At UNOPS, Payments to Nay Htun Evade Pension Rules,
Sources Say, in North Korea and Myanmar Shadows
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, February 11 -- The UN
Office for Project Services has issued to Nay Htun of Myanmar regular payments
disguised as "Daily Sustenance Allowance" although Mr. Htun lives in New York,
where he is titular head of the U.S. office of the UN University for Peace,
sources have told Inner City Press.
Mr.
Htun being a UN retiree drawing a pension, the volume of payment are above those
permissible to continue receiving pension payments. Click
here for
the most recent installment in Inner City Press' UN Pension Fund series.
Mr. Htun worked at the UN Environment
Program in the wake of Maurice Strong, who after having climbed from security
guard at UN Headquarters to Under Secretary General ostensibly left the UN
System during the Oil for Food scandal, but was identified last month by Inner
City Press as still serving on the Council of the UN's University for Peace. Mr.
Htun also worked for the UN Development Program, as director of UNDP’s Regional
Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. In that capacity in 1999, in comments
similar to UNDP's recent characterization of its now-controversy programs in
North Korea, Nay Htun
said of
Myanmar, "There is no hindrance whatsoever, about
where they can go, who they can meet. There is no problem [regarding
access]. This has never been the case. Perhaps sometimes people are temporarily
not allowed for their own safety."
Sources tell Inner City Press that the
payments to Mr. Htun from UNOPS are on behalf of the UN Development Program, and
that UNDP disguises certain of its projects through UNOPS. Such obfuscation is
made easier by the facts that UNOPS is significantly behind schedule in
releasing its audited financial statements, and that UNOPS' web site does not
even list a press contact, despite the substantial funds that flow through UNOPS
(more on which we will soon be reporting).
UNOPS has its dwindling New York
headquarters in the landmark Chrysler Building on 42nd Street, the move into
which, complete with lavish custom renovations, was the beginning of UNOPS'
slide into
financial problems and non-reporting. Further east on 42nd Street is the Crowne
Plaza Hotel, where as Inner City Press
reported exclusively
on February 8, UNDP placed its Resident Coordinator for North Korea, Timo
Pakkala. While the precise purposes of the summoning of Mr. Pakkala to New York,
and who summoned him, are not yet clear, following Inner City Press'
report on February 9
UNDP quickly moved Mr. Pakkala out of the Crowne Plaza and into an undisclosed
location, which one wag called the safe house. We will have more on this as
well. For now, here are specifics on UNOPS payments to Nay Htun:
UNOPS 00093180 DSA/1/1-28/2/6/AP/FDI 10000
Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00072732 DSA/NY/OCT-DEC 05/AP/GWI 20000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00047331 DSA/NY/1/7-31/8/5/AP23886 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00041263 DSA/NY/1/5-30/6/5/AP23416 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00032194 DSA/NY/1/3-30/4/5/AP22364 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00028974 AP21611/DSA/1/11-31/12/04 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00019337 JEDEC DSA SEPT/OCT. 04 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00011507 JEOCT JUL/AUG DSA 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00006990 JEPYLOG18881 DSA
MAY/JUNE 04 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00004664 JEPYLOG18569 DSA MAR/APRIL 04 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00002158 JEPYLOG17920 DSA JAN/FEB 04 10000 Nay HTUN
UNOPS 00000246 JEFEB16853 DSA NOV, DEC 10000 Nay HTUN
"DSA" is an acronym used in
the UN to designate "Daily Sustenance Allowance," paid to staff in advance of a
trip to cover expenses in a city in which they do not have a home. In this case,
knowledgeable UN insiders to whom Inner City Press has shown the records of
UNOPS payments to Nay Htun express surprise at "DSA" being paid on such a
routine and round-number basis.
One
expert consulted by Inner City Press, who requested anonymity due to the UN's
and especially UNOPS' propensity to try to retaliate, said that "they've paid
DSA in advance and in round numbers. This looks like salary concealed as DSA, in
an attempt also to get around the $22,000 cap on annual UN payments to someone
receiving a UN pension. Everything over $22,000 should be subtracted from the
pension." For today's installment in Inner City Press' ongoing
series on irregularities in the UN Joint
Staff Pension Fund, click
here.
Nay
Htun: from UNDP in Myanmar to UPEACE
Two weeks ago, Inner City Press
published the
first story about University for Peace, and its payments for travel of 10 North
Korean officials to the University of Lund in Sweden. Click here for that story,
which also noted that Maurice Strong, a long-time UN official who left amid
scandal and was repeated said to be out of the UN system, was still serving on
the Council of the University for Peace.
The
article noted, in
questions that now still remain unanswered on February 11, that Inner City Press
had asked UNDP on January 24 to confirm or deny contributions to the University
for Peace, whether they related to North Korea, whether they involved, among
others, Nay Htun, and whether Mr. Htun lead the tour in Lund and if the funding
was approved by Htun's successor at RBAP, Hafiz Pasha. While UNDP has still not
directly responded to many of these questions, UNDP's David Morrison, when asked
by Inner City Press on January 26 about the travel of the 10 North Korean
officials, was clearly aware of, and had a UNDP-protected answer to, the
question: it's the University for Peace.
At the UN's noon briefing on January 29,
Inner City Press asked several questions about UPEACE, the extent of its UN
powers and affiliations, and the role of Maurice Strong. These questions were
also put in writing to UPEACE. After several phone calls following up, and
questions at the following day's noon briefing to the General Assembly's
spokesman, the following arrived:
Subject: Message to Inner Press
From: amolina [at] upeace.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 11:32 AM
Dear Mr. Lee, Please find below the
information you requested.
At the Press Briefings of the
Spokesperson of the Secretary-General and the Spokesperson of the President of
the General Assembly on Monday, 29 January and Wednesday, 31 January, a number
of questions were raised about the governance of the University for Peace (UPEACE)
and its relationship with the United Nations, including financial oversight...
UPEACE does not come under the purview or oversight of UN auditing arms like
OIOS.
The UPEACE Charter establishes in its
article 7 the following: “The Secretary-General of the United Nations will be
the Honorary President of the University for Peace”. The Secretary-General
reports to the General Assembly on a regular basis on the progress made by the
University... In reference to the use of the emblem of the United Nations as
part of the University’s distinctive symbol, the use by the University of the UN
emblem was authorized by the United Nations in 1983 in accordance with the terms
of General Assembly Resolution 92 (1) of 7 December 1946, with conditions,
including placing the letters "U.N." above the United Nations emblem and the
words "OUR HOPE FOR PEACE" below the United Nations emblem, so as to emphasize
that the University and the United Nations are two separate and independent
legal entities...
Q: Inner City Press on Jan. 24 asked UNDP
about their role in the travel in 2006 of ten North Korean officials to the
University of Lund. On January 26, UNDP's director of Communications told us
that the travel had been paid by the University for Peace. While surely that
answer is authoritative, this is a request for confirmation of that UNDP
response, and for a response to these questions: In 2004, did UNDP contribute
$100,000 to the University for Peace? if so, was this project to the DPRK?
A: In 2004-2005, UNDP provided the
University of Peace with USD 200,000 for the project "Energy for Rural
Development," as stated in our audited financial statements (see above). The
project was a component of the Regional Energy Program for Poverty Reduction of
the UNDP Asia Pacific Bureau. The program was endorsed by the Governments of
China, Cook Islands, Samoa, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Cambodia, Maldives and the
Philippines. The Energy for Rural Development Project focused on
capacity-building and training curriculum for energy supply, demand and end use
planning; a report for renewable energy projects in South East Asia (potential
for integrated reforestation and renewable energy); a report on the potential of
biogas in North East Asia; and activities for the dissemination and sharing of
outputs with a network of 30 Universities in Asia Pacific. The Energy for Rural
Development Project was a research project and it was not carried out in North
Korea nor did it involve any North Korean institutions or experts. Regarding the
DPRK project, these activities were funded by the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA). In the context of this project, UPEACE requested UNDP
Pyongyong to assist in arranging the tickets for 10 North Korean participants to
attend the training course held in Lund, Sweden, but the costs were covered by
the DPRK project. The economy class return air tickets were by China Southern
Airlines and SAS. These were purchased through the travel agent used by UNDP
Beijing.
As mentioned in a press release of Lund
University, the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
at Lund University (IIIEE) hosted and coordinated a training workshop on
Sustainable Development and Energy: Knowledge Sharing and Training for a
delegation of ten DPRK senior officials and experts. The training was organized
in cooperation with UNEP Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, and with support
from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and UNDP Regional
Bureau for Asia Pacific. The program started 21 August 2006 and was completed on
15 September 2006. The support from UNDP and UNEP was in-kind.
Q: If so, please describe the use of the
funds and state if the following were involved, and how: Maurice Strong,
President of the Council of the UN University for Peace)... and Nay Htun. If so,
please confirm if the tour was led by Mr. Nay Htun...
A: As noted above, the UNDP contribution
was not a contribution to the DPRK project.
Q: Given statements made at UN
headquarters, please comment on the presence on University for Peace's Council
of Maurice Strong, and Mr. Strong's role in any of the above.
A: Mr. Strong was President of the UPEACE
Council until October 2006, and as President had a policy oversight function on
all the activities of UPEACE.
Q: Please state how much funding
University for Peace has received from UNDP in the past nine years, and the use
of the funds.
A: In addition to the above-mentioned
contribution of USD 200,000, UNDP provided in 2002 USD 80,000 for a regional
Program to promote Peace and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean. In
2006 UPEACE received USD 28,916 from UNDP for the Leadership for Local
Development in Latin America Project. As mentioned above, UPEACE does not
receive regular funding from the UN. Our relationship with UN agencies, as is
the case with many other educational institutions and NGO’s, is based on
collaborative activities to pursue similar goals.
Q: We have read that "funding of UPEACE
programs comes from the support of a number of donor governments, foundations
and institutions...Fundraising for an endowment fund is in progress." Please
list by name the donors / funders and amounts for the past five years, including
any restrictions on or targeting of the funds, and the use of the funds.
Separately please list funders for the endowment fund.
A: UPEACE relies on voluntary
contributions from a variety of sources, especially Governments, development aid
agencies and foundations, to sustain its activities. Since 1999 and until 31
August 2006, UPEACE has been able to raise a total of USD 36 million from 42
different donors. The donations are either in the form of institutional support
or project- or activity-based, including for the granting of scholarships for
students at the University. There have as yet been no contributions to the
Endowment Fund.
Q: Finally, for now, please describe your
programs in Central Asia and Asia Pacific / Manila, and any of your other
programs you'd like to describe.
A: In 2001 UPEACE launched a program
focused on education for peace in Central Asia. The main aim of the UPEACE
Central Asia Program is to promote stability by transferring into the region new
self-sustaining capabilities for peace education, training, research and
dialogue. During the past five years, this Program developed modular MA teaching
and training courses tailored to Central Asian needs. These courses covered a
variety of topics such as theory and analysis of conflict, mediation and
peacekeeping intervention, economic development and conflict, civil society and
peace-building, media and conflict.
Preparatory work has also been undertaken
since 2000 towards establishing a Regional Program for Asia and the Pacific. In
the first phase, UPEACE mobilized a Network of over 40 Asia-Pacific Universities
and Institutions for Conflict Prevention and Peace-building (APCP). Several
training courses were co-hosted by partner universities in the region. A
consultative process to identify needs, capacities and opportunities for
strengthening education involved six countries in the region. It forged strong
partnerships and the base has been laid for the future implementation of
activities, networking and collaboration. In Sri Lanka, UPEACE is conducting a
joint diploma course in "Skills Development for Conflict Resolution" with
Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.
UPEACE will launch on 10 April 2007 a
Dual Campus Program in San Jose, Costa Rica and in Manila The Philippines, in
International Peace Studies for Asian students. The program is supported by The
Nippon Foundation and will be implemented in collaboration with Ateneo de Manila
University.
Q: How many Laissez Passer's and G-4
visas, if any, were given out for the 10 North Koreans-to-Lund project, and
separately, how many have been given out in the past four years, and to whom.
A: As explained above, UPEACE is a
UN-affiliated organization, but does not issue Laissez-Passer's. None of the
participants received Laissez-Passer. Regarding G-4 visas, these were not
required since the participants did not travel to the United States. None of the
staff in the UPEACE New York Office hold G-4 visas; they hold their respective
national passports and have US permanent residence status.
Regarding UPEACE's "Asia-Pacific"
program, an
online Nay Htun c.v. says
he is "Executive Director
for Asia Pacific at the University for Peace, New York Office." Previously, when
he worked directly for UNDP, it was
reported that
An unusual aspect of the UNDP's work in
Burma is the very close engagement of its Asia-Pacific Director Nay Htun, a
Burmese national. UN rules normally bar any officials from substantive
involvement in policy matters relating to their own country. UNDP describes as
"coincidental" Nay Htun's latest visit to Burma in November, just after a UN
reform plan was presented to the junta by UN special envoy Assistant Secretary
General Alvaro de Soto... Some UNDP workers express private dismay at what they
call Nay Htun's "interference," and another UN official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, complained, "I do not understand why he is still permitted to
travel and stick his nose into Burma's political affairs, despite our repeated
protests."
On February 5, Inner City Press asked
Canadian officials for an explanation of their funding of UPeace, as relates to
North Korea and otherwise. On February 8, a detailed
story by
two accomplished investigative reporters was published, which did not mention
the UN Office for Project Services but quoted a "confidential
assessment of U Peace carried out in 2004 by the Canadian International
Development Agency, which bankrolled what U Peace calls the 'DPRK Trust Fund,'
noted that 'an evaluation would normally benefit from periodic monitoring and
evaluation reports produced by the institution itself or by external observers.
Such reports do not exist.'" [The report also noted that UNDP is used for its
ability to facilitate the mobility of not only money but people. The same is
true of UNOPS, with even less scrutiny, a topic on which we have had much more
to say.]
Nay Htun did not respond by deadline from
his UNOPS email address. UNOPS director Jan Mattsson, who declined to answer
Inner City Press' question following the recent Executive Board meeting at which
UNOPS failure to file audited financial statements was discussed, is currently
on annual leave, Inner City Press is now informed, after awaiting his response.
UNOPS still lists no media contact on its web site. UNDP has stated, in response
to questions that touch on North Korea as this one does, that "until the audit
is completed, it would not be appropriate to comment on our work there."
On February 9, Canadian officials
requested more time to reply:
Subject: Your
Question Regarding Canada's Assistance to DPRK
From:
acdi-cida.gc.ca
To: Inner City
Press
Sent: Fri, 9
Feb 2007 12:08 PM
Hello,
I just wanted
to let you know that we have received your questions related to Canada's
Assistance to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the University of Peace
and a training program entitled "Sustainable Development and Energy: Knowledge
Sharing and Training --- A Program for DPRK Senior Officials and Experts." I
understand you have spoken with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade on this subject. We are working on the request and I
expect to be able to get back to you with some information shortly.
Watch this site.
Because a number of Inner City Press'
UNOPS sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the
poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to
conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the
stated goals of UNOPS and many of its staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we
apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the
information flowing.
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 UNOPS, Side Deals for Danish Relocation, Mattsson
and Dalberg and the DSA Farming of Vitaly Vashelboim
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
January 23 -- The UN Office of Project Services is two years late in certifying
its financial statements. As new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls for an
"urgent, system wide and external inquiry into all activities done around the
globe by the UN funds and programs," UNOPS stands out for not even having a
certified audit in place.
An
investigation of UNOPS by Inner City Press has found a hotbed of favoritism, of
supervisors distracting line employees from their logistical tasks in support of
such efforts as mine removal, and of financial mismanagement hidden from the
Executive Board.
Last
January, the Board was told that UNOPS wanted to move its "headquarters
functions" from New York to Copenhagen. Bids had been selected, not only by
Denmark, but also France, Germany, Italy and Spain. (Dubai later joined the
bidding.) Denmark was selected, sources say, due to the inclusion in its package
of a "transition fund," which UNOPS insiders call no more than a slush fund for
management. The quid pro quo was a requirement that 120 jobs be moved to
Copenhagen, a condition not disclosure to the Board one year ago, and resulting
in disruption of such functions as mine removal now.
Current
UNOPS head Jan Mattsson previously served as the head of the UN Development
Program's Bureau of Management, where as Inner City Press has
reported,
he handed out controversial contracts to Dalberg Global Development Advisors,
whose founder Henrik Skovby worked for UNDP "both
at their headquarters and in the field,"
and is still listed as a UNDP employee. (The lead person on Dalberg's advisory
board, Sam Nyambi, lists his experience as having supervised 110 staff at UNDP
and served as UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia.)
Now it
emerges that once Mattsson took over at UNOPS, he has also handed this agency's
money to Dalberg. In an August 16, 2006 email to all UNOPS staff, Mattsson
announced that Dalberg would be paid to "help us build a better UNOPS."
What
could this Guatemalan kids do with Vitaly V.'s Daily Sustenance Allowance? See
below.
By most
accounts, and as reflected by its inability to file certified financial
statements, UNOPS has been in decline for years. It began as a unit of UNDP then
spun off as independent, and proudly self-supporting. Then-chief Reinhart Helmke
hung a banner at a staff retreat, "UNOPS, the One Billion Dollar Agency."
Moving
from the Daily News building to the Chrysler Building, money was overspent. Soon
UNOPS was paying, it claimed, $20,000 per year for each computer terminal used,
not including salary or benefits. An idea arose to relocate jobs out of New
York. Proposals arrived from France and Germany, Italy and Denmark, talk of the
Swiss and of Dubai. One year ago, the Board was informed that "headquarters
functions" would be relocated, under a business case of cost-savings.
Behind
the scenes, interim Executive Director Gilberto Flores, who preceded Jan
Mattsson, had cut a deal with Denmark: 120 jobs as a quid pro quo for, among
other things, a transition fund with very few restrictions. There was only one
problem: the "headquarters function" remaining in New York did not add up to 120
jobs. And so a decision was made to relocate operating units as well, including
those which service mine removers in the field.
This
being the UN, a veneer of participation was demanded. While behind closed doors
Gilberto Flores declared he would never break his job commitment to the Danes,
Ms. Roswitha Newels, who had made the misleading presentation to the Board,
emerged to dialogue with staff. Facilitators arrived, ostensibly from UNDP's
Management Change Team, run by one Tina Friis-Hansen. The facilitators' names
were Georges Von Montfort and Lisa Rienarz. (As it turns out, they are
employees of Mattsson's favorite consultant Dalberg, and not UNDP staffers at
all.) These facilitators nodded at angry staff talked, then mis-summarized the
complaints to now-director Mattsson. A proposal emerged to relocate personnel
not only to Denmark but also Nairobi.
With the
staff more and more restive, Ms. Newels decided to commission a study to resolve
the matter. Such studies require at least the veneer of objectivity. But Ms.
Newels issued a sweetheart contract, which she only later entered in the system,
to a close friend of hers, Ivo Pokorny. For $700 a day, Mr. Pokorny produced a
barely two and a half page memo, followed by a one page, hand-drawn chart.
Requests to see Pokorny's final product have been rebuffed, as have question of
when UNOPS will come clean to the Board, as well as file financial statements.
UNOPS
does appear, however, in the public audits of other UN agencies. The most recent
public audit of UNICEF, for example, states that
"UNICEF is supporting
construction projects for schools, health centers, and water and sanitation
networks in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives that represent an aggregate
budget of $152.1 million. The three country offices have little experience, if
any, overseeing major construction works. They entered into contracts with UNOPS
(for permanent structures) and with IOM (for temporary schools in Indonesia)
without clearing their clauses with the UNICEF senior advisor (Legal) resulting
in the interesting of UNICEF not adequately safeguarded. For instance, the
Indonesian school construction contract with UNOPS ($90 million) committed
UNICEF to a set unit cost per building, over a three-year period, with no clause
covering a rise in prices.... UNICEF failed to set up a consistent mechanism to
follow up the implementation of the projects, monitor the work of the
contractors and management the relationship with UNOPS." A/61/5/Add.2, page
42-43.
As this
interim profile of UNOPS should make clear, issues to be inquired into in the
wake of the UNDP scandals should not be limited just to North Korea, or to hard
currency, secondment and auditors' access. The problems at UNOPS are systematic
and require full public review and disclosure, and then substantive action. This
is what Ban Ki-moon called for on January 19, then appeared to turn away from on
Jan. 22. With the poor and needy be served by reform and accountability of these
agencies in charge of money to serve them? We'll see.
Other
UNOPS issues involve Daily Sustenance Allowance abuse and overpaying of
Mattsson's deputy Vitaly Vanshelboim. Mattsson brought Vashelboim to New
York, and has now sent him back to Copenhagen (where Mattsson's yet to move).
The totals paid to Mr.
Vanshelboim for multiple relocations, travel and Daily Sustenance Allowance are
the subject of outrage even within UNOPS staff, who says that the Board of
Auditors inquiry recently announced by Ban Ki-moon should act on them.
And what does Dalberg do for Mattsson?
Inquiring minds want to know. But UNOPS.org does not list any media contact, and
UNDP has still not responded to Inner City Press' January 16 questions about
Dalberg and related policy issues.
Documents, however, require no comment to report. Inner City Press has obtained
a copy of a January 15, 2007 email from UNDP's Arne Christensen bragging that "UNDP
/ IAPSO has recently placed an order for several units of thermo vision
equipment installed in mini-busses (surveillance equipment) for the State Border
Guard Service of Ukraine... UNDP / IAPSO would be pleased to offer our expertise
in procurement of material and equipment for border enhancement to other CO
offices, as well as other UN offices involved in similar programs."
Beyond
the question, "what is UNDP doing buying surveillance equipment for Ukraine," we
note that UNOPS in its search for survival is lobbying behind the scenes to
acquire the "P" (procurement") from UNDP's IAPSO. But why would the UN system
allow an agency which is so far delayed in filing its certified financials to
acquire anything, or to continue to mislead its Board about a deeply flawed
proposed move of core operating functions like mine removal to Denmark because
of a secret slush fund deal? Developing.
Other Inner City Press
reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
At the UN,
Mysterious Deletion from Iran Sanctions List of Aerospace Industries
Organization Goes Unexplained
At the UN, Iran
Resolution Passes 15-0 Amid Media Frenzy While Somalia and UN Reform Are
Ignored
At the UN,
Security Council and GA Games and Holiday Spirit As Revolving Door Ban
Disappears on Final Day
UNDP Not Covered
By Weak UN Post-Employment Restrictions, Dervis and Mizsei and Aid to
the Scapegoated
UN
Post-Employment Restriction Are Watered Down for Senior Officials,
Comparison to June Draft Reveals
At the UN, Curt
Eulogies for Dictator, Revolving Door and Budget Left for the Last Day
UNDP's Dervis
Backtracks on Transparency, Promises Accounting of Funds, Denies Role in
Uganda Abuse
At the UN,
Jeffrey Sachs Answers the $75,000 Question But Not on UNDP, Still
Laudable Goals for 2025
Burundi Spin
at the UN, Amid Coup Trial and Ceasefire Not Implemented, Great Lakes
Commission Moves In
At the UN, Iran
Resolution Goes Blue as Ivory Coast is Traded Away With No Follow-up on
Hmung
At the UN,
Annan's Long Goodbye, With Oil for Food in the Air and Hothouse Musical
Chairs
At Kofi Annan's
Farewell, UNDP Transparency is Raised, and Brian Gleeson Steps Up
At UN
in Beirut, Dueling Charges of Job-Trading and
Tax-Evasion, the Burden of
Mervat Tallawy, Retaliation from Below
UNDP Will Be
Called to Greater Transparency, Says President of Spain, on UNDP's
Board, and Flaws of UNOPS
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 --
Copyright 2006 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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