At UNOPS, Fight for Control of Dubai, Hub of Harassment and Deals for Iraq and Afghanistan

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

UNITED NATIONS, February 19 -- UNbeknownst to most in the UN system, a controversy has arisen regarding who will head the lucrative Dubai hub of the UN Office of Project Services.

            This office makes purchases for Iraq and Afghanistan, and is alleged in recent, written staff complaints to be so inept as to be losing radios and other communications equipment.

            Documents have come to light revealing mismanagement to the highest levels of UNOPS, an agency which despite the volume of money flowing through it does not even have a press officer or media contact.

            To investigate this staff complaint for Dubai, UNOPS director Jan Mattsson, rather than bringing in the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, has hired on a short term contract his own consultant, Kevin Curtis, seeming to UNOPS insiders to sweep the problems under the rug .

    Now Mr. Mattsson has reportedly flown to New York for a meeting on Tuesday regarding the Dubai leadership controversy. Mr. Mattsson is said to have a short-list, and to by fighting for continued unfettered discretion. The bigger picture controversy is whether UNOPS should even exist, particularly in light of Ban Ki-moon's proposal that a peacekeeping unit will offer procurement services to other UN agencies. With little scrutiny and no real oversight, UNOPS is engaged in a fight to continue its operations in the shadows.

            Inner City Press has obtained a series of communications regarding irregularities at UNOPS in Dubai. A week ago, Inner City Press sent questions about UNOPS - Dubai to the head of UNOPS, Jan Mattsson, who previously fled from questions in the hall of UN Headquarters. Eight days later, with no answer, this new report is filed. Because we respect the privacy of victims, the name of the long-sentenced complainant is redacted, but we include the nitty-gritty of the email chain below, to give a sense of the too-infrequently covered UN agency, UNOPS --

Subject: RE: Protection Mechanisms for UNOPS and its Staff

From: [Name withheld in this format]

To: Jan MATTSSON

Cc: Vitaly VANSHELBOIM

Sir, I was harassed and abused, but I could not go through the UN procedures because I was afraid of losing my job, because the person who was harassing and abusing me was having direct support of higher management. I have also a document which proves I was abused... Sir please guide me to who I can talk and in detail and explains the critical situation I was in.

Logistic Assistant

UNOPS MOVCON Dubai Office

Dubai, UAE

  And then --

From: Vitaly VANSHELBOIM [mailto: Vitalyv@unops.org ]

To: [Name withheld]

Subject: Protection Mechanisms for UNOPS and its Staff

 What you need to do now is send a message detailing your situation to harassment@unops.org  

Vitaly Vanshelboim

Deputy Executive Director, UNOPS

Midtermolen 3, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

    And then --

Subject: I was Harassed abused and humiliated

From: [Name redacted in this format]

To: ' harassment@unops.org '

Sir, As per my Email below these are the details. I was harassed, humiliated, abused, I was in a situation which can lead a normal person to a nervous breakdown or make a person mentally ill. I joined UNOPS officially 01 Sept 04. On daily wages, official contract on 01st Feb, 2005. There was some attitude problem with Ivano Ianelli who was Head Of  Operations, which caused these situations, he always want people to listen to him and do what he wants and should not follow any law, just listen to him, and this was the reason which started a conflict between our supervisor Hiren and Ivano as he was Head Of Operation he used to do things in his own way, and if someone argued with him that this is not according to UN Rules he humiliated that person threatened that person  that if they do not listen to him, he would write a report against them and your contract would be terminated and nobody said anything to him because he was favorite of Gary. As I joined UNOPS, after two months I realized his attitude but just kept quiet because I was just listening to his words and was not saying anything, which always makes him happy, but I saw there were some conflicts between Hiren our supervisor and Ivano, and I saw him shouting on her more than one time and I saw her crying more than one time.

Not only Hiren, I saw Thushanti who was working as Liaison Officer at that time and Meron working as Junior Procurement officer and Nadia IT officer crying because he humiliated all of them on different times and occasions,  and now in UNOPS most of the people don't like him, they really hate him, he loves power, if anyone challenges him, he makes sure to destroy their career.

Things started getting worse when OSU staff shifted from UNOPS Airport office to DHC, Dubai Humanitarian City in May 2005. The person who was left behind was Hiren our supervisor Rafeek Driver and I and Mr. Lauri from UNAMA [re Afghanistan.]

      Ivano always used to issue order to do different tasks with out complete documents was asking to move cargo, he used to verbally order to move a cargo to Kabul, Afghanistan I asked him many times, to please provide requisition or a shipping LPR or any project number so when we can close our operational advance, which we spend on freight he said don't argue with me what I said is correct and just do it, and this is final instruction from my supervisor not to send anything anywhere with out documents I refused to send the shipment until I received all the relevant documents, actually there was some personal effects also, which was supposed to travel along with this official cargo and that was not for the first time it used to happen before and kept on happening personal effects was sent under UNOPS expenditures, Ivano got upset on me and said why you are not obeying my order, and he got upset on me and shouted on me on the phone.

Things were normal and again it got worse when Alicia PSO came to Dubai and was interviewing every one in UNOPS DSO, and she was supposed to Visit MOVCON UNOPS Airport office in Dubai same day when Alicia PSO was suppose to visit our office the same morning before Alicia came, Ivano came to me in Airport office and said to me not directly but in round words to say things against Hiren and he would help me in future, which I did not do and he was internally upset from me that I did not listen to him.

After the Interviews I don't know what happened we were informed by Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office that Mr. Lauri Hukkanan, is our supervisor who was working for UNAMA but was just having a office space in UNOPS MOVCON Airport office this info was done officially now I was again in a situation I was suppose to work under 2 supervisors one was official (Hiren) and other from Mr, Phil Lewis ( Mr. Lauri Hukkanan, but I tried my best and continued my job for 3 months it went like this and one day we heard from Mr/ Lauri Hukkanan that his contract will expire and he will go back home, now again there was only one supervisor Hiren.

As soon as Mr. Lauri Hukkanan left after a week we all were told by Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office that we have no budgets so UNOPS MOVCON Airport office will close down and we got termination letters with prior notice of 30 days, and that was a result of working hard was an appraisal to work hard and better in one year I coordinate for the movement of approximately  853,686 KGS  of cargo and use to sleep in the office because of the work load we could not go home and tried my best for UNOPS and more then one time I got appreciated by Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office that I was doing very good Job and we all in MOVCON got termination letter and that was so sudden and we all were shocked, after that termination letter I received a call from Ivano from DHC that not to worry he will help me and Feroz who is working as Logistic Associate and he only wanted HIREN to be terminated from MOVCON and he will start Logistic from DHC warehouse and will take us (me and Feroz ), at that time we got satisfied ok we will have job.

  But in eight days we were informed by Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office that now OSU is changed to Middle East Regional Office so UNOPS MOVCON office will not close down and the termination letter which we received from Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office will be terminated and we should resume on our jobs back , and that time I felt like a FOOTBALL anyone can kick us anywhere, and I start felling that this job is not secure and I can not work in such environment of uncertainty and I start looking for a new job but during that time I was again promised by Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office that I am doing a very good job and I will get salary rise and promotion and by this I had some hope and continued my job in UNOPS.

Suddenly after getting re-appointed, all MOVCON staff were interviewed by Alicia PSO who is doing what after that interview I was asked by Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office to be temporarily to be transferred to DHC for UNDSS project and I should be in DHC with in 2 days same day when I received a email from Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director - Middle East Regional office that I had to be transferred to DHC warehouse I received a call from Ivano and he asked me to come directly to him when I will transfer to DHC and when I went directly to him he said, I had helped you so much and gave you this job now if you will join my team I will give you  warehouse manager post and a salary raise and said MOVCON will close down and Hiren will be terminated  and you better don't think to go back to airport office and stay in DHC warehouse and you will be manager here.

   I got an idea that he is just playing with me and quietly I just continued my job in warehouse for UNDSS with in first month I realized that there is nothing for me to do in this warehouse for UNDSS vehicles he started ordering to me to do things which were actually a job of warehouse helper he asked me to put tiles of whole two floors removed from DHC Bldg on pallet by hand, clean warehouse and toilet, drive forklift pack cargo load and unload cargo, I quietly did all the things by killing my self-respect because I was afraid I will not do it he will fire me and when I tried to talk to him that the job which you are asking me to do are not a job of  Logistic Assistant he got upset from me he said how can you disobey your Supervisor I will write a report on you which will result in losing your Job, and when I insisted that I am  Logistic Assistant  he said no you are a warehouse Assistant you have to do these things and when I refused he got upset and started shouting on me saying I did so many favors for you I helped you getting your family in Dubai I helped you to raise your salary I helped you to get this job and now you are returning me in this way you want to go back to Airport office forget it because Hiren will be terminated and UNOPS MOVCON will be closed down soon and you and Hiren will cry on each others shoulders and kept on shouting I heard all that and at last he said you just go back to warehouse and come to me after 2 hrs when I came back to him he gave me a new TOR and he signed it and gave it to me and said to me if I will not do these duties I have to give my resignation now.

   When I read that new TOR those duties were all for a warehouse Assistant when I said Ivano I can do much more than these duties which you are asking me to do, he said no we will have other people to do that, we don't need your services you have to then resign I said I will not he took me to HR Ms, Kim and asked her to make me understand I have to do these duties or I have to Resign and when I informed Ms, Kim about the whole situation, she gave me a suggestion that I should write an Email to Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director requesting him to review my new TOR which was directly given by Ivano and not HR, even Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director was aware of, when I send an email,  I received a supportive email from Mr. Phil Lewis Deputy Director that he is the only one who can amend any of TOR and he cancelled my new TOR given by Ivano and after some days he sent me back to UNOPS-MOVCON office in Airport office.

I was stressed after all what happened to me during that time I was in DHC warehouse temporarily I had 3 minor accidents and because of that stress I had an accident on duty I was on my Motorbike and I broke my left Leg and till date I can not walk normally.

This was not the end when I came back from hospital after an surgery after 1 month I received a call from Ivano that he want all the movement details of the Motorola Radios and Codon Radios, I said to him Ivano, Hiren is the one who moved all the radios and I was not in office that time and Hiren is out of country on her contract break and she will be back after one week, I would give him  the complete detail Ivano start shouting and said I don't want to listen to anything I want all the details along with the serial numbers by the end of the day, then I start gathering all the details and went to him along with the documents and there were some mistakes because I was not having all the details and then Ivano started shouting you MOVCON always do things wrong, you don't know how to do things I will ask my operation team to handle all complete Logistics  you people are no good and kept on saying things.

  I felt very humiliated and got up from the chair and with my broken leg I was Limping and went out of his office Ivano came behind me and said stop and listen to him and if I don't he will write an report against me and fire me, that day I went directly to HR Ms  Marlize and told here every thing and I was crying because of humiliation and she asked me not to worry and she will take an action on it and Ms Marlize HR asked me to write a detail report so she will take an action on it, but I knew if I do so I will be in trouble because Ivano is the Favorite of Mr Gary and my complaint will go in Gary's dustbin so I did not file any report against him and continued my job as a dead man with out a self respect and start looking for a job as I have lot of personal responsibilities and my family to support, I can not continue working within such environment of uncertainty and where people who listen to Ivano are given good positions and good salaries, there are 3 persons who are Ivano's special team, and people who actually work hard, get humiliated and terminated.

Hope will get support...

Logistic Assistant

UNOPS MOVCON Dubai Office, UAE

 (See attached file: MEMORANDUM.pdf) (See attached file: NEW TOR.pdf) (See attached file: PRV TOR.pdf) (See attached file: Termination letter.pdf)

            Following all this, the complaining employee has not been helped but only retaliated again. After inquiries, Mr. Mattsson has hand-picked his own short-term investigator, Kevin Curtis, on a short-term contract. Why not OIOS? And what is the rationale for UNOPS' continuing opaque activities? Developing -- 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

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At UNOPS, Side Deals for Danish Relocation, Mattsson and Dalberg

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 --

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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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