Did
WFP Cousin's
"Chicago
Friend" at DIA
Pull Ads from
Paper, As WFP
Denies?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 4 --
After the
spending of
the World Food
Program's
executive
director
Ertharin
Cousin, on
housing and a
Thanksgiving
trip to
Chicago were
profiled last
November
by Inner
City Press,
the agency's
spokesman
Steve
Taravella declined to
answer Press
follow up
questions, for
example about
the Palm in
Dubai.
But
there was,
apparently,
follow up.
The
Italian
Insider, the
only English
language daily
in Italy,
picked up
Inner City
Press' story.
Then a funny
thing
happened. A
planned ad
campaign for
an Italian
tour by a band
sponsored by
the Detroit
Institute of
Arts was
pulled from
the Italian
Insider.
The
go-between for
the band,
called The
Flutter and
Wow, e-mailed
the
Italian
Insider:
-----
Messaggio
Inoltrato
-----
Da :
theflutterandwow.gigs
A :
Italianinsider.it
Oggetto : Re:
Payment
Processed and
Contract
Signed
Data : Fri, 4
Jan 2013
06:21:47 +0100
we
have a HUGE
problem. One
of the Board
members of the
DIA read on
your website
an article
about the head
of something
called the
food
program and is
fuming mad.
They are close
friends from
Chicago. I
have been
summoned for a
meeting
tomorrow and I
sense there
are some
very pissed
off people at
DIA.
There
was more --
after his
meeting with
DIA, the
go-between
asked the
Italian
Insiders'
editor if he
was "a right
winger" or
British. The
editor
surmises that
Ertharin
Cousin's
"friend from
Chicago" on
the DIA board
viewed even a
pick-up for
the story
about her
spending as
"right wing."
It
took two days
to get an
answer from
WFP, but when
it came it was
absolute
denial:
WFP
spokesman
Steve
Taravella
replied to
Inner City
Press, "As
to the Detroit
Institute of
Arts, the
executive
director has
had no
interactions
with this
organization,
and has not
been able to
determine
whether she
has met any
member who
serves on its
board. She
has no
knowledge of
the actions
you describe."
Why
would the
band's
go-between
pull the
advertising
citing a DIA
board
member who is
a "close
friend" of
Ertharin
Cousin? Why
would this
go-between as
reflected by
multiple
e-mails push
to get
the pick-up of
Inner City
Press' article
taken down, or
the belated
comments of
WFP spokesman
Taravella
played up?
Here is a list
of the Detroit
Institute of
Arts (large)
board.
Inner
City Press
asked WFP some
other
questions, not
only about
Ertharin
Cousin's trip
tomorrow to
the University
of Georgia but
also about the
Central
African
Republic. Here
are those
answers:
-Central
African
Republic: In
December 2012,
three WFP
warehouses
were looted,
with the loss
of more than
400 metric
tons of food.
Some staff
were
temporarily
relocated and
operations
were briefly
suspended. In
January UNHAS
flights
(managed by
WFP) resumed,
and WFP
resumed food
distributions.
On 22 Jan.,
WFP
distributed 80
metric tons to
approximately
5,000
Congolese
refugees in
the Zemio
camp.
Deliveries
and regular
activities are
ongoing.
-Executive
Director
Ertharin
Cousin has
been invited
to speak at
the University
of Georgia Law
School while
she is in the
United States
on other
business next
week. The
university is
picking up her
travel costs
from New York,
as well as her
lodging
expense.
-South
Sudan: Access
remains a key
issue and WFP
supports the
UN in
advocating and
negotiating
for access to
areas
controlled by
the
SPLM-North in
both South
Kordofan and
Blue Nile. In
South Kordofan
in
2012, we
reached more
than 172,000
people with
emergency food
rations
in nine
locations.
About 73,000
of those came
from
SPLM-North
areas.
In Blue Nile
in 2012, we
provided
monthly food
vouchers to
some 2,700
people in the
capital
Damazine.
, 
