Inner City Press -- Investigative Journalism from the United Nations

The UN Shrugs on Congolese Warlords, While UNDP Assists Sudanese Justice, and OIOS Is In Hiding

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, October 11 -- A Congolese warlord identified by the UN as having used child soldiers, Mathieu Ndugjolo, was on Tuesday formally granted the rank of colonel in the Congolese army. Peter Karim, who held seven UN peacekeepers hostage for two months earlier this year, was also made a colonel.

On May 30 of this year, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan answered Inner City Press' questions about the kidnapping by saying that Peter Karim would face "personal accountability" for his actions, which have included killing UN peacekeepers and looting the Congo's natural resources, according to UN experts' reports.

Wednesday Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman for his reaction to the integration of these two into the FARDC. "We have made clear our position on the first gentleman [Ndugjolo], we have accused him of using child soldiers," the spokesman said. Video on UNTV, from Minute 11:55.

"We expect armies to respect human rights," the spokesman said. He did not address the kidnapper Peter Karim, for whom Kofi Annan on camera promised "personally accountability ." Getting a promotion and being given more soldiers seems a strange brand accountability for having killed and kidnapped UN peacekeepers. Actually, Kofi Annan had articulated a clear position on Peter Karim: personal accountability. There just was no follow-through.

UN through a glass darkly (Burundi, see below)

Peace Building, Anyone?

The UN's Carolyn McAskie Wednesday described for reporters the new peace-building commission and its two initial focuses, Burundi and Sierra Leone. Inner City Press asked if the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which the UN has become so militarily involved with 17,000 peacekeepers and what the UN's William Lacy Swing has described as an air force, is not a candidate for peace-building support, financial and otherwise. Video on UNTV, from Minute 33:26.

In response Ms. McAskie cited the danger of mistaking post-election for post-conflict. "The few months before an election are usually peaceful," she had. "But after the election there are winners and losers, giving rising to another set of tensions."

The United Kingdom appears to be thinking along these lines: it is pulling all of its "non-essential" personnel out of the DR Congo in connection with the run-off election scheduled for October 29. Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman on Monday if the UN had any response to the UK's expression of doubts in safety in the Congo, despite the UN and European Union troops there. The spokesman answered that the UN does not comment on security.

If the DRC is too dangerous for UN peace-building funds, what of Burundi, where the FNL rebels now won't join in ceasefire monitoring, or Sierra Leone, which is embroiled in conflict about Yenga with Guinea? Inner City Press asked Ms. McAskie, who answered that neither of these "elements of fragility" are a problem, in her judgment. And "people trust our judgment," she added.

The UN Development Program is being put in charge of the peace-building funds, nearly $140 million dollars. The money can be used for such things as paying judges, Ms. McAskie said Wednesday. As it turns out, despite events in Darfur, UNDP is funding the government judiciary in Sudan, according to a press release earlier this year. UNDP has refused to comment on its assistance to governments like that of Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, and now has pending before it questions about its operation in Somalia, and for an update on its controversial funding of forced disarmament in Uganda. With this lack of transparency, one wonders why $140 million and more is being shifted across First Avenue to an entity not apparently audited by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services?

Since OIOS recently issued a report detailing, among other things, the theft of $179,000 from the UN's Economic Commission for Africa, Inner City Press has been asking the Spokesman's Office that OIOS come and brief reporters, hopefully Under-Secretary General Inga-Britt Alhenius. The spokesman said he would ask. On October 6, following an interview on the 35th floor of the UN Headquarters with Kofi Annan's envoy to The Gambia, Inner City Press stopped in at OIOS' office, also on the 35th floor, and asked about a briefing for reporters. "Have the spokesman ask us," Inner City Press was told. This was conveyed to the spokesman, who said "we can talk offline." We'll see.

Among the issues for OIOS to answer is why, in their audit of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, they did not review what safeguards are in place to ensure the OCHA and other parts of the UN system do not work through or offer strength to organizations on the UN's sanctions list, as BBC has asserts the UN has done in Pakistan, click here for more. Despite no mention of this issue in the OIOS' report, has OIOS considered it? So far, no answer. Ah, transparency...

Kofi Annan on Peter Karim, May 30, 2006:

From the video at Minutes 13:40 - 15:25, and the transcript:

Inner City Press question: "On the Democratic Republic of the Congo, what's being done for the 7 peacekeepers that were taken hostage in Ituri? And also, over the weekend, the UN military head in Bunia said elections can't really be held in this type of circumstance? What can be done in the run-up to elections to make it more?"

Secretary-General answer: "It is tragic what happened in Bunia and we lost one Nepalese and three are wounded and about seven are missing. And we have been in touch with Karim's group -- we think that is the group holding them, and demanding their release. And hopefully, we will get them released. But Karim and others who get involved in these sort of activities, must understand that they will be held accountable, as Lubanga has been picked up and is now in the hands of the ICC [International Criminal Court]. They will be held individually accountable for these brutal acts."

Now, Peter Karim is a colonel in the Congolese army. Accountability?

UN Defers on Anti-Terror Safeguards to Member States, Even in Pakistan and Somalia

UNITED NATIONS, October 10 -- "If you work in Kashmir, there will be people given aid that belong to organizations with fundamentalist beliefs," Jan Egeland, the head of the UN's Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday.

At a press conference on disaster reduction, Inner City Press asked Mr. Egeland about reports on the UN's dealing in Pakistan with the Al Rashid Trust, an organization on the UN's own sanctions list. "I'm sure we did cover people with many different beliefs, and many different political orientations," Mr. Egeland answered. Video on UNTV, from Minute 44:58.

The BBC radio report -- click here for MP3 audio, here for less-detailed text -- includes interviews in which officials of Al Rashid Trust and Jamaat ud-Dawa brag that UN officials visited them every day and provided them with tents and transport and other services without which they could not have opened or operated the camps. While it should be noted that almsgiving and the care of orphans are laudably central principles of the Islamic tradition, the report BBC states that these two organizations have enrolled children orphaned by the earthquake in madrassas in which military training for jihad is offered. From the report:

"Jamaat ud-Dawa and al-Rashid Trust and their brand of extremist Islam never had a big presence in these areas before the earthquake. But their relief efforts - and the aid they got from international agencies - have really boosted their position locally. One Jamaat leader told us that people were now trusting them with their children - they hadn't before the earthquake - and they had actively recruited hundreds of children left orphaned or fatherless. He said they had already sent 400 such children under the age of nine to board at their madrassas, or religious schools, some hundreds of miles from their homes. That's despite a Pakistan government promise a year ago that these vulnerable children would be looked after either by their extended families or by the state, not by outside agencies." Click here for more.

Mr. Egeland is deservedly a much-respected humanitarian. His agency OCHA's responses on what safeguards are in place appear, however, to leave many questions unanswered. After the press briefing, supplemental answers were provided by one of Mr. Egeland's two hard-working spokespeople, Kristen Knutson. Asked how, in the future, OCHA will try to ensure that it does not increase the influence of groups like the Al Rashid Trust by providing aid to camps they establish, Ms. Knutson insisted that determining who can set up a camp is entirely up to governments of member states. And once a camp is open, OCHA and the UN will provide aid to the people in that camp.

In Pakistan, despite the Al Rashid Trust being on the UN's terrorism sanctions list, Pakistan's Minister of the Interior told the BBC that because the Al Rashid Trust filed suit in court in Pakistan, nothing can be done about their operations so long as the case remains pending in the Pakistani court system.

And what of the case of states like Afghanistan under the Taliban, where what courts existed would have ignored UN sanctions lists, or now of (most of) Somalia, where there are only Islamic court or no courts at all? As to Somalia, it took OCHA several weeks to respond to Inner City Press' written question concerning whether OCHA works with a particular individual, who is known to have dug up bones from an old Italian cemetery, crushed them in the street, and built a mosque on top. Now Inner City Press has asked for a description of OCHA's operations in Somalia. Ms. Knutson on Tuesday with refreshing candor disclosed that Somalia is the only country in the world right now in "Phase Five," the UN's highest level of alert for nations in which UN international staff cannot live, but only enter as part of temporary missions from their base in Nairobi. She committed to providing a list of OCHA's and the UN's main contacts in Somalia. A similar request remains pending with UNDP, into which an intrepid assistant UN spokesman re-inquired on Tuesday. Watch this space.

Also at the UN on Tuesday, a report on violence against women was released. Kofi Annan's adviser on gender issues, Rachel Mayanja, called for greater coordination within the UN system on the issues. Only in producing the report, she said, was it realized that UN Habitat works on violence against women issues, in terms of such housing-related issues as lighting and proximity to transportation. The report notes that the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction includes violence against women. On Monday many UN agencies decried an increase in rape in Darfur. So when will the ICC prosecution begin?

Finally, for this report, and also on the need for prosecution, Tuesday at the UN Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin was, as he was on Monday, the only one of the ambassadors of the Permanent Five ambassadors of the Security Council to not take questions on camera from reporters. Click here to see the list of those who spoke on UNTV on Tuesday. Thus, as to Russia's UN representative, the questions about the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya remain to be asked, or answered.

Amid UN's Korean Uproar, Russia Silent on Murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Exposer of Chechnya Abuse

UNITED NATIONS, October 9, 2 p.m. -- Monday morning at the UN Security Council, with the help of a Permanent Five member, Russia, one story buried another. On the issues raised by North Korea's underground nuclear test on October 8, the UN ambassadors of four of the Security Council's five veto-wielding members spoke before television cameras at the formal stakeout position. Only Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin refused to take questions on camera. He spoke only to Russian reporters, and only off-camera. Click here to view links to video of those who spoke on camera, and note the missing name.

On October 7, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known worldwide as one of the very few who reported in depth on Russia's crackdown on Chechnya, was shot in the back of the head. In the 48 hours that followed, the newspaper she worked for, Novaya Gazeta, announced a near-one million dollar reward to catch her killers. German parliamentarians called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to break his silence, noting the Russia is the third-most deadly country for journalists, after only Iraq and Algeria. Click here for CPJ analysis.

At UN headquarters in New York Monday at the daily noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman whether the UN system had any response to Ms. Politkovskaya's assassination. (Video on UNTV at Minute 11:25.) The spokesman said that that the secretary-general condemns this attack and hope her killers are found. After the briefing, Inner City Press asked for clarification on the spokesman's guidelines on specifically condemning events in member states. The spokesman said he had sought guidance prior to the press conference, and then made a comment he said was off the record.

More than two days after Ms. Politkovskaya's assassination -- after Putin's silence had been noted as far away as Australia -- the Russian government issued a press note stating that during a telephone conversation with U.S. President George W. Bush about the North Korean nuclear test, Mr. Putin had said he will investigate Ms. Politkovskaya's killing. Setting aside even more problematic connections, such as direct involvement, if the trail leads to Russian-favored Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov, what would Putin do? And, from a UN perspective, when will Amb. Churkin speak on the issue?

By way of background, when he was Russia's Ambassador to Canada in 2003, Mr. Churkin faced protest concerning Russian treatment of Chechen journalist Zamid Ayubov - click here for more.

After voting Monday morning for Ban Ki-moon for secretary-general, to pass his name for rubber-stamping by the General Assembly, the Security Council met on North Korea. U.S. Amb. Bolton spoke of working 24-hours a day to get a sanctions resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Chinese Amb. Wang spoke of being firm but "prudent." To a correspondent, North Korea's ambassador said his country will continue to develop its "nuclear deterrent," and noted that North Korea is already under sanctions. The Security Council's deliberations resume at 3 p.m. Monday with an experts meeting. Developing.

Ethiopia's reported takeover of the Somali town of Bur Haqaba was also inquired into by Inner City Press at the UN's noon briefing. The UN's spokesman said that the UN's "office in Somalia" tells him that Ethiopia has again denied having troops in Somalia. Inner City Press has previously been told that the UN has no office in Somalia, only a political mission based in Nairobi which says it has no "monitoring mandate" inside Somalia. The spokesman went on to say that the Secretary-General is following the heightening tensions between the Transitional Federal Government and the Islamic Court and calls on both to live up to previous commitments, while call on neighboring countries to respect the arms embargo. Video on UNTV at Minute 12:56. When the UN's embargo experts, who have previously declined to answer questions until they brief the Security Council, will in fact brief the Council, is not known.

Pakistan and the Taliban Discussed Behind Closed Council Doors (Another Dead Reporter: Hayat Ullah Khan)

After Monday's Security Council session on Afghanistan, Inner City Press asked Council President Oshima if the issue of what Pakistan is or is not doing with regards to the Taliban and Al Qaeda had come up. Amb. Oshima indicated that the Permanent Representative of Pakistan had been present and had provided an explanation, particularly with regard to the "border areas." Inner City Press asked if the Council members had been convinced. Amb. Oshima did not say yes or no, only that the presentation had been made. Video here. A recent expose shows Pakistan military figures with known Taliban leaders, and shows Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf saying he knows nothing of the disappearance and killing in mid-2006 of journalist Hayat Ullah Khan for taking and publishing a photograph of a U.S. Hellfire missile in the rumble of a North Waziristan home -- click here for more.

In further inside-baseball coverage of the UN, it was noteworthy that at Monday's noon briefing, the UN chose to affirmatively present the condemnation of its envoy to Iraq of the killing of an Iraqi general (video at 6:20), but to wait and see if any reporter raised a question about the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya - if no question had been raised, nothing would have been said. The UN spokesman declined to describe for the record how such decisions are made. One observer noted in this case that the U.S. would join in condemning the killing of an Iraqi general, but Russia clearly did not quickly condemn, or even mention, the killing of critical journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The UN works at all levels, even in P.R., for the so-called P-5 members, this inside observer concluded.

UN Envoy Makes Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and Threat-Filled Election

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- In the Gambian election last month, thousands of non-Gambians from Senegal were brought in to vote by President Yahya Jammeh, it was admitted Friday by Kofi Annan's envoy to the election, former Nigerian General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Jammeh recently said, "If I want to ban any newspaper, I will." Interviewed by Inner City Press on the 35th floor of the UN Headquarters on Friday, just after he briefed Kofi Annan, Gen. Abubakar was dismissive of reports of Jammeh's crackdown on the press, including his reported involvement in the killing of the editor of The Point newspaper. Jammeh's denial in that case was that "I don't believe in killing people, I believe in locking you up for the rest of your life."

Asked by Inner City Press about these and other Jammeh quotes, Gen. Abubaker was dismissive. "Jammeh can say he'll rule for the next thirty or forty years, but he could be voted out," Gen. Abubaker said.

Gen. Abubakar acknowledged the criticism by Gambian opposition groups and the Commonwealth observers of security personnel voting while in uniform, but stated that this is permitted by the Gambian Constitution.

Asked by Inner City Press about Yahya Jammeh's changes to the constitution, Gen. Abubakar said that people are entitled to their own opinions. Democracy, he said, is in the developing world a "sensitive matter" that must be "done with caution." He stated that the elections had gone "very well... I was there on election day and from what I saw it was peaceful."

Yahya Jammeh took power in 1994 in The Gambia, a country of 1.5 million people surrounded on three sides by Senegal. Industries include peanut farming and some tourism. In an interview with Inner City Press on September 21, 2006, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Frazer said that the Jammeh regime is reaching out for help to China, Iran and Venezuela. Friday Inner City Press asked UN Envoy Gen. Abubaker about this. Gen. Abubaker responded by quoting Jammeh, if you don't have to be my friend, you can't stop me from having other friends.

Asked by Inner City Press what his recommendations are, and what the UN will do, Gen. Abubaker first listed the need for better training of journalists. Perhaps a stop to the killing of journalists and editors would help. One wonders why Kofi Annan selected this Nigerian general, who ruled after Sani Abacha, as the UN envoy to the preordained re-election of Yahya Jammeh. One wonders what instructions Gen. Abubaker was given. After changing the constitution to allow himself to run for a third term, and after threatening districts that voted against him with losing development aid, he won garnered 67% of votes, to Oussainou Darboe's 27%, with voter turnout below 60%. This includes the votes of non-Gambians brought in from Senegal's still-troubled Casamance region, an influx that Gen. Abubaker put at "only" four thousand.

When asked if there was outside influence on the Gambian election, Gen. Abubaker said no, despite his statement about thousands of non-Gambians voting. "It wouldn't have changed the result," Gen. Abubaker said. Apparently, nothing would have.

Sudan's UN Envoy Admits Right to Intervene in Rwanda, UNICEF Response on Terrorist Groups in Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS, October 6 -- Sudan's ambassador to the UN on Friday acknowledged the right of the international community to intervene without governmental consent in a situation like Rwanda in 1994. In response to a question from Inner City Press about Darfur, Rwanda and Cambodia under Pol Pot, Sudanese Amb. Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem mentioned the UN Millennium Declaration and the duty "to protect," while seeking to distinguish "orderly" Sudan from Rwanda. Video on UNTV from Minute 10:12, http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/sc/so061006pm1.rm

Inner City Press also asked the Sudanese Ambassador about reports of his government sabotaging military equipment en route to the African Union force in Darfur, including the statements of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Frazer about bolts being removed from armored personnel carriers and the AMIS force commander having to wait in Ethiopia while a visa to enter Sudan was delayed.

Amb. Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem called these "minor matters" and said that "bureaucratic delay is bureaucratic delay." He said that Inner City Press and the other media present could get visas for Sudan and Darfur anytime. Since journalists have been locked up by Sudan, and many have their computers' hard drives scanned and copies as they enter or leave Sudan, the invitation may mean less than it sounded like at the stakeout. Video on UNTV from Minutes 7:43.

Also at the UN on Friday, following an upbeat press conference by George H.W. Bush and a minister from Pakistan to mark the one year anniversary of the South Asia earthquake, Inner City Press asked the UN's spokesman about a BBC expose of aid money going to terrorists groups -- click here to view. BBC has reported that the Al Rashid Trust and Jamaat ud-Dawa were not strong in the area before the quake hit, but set up camps and were inflated by the flowing of aid to those in "their" camps. Inner City Press asked (video on UNTV from Minute 13:50), what safeguards do UN agencies have to avoid such consequences while seeking to deliver clearly-needed aid? While Inner City Press' questions remaining pending about Somalia, UNICEF on Friday responded about Pakistan:

No. UNICEF does not cooperate with Al Rashid, and nor is UNICEF money or material supplied to Al Rashid. Children have a right to education, no matter where they live, just as they have a right to immunization no matter where they live. The NGO DOSTI is an NGO which had the capacity to deliver educational services to 5300 children affected by the earthquake. Some of these children live in Al Rashid camps, through no fault of their own. DOSTI fulfilled its obligation by establishing a school in three such camps. The use of UNICEF material and the educational activities it supports are carefully monitored by UNICEF. To suggest that the rights of children who have lost their homes and schools should be ignored because by chance they are living in a particular location, would contravene the Convention of the Rights of the Child, to which the Netherlands is signatory. (FYI information the schools and the camp we referred to doesn't exist anymore. The only camp remaining in Mansehra is Jaba camp) The organization Jamaat [u]d Dawa is running 2 schools in Mansehra and UNICEF is not providing any support to this organization. Another question you might have is whether UNICEF cooperating with any individual/organization included in the UN list of banned individual / organizations. The answer is: No. UNICEF has no contract/agreement with individuals or organization included in this list and nor is UNICEF money or material supplied to these organizations / individuals.

We report, ask and get answers, you decide. UNICEF has been asked about its Somali operations, developing.

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