At the UN, Anthrax Scare and Clooney, Guehenno Might
Stay, While Congo Kidnapper of Peacekeepers Is a Colonel
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 15 -- At UN Headquarters,
while the "miracle" of the Congolese election is still alluded to one or twice a
week, the fall-out from fighting in Eastern Congo is rarely mentioned. Fifty
thousand civilians were displaced in the most recent round of clashes, and
civilians were killed while fleeing into Uganda. Friday at Kofi Annan's
spokesman's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked again for an update, and
later received one, forwarded from the UN's mission in the Congo, MONUC. The
update confirms that Peter Karim, who took seven UN peacekeepers hostage for two
months this past summer, has been made a colonel in the Congolese Army. The UN's
MONUC wrote:
"Last three
remaining important militias in Ituri, agreed to join Disarmament,
Demobilization and Reintegration process, which will concern approximately 8,000
militias. After Cobra Matata (FRPI - Forces de Resistance Patriotique en Ituri )
and Mathieu Ngudjolo (MRC - Mouvement Revolutionnaire Congolais), Peter Karim (FNI
- Front des Nationalistes Integrationistes - leader) has signed, on 14th
December, a general agreement with FARDC, UNDP and MONUC to this effect.
Negotiations between Congolese authorities and militia leaders of FNI, MRC, and
FRPI, monitored, facilitated and witnessed by MONUC, resulted in the signing of
these agreements whereby militias leaders will be integrated into FARDC with the
rank of colonel, while their followers will be either demobilized of integrated
in the Congolese armed forces. The process is past the negotiating phase and in
the implementation stage."
While the UN peacekeepers were hostages,
Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan had he'd say to Peter Karim. "There'll be no
impunity," Annan said. Later when a colonel's post was offered, Inner City Press
asked Mr. Annan to respond. "I am too busy," Annan said.
Now Karim has been given the colonel's
position, and Annan's about to leave. Thursday night in the hall outside the
Department of Peacekeeping Operations' holiday party, Inner City Press asked
Jean-Marie Guehenno if he'll be staying at DPKO.
"Ask Ban Ki-Moon," Mr. Guehenno replied.
"Is there a chance you'll be staying?"
Mr. Guehenno nodded. He also confirmed
the substance of a story in the works. There were photos of him, Hedi Annabi and
Jane Holl Lute dancing in a circle, which will not be reproduced here. What will
be reproduced are MONUC's descriptions, circa December 14, 2006, of the security
situation in the Kivus in Eastern Congo:
"FARDC are
deployed thinly on the hills around Sake. At Bunagan and Runyoni, the situation
is relatively stable with a stalemate between forces in presence. Negotiations
are ongoing between FARDC and dissidents units for a peaceful resolution of the
crisis. MONUC troops are continuing to monitor the situation and their patrol
activities....Another step towards the reintegration of dissident armed groups
in South Kivu took place recently. A group of Congolese soldiers, who deserted
the army two years ago, after the Bukavu crisis, and known as the "Group of 47",
arrived in Baraka to be reintegrated into the FARDC, following long negotiations
facilitated by MONUC.
Also in South
Kivu, following the surrender of dissidents known as the "Rukunda 15/12 Group"
at Minembwe, the surrender and integration into FARDC of 400 Mayi-Mayi
combatants, followers of a Colonel Abdoul, is expected today at Lubarika."
This level of detail was not
matched in the hype press conference of the day: George Clooney, Don Cheadle and
two athletes on a pane on Darfur. Inner City Press asked Clooney is he's spoken
with Ban Ki-moon. Clooney talked about a staffer. Video
here,
last question.
Clooney,
Cheadle, et al.
But most people predict that under Ban Ki-moon,
celebrities -- including such figures as Jeffrey Sachs -- will have less access
to the UN. We'll see. Click
here for
Inner City Press' series on UNDP, today's the 14th installment.
Thursday night there was a
reception at the South Korean mission marking Ban Ki-moon's swearing in as
Secretary General. Inside, along with the Ambassadors of France, Russia and
Brazil, the top two in Peacekeeping, Messrs. Guehenno and Annabi, the head of
the Peacebuilding Commission and several older, some scandal-plagued,
ex-Secretariats was Mark Malloch Brown. He spoke on a small cell phone; he stood
five feet from Inner City Press, ten days after his
"jerk" comment,
and didn't say a word. Just outside the mission, Inner City Press asked Under
Secretary General Ocampo questions about Guido Bertucci - is he staying?
"How can I say?" Ocampo said, in Spanish.
"Who makes the decision?"
"You're right that I do. But so far I
haven't seen any serious accusations," Ocampo said.
After mentioning some, Inner City Press
asked Ocampo to comment on rumors that the Chinese want DESA. "There are many
rumors about posts," Ocampo answered. One of the rumor, heard from a spiny
source at the reception, is that Bertucci is in line for a promotion, and that
some are still committed to this. We'll see.
UN party season continued on Friday: by
mid-afternoon, bachata and other Latin music echoed through the UN's
second basement. Down on the third sub-basement, where the printing presses are,
the mood was subterranean cool. In the UN basement by the Vienna Cafe, a photo
exhibit about Buddhism in Central Asia was taken down and put into a crate. Two
books were given out, just as Monday there were soft noodles. It was sponsored
by Swaziland, and we aim to tell the story of why, and of surrounding UN
intrigue. Watch this site. The General Assembly staff party was slated for the
evening, competing not with Security but a Colombian soccer team's shin-dig set
for DC-1, third floor. The web cast link for Friday's noon briefing pointed to
Wednesday's session. The stream from the Security Council stakeout was cut at 5
p.m., so that no pictures survive of the Council President reading out a press
statement at 5:25 about Guinea-Bissau. Nor could most reporters even
theoretically cover it.
On the fourth floor, a guard told
journalists they couldn't leave, until a report of anthrax had been vetted. Soon
First Avenue in front of the UN was filled with fire trucks, and men in white
space suits were vacuuming the mailboxes in front of CNN. In the UN Delegates'
Lounge, correspondents and diplomats, interns and hangers-on, everyone was
drinking, paying for now but awaiting the free and open bar of the General
Assembly. "After Friday's vote, they didn't even bother with speeches," a person
there reported. "They were too tired." Half a dozen cameras flashed at half a
dozen spacemen as by eight p.m. the world began to swirl. Correspondents were in
agreement: UN HQ is in a low state of preparedness. Emergency personnel from
"the host country" all said, "Well, it is international territory."
Otherwise known as the anarchy of the genteel.
Update of 10:40 p.m. -- Well, the drinks were free at the General Assembly
party, and there were even remaining some cold spring rolls (from "the Chinese
service," across to the photocopied sign over the Sterno). Objectively, the
Ex-Press bar was more packed for Peacekeeping the night before. But the GA plays
reggae music, and even the Village People's YMCA. So it's apples and oranges,
DPKO and GA. In the spirit of the holidays, let a hundred flowers bloom!
See,
Inner City Press' Ongoing UNDP Series --
Intro
followed by
second,
third,
fourth,
fifth,
sixth,
seventh,
eighth,
ninth,
tenth,
eleventh,
twelfth,
13th
Feedback: Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
At the UN, Ocampo 1 Says Kony To Jail and Ocampo 2
Sees No Serious Bertucci Charges, Dueling Parties
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 14 -- While the prosecutor
of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, briefed the UN Security
Council on Thursday about his possible Darfur indictments this coming February,
Inner City Press asked him about his previous indictments. Specifically, what
does he think about the UN's just-left Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Egeland
meeting with the leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, including Joseph
Kony and Vincent Otti? Both men are accused of war crimes and crimes against
humanity, including the forced recruitment of child soldiers, rape and mayhem.
In a one-on-one interview outside the
Security Council, Mr. Moreno Ocampo said: "Jan Egeland has a humanitarian
mandate. When he met with LRA he was talking about his humanitarian mandate,
about the victims. And this is part of his mandate. Even we talked before he
went, he specifically explained then that he has no mandate connected to my
investigation. So that's something we have to learn, we have to respect.
Victims, it's very important. We have to respect different mandates."
Three weeks ago, also outside
the UN Security Council,
Inner City Press asked Jan Egeland
if his meetings with the LRA were consistent with the ICC indictments and the
much-announced UN policy of "no impunity." Mr. Egeland answered by referring to
the possibility of "local justice" in Uganda.
So on Thursday, Inner City Press asked
Mr. Moreno Ocampo to respond to Jan Egeland's reference to local justice as a
substitute.
"No, no, he's not talking about that,"
Mr. Moreno Ocampo responded.
Inner City Press quoted for him what Jan
Egeland had said.
"No solution could be incompatible with
the ICC statute," Mr. Moreno Ocampo said. "Four arrest warrants, they have to be
executed... It is our duty to arrest them."
Egeland
with LRA's Otti
In October, in response to LRA / ICC questions
from Inner City Press, Justice Richard Goldstone directed a response to
Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni.
"Mr. Museveni switches it on and has the investigation launched. Then when
it doesn't suit him, in his view, he wants to turn it off. It can't work
that way," Justice Goldstone said. "If you want to have a system of
international criminal justice, there is no room for giving amnesties to the
worse perpetrators." Video on
UNTV,
Minute 23:06 to 29:46.
On Darfur, Mr. Moreno Ocampo said, among other
things, that the Sudanese government is "now arresting 14 persons... but that
does not make our case inadmissible. They are not proceeding against the people
we are investigating. We are planning to present our evidence in February before
the judges."
The Sudanese Ambassador also
spoke, declining to criticize Kofi Annan because he is on his way out, and
declining to comment on Jan Pronk because "he is history." Video
here.
To the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad of December 12, Jan Pronk answered:
Q: So the
Sudanese government has outsmarted the international community?
Pronk: "Oh,
certainly. And the international community, that is the Security Council. It
adopts resolutions, writes reports, conducts debates and nothing happens - let
alone sanctions. After a while it appears that all resolutions remain without
action. The Sudanese government understands that they don't have to take [the
resolutions] seriously. The international system doesn't work. The security
council has failed."
Q So the
usually assertive Pronk has been defeated?
Pronk: "My
expulsion has been a victory for the Sudanese government. I'm afraid [this
government] now figures it can get away with anything."
Inner City Press asked Luis Moreno Ocampo
to respond to Pronk's quotes, but he declined to comment.
Ban Ki-moon
Reception, DPKO Get-Down
Another Ocampo *did* answer, a
question about a UN corruption scandal. Jose Antonio Ocampo attended the
reception at the South Korean mission marking Ban Ki-moon's swearing in as
Secretary General. Thursday night there was a reception at the South Korean
mission marking Ban Ki-moon's swearing in as Secretary General. Inside, along
with the Ambassadors of France, Russia and Brazil, the top two in Peacekeeping,
Messrs. Guehenno and Annabi, the head of the Peacebuilding Commission and
several older, some scandal-plagued, ex-Secretariats was Mark Malloch Brown. He
spoke on a small cell phone; he stood five feet from Inner City Press, ten days
after his "jerk"
comment, and didn't say a word.
Just outside the mission, Inner City Press asked Under Secretary General Ocampo
questions about Guido Bertucci - is he staying?
"How can I say?" Ocampo said, in Spanish.
"Who makes the decision?"
"You're right that I do. But so far I
haven't seen any serious accusations," Ocampo said.
After mentioning some, Inner City Press
asked Ocampo to comment on rumors that the Chinese want DESA. "There are many
rumors about posts," Ocampo answered. One of the rumor, heard from a spiny
source at the reception, is that Bertucci is in line for a promotion, and that
some are still committed to this. We'll see.
Back in the Secretariat Building, in the
third floor Ex-Press Bar, the holiday party of the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations was just getting into the swing. Earlier Messrs. Guehenno and Annabi,
along with Jane Holl Lute, had danced in a circle. As the evening wore on, the
crowd got younger and the music more Latin. Disco lights played along the
ceiling. "It's the best party of the year," a number of people said. Although
Security and General Assembly Affairs both begged to differ. Tomorrow will tell.
At 10:45 p.m., Inner City Press
ran into Jean-Marie Guehenno, who graciously answered a few questions. As to
whether he might stay on as head of Peacekeeping, he said, "Ask Ban Ki-moon."
Later a staffer noted that DPKO is more complicated, and has more personnel,
than nearly any other agency. A precipitous change would not serve the war zone.
Others opine that France may have been the mysterious "no opinion" vote during
the straw polls, to indicate this is a post they want to keep. Mr. Guehenno
candidly confirmed the substance of another
story on which Inner City Press
is working. Watch this site.
At the UN, Disabled Are Freed from a Footnote, Murky
Answers from Gbagbo to Kosovo to a Genocidaire
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 13 -- As the first
international human rights convention of the 21st century, on the rights of the
disabled, was enacted by the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, the focus was on
a footnote. Specifically, coming into the final stretch the draft convention had
included a provision that "In Arabic, Chinese and Russian, the term legal
capacity refers to legal capacity for rights, not legal capacity to act." It
would have been a new low for a purportedly universal declaration of rights to
spell out that in countries speaking Arabic, Chinese or Russian, the rights of
the disabled are defined to a different, lower standard. And so in the run-up to
the vote, the footnote was dropped.
Chairman Don MacKay of New
Zealand spoke of the example of Russia, which had demanded the footnote and then
dropped the demand. Video
here,
from Minute 26:50. The
UN's write-up summarizes
that "Any nuances in
translation would be worked out throughout time and would depend on State
practice."
In response to questions from Inner City
Press, Mr. MacKay acknowledged that the footnote had been less than ideal, but
was a strategic decision made to keep the convention's momentum going.
"Sometimes you need to make strategic decisions, sometimes you get them right,"
he said. Video
here,
Minute 13:50 through 19:40. Afterwards it was pointed out to Mr. MacKay that the
floundering declaration on indigenous people's rights might need his type of
diplomacy.
Earlier on Wednesday Ambassador Ali
Hachani of Tunisia, the president of the UN's Economic and Social Council,
ECOSOC, explained that the time for grand pronouncements was over. "Now it's
time to implement." Inner City Press asked Ambassador Hachani if ECOSOC has a
spokesperson, since an earlier message to the Tunisian mission seeking an answer
on how one or more candidates to head the World Food Program were lobbying the
ECOSOC members of the WFP Board. "I got your message," Amb. Hachani
acknowledged. "But by then, the WFP director had been selected." Next time,
then.
What role did ECOSOC play in
the Peacebuilding Commission's selection of
Burundi and
Sierra Leone as its first two countries? Despite the commitment to use fewer
words, the answer was not entirely clear. Video
here,
from Minute 23:45.
Inner City Press also asked Ambassador
Hachani if ECOSOC plays in any role in reviewing the hiring of personnel of the
UN Millennium Project into the UN Development Program, which UNDP staff say is
happening in violation of UN and UNDP rules. Amb. Hachani gave a long answer,
but it still appears that no one is overseeing this process.
IDPs
in North Kivu, Eastern Congo
At Kofi Annan's spokesman's
noon briefing, questions about Congo and the purported coup plot in Ivory Coast
were raised, but the UN had no comment. From the
transcript:
Inner City Press: South Africa, through
its Defense Minister, has offered to
mediate between General Nkunda and the
Congolese Government. Does
MONUC [United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo] have any view of that? Has it been playing a role in such mediation?
Spokesman: I’d
have to get some answers for you. I don’t have anything with me for you on
that. [The Spokesman later added that South Africa’s mediation was a bilateral
affair although MONUC was monitoring.]
Inner City Press: And also the Gbagbo
Government in Cote d'Ivoire said it had found a coup plot, and
many diplomats in Abidjan say it’s
probably not true, but has
[inaudible -- Messrs. Schori or Stoudmann] has had anything to say on that?
Spokesman: I
have no official statement. Obviously, it’s something the Mission is looking at,
but I have nothing in particular on that.
Read out Wednesday as a
statement, however, in response to Inner City Press' questions from the day
before, was the fact that the UN will now be paying out a full year's salary to
Callixte Mburushimana, a UNDP employee in Rwanda widely described as a
genocidaire. The spokesman began, as the
UN has transcribed:
"And lastly, I think, Matthew, it was you yesterday
that asked me about the case of Callixte Mbarushimana, who you may recall is the
former UN staffer whose contract had not been renewed in 2001 following
allegations relating to activities undertaken during the Rwandan genocide. In
July of this year, the UN Administrative Tribunal upheld its original decision
in favor of Mr Mbarushimana's demand for compensation, resulting from the
non-extension of his contract with UNMIK... the Secretariat has no choice but to
pay Mr. Mbarushimana the one-year salary he had requested. The Secretary-General
had withheld compensation pending this very unusual appeal and was also pending
any possible legal action for alleged crimes against humanity being taken
against Mr. Mbarushimana by either the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda, or judicial authorities in France, where he currently resides. The
Secretary-General has now been forced by our justice system to make this very
unfortunate settlement."
American Public Radio has
reported that
while
"Mbarushimana
recounts braving militia barricades to help deliver food, water and money to his
colleagues at United Nations Development Program (UNDP) who were trapped by the
violence....Survivors and former U.N. colleagues also say Mbarushimana offered
army officers and militia leaders technical assistance that made the killing
even more efficient: U.N. vehicles, satellite phones and personnel files of some
U.N. workers suspected of sympathizing with Tutsis... They also say the U.N.'s
failure to promptly pursue allegations against Mbarushimana allowed him to keep
working off-and-on for the organization for nearly ten years after the
genocide."
Wednesday the spokesman expressed the Secretariat's
heavy heart in paying out this money. Inner City Press asked, "But what could
UNDP have done to take action sooner on Callixte Mburushimana, or to make sure
this doesn't happen again?"
"There is nothing much more I can say at
this point," the spokesman answered. He has seven briefing to go, he has said.
Ban Ki-moon gets pre-sworn in on Thursday morning.
At the Security Council
stakeout, Inner City Press asked Qatar's Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser,
president of the Council for the month of December, for his view of the United
States having brought up Belarus in the Tuesday Council meeting. Russian
Ambassador Churkin left the Tuesday meeting, and Wednesday characterized U.S.
representative William Brencich's raising of the issue as "propaganda." "It is
between the two member states," Amb. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser answered
diplomatically. He similarly dodged a question about Somalia. Video
here.
After 5 o'clock, the Council's
meeting on Kosovo came to a close. Inner City Press asked the UN's envoy Joachim
Rucker and Kosovar prime Minister
Agim Ceku to
respond to reports that the
UN will pass Kosovo to the European Union,
and to Russian threats of veto. Video
here,
from Minute 5:00. Mr. Rucker said that he believes the Contact Group will bring
Russia along. We'll see.
At the UN, Indigenous Indignation,
Revolving Door Mysteries and Peace Pipe Belatedly Smoked
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 12 -- There were
more questions than answers at the UN on Tuesday. At a briefing on the deferral,
at the African group's request, of the draft declaration on the rights of
indigenous people, it was asked how many of the 270 million UN-counted
indigenous are on the Continent of Africa. The answer was not given. Video
here,
Minute 29:29, question, and Minute 31:28, "answer." But dissatisfaction at the
deferral was made very, very clear. Later the spokeswoman for the president of
the General Assembly was asked if the process is dead, and if the GA President
will convene a meeting between the resolution's proponents and the African
Group. From the
transcript:
Inner City
Press: The Mexican Mission held a press conference on the indigenous issues
declaration, saying the African Group expressed outrage over advocates of the
text. Is the General Assembly President involved, is there any process going on
between the African Group and the others? Mexico presented it as if nothing is
going forward. Is that your understanding?
Spokeswoman:
That is one viewpoint, yes. Many in the indigenous groups feel that way.
Before getting to this stage of finalization or the vote actually, the President
was very much involved. At this point, the feeling is that there wasn’t enough
of a broad discussion before it came to the vote and I think this is the hope,
that they’ll now have the opportunity to have that broad discussion. There is a
proviso in the resolution that everything should be completed at the end of the
sixty-first Assembly session. The hope is that that’ll happen. The other view
is the more bleak way of looking at it; but I think many feel that if you open
the discussion you’ll have a richer exchange and you’ll come to a conclusion
sooner, rather than later.
Inner City
Press: Will she convene such a discussion?
Spokeswoman:
She doesn’t have to convene it; the Member States have decided [and they will be
the ones to take the discussions forward.]. They may form a working group.
She’ll only become involved if they ask her to become involved.
We'll see.
Meanwhile Kofi Annan's
spokesman was asked, by Inner City Press, will the anti-revolving door policy
that's been promised by the end of the year include a two-year Ban on lobbying
the UN for decisions? "We'll have to wait and see," the spokesman said. "Who
pulls the trigger?" "The Secretary-General." So while we below have to wait and
see, those at the top already know. Why was the UN's Deputy Secretary General
meeting on Tuesday with a former UN envoy to Kosovo? We're told it was a
courtesy call. What about the case of
Callixte Mbarushimana,
the genocidaire to whom the UN was ordered to pay thirteen months'
salary? The spokesman promises as answer by Wednesday morning.
Rwandan
aftermath
Also at the noon briefing on
Tuesday, Mr. Annan's spokesman graciously made nice with Inner City Press,
contrary to UNDP's anti-press positions. As
quoted in the UN's transcript,
the spokesman told Inner City Press, "because
I had singled you out, I wanted you to know that, despite a few heated words
last week, that we do appreciate the work you do as a journalist, and since
you've come here, you’ve made it your business to pursue topics that might
otherwise be ignored." Like UNDP. Also at the briefing on Tuesday questions were
raised, and not only by Inner City Press, about whether the Secretariat's
spokesman can answer for UNDP, and why UNDP doesn't send a spokesman to the
briefings at least once a week. This was answered by referring to a briefing
sometime later in December, but some high level UNDP officials. Since it was
already announced, Kermal Dervis on December 18, this new vituperation may
indicate further backsliding. We'll see.
Other Inner City
Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
At the UN,
Indigenous Rights Get Deferred, As U.S. Abstains, Deftly or Deceptively
At the UN,
Threat and Possible Statement on Fiji Spotlights Selection and Payment
of UN Peacekeepers
At the UN, China
and Islamic Dev't Bank Oppose Soros and World Bank On How to Fight
Poverty
At the UN,
Misdirection on Somalia and Myanmar, No Answers from UNDP's Kemal Dervis
UNDP Dodges
Questions of Disarmament Abuse in Uganda and of Loss of Togo AIDS Grant,
Dhaka Snafu
At the UN, The
Swan Song of Jan Egeland and the Third Committee Loop, Somalia Echoes
Congo
UN Silent As
Protesters Tear Gassed in Ivory Coast, As UNMOVIC Plods On and War
Spreads in Somalia
In the UN,
Uzbekistan Gets a Pass on Human Rights As Opposition to U.S. Grows and
War's On in Somalia
At the UN,
Cluster Bombs Unremembered, Uighurs Disappeared and Jay-Z Returns with
Water -- for Life
From the UN,
Silence on War Crimes Enforcement and Conflicts of Interest on Complaint
from Bahrain
En Route to
Deutsche Bank, the UN's Door Revolves, While Ban Ki-moon Arrives and
Moldova Spins
As Two UN
Peacekeepers Are Killed, UN Says Haiti's Improving, Ban Ki-moon on
Zimbabwe?
Nagorno-Karabakh President Disputes Fires and Numbers, Oil and UN, in
Exclusive Interview with Inner City Press
Inside the UN,
Blaming Uganda's Victims, Excusing Annan on Mugabe, and U.S. Blocked
Darfur Trip
U.S. Blocked
Council's Trip to Darfur Meeting, Brazzaville Envoy Explains After U.S.
Casts a Veto
At the UN,
Council Works Overtime To Cancel Its Trip About Darfur, While DC Muses
on John Bolton
UN Panel's
"Coherence" Plan Urges More Power to UNDP, Despite Its Silence on Human
Rights
On Water, UNDP
Talks Human Rights, While Enabling Violations in Africa and Asia, With
Shell and Coca-Cola
Will UN's
Revolving Door Keep Human Rights Lost, Like Bush's Call and WFP
Confirmation Questions?
On Somalia,
We Are All Ill-Informed, Says the UN, Same on Uganda, Lurching Toward
UNDP Power Grab
On WFP, Annan and
Ban Ki-Moon Hear and See No Evil, While Resume of Josette Sheeran Shiner
Is Edited
Would Moon
Followers Trail Josette Sheeran Shiner into WFP, As to U.S. State Dep't?
At the UN,
Positions Are Up For the Grabbing, Sun's Silence on Censorship, Advisor
Grabs for Gun
In WFP Race,
Josette Sheeran Shiner Praises Mega Corporations from Cornfield While
State Spins
At the UN,
Housing Subsidy Spin, Puntland Mysteries of UNDP and the Panama Solution
In Campaign to
Head UN WFP, A Race to Precedents' Depths, A Murky Lame Duck Appointment
At the UN,
Gbagbo and his Gbaggage, Toxic Waste and Congolese Sanctions
WFP Brochure-Gate?
John Bolton Has Not Seen Brochure of "Official" U.S. Candidate to Head World
Food Program
Ivory Coast
Stand-Off Shows Security Council Fault Lines: News Analysis
At the UN,
It's Groundhog's Day on Western Sahara, Despite Fishing Deals and
Flaunting of the Law
"Official" U.S.
Candidate to Head WFP Circulates Brochure With Pulitzer Claim, UN Staff
Rules Ignored
Senegal's
President Claims Peace in Casamance and Habre Trial to Come, A Tale of
Two Lamines
A Tale of Two
Americans Vying to Head the World Food Program, Banbury and Sheeran
Shiner
At the UN, the
Unrepentant Blogger Pronk, a Wink on 14 North Korean Days and Silence on
Somalia
At the UN,
Literacy Losses in Chad, Blogless Pronk and Toothless Iran Resolution,
How Our World Turns
Sudan Pans Pronk
While Praising Natsios, UN Silent on Haiti and WFP, Ivorian Fingers
Crossed
UN Shy on North
Korea, Effusive on Bird Flu and Torture, UNDP Cyprus Runaround, Pronk is
Summoned Home
At the UN,
Silence from UNDP on Cyprus, from France on the Chad-Bomb, Jan Pronk's
Sudan Blog
Russia's Vostok
Battalion in Lebanon Despite Resolution 1701, Assembly Stays Deadlocked
and UNDP Stays Missing
As
Turkmenistan Cracks Down on Journalists, Hospitals and Romance, UNDP
Works With the Niyazov Regime
At the UN,
Darfur Discussed, Annan Eulogized and Oil For Food Confined to a
Documentary Footnote
With All Eyes
on Council Seat, UN is Distracted from Myanmar Absolution and Congo
Conflagration
As Venezuela and
Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona De-Listed
At the UN, North
Korea Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons Sales
At the UN,
Georgia Speaks of Ethnic Cleansing While Russia Complains of Visas
Denied by the U.S.
At the UN,
Deference to the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of
Slippery Eels and Sun Microsystems
At the UN,
Annan's Africa Advisor Welcome Chinese Investment, Dodges Zimbabwe, Nods
to Darfur
At the UN,
Richard Goldstone Presses Enforcement on Joseph Kony, Reflecting Back on
Karadzic
UN Defers on
Anti-Terror Safeguards to Member States, Even in Pakistan and Somalia
Afghanistan
as Black Hole for Info and Torture Tales, Photos and Talk Mogadishu, the
UN Afterhours
Amid UN's Korean
Uproar, Russia Silent on Murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Chechnya Exposer
UN Envoy Makes
Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and Threat-Filled
Election
Sudan's UN
Envoy Admits Right to Intervene in Rwanda, UNICEF Response on Terrorist
Groups in Pakistan
At the UN, As
Next S-G is Chosen, Annan Claims Power to Make 5-Year Appointments,
Quiet Filing and Ivory Coast Concessions
Chaos in UN's
Somalia Policy, Working With Islamists Under Sanctions While Meeting
with Private Military Contractors
U.S. Candidate
for UN's World Food Program May Get Lame Duck Appointment, Despite
Korean Issues
At the
UN, U.S. Versus Axis of Airport, While Serge Brammertz Measures
Non-Lebanese Teeth
Exclusion from
Water Is Called Progress, of Straw Polls and WFP Succession
William Swing
Sings Songs of Congo's Crisis, No Safeguards on Coltan Says Chairman of
Intel
Warlord in the
Waldorf and Other Congo Questions Dodged by the UN in the Time Between
Elections
In Some New
Orleans, Questions Echo from the South Bronx and South Lebanon
In New Orleans,
While Bone Is Thrown in Superdome, Parishes Still In Distress
At the UN, Tales
of Media Muzzled in Yemen, Penned in at the Waldorf on Darfur, While
Copters Grounded
US's Frazer
Accuses Al-Bashir of Sabotage, Arab League of Stinginess, Chavez of
Buying Leaders -
Click
here for
video file by Inner City Press.
Third Day of UN
General Debate Gets Surreal, Canapes and Killings, Questions on Iran and
Montenegro and Still Somalia
On Darfur, Hugo
Chavez Asks for More Time to Study, While Planning West Africa Oil
Refinery
At the UN, Ivory
Coast Discussed Without Decision on Toxic Politics, the Silence of
Somalia
Evo Morales
Blames Strike on Mobbed-Up Parasites, Sings Praise of Coca Leaf and Jabs
at Coca-Cola
Musharraf Says
Unrest in Baluchistan Is Waning, While Dodging Question on Restoring
Civilian Rule
At the UN, Cyprus
Confirms 'Paramilitary' Investigation, Denies Connection to Def Min
Resignation, CBTB Update
A Tale of Three
Leaders, Liberia Comes to Praise and Iran and Sudan to Bury the UN
UN Round-up:
Poland's President Says Iraq Is Ever-More Tense While Amb. Bolton Talks
Burmese Drugs, Spin on Ivory Coast
As UN's Annan
Now Says He Will Disclose, When and Whether It Will Be to the Public and
Why It Took So Long Go Unasked
At the UN,
Stonewalling Continues on Financial Disclosure and Letter(s) U.S.
Mission Has, While Zimbabwe Goes Ignored
At the UN,
Financial Disclosure Are Withheld While Freedom of Information Is
Promised, Of Hollywood and Dictators' Gift Shops
UN's Annan Says
Dig Into Toxic Dumping, While Declining to Discuss Financial Disclosure
A Still-Unnamed
Senior UN Official in NY Takes Free Housing from His Government,
Contrary to UN Staff Regulations
UN Admits To
Errors in its Report on Destruction of Congolese Village of Kazana,
Safeguards Not In Place
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
On the UN -
Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost
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
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
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 Knew of Child
Soldier Use by Two Warlords Whose Entry into Congo Army the UN
Facilitated
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
UN Silent As Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army
Colonel: News Analysis
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
UN's Corporate Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with
Microsoft, and UNDP Continues
BTC Briefing, Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations
Conflicts of Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal
Reform Rifts
UN Grapples with Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit,
Without Explanation
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'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?
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
UN
& US, Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia,
Sovereignty and Senator Tom Coburn
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
Corporate Spin on AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its
Independence
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
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
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 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
Citigroup Dissembles at United
Nations Environmental Conference
Other Inner City
Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are
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