At the UN, Security Council and GA Games and Holiday
Spirit As Revolving Door Ban Disappears on Final Day
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 22 -- On the Friday before
Christmas, when the General Assembly went deep into the night and the Security
Council deferred for one more day a much watered-down resolution on Iran, Kofi
Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric held what he's called his last press
conference. Coincidentally, or not, the long awaited, much-hyped anti-revolving
door policy was to be announced. The briefing was begun by Mark Malloch Brown,
who praised Stephane Dujarric and then prepared to go. What -- no questions?
Well, no. No questions taken at all.
In his opening presentation, Mr. Dujarric
mentioned the new post-employment restrictions. Inner City Press asked him to
confirm that there had been a stronger draft, which would have precluded senior
UN officials, not only those in procurement, from lobbying the UN for two years
after leaving. Mr. Dujarric declined to comment on prior drafts, or who made the
weakening change -- that individual had just left the room.
The earlier draft, dated June 12, 2006,
provided that
"Former staff members at the Assistant
Secretary-General level or above are prohibited from making, with the intent to
influence, a communication to or appearance before any staff member of the
United Nations, regardless of level... This prohibition is effective for two
years."
This provision is entirely missing from
the finalized policy, which is limited to "staff members participating in the
procurement process." All of the Assistant Secretaries-General, and the Deputy
Secretary General, were given a Christmas present three days early: the ability
to lobby the UN during the next two years. The DSG will, at least initially, be
based at Yale University. But the lobbying will have to be watched, particularly
in light of the opaque process by which the initial prohibition was removed.
Later on Friday, a UN official
gave some rationale for dropping the prohibitions on senior officials, giving
rise to a drier, stand-alone story, click
here
to view.
The mood in the UN briefing
room on Friday was like a professor's last day. The journalists, not dissimilar
to a school class in a hothouse, thanked Stephane in turn. Reuters regretted
being third to AP and Bloomberg -- "as per usual," Bloomberg jibed -- and a wise
and wizened Anatolian reporter wished the half-French Steph "bonne chance."
Inner City Press said, and meant, "It was a pleasure," a statement that was
reciprocated. Then Inner City Press asked about human rights in Zimbabwe, a
topic left unaddressed in Kofi Annan's ten years. What about Mugabe's refusal to
honor the
extradition request for Marian Mengistu?
"The Secretary-General is against
impunity," Stephane said, and meant it. But what does it mean? Peter Karim, who
held UN peacekeepers hostage, was given a MONUC-brokered position in the
Congolese Army. Joseph Kony of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, although
indicted by the International Criminal Court, meets with Mr. Annan's
humanitarian envoy and is not close to begin arrested. We are all against
impunity. And yet it continues.
Overnight full copies of Paul Volcker's
report on UN Oil for Food appeared in the hall outside the UN Spokesman's
office. Seven volumes, more fifteen pounds, fine reading for the holiday season.
But the holiday has yet to being, at the
UN. The Security Council scheduled Saturday meetings on Iran and journalists and
armed conflict. The GA left until 10 then 11 p.m. it's rubber-stamp approval of
committees' reports, including the Capital Master Plan. The funding of
investigation of Qana caused much consternation, with the U.S., Israel, Palau
and the Marshall Islands voting negative. Where, one asked, was Ivory Coast?
Doesn't Gbagbo want the U.S. vote in the Council?
GA
on wide screen
They droned on in the GA: the Fifth
Committee adopted this resolution without a vote. May I take it the General
Assembly wished to do the same? (A beat.) It is so decided. And then the
swinging of the ceremonial gavel we saw given to Jan Eliason.
From the Security Council itself, it can
now be reported: China delayed the resolution continuing diamond sanction on
Liberia because of a specific Taiwan issue. To whit, in Brussels a bureaucrat
had floated the idea of upgrading Taiwan from observer status in the (blood
diamond) Kimberly process. China was so opposed to this it said it would not
vote to continue diamond sanctions on Liberia unless the Brussels wonk
recanted. And so it was done. In consultations, issues are traded away and it
rarely gets reported. Other examples, to be more fully explored in 2007 are
Ivory Coast and Abkhazia, and, we predict, Kosovo.
Also noted in the week's vote counts is
Ivory Coast joining the U.S. and Palau in opposing resolutions. Gbagbo knows
which side his bread is buttered on. And he and his wife Simone prepare, it is
reported, to throw UN envoy Pierre Schori out of the country.
In this last week of Security Council
action for 2006, several lesser-noticed resolutions are indicative of the
Council's flaws. While the Council finally enacted a purported "de-listing"
procedure whereby individuals and entities on which the Council has imposed
sanctions can try to get off the list, the regime makes a mockery of due
process. Instead of providing standards of proof and rules of procedure, it's
again a popularity contest and political football. Without the support of (key)
Council members, there'll be no de-listing. Pomp and circumstances, a kangaroo
court on the west bank of New York's East River, at least as regards the claims
of those put on sanctions lists.
But it is not only a hall of mirrors, our
Turtle Bay idyll. As night fell on the second shortest day, the Spokesman's
office threw its end-of-year, end-of-term party. The food was chips, the drink
red wine and scotch. But the stories were, as the credit card ad has it,
priceless. Mojitos and cigars on beaches with ambassadors of Brazil, chefs de
cabinet decamping to Mexico for a few days. Why, one asked, does Russia get so
few top posts? The USSR used to pay eight percent of the budget, and now barely
over one percent, comes the answer. And soon after the party, the GA was to
meet, on the dry but crucial scale of assessments. We are family.
Kofi Annan himself will be at an
undisclosed location in New York for the rest of his term, "available if
needed," he's said. There's continued suffering in Darfur, accelerating war in
Somalia and, as decried in a little-noticed UN press release, increased
abductions of school children in Haiti. We'll have more on and around this last
in the near future.
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, Curt Eulogies for Dictator, Revolving Door
and Budget Left for the Last Day
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 21 -- Left to the last day
before Christmas holidays are the UN's scale of assessments for its budget, its
revolving door policy, and the resolution on Iran. "I don't have much for you
today," Kofi Annan's spokesman said to kick off his Thursday noon briefing. The
dictator of Turkmenistan had died during the night, and Inner City Press asked:
"Does the Secretary-General have any comment about the passing of the leader of
Turkmenistan?"
Spokesman:
Yes, as a matter of fact, as you were asking me questions, I was given a
statement. It says the Secretary-General has learned of the sudden death of
Turkmen President Atayevich Niyazov. President Niyazov made important
contributions to United Nations peace processes in Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the family of the late
President and to the people of Turkmenistan.
It is said that whenever a
head of state dies, no matter how repressive, the UN is required to lower the
country's flag, and to issue a statement, even if curt and perfunctory. A more
artful statement might have said, "the UN feels as the people of Turkmenistan
do." But this is, after all, the UN, a club of sovereigns, whatever their human
rights records.
UNDP praised Turkmanbashi
right
until the end
- click
here
for analysis for earlier this Fall. And remember -- the just-left
Under-Secretary General for Management now works at the (Deutsche) Bank where
Turkmenbashi stashed three billion dollars. We're still waiting for a comment,
from spokesmen here or there.
The Deputy Secretary General, it is
reported, was buzzing through the UN's basement, going to the General Assembly
meeting where the budget was discussed, saying, we can tell them anything we
want.
Multiple sources place the Deputy
Secretary General over the draft revolving door policy, which would have
prohibited ex-officials from lobbying the UN for two years. The DSG wants that
out; some say the plan is to set up a sort of private UNDP, to be funded with UN
money. Time will tell.
Revolving
door, but no revolving chair - farewell in Staff Cafeteria
The president of the General Assembly
gave a news conference, at which most questions concerned the
budget-down-to-the-wire, and what each country will pay. What is the difference,
you ask, between 4.5 years and the average between six and three? The European
Union, which has been growing fasted, would like to include the six past years
to calculate its income. Japan, more recently slowing, would like to count only
the last three. Compromise and leave town, the staffers whisper.
The GA president answered
Inner City Press' question about the failure to enact the declaration on the
rights of indigenous people by saying she has met with "three or four NGOs."
Video here, from Minute 19:35. The
UN's own write-up of the press conference
does not even include the issue - click
here
to view. Perhaps it is the holiday season: only happy news.
In other noon briefing action, Inner City
Press asked rapid-fire about Kosovo, Nepal, the revolving door policy and the
Office of Internal Oversight Services. From the
transcript:
Inner City Press: Yesterday, the [European
Union] EU confirmed that it
will oversee policing of the judiciary in Kosovo after the Ahtisaari
announcement, and the quote was, "the international community does not want to
remain doing this. Has Ahtisaari said anything to predict this?" Is that the
way it’s going?
Spokesman: I
can't and I would not want to prejudge the conclusions of Mr. Ahtisaari’s
report. There are obviously a lot of comments being made left, right and center
but we have to wait for Mr. Ahtisaari's report.
Inner City
Press: In Nepal, there were earlier reports that everything was going smoothly
and now the Maoists have called for a general strike. Has Ian Martin or anybody
said anything? Is that a threat to the process?
Spokesman:
Obviously we would very much hope that all the parties in Nepal who signed on to
the peace process follow the procedures that have been agreed to....
Inner City
Press: I think earlier it was said that [Office of Internal Oversight Services]
OIOS would give us a briefing, maybe before the end of this year. Is that going
to take place?
Spokesman:
OIOS told me they would be willing to give a briefing as soon as the resolution
regarding OIOS has been passed in the General Assembly. Gail isn’t here. I
will check with her. When that happens, we'll go back to OIOS.
Inner City
Press: If it's passed Friday, they wouldn’t hold the briefing then.
Spokesman: I
would think early in the year. The idea is not to bury the briefing.
Inner City
Press: No, and also, not to say this is being buried, but the anti-revolving
door policy? Will it be announced tomorrow, before noon or after noon?
Spokesman: We
are determined to get it done before the end of the year. It is being
finalized. I would be very happy to announce it for you tomorrow.
Inner City
Press: And Ibrahima Fall, first we learned that there are two of them yesterday.
Spokesman:
Each person is their own person. They just happen to share the same last name.
Question: And
first name. That's what's confusing. But the Great Lakes Ibrahima Fall, is he
continuing on with his Great Lakes mandate?
Spokesman: I
think the mandate is continuing. Who is the other Ibrahima Fall?
Q The UNICEF
Ibrahima Fall, who went to [ Central African Republic] CAR?
Spokesman:
That's two different people.
The tale of the two Falls, twin Falls, Fall guys,
will continue.
At the UN, Iran Resolution Goes Blue as Ivory Coast
is Traded Away With No Follow-up on Hmung
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN
UNITED NATIONS, December 20 -- The featured bout at
the Security Council on Wednesday was all about Iran, a "text in blue"
circulating after the sun went down to the ten elected members who were excluded
from the draft's negotiation. This exclusion perhaps explains the reference to
them as the "E-10." E not for elected but for excluded. Ambassador Peter Burian
of Slovakia asked reporters questions if he had felt cut out with the two word,
"I agree," adding that "we are not involved in the negotiations" but should have
been, "at an earlier stage."
When P-5 Ambassadors de la Sabliere of
France and Emyr Jones Parry of the UK emerged, they said that they are open to
feedback, if other members want "a conversation." But voting is slated for
Friday.
On Wednesday in Abidjan,
Ivorian strongman Laurent Gbagbo in a speech said that the UN-established
buffer-zone should be eliminated, and that the UN "should leave soon." In light
of the recent UN Security Council resolution demanding that Gbagbo finally hold
elections, this speech gave rise to questions later on Wednesday at UN
Headquarters in New York. Kofi Annan's spokesman first spoke vaguely about "the
process," then in response to Inner City Press' question, more specifically
about the Gbagbo speech. Video
here.
From the
transcript:
Inner City
Press: On Ivory Coast, Gbagbo gave a speech in which he said the buffer zone
should be eliminated, and essentially, many people say, he wants to attack the
rebels again. Is there something more, it’s not just that the process isn’t
going forward. It’s that he said that the UN process and the resolution are
not, have accomplished nothing for Ivorian. Are either the envoys there or the
Secretary-General going to say something more than "it's going too slow?"
Spokesman:
We're obviously very concerned that no unilateral moves that would take place
outside of the agreed framework of the road map that’s been agreed by the
Security Council, with the African Union and ECOWAS. The UN has been in touch
with all the political parties to move together along the lines of the road map.
Later in the UN's second floor, Inner
City Press asked French Ambassador de la Sabliere what the Security Council
would do. Reference was made to issuing a Presidential Statement or PRST. But
when Inner City Press asked the Council's president for December, Qatar's
Ambassador, he said the Council is too busy working on Iran, he's aware of no
PRST. Another Council diplomat said France is taking the lead, and that because
of the Iran negotiations, some others in the Permanent Five are given France
more leeway on Ivory Coast than has recently been the case, apparently a
trade-off for a harsher stance on Iran.
A respected UN source, to whom this
scenario was described, said "Welcome to the UN" and asked how this is different
than the horse-trading in the U.S. Congress or many other national legislatures.
But are pork barrel project to fill potholes in Oklahoma City different than
peacekeeping forces in Abidjan?
Happier days in Cote D'Ivoire
At Wednesday's noon briefing
by Kofi Annan's spokesman, there were substantially more questions than answers,
on issues ranging from Nepal to the Hmong refugees threatened with refoulement
from Thailand back to Laos. From the
transcript:
Inner City Press: In Nepal, part of the
peace agreement, there's been a
threat by
the Maoists to call a national strike. Is the envoy there, or anyone, what is
the UN's position on whether the Government should have appointed ambassadors
before the Maoists?
Spokesman: I
don't have anything specific on that, I'm sorry.
Inner City Press: There was a letter by
Mrs. Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children
and Armed Conflict,
stating that
there is no question of her reappointment, her appointment runs through 2008.
So, I guess I'm wondering with all these [Special Representatives of the
Secretary-General] SRSGs, what is the process, is there any process for review
by the next Secretary-General or do those terms just run?
Spokesman: The
contracts of the [Under-Secretary-General] USG's end, if I'm not mistaken, early
next year. For the SRSGs, their contracts -- some of them run longer, they're
all on different terms. Obviously, it'll be up to the next administration to
decide how to proceed with those appointments or the retention of those people.
But, I can't speak to the post-1 January world.
This will
be re-visited in the "post-January 1st world," from which responses are awaited.
And now regarding the Hmong:
Inner City Press: These Hmong, people that
have left Laos and are in Thailand, governments in both
Laos and Thailand have said that
they are going to be returned to Laos, they say that they're facing death and
attacks by the Laotian military. I'm wondering, [Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees] UNHCR has said something. Is there some way to
find out thorough your office what is the status of that and what is actually?
Spokesman: We
can check with UNHCR.
And finally,
this question foreshadowing in the next day or two:
Inner City
Press: On this anti-revolving door policy, is it going to be definitely
announced before?
Spokesman: I
would very much like to be able to announce it before the end of this week.
Inner City
Press: Can you highlight to us, if there are any other policies that are going
to be finalized before the end of the year or before your last briefing? Is
there anything else on your radar screen?
Spokesman:
Yes, the two issues I do expect to announce something on -- one is the revolving
door policy and the other is the agreement having to do with the handling of the
papers from the Volcker Committee. We’d like to get those two things out and
done with before 31 December.
As previously reported, Inner City Press'
sources, as confirmed by a P-5 diplomat, indicate that a draft anti-revolving
door policy that would have prohibited lobbying for two years is being watered
down, by one of the 38th floor's powers in his final days...
Other Inner City Press
reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
UNDP's Ad
Melkert Says He Will Finally Increase Transparency, Describes Fraud in
Russia, Dodges Uganda
In Eastern
Congo, Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made a Colonel, Clooney And Now
Guehenno Might Stay
At the UN,
Ocampo 1 Says Kony To Jail and Ocampo 2 Sees No Serious Bertucci
Charges, Dueling Parties
In UNDP's Book,
Strong's Scandals Are Missing, While Workers Complain, MMB Schmoozes the
Korean Mission
At UNDP, Flighty
Rhetoric Founders in Mismanagement, MMB's Net, a Genocidaire and Whither
ECOSOC
At the UN,
Disabled Are Freed from a Footnote, Murky Answers from Gbagbo to Kosovo
to a Genocidaire
Countering UN's
Vanity Press, UNDP Histories from Below, Brussels and Two Views of Omar
Bakhet
At the UN,
Indigenous Indignation, Revolving Door Mysteries and Peace Pipe
Belatedly Smoked
At the UN,
Questions of Congo Mass Graves and Kazana, Mugabe and Forests and Rich
German Ships
UNDP Is
Important For The Poor, and Therefore Must Be Made Transparent
As UN
Speechifies, UNDP Audits Are Still Being Withheld, While War in Somalia
and Sudan, Pronk Blogs On
Waste, Fraud and
Abuse at UNDP in Vietnam, While UN Secretariat Urges Censorship
At the UN,
Questions of Humanitarian Aid and Congo Body Count, Despots' Crackdown
on Dissent
In UNDP,
Questions of Money Wasted, Neutrality Trampled, Russian Office Audits
Withheld and Sachs Expenses
From Baidoa
to the UN, Denials on Ethiopian Troops Being in Somalia, Resolution Is
Passed
Retaliation
Found at UNDP, While Dervis Is Focused on Turkey, In Two Weeks Will Take
Questions
Annan's
Spokesman Silent on 150 Dead in Congo, War in Somalia - But in Loud
Defense of UNDP's $567,000 Book
At the UN,
Interlopers into Somalia Are Discussed, With Chadian Pull-Back,
Peacekeepers and Uganda's Karamoja
UNDP Spent
$567,000 on Book to Praise Itself, While the Well-Placed Feed Off UNDP's
Core Budget and Prime Postings
As UNDP Questions
Mount, Mark Malloch Brown Calls Them Irresponsible, Answers Only in
Vanity Press
In UNDP Series,
Questions of Jeffrey Sachs and Associates Payments, From $1 to $75,000
From Sleaze in
Vietnam to Fights in DC-1, UNDP Appears Out of Control at the Top
On Somalia,
Past Arms Embargo Violations Forgiven in Zeal to Contain Islamic Courts
In UNDP, Drunken
Mis-Managers on the Make Praised and Protected, Meet UNDP's Kalman
Mizsei
From Violent
Disarmament in Uganda to the National Bank of Serbia, UNDP Leaves Others
to Answer for It
UNDP Sources Say
Dervis Fires Malloch Brown-linked Officials, Then Offers Hush-Up Jobs
On Somalia, Fiji
and Oil-for-Food, UN Ambiguity Leads to Hypocrisy and Corruption
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 archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
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