surreal they preempt all questions. Briefing on the Day of Peace, it was
read-out
that "in Somalia, for example, our office there tells us that communities in
major population centers throughout the country are celebrating the Day with
special activities ranging from peace marches and sporting events to music and
dance." But the
UN's own write-up
of the Day of Peace quotes UN "Special Representative Francois Lonseny Fall
highlighted two 'particularly violent events this week [that] have pushed peace
deeper into the shadows,' the murder of an Italian nun who had served the needs
of children in Mogadishu and the assassination attempt on President Abdullahi
Yusuf in Baidoa. 'I wish I could paint a bright picture for Somalia today, but
there are too many clouds, too many uncertainties on the horizon. And there are
far too many competing interests that have too little to do with the profound
humanitarian needs of the civilian population and the development of the
country,' he said." So what happened to the music and dance?
At the same
briefing, Inner City Press was asked to summarize its still-unanswered questions
on Somalia. From the
transcript:
Question: What communications has the UN
system had with Transition Federal Government since the assassination attempt?
And, I have two questions into OCHA and about Somalia, that if you could light a
fire under them…
Associate Spokesman: And what are those
questions?
Question: Whether OCHA works with a
particular member of the Islamic Courts known to have torn up Italian cemeteries
and built a mosque on top on them, a known fanatic. Just a question whether
they work with him or not. And whether in fact there is, as is reported, an
investigation of UNDP Somalia for missing funds? Those are the two questions
and both of them said they would give an answer as of last week and have not.
Associate Spokesman: Well, I’m sure they
are still looking into those two questions. As for your first question, we are
permanently in contact with the Somali authorities and we have an office based
in Nairobi that specially monitors development in Somalia, and the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia has very specifically the
mandate of monitoring developments in Somalia. So, he is touch regularly with
the authorities in Somalia. And, I will make sure that my colleagues get back
to you on your two other questions.
Inner City Press
checked in later with the Associate Spokesman and reiterated the questions. So
now we'll just wait...
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
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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reports are archived on
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