Inner City Press -- Investigative Journalism from the United Nations

U.S. Blocked Council's Trip to Darfur Meeting, Brazzaville Envoy Explains After U.S. Casts a Veto

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

UNITED NATIONS, November 11 -- "He may be African, but we don't agree with him." So said the Ambassador of Congo-Brazzaville, Basile Ikouebe, about what he called Kofi Annan's attempt to undermine and replace the Security Council's now-cancelled trip to the African Union's meeting in Addis Ababa about Darfur. Annan "does not represent the African Union," Ambassador Ikouebe added.

Inner City Press had asked for clarification on which country or countries had blocked the Council's trip to Addis Ababa. "The United States," Amb. Ikouebe told Inner City Press. He continued: "We don't understand. We have received some signals that Sudan might accept deployment of our [UN] force. We had to go and discuss. We had eight delegations. We paid for our tickets and everything. Then, 'no, no, no,' by the United States."

Amb. Ikouebe spoke just after the U.S. vetoed the resolution on Israel and Palestine. "Why couldn't they agree to this condemnation?" Amb. Ikouebe mused, noting that the U.S. had asked for, and received, a vote to place Myanmar on the Council's agenda.

In the chamber

Observing the rare Saturday proceeding from the inside the Council chamber, one saw U.S. Ambassador John Bolton sitting alone in the run-up to the vote, with most other Ambassadors around him had conversations and exchanged greetings. Palestine's permanent observer shook hands with China's representative. In the audience sat, among others, the Ambassadors of Syria and of Sudan. When the meeting began, only the U.S.'s John Bolton asked to speak before the vote, in order to announce his no vote, which given the U.S.'s veto power in the Council made the rest of the proceedings effectively moot. Beyond the U.S. veto, four other countries abstain: Denmark, the UK, Japan and Slovakia.

When the meeting adjourned, Amb. Bolton strode to the stakeout microphone and said, "You have my statement. Any questions?" As reporters took out their pads and turned on their records, and at least two prepared questions about Sudan, and a wire service about Tuesday's vote and repercussions, Amb. Bolton said, "The press is silent?" Then he rushed away.

Perhaps it is not only the election that has caused this shift of mood. It has been floated that John Bolton could stay on, and continue to get paid. Another recess appointment would make payment impossible. But to become an advisor on UN affairs, then continue to serve as Ambassador because no replacement is ever named, might accomplish the same end. A sage of the stakeout's advice would be, whatever route this goes, don't become bitter -- or "go all North Korea," as one reporter quipped -- and more importantly, don't dissemble or leave unexplained positions and actions like those of Friday on Darfur and the aborted Addis meeting. If you're going to block it, explain it. We're still waiting.

[The Editor notes in full disclosure that Inner City Press has previously called Amb. Ikouebe to account for lack of press freedom in Congo Brazzaville. On May 2, 2006, Inner City Press questioned Amb. Ikouebe about the arrest of journalist Fortune Bemba. Since then, the publication Bemba worked for, Thalassa, has been closed down. All sides must answer, all sides must explain.]

At the UN, Council Works Overtime To Cancel Its Trip About Darfur, While DC Muses on John Bolton

UNITED NATIONS, November 10, lightly edited Nov. 11 -- There will be no Security Council delegation to the African Union talks on Sudan, the Council decided in closed door session Friday evening. Afterwards staff of two of the Permanent Five members anonymously blamed one another for the stalemate. The President of the Council, Peruvian Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales, declined to explain which countries were opposed to the mission, advising reporters to ask the ambassadors and delegations at issue. But the key delegations insisted that their cross-accusations were all off the record [and one reiterated its demands on Saturday, even as to having told journalists to turn off their tape recorders, before casting the blame on another P-5 country. -Ed's note Nov. 11]

Death and conflict continues in Darfur, and at the UN the Council meets until eight on Friday night, only to emerge with the cryptic message that their previously reported trip is no more. UK Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry was said to already be en route to the AU meeting in Addis Ababa. "You better call him," one reporter advised the UK staffer.

Inner City Press asked Ambassador Voto-Bernales if the UN's Hedi Annabi is still slated to appear in Addis Ababa. Amb. Voto-Bernales said yes. One wonders if Ethiopia's (and others' ) increasing incursions into Somalia will be discussed.

Meanwhile the UN Security Council will reconvene Saturday at noon, to consider a resolution on Israel and Palestine that most predict will be vetoed, by the U.S.. At last one other P-5 member says it has problems with the text, calling it unbalanced. Saturday's agenda:

Letter dated 6 November 2006 from the Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2006/868)

Letter dated 7 November 2006 from the Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2006/869)

We will have more, on Azerbaijan, in coming days. Thursday at the UN, Kofi Anna's spokesman Stephane Dujarric bragged he'd pitched a "perfect game," in that he faced not a single question during his noon Press(less) briefing. Click here for transcript. That will change, starting Monday.

In Washington news, sources say that the Bush Administration reflexive re-nomination of John Bolton was triggered by a Web report Wednesday night, but that the nomination will be pulled, or Amb. Bolton will pull it, next week. (On the other hand, Senator-elect Claire McCaskill of Missouri said on Hardball that she'd consider confirming Amb. Bolton.) So who would the next U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations be? The possible cross-aisle nomination of George Mitchell is much discussed. Lincoln Chafee, given his statements about the public's rejection of the Bush Administration's policies, seems unlikely. Another losing Senator floated is Rick Santorum. Conrad Burns, anyone?

UN Panel's "Coherence" Plan Urges More Power to UNDP, Despite Its Silence on Human Rights

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- They met in Nairobi, they met in Vienna and Rome. There were three prime ministers, and what's called the "Manchurian Candidate" now slated to head the World Food Program, Josette Sheeran Shiner. There were two former presidents, including Tanzania's Ben Mkapa whom Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe selected to carry his message to Britain. They talked about coherence, apparently incessantly. And at the end of the process, many of their proposals involve centralizing UN operations in each country, under the leadership of the UN Development Program, UNDP.

Their report, released today but available for days and reviewed Monday by AP, says on page 14 that "to ensure that there is no potential for, or perception of, a conflict of interest, UNDP should establish an institutional firewall between the management of its programmatic role and management of the Resident Coordinator system."

There's at least one problem with this conflict of interest analysis: the head of UNDP, Turkey's Kemal Dervis, was on the very panel that proposes awarding his agency more power.

Another problem is UNDP's current lack of transparency. UNDP's Dervis, although based in New York, has not appeared to take reporters questions in UN Headquarters for 14 months and counting. Meanwhile it often takes weeks to get a response from UNDP to the simplest of questions, such as "Does UNDP fund disarmament by the Ugandan army? How much is spent? Of what does UNDP's program in Somalia consist?"

Regarding Uganda: Your request, repeated below, is for information regarding a Ugandan government inquiry into a Ugandan government disarmament program, as reported in the Ugandan press. As we conveyed to the Spokesman's office when you first raised this question there, neither UNDP nor the UN is the appropriate source for comment on a member-state government inquiry; we would suggest perhaps the UN mission from Uganda may help. For the record, as we have explained previously, there was no 'suspension of funding' from UNDP for Ugandan government disarmament programs, as there never was any such funding to begin with. As UNDP has reported to you and others in the past, UNDP halted activity in the start-up stage on its own directly managed small community development project in Karamoja, due to the deteriorating security situation there; as is typical in such areas, this project included a voluntary disarmament component, unrelated to and which should not be confused with a Ugandan military disarmament campaign in the region, about which you and many others have reported in the past.

This answer is inconsistent even with UNDP's prior statements on Karamoja. Yet not once during this controversy has UNDP's Dervis taken questions on the topic. From the same belated response:

Inner City Press question: > On Turkmenistan, how does UNDP explain its participation in and statements in connection with Turkmenbashi's celebration earlier this month of partnership with UNDP while Turkmenistan's human rights record, including but not limited to the recent death in custody of a critical journalist, has led even the EU to take action and step back from a trade pact?

UNDP Answer: As you know, the United Nations Development Program is the coordinator of UN system activities in UN member-states in the developing world as well as the leader of long-term UN development efforts in all UN member-states in the developing world. UNDP a permanent presence in all these member-states, which are the sovereign hosts of the locally based projects and international staff of the UN funds, programs and agencies. UNDP's historic commitment over 50 years to its ongoing work in developing nations on the UN system's behalf has never been contingent upon nor construed as an endorsement of the specific policies or practices of specific host governments. The UN agencies which have the mandate of reviewing and responding to reports and incidents of the kind you cite-- UNESCO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-- have spoken out clearly forcefully on such cases on behalf of the Secretary-General and the entire UN system.

On WFP, Annan and Ban Ki-Moon Hear and See No Evil, While Resume of Josette Sheeran Shiner Is Edited

UNITED NATIONS, November 7 -- In the hours after Josette Sheeran Shiner was "confirmed" as the new head of the UN World Food Program, questions continued to arise.

At the UN spokesman's noon briefing, reporters asked about Ms. Sheeran Shiner's now-UN resume, which omits previous claims of status as Pulitzer Prize finalist and as promoter of the interests of U.S. agribusiness, and about the involvement of the U.S. and of Ban Ki-Moon (and another Moon, see below) in choosing Ms. Sheeran Shiner.

At a 10 a.m. stakeout interview, Inner City Press asked U.S. Amb. Bolton: "On WFP, did the U.S. reach out to the incoming secretary- general, Ban Ki-Moon, in order to get his position on it? Video on UNTV, from Minute 2:48.

Ambassador Bolton replied, as transcribed by the U.S. Mission, "My understanding is that the secretary-general consulted Ban Ki-Moon's office, and we certainly supported that and supported the decision to go ahead with Josette Sheeran's announcement. As I've said to you before, this is almost exactly what happened in late 1991, when Javier Perez de Cuellar and the then- director general of the FAO [Edward Saouma] when they appointed Cathy Bertini to be the executive director of the World Food Program."

At the UN's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric when Mr. Annan had communicated with Ban Ki-Moon, and if the decision on Ms. Sheeran Shiner had already been made before they spoke.

Mr. Dujarric replied that that the two had spoken "in the past few days," after Mr. Annan had interviewed Ms. Sheeran Shiner, and characterized the process as "consultative" and "rigorous."

Inner City Press asked if Ms. Sheeran Shiner had been asked, by Mr. Annan or the other outgoing UN official who interviewed her, including Mark Malloch Brown and Jan Egeland, about her 20-year affiliation with Sun Myung Moon and for her position on his stated views, including that the UN should be destroyed, or merged with the U.S..

As reported by Associated Press, Mr. Dujarric replied that "People's religious affiliation is their own. People are not judged on their religious affiliation."

Mr. Dujarric also said, "People's religious affiliation is not a matter of concern." Video on UNTV, Minute 22:26 to 23:17.

Sun Myung Moon's speeches, proudly online, deal not infrequently with the United Nations, including for example his statement that

"All five organizations will integrate into a new UN. Until today the United Nations has represented only the political realm... Through the United Nations, we can connect to the whole world and unite the whole world. The world is the extension of the family. Students, centering on True Mother, will form a big plus in relationship to the big minus formed by the IRFWP and FWP. Centering on True Mother, mind and body must be completely united, and on that foundation True Mother goes to unite with True Father; then all children, young and old, will all be completely unified, resulting in the unification of the whole world." http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/sunmyungmoon95/SM950207.htm

Reuters reported that "she joined Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in 1975 and was married in a mass wedding but left the church in 1997." The Times of London went further:

"Ms Sheeran joined Rev Sun Myung Moon�s South Korea-based Unification Church in 1975 and married in a mass wedding before leaving the church about 1997. UN officials said that Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, had been reluctant to appoint Ms Sheeran, Washington�s official candidate, fearing that she lacked logistical experience."

"in Rome, where WFP has its headquarters, some officials privately expressed concern. 'She has never distanced herself from the views of this group which, given its extreme nature, you would think was appropriate,' said one. He referred to Mr Moon's claims that the Holocaust was a result of the death of Jesus. 'It's sufficiently bizarre to warrant an explanation - that, and the duration of her involvement.'"

According to the UN spokesman, no question was asked, by Kofi Annan, Mark Malloch Brown, Jan Egeland -- nor apparently Ban Ki-Moon. Perhaps the answers to these questions, pre-Rome, are to be found in Washington, DC. Developing...

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