Inner City Press

As Tanzanian Says Migiro Out as UN DSG, Malcorra "Awkward" Amid South Sudan Scandal?

2012-01-21T15:21:00.001-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 21 -- For months Asha-Rose Migiro has tried for a second term as Deputy Secretary General of the UN, asking the African Group of nations to pressure Ban Ki-moon to keep her on. But just as Ban ignored African Group requests to appoint a full time Special Advisor on Africa, now Tanzanian officials are saying Migiro is "coming home;" Ban has rebuffed Migiro's and the African Group's requests.

Inner City Press has for months, including specifically on November 25, been reporting that Ban had tabbed former corporate executive Susana Malcorra to replace Migiro.

The argument made to Inner City Press by Ban insiders is that Malcorra is still a "woman of the developing world," being from Argentina. As if to prove it, in late December Malcorra incongruously took on roles during late night budget negotiations for the developing world Group of 77 and China.

But events this year in South Sudan, where as head of the UN Department of Field Support Malcorra was largely in charge of ensuring continuous coverage for the UNMISS peacekeeping mission there of military helicopters, make handing Migiro's post to Malcorra awkward, several member states told Inner City Press.

The Russians told the UN in mid November that they would no longer fly their helicopters in South Sudan. Malcorra's DFS belatedly handed the Russians a substantially amended Letter of Assist, which the Russians rejected and never signed.

When violence broke out in Jonglei State, and as they had said the Russian helicopters would not fly, attempts were made by the UN to still claim they had responded appropriately.

UNMISS deputy Lise Grande held a briefing but never disclosed the lack of helicopters and of what Malcorra later described to Inner City Press on the record as "lethal assets to dissuade" attacks on civilians.

Once Inner City Press on January 11 exclusively reported that the UN had left South Sudan without military helicopter coverage from mid November into January, pushbacks and then attempts at reputation repair began, complete with stealth interviews & spin.

Ban in a January 18 speech put the entire blame on the Russians, saying that a Security Council member had refused to serve. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky, who repeatedly told Inner City Press that countries routinely continuing flying even with expired Letters of Assist, on January 20 answered Inner City Press that things in South Sudan were not as "smooth as we would have wanted." So who then is responsible?

During an otherwise quiet moment in front of the Security Council this month, the representative of another major troop contributing country complained to Inner City Press that under Malcorra DFS has gotten "very sloppy" with paperwork; the representative unprompted opined that Malcorra has been using DFS as a "springboard" to become DSG.

"She doesn't care," the representative told Inner City Press, "Malcorra is like a bird, she if flying on. She is out of synch with what the UN is about, but so is Ban who will promote her."

So what WAS Ms. Malcorra's role as head of DFS in the lack of military helicopters in South Sudan for more than six weeks and at what Ban called the critical moment? This is a question that should be answered, and would be answered in most well run systems BEFORE any Malcorra promotion to DSG, and without pushback against the press raising the obvious question. But is this UN a well run system? We'll see.

Footnote: perhaps because it is "awkward" to drop Migiro for Malcorra at this time, news that Malcorra would return to Tanzania came not from New York but rather the permanent secretary in the Tanzanian ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr John Haule, who said, "We have not received an official document from the UN, but I’m aware that her tenure is almost ending. She also confirmed this development on Thursday," January 19. Watch this site.

UN Denying Claim of Ban Trip to Palestine While AU, Flight Payments Now Disclosed?

2012-01-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 21 -- Palestine's Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour on January 6 told Inner City Press that there would be a visit to Ramallah by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in late January or early February in connection with Ban's trip to the African Union summit.

But on January 20 when Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky announced to the press Ban's trip to the AU in Addis Ababa, he mentioned only a stop over in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.

Inner City Press asked if this meant that Ban would not on this trip go to Palestine. Nesirky replied that "we are not going to be giving dates for visits to that part of the world for obvious reasons."

Ban did disclose in advance his recent trip to Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (the latter on a UAE provided private jet) -- a trip which, Mansour said, initially was going to include a Palestine stop. So is Ramallah considered by the UN so much more dangerous than Beirut? Or is Ban not going to Palestine despite what Mansour said?

Reminded by Inner City Press of what Mansour had on camera said on January 6, Nesirky replied, "Riyad Mansour does not speak for the Secretary-General; I speak for the Secretary-General." Okay...

Inner City Press also asked about Nesirky's January 19 belated response to Inner City Press' thrice asked question about who paid for Ban's travel to the UAE -- does this mean that going forward there will be routine disclosure of assistance, travel or financial or otherwise, Ban accepts from member states?

Nesirky appeared to say that now this WILL be routinely disclosed.

From the UN's January 20, 2012 transcript:

Inner City Press: I have two quick questions on trips. One is, Riyad Mansour had said at the stakeout, not as a leak but as a statement on his, you know, in his capacity as the Permanent Observer of Palestine, that he believes that the Secretary-General was going to travel to Palestine in connection with his trip to the African Union. He said it at first had been on this Beirut and United Arab Emirates trip, and then it was put back for some reason. But is that going to take place; is it going to take place later?

Spokesperson Nesirky: The Secretary-General addressed that when he spoke to all of you in the MALU Square, just upstairs from here, and he said that there has been some speculation. He said he would be travelling to the Middle East. But we are not going to be giving dates for visits to that part of the world for obvious reasons.

Inner City Press: I am only saying it because since Riyad Mansour said it was in connection with the African Union one, does it mean it’s not taking place?

Spokesperson: Yes, but with respect, Riyad Mansour does not speak for the Secretary-General; I speak for the Secretary-General.

Inner City Press: I saw it yesterday you did say that the flight from Beirut to the United Arab Emirates, the United Arab Emirates for the purposes of speed, provided a plane. Is it the Secretariat’s position that any Member State that offered transportation, that such an offer would be accepted or is there some kind of a screening process? For example, if Syria right now said, or Zimbabwe, is there some process, is any offer for travel by any Member State accepted because it helps the UN budget or is there some --

Spokesperson: It’s actually primarily not to do with the budget. It is simply to do with time constraints; because in some cases, to be able to get from A to B commercially would take too long to be able to get to the next event, the next meetings in a timely fashion. It is as simple as that. And I think it goes, without saying, that it is thought about extremely carefully.

Inner City Press: I have been told that in some cases Member States, in some cases in the past, have later presented a bill for just what you are saying that it is not for the budget; it is for convenience and is billed. Without casting any aspersions, assistance like free air travel could seem to create a conflict of interest. Not a financial one, not a personal one, but political one. For example, if a country provided travel to the Secretary-General on a long trip, some might say that this might make the Secretary-General less likely to criticize that country. So, I wanted to know, has the United Arab Emirates billed for this? In some cases does the UN reimburse the country for travel, or is it always, is it ad hoc?

Spokesperson: I think the point here is that this is not something new. It has been done in the past on occasions when it has been necessary, because of time constraints or other considerations, to be able to get from one point to another, and that has not been possible commercially. As you well know, and as I mentioned yesterday and as you saw in our e-mail to you, pretty much all of the travel is on commercial flights or on UN peacekeeping aircraft. And there are certainly no movies on them. That’s for sure.

Inner City Press: Going forward, if it is true that it is almost all, it seems like if you were to disclose when this type of assistance is received you probably wouldn’t have to disclose much, but I guess I am making a request. Because of the possible conflict of interest of receiving assistance from particular Member States, are you going to disclose or does it have to be asked, in regard to each trip?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, we heard what you said before on this; you’ve asked in the same way that trips, that flights of that kind should be made known. And obviously I will do what I can to help you with that, as I did this time and as I did when we went to Libya.

Inner City Press: Okay.

Spokesperson Nesirky: Okay, yeah.

So we'll expect disclosure in the future? In advance unless dangerous? We'll see.

UN's Gambari Embraces ICC Indictee Bashir, As Ban Claims War Crimes Concern

2012-01-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 -- Omar al Bashir, indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court, was pictured greeted UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari at a ceremony for the wedding of Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal's daughter to Chad's president Idriss Deby.

The UN under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was repeatedly told Inner City Press that it only deals with ICC indictees as strictly necessary -- defending flying ICC indictee Ahmed Harun to and from Abyei, for example, on the grounds that it was a (failed) attempt to seek peace, as Inner City Press has reported.

But how can Gambari's greeting of Bashir at a wedding ceremony be deemed necessary?

Ironically, at the same time Ban's Spokesman Martin Nesirky was issuing a statement that Ban is deeply concerned about fighting on the Sudan and South Sudan border, for example in South Kordofan where UN peacekeepers from Egypt while civilians, including a UN contractors, were slaughtered right outside their base.

What can be the UN's defense of Gambari partying with Bashir? Or with Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal at Khartoum's Rotana hotel?

In S. Sudan, Still No UN Count, "Not Smooth" But When Did Ban Take Action?

2012-01-21T15:17:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 -- With bloodshed continuing in South Sudan's Jonglei State, Inner City Press on Friday asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky what Ban meant when he said that while "we saw it coming weeks before... At the critical moment, I was reduced to begging."

Specifically, Inner City Press asked if Ban had started this "begging" in mid November, when the Russians informed the UN they would not fly their helicopters in South Sudan any more, or only at Christmas, when after five weeks without UN military helicopter coverage, the bloodshed started in Pibor? Video here, from Minute 7:17.

Nesirky didn't directly answer, rather than that it was "not just the Secretary General working the phone." This leads to the question: while Ban in his January 18 speech appears to shift all the blame elsewhere, did he get involved early enough in the critical lack of helicopters to protect civilians in one of the UN's high profile missions?

Nesirky said, "no one is saying this went as smoothly as we had wanted," and noted that Ban's envoy Hilde Johnson will appear next week by video link and Inner City Press may want to ask her. Fine -- but what about being able to ask Ban Ki-moon about it during his January 25 Q&A?

Nesirky also said that Johnson's deputy Lise Grande conducted a video briefing after visiting Pibor. She did -- but she didn't mention that the UN had not had military helicopters, and had not brought "lethal assets to dissuade" attacks. The UN only began to speak about that after the Press was informed about the lack, by a member state, and reported it.

Despite South Sudan elected officials providing numbers, high in Pibor and 80 in Duk County, Nesirky did not answer Inner City Press' question if the UN has its own number(s) in Duk, and if it yet has a casually figure in Pibor.

The UN goes on issuing casualty figures in places it has little presence on the ground, while not doing so in South Sudan where it has a large peacekeeping mission. There are many outstanding questions, that not only Hilde Johnson but Ban Ki-moon should answer. Watch this site.

Torsella Claims Reforms Doubted at UN, Preaches Open Slates While US Controls DPA

2012-01-21T15:16:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 -- When the US Mission to the UN's ambassador on management Joe Torsella chose to speak publicly about UN reform, he did it in Washington, taking only six questions including from lobbying law firm Akin Gump.

The Council on Foreign Relations had a listen-only telephone line, but questions from the press which actually covers the UN were not taken.

In Torsella's speech and the six questions, while the UN's "credibility" was mentioned, there was no discussion of UN mis-performance which destroys its credibility, such as alleged sexual abuse and in the introduction of cholera into Haiti, or this month failure to protect civilians in South Sudan due to lack of planning after the UN was told in mid November it had no more helicopters.

Torsella made much of his claimed $100 million in savings in the UN budget negotiations in December. But he could not address how this compares with the $100 million the US gave back to the UN, in an untransparent manner, the so called "Tax Equalization Fund."

Inner City Press submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the State Department about TEF more than 10 months ago, without yet getting any documents. What was that about transparency?

In his speech and in response to a question, Torsella attacked so called "clean slates" in elections to UN system posts. But he did not explain, and was not asked, why it is OK for the US to control posts like the World Food Program (where an Obama selected American replaced Bush's Josette Sheeran), UNICEF (and the World Bank) and even the UN Department of Political Affairs.

Or, in an example related to the mis-performance in South Sudan and Haiti listed above, why it is OK for France to be given ownership of the top post in UN Peacekeeping: four Frenchmen in a row, culminating in the least qualified, Herve Ladsous?

In fairness, Torsella made some good points, for example that it is ridiculous that December's budget negotiations devolved into micro management of the grade of particular posts.

Inner City Press was there covering the negotiations, saw and later learned more about how extra posts were given to for example Swahili Radio, while the UN's radio programs for the Arab world saw no increase.

An African official well placed in the negotiations laughed and said, Kenya advocated well, even overestimating the number of people who speak Swahili.

This official, in an interview with Inner City Press, ridiculed Torsella's claim that the International Civil Service Commissioner has been tasked with coming up with ways to match the US salary increase freeze. That wasn't agreed to, the official said, noting that a letter to that effect has already gone to the ICSC.

Torsella criticized overspending in the UN's technology "upgrade," named UMOJA by the UN, and mentioned some "bureaucrats" that hold on. In charge of UMOJA, until removed, was current Under Secretary General for Management Angela Kane.

Is the US trying to recapture the Department of Management, which it controlled under Bush appointee Chris Burnham? Or will it allow Germany to appoint a successor to Kane (who is being urged to shift to Disarmament, Inner City Press is told), or let Japan have the post?

For all the talk of reform, the US is happy to control the Department of Political Affairs, and as Inner City Press has exclusively reported nominated Jane Hall Lute of the Department of Homeland Security (who while at the UN pushed a $100 million set-aside contract in Darfur for Lockheed Martin: wonder what Torsella'll say about that) and Alejandro Wolff, Ambassador to Chile, as successors to Lynn Pascoe.

This undercuts Torsella's claimed opposition to clean slated and "owned" positions. He said watch his twitter feed in October and November. But he should answer questions from the press at the UN well before then. Watch this site.

Amid UN Negligence in S. Sudan, US Brags of Cutting Budget, Obama Raises Funds

2012-01-21T15:15:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- In the midst of a crisis in South Sudan in which the UN stands accused of negligence in not ensuring the deployment of peacekeepers and "lethal equipment to dissuade" attacks in Jonglei state, the Obama administration on Thursday issued a press release bragging of "containing the growth of the UN peacekeeping budget... by closing peacekeeping missions, as appropriate, and showing increased discipline in establishing new missions."

It was unclear what missions the US was claiming credit for having closed. The mission in Chad closed because President Idriss Deby threw it out. The Mission in Sudan closed because Khartoum refused to renew it; now there are complaints of war crimes in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile state where UN peacekeepers first sat idle, then left.

While there are things the US Mission could credibly brag about, this seems the wrong time to crow about "defeating a proposed 57% annual increase in the reimbursement rate for troops in peacekeeping missions."

The timing of the press release appears keyed to a January 20 speech by the US Mission's Ambassador for Management Joe Torsella. While the Council on Foreign Relations has a large facility on Park Avenue not far from the UN, Tosella will speak at CFR in Washington, with UN correspondents only able to listen, not ask questions.

Among the questions one would like answered by the US Mission and State Department, beyond a 10-month delayed Freedom of Information Act request and a thRice-requested more forthright appraisal of the UN's performance in not arranging for replacement helicopters in South Sudan after Russia told the UN in mid November that it would no longer be flying there, concerns who will replace Lynn Pascoe atop the UN Department of Political Affairs.

Inner City Press has already exclusively named two of what it's told are three nominees: Jane Hall Lute, a previous UN peacekeeping official who presided over a $100 million "sole source" contract for Lockheed Martin in Darfur, and Alejandro Wolff, for a time the acting chief then deputy at the US Mission to the UN, now Ambassador to Chile. Who is the third name?

Just as the US Mission issued its press release and statement by Ambassador Susan Rice, Obama was nearly at a $10,000 a plate fundraising at Daniel on Park Avenue and 65th Street, on his way to another fundraiser with an entry price over $30,000.

Some wondered: would Obama's hedge funder nominee to the Federal Reserve Board, Jay Powell, be present at either? And if it's true that "we can't wait," why not a less industry compromised recess appointment to the Fed?

On the housing front, the Chicago Tribune has touted Obama's support for a Federal Reserve plan on "how to turn thousands of homes held by the government and commercial banks into rental properties. Obama administration officials have been mulling the idea for months, and say they plan to launch a pilot program in early 2012."

This proposal, which some surmise will involve "dumping" housing stock into the hands of slumlords (and campaign contributors) may well appear in Obama's State of the Union address, sources say. Watch this site.

UAE Lent UN's Ban a Private Jet, Now Disclosed, No Comment on Web Censorship

2012-01-21T15:14:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- The United Arab Emirates provided UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a private jet this week, Ban's office belated disclosed on Thursday after Inner City Press had three times asked for disclosure. The UN Spokesperson sent this to Inner City Press

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Subject: Your questions
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 3:00 PM

On aircraft, in case you did not see the noon briefing:

- The UAE Government provided an aircraft to fly the Secretary-General from Beirut to Abu Dhabi because of time constraints.

- National governments have provided similar assistance in the past to this Secretary-General and to his predecessors.

- As you well know, most of the Secretary-General's official travel is on commercial flights or peacekeeping aircraft.

On SOPA/PIPA: This is a national legislative matter. We don't have a comment.

On Yemen elections: You will have seen there are also reports that the Foreign Minister has said the elections are on track. We continue to watch this closely.

These last two answers are internally inconsistent: Ban will not comment on "national legislative matters" in the United States, even when they implicate censorship of the Internet -- but the UN has commented on "national legislation" in Yemen, albeit belatedly.

When Ban Ki-moon spoke with Yemen strongman Ali Saleh on November 23, Inner City Press asked him if he had raised to Saleh his push for the immunity he is now in the process of obtaining. Ban replied that "I have not discussed in detail on that matter." If he opposed amnesties, that was the time to say it. Because now the law is passing, with full immunity for Saleh, and "political" immunity for his allies.

While minimizing the possible conflict of interest in accepting private jets and other assistance from member states, Ban and his office have yet to explain how they decide when and from whom to accept assistance. Would they take a plane from Syria's Bashar al Assad?

Sources close to Ban Ki-moon talk about Saudi assistance to a length trip by Ban and his entourage. Does that make it more difficult for Ban to criticize the lack of women's rights in Saudi Arabia, or its crackdown on protesters and opponents?

During the UAE blogger prosecution, when Inner City Press asked for any UN or Ban comment, none was given. Could this free plane represent a conflict of interest?

In the past, at least one member state provided air transport -- then sent the UN a bill. Has Ban offered to reimburse the UAE? Should he? We'll have more on this.

At UN Despite Ban's Claims, Doubts on Yemen, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Buckpass on S. Sudan

2012-01-21T15:13:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- Touting the rule of law at the UN on Thursday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon claimed to oppose amnesties and support international prosecutions, saying that people want accountability and transparency.

But after Ban spoke with Yemen strongman Ali Saleh on November 23, Inner City Press asked him if he had raised to Saleh his push for the immunity he is now in the process of obtaining. Ban replied that "I have not discussed in detail on that matter." If he opposed amnesties, that was the time to say it.

Likewise in international prosecutions, since his visit to Sri Lankan internment camps in May 2009, when children at gunpoint sung to him, Ban has done little to push for prosecutions on the many reports of war crimes by Sri Lankan authorities, including some at the Sri Lankan mission to the UN.

In fact, at a meeting with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ban openly criticized his own staff rather than the alleged crimes of those he was meeting with.

On accountability, Ban's UN does not practice it. Faced with a detailed claim that the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations introduced cholera to Haiti, Ban and his officials and spokesman have repeated refused to answer questions about the claim, saying the matter is with Ban's chief lawyer Patricia O'Brien, who refuses to speak with the press. Transparency?

Ban is good at reading speeches that are full of holes, and then not taking questions about them. On January 18, while many media organizations "went dark" to protest prospective Internet censorship legislation in the US Congress, Ban gave a speech whitewashing his and the UN's failure to speak loudly and arrange for alternative helicopters in South Sudan after being told in mid November that the Russian helicopters would not fly.

After the bloodbath occurred in Pibor and the UN was unable to bring "lethal assets to dissuade" attack, and then refused to even estimate those killed, Ban has now shifted all the blame to the Russians for saying, from mid November on, that they would not fly.

As Inner City Press quoted in its January 11 story, "Maybe when asked to come and help civilians, [the Russians] should have," one Security Council member told Inner City Press. "But they weren't required to and it's [the UN's] fault that they didn't have an agreement with the Russians. Now they're trying to blame it on them." Click here for Ban's January 18 "Responsibility to Protect" speech. And so it goes at Ban's UN.

Footnote: if this UN does not have a rule of law, it does have protocol. On January 13 Inner City Press asked the spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly if there would be a minute of silence to Guinea Bissau's deceased president, as there had been for Kim Jong-Il of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. She answered, and Inner City Press that day reported, that Guinea Bissau had not made any request. Today as an update the follow has arrived:

"Dear Matthew, In follow-up to your question on above matter, the mission of Guinea Bissau has requested 2 days ago a minute of silence in the GA in memory of HE President Malam Bacai Sanha. Accordingly a minute of silence is planned at the plenary on January 25th."

Well alright then. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky has by contrast refused to provide even initial answers, much less updates, on Yemen, web censorship, even who pays for Ban's travel. Watch this site.

UN's Ban Knew Had No Copters in South Sudan for 6 Weeks, Now Passes the Buck

2012-01-21T15:12:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee, Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- When the bloodbath in Pibor in South Sudan began, local people blamed the UN for not arriving fast enough, and not acting to try to stop the attackers.

On January 18, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, "at the critical moment, I was reduced to begging for replacements from neighboring countries and missions. With limited resources, we tried our best."

Is this a rare candid statement, or a passing of the buck?

After asking questions and writing about the UN's slow response in Pibor as early as January 2, Inner City Press on January 11 reported that the UN had known since mid November that the Russian helicopters would not fly anymore in South Sudan.

Immediately UN officials pushed back, saying that it is customary for helicopters to fly for the UN even after the UN has, as here, allowed the Letter of Assist to expire. But the UN had been told that the Russian helicopters would not fly.

Inner City Press repeated asked Ban's Office of the Spokesperson about this; lead spokesman Martin Nesirky claimed that the UN would not be discussing its negotiations about helicopters.

The representative of another large troop contributing country told Inner City Press that under Ban, and his Department of Field Support, paperwork has gotten "sloppy," and the Secretariat has tried to play one member state off against another. "They are just using the UN as a platform, a launching pad," the representative told Inner City Press.

In a January 16 interview with Inner City Press, DFS Under Secretary General Susana Malcorra said on the record that she and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had contacted the Russians over Christmas about the issue.

Malcorra described belated moves to get Bangladeshi helicopters from the UN Mission in the Congo, and Ethiopian helicopters from Abyei in north Sudan. As Inner City Press put it to her, this seems akin to a City fire commissioner, knowing for six weeks that the city does not have fire truck protection, belatedly casting all blame elsewhere when the fire occurs, and he belatedly contracts for other trucks. Click here for the interview.

It remains unanswered: if the UN could get alternate helicopters now, after the bloodbath, why wasn't this possible before, in order to stop the bloodshed?

Inner City Press has asked. Rather than answer, the Secretariat has written, and Ban delivered, a speech entirely passing the buck. This is why this UN does not improve. Watch this site.

"New World of UN Peace Operations" Echoes from Rwanda to Jonglei, 4 Frenchmen

2012-01-21T15:08:00.002-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee, Book Review

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- With UN Peacekeeping under fire for recent inaction in South Kordofan and Darfur in Sudan, slow action in Pibor in South Sudan, abuse and negligent introduction on cholera in Haiti, and standing by during mass rapes in Walikale in the Congo, one expected the new 250 page book "The New World of UN Peace Operations" to suggest solutions to these problems.

Instead, the book's three German authors lavish praise on the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, mostly on Jean-Marie Guehenno (the second of the four Frenchmen in a row to run DPKO) with a few mentions of his successor, Alain Le Roy.

There are many below the top level of DPKO who want to do a good job, and some do. But as the proverb says, a fish rots from the head.

The book does acknowledge some problems: the capture and "undressing" of UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone in 2000 by forces under Corporal Foday Sankoh; the erratic management in Liberia of Jacques Klein. But it misses more recent stories.

Though copyrighted and published in 2011 the book feels out of date, with only glancing mention of the Department of Field Support that was spun off in 2008. Ban Ki-moon is not even listed in the book's index; his name appears once, connected to a press release, on the book's penultimate page.

Jordan's Prince Zeid is mentioned, but not his incomplete work on sexual abuse and exploitation. This is a bureaucratic book about a bureaucracy, portraying DPKO as a "learning organization."

But what has DPKO learned? The book recounts DPKO inaction in Bukavu in the Kivus in 2004 during attacks led by Jules Mutebutsi and Laurent Nkunda.

But the same thing happened last year in Southern Kordofan, and to some degree this month in Jonglei State in South Sudan, where the UN proceeded without Russian helicopters flying from November on, until a bloodbath in Pibor ensued (click here for an Inner City Press story.) Even now the UN won't say what it has learned. (UNMISS official Lise Grande is in the book, at page 185; Hilde Johnson is not.)

The book praises Alan Doss, the former SRSG in the Congo who left after proof of nepotism: urging UNDP to break the rules and give his daughter a job (a protest by the staffer whose job was being given away led to the staffer, and not Doss, being submitted to justice.)

Amid bloviating about the UN's Rule of Law work, there is no mention of the peacekeepers' immunity, which has led for example to the mere repatriation of over 100 Sri Lankan soldiers after being accused of pedophilia in Haiti, and the more recent case involving Uruguayan peacekeepers.

Inevitably there's mention of the Romanian UN Formed Police Unit shooting protesters in Kosovo in 2007 with 13 year old rubber bullets which got hard enough to kill. But this same issue -- allowing peacekeepers to use out of date munitions -- had earlier led to deaths in the DRC. So what did the UN learn?

There are many below the top level of DPKO who want to do a good job, and some do. But as the proverb says, a fish rots from the head.

One wonders what the authors think of the capture of UN Peacekeeping by a single member state, to the degree that France put forward Herve Ladsous at the last minute to replace Jerome Bonnafont, even though even his supporters say Ladsous is unqualified.

At an early meeting, Ladsous reportedly told UN staff, don't look to me for vision, I am a bureaucrat. So it seems are this book's authors, Thorsten Benner, Stephan Bergenthaler and Philipp Rotmann, all affiliated with the Global Public Policy Institute GPPi. The book was funded by the German Foundation for Peace Research. The money could better have been spent trying to protect civilians in Pibor, or South Kordofan before that. Live and learn.

On Slow UN Response in S. Sudan, US Rice Slow to Criticize, Vietor UNclear, Reforms Uncertain

2012-01-21T15:08:00.001-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 17, updated below -- The day after UN Under Secretary General Susana Malcorra acknowledged to Inner City Press that the UNMISS mission in South Sudan had been unable to transport to Jonglei state "lethal assets to dissuade" the ongoing bloodshed there, Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice what she thought of the Russian helicopters not flying, and the UN's actions.

Rice answered more cagily than usual, directing Inner City Press to ask the Russian Mission and DPKO [UN Peacekeeping] about the reasons for not flying, thanking Russian for its previous service in North Sudan, and saying that the Security Council is working to ensure UNMISS has the air assets it needs. But how?

Inner City Press understands that in exchange for filling in for the Russian helicopters, the Bangladeshi unit in the DR Congo wants to have at least a one year contract, rather than the much shorter period the UN has put on the table.

The Ethiopian helicopters at UNISFA in Abyei wanted to be based in Juba, not in the more primitive conditions in, for example, Wau.

Rice and the US Mission were appropriately quick to criticize UN peacekeepers in the DR Congo who failed to recognize or respond to mass rape in Walikale. Here, perhaps because as the Russians complain the US blocked a Security Council statement in November 2011 about attacks in South Sudan on Russian pilots, Rice has not unleashed the type of criticism used in the DR Congo.

Another explanation is that since the incident does not reflect well on US ally South Sudan, the less said the better.

The entire helicopter incident, first reported by Inner City Press, has brought up the need for reforms, starting with arrangements for "inter-mission cooperation" that can be put into place while a bloodbath like in Jonglei is actually taking place, and not after.

The Security Council members want the power to control the size of each Mission; the troop and equipment contributing countries want to know where they will serve, and under what terms.

But how can the UN and the Security Council's mission pretend to be ready to protect civilians if they allow helicopter contracts to lapse, go weeks with no helicopter coverage, and then are still unable to mobilize even nearby helicopter assets, being paid by the UN, to come and transport "lethal assets to dissuade" attacks on civilians? Watch this site.

Footnote: Inner City Press three times asked the US Mission to the UN's spokesmen for Rice's or the Mission's comments on the UN's response in Jonglei, without response. Nor was the spokesman going to permit it at Tuesday's stakeout on Sudan. Rice to her credit pointed and took the question.

Update: Seven hours after Ambassador Rice's stakeout, the administration sent this out:

Statement from NSC Spokesman Tommy Vietor on Violence in South Sudan

...We also note the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) with respect to conflict prevention and civilian protection, and call upon the South Sudanese government and the UN to continue working closely together on this vitally important mission. We further call upon the UN to provide any additional support that is needed by UNMISS to carry out its responsibilities in South Sudan.

So the UN is reminded it's supposed to protect civilians? And the UN is supposed to provide helicopters, belatedly? We'll have more on this.

As Gabon Pitches Ping for AU & Denies French Funding, Canapes Served

2012-01-21T15:06:00.002-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 17 -- As the race for the top African Union post heats up, Gabonese Ambassador Nelson Messone held an event Monday night at the Millennium Hotel across from the UN, to promote a second term for Gabon's Jean Ping.

The event featured, among others, the Permanent Representatives to the UN of Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, as well as shrimp and guacamole canapes. Video here.

Only four questions were asked, and Inner City Press asked three of them: whether the Ambassadors in attendance are in support of Ping, whether Gabon believes the post is reserved for a smaller state than South Africa, and whether Gabon's differences with South Africa around Eritrea sanctions in late 2011 were in any way related to the race.

On the question of support, Messone said "it's obvious," Ping is "from the Central African region." Tommo Monthe, Cameroon's Ambassador, told Inner City Press his presence means "strong support" for Ping. Equatorial Guinea's Ambassador exchanged a letter with Messone.

On the other questions, Messone diplomatically said that "the wisdom of African heads of state always prevails" and he sees now reasons why it won't this time, "whether there are one, two or three candidates." He decried rumors that "one country outside of Africa" was funding Ping's race, saying that only Gabon is funding it.

Afterward, Messone declined to confirm that the "one country" he referred to is France, but said that the only rule is that countries outside of Africa can't fund the race. But, one wag wondered, can they directly or indirectly condition support for their former colonies in Africa to support their preferred candidate? Watch this site.

Footnote: after Messone finished, Inner City Press was approached by one hapless European diplomat, who said he'd come based on the mention in the invitation of a review of Gabon's two years on the Security Council. "But that's not what he talked about," the diplomat complained. And so it goes.

At UN, Malcorra Says Lacking Russian Copters Lethal Assets Couldn't Move in S. Sudan

2012-01-21T15:06:00.001-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- As 6000 Lou Nuer fighters advanced on Pibor in South Sudan, the UN Mission was unable to transport "lethal assets to dissuade" the attack due to Russian helicopters not flying, UN Under Secretary General Susana Malcorra told Inner City Press in an interview on Monday.

After UN spokesman had dodged questions for nearly a week about what some in the Security Council call "negligence" by the UN, Malcorra on Monday detailed that "around December 15" the Russians told the UN they were withdrawing four of their eight helicopters from the UN Mission in South Sudan.

She said that after the Russian helicopters were attacked -- according to the Russians, on September 16 and 20, October 24 and November 11 -- they had said they would not fly.

The resulting failure to get UN "lethal assets" to Pibor to protect civilians, which several UN sources have called scandalous, now seems to be belatedly acknowledged and may be used as a trigger for reform.

As Inner City Press stated in its exclusive report on January 11, when the UN belated gave Russia a draft Letter of Assist for continued use of the helicopters, the UN proposed putting machine gun mounts on the doors of the helicopters. For that reason, the Russians say, the Letter of Assist wasn't signed.

Inner City Press on Monday asked Malcorra if given what the UN knew were mounting tensions in Jonglei State in South Sudan, adding a new element to the draft Letter of Assist for the Russian helicopters had been wise.

Malcorra said, "I will not answer that question. Yes we did ask, that was one of the elements of discussion. Clearly we had a Letter of Assist that called for--" she stopped. "I won't get into the Letter of Assist."

This has been the UN's line since Inner City Press began raising the question: that the UN will not discuss negotiations, and therefore will not answer basic questions such as when (and if) the Bangladeshi helicopters from the MONUSCO mission in DR Congo, or the Ethiopian helicopters from UNISFA in Abyei, could serve South Sudan.

Security Council sources have told Inner City Press about what they call "inter-mission arrangements," saying that "it is not so easy between Sudan and South Sudan" and that the Bangladeshis are asking for a longer term commitment, up to a year, to establish some forward operating base.

Click here for Inner City Press' stories in this series: first, second and third. The detailed failure to get UN "lethal assets" to Pibor to protect civilians now seems to be belatedly acknowledged and may be used as a trigger for reform - at least greater flexibility in inter-mission agreements in the future.

Another Troop Contributing Country on the Security Council told Inner City Press that the UN Secretariat, specifically the Department of Field Support under Malcorra, is increasing engaged in "ad hocism, paperwork is not on time... DFS was to be underneath DPKO - that is gone."

In fairness, Malcorra is more open than many of Ban Ki-moon's other USGs, being willing to answer at least one of Inner City Press' questions Monday about the UN's supposed "zero tolerance" policy on prosecuting sexual abuse -- she acknowledged "have we been able to close that loop to the end? No we haven't."

Her narrative, offered on the record on South Sudan, was that

"we had these events in November: they were shot, and the build up in tensions in Jonglei. So, during November there was frantic activity...

"We found ourselves without the Russian helicopters. So we started to use commercial helicopters. There was a plan to have a big reconciliation meeting in mid December. So when I was in South Sudan end of November, beginning of December, the SRSG was on the matter, to make sure that by mid Dec helicopters were back flying.

"Close to the 15th of December, we got a confirm by Russia they would withdraw four of the eight. We kept working with Russia - the host government, the Secretary General... we are still working on it."

Malcorra said, on the record, that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon communicated to Russia, apologies for the attacks.

Inner City Press asked Malcorra if the tensions between Russia and Ban, after Ban said that NATO "fully complied with Resolution 1973" in Libya, played any role in Ban being unable to ensure their helicopter service in South Sudan, given the UN's position that such helicopters fly even before the Letters of Assist are signed.

She said, "I couldn't answer that, Matthew."

The question remains: should the UN Secretariat have moved faster, or spoken more loudly outside the loop between Juba and Moscow, when it was foreseeable it would not be able to move "lethal assets" even as tensions mounted in Jonglei state? We'll have more on this.

On Syria, UN At Noon Denies Arab League Request, Then Selectively Confirms

2012-01-21T15:03:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- At the public UN noon briefing on Monday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesman Eduardo del Buey was asked, "Has the Arab League made a formal request for help to the UN?"

Del Buey answered, on camera, "I don’t believe they have, no."

Action returned to the UN Security Council, where a German spokesman complained to the Press that Russia's re-draft of their resolution on Syria had only just been e-mailed out, and only to the experts. Click here for that Inner City Press story.

Hours later, some in the UN press corps complained that Del Buey's public answer had been superseded, but only to a few. There was an Agence France Presse story, quoting not Del Buey but a lower ranked UN spokesperson Vannina Maestracci that, "At the request of the League of Arab States, the OHCHR has agreed to train observers and will deploy to Cairo to do this training."

So what changed, between the public noon briefing, which Inner City Press and other attended, and this quote? To be sure, Inner City Press e-mailed Ms. Maestracci and asked "if you said the below, when, to whom and in response to what?"

She replied, "yes, at the request of the League of Arab States, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has agreed to train observers and will deploy to Cairo to do this training. You can find this information in the transcript of today's briefing."

And sure enough, although not e-mailed out to UN correspondents, even those few present at Monday's UN noon briefing, there was this addendum, inserted in brackets:

[The Deputy Spokesperson later said that, at the request of the League of Arab States, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has agreed to train observers and will deploy to Cairo to do this training.]

What does this mean - that Del Buey read out this answer over the UN's internal "squawk" loudspeaker, only to those journalists who were sitting waiting in their cubicles?

For the record, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Del Buey, and his boss Martin Nesirky, to ensure that after-arising answers that are "squawk" are also sent by email, to correspondents that are not in their cubicles but out covering the UN, as Inner City Press was on Monday afternoon, interviewing USG Malcorra about alleged UN negligence and death in South Sudan.

But this is what is called spoon-fed journalism, at Ban Ki-moon's UN: we'll have more on this, watch this site.

On Syria, New UN Draft Amid Question of 3 Week Lull, Low Level on Nigeria Unrest

2012-01-21T15:02:00.000-05:00

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- Before the UN Security Council met on Monday morning, French Ambassador Gerald Araud was asked about his foreign minister Alain Juppe "decrying" the Council for lack of action on Syria. Would France be submitted a draft resolution in the place of the Russian draft, on which not even consultations have been held this year?

Araud replied that it would be meaningless to introduce a new draft if it would only be vetoed; he said that "momentum" is needed in the Security Council.

As the Council's meeting, about West Africa, began in the chamber a spokesman emerged and told Inner City Press that "one delegation" had asked to discuss Syria afterwards, specifically the dormant Russian draft.

That delegation, it is now clear, was not France. Rather, a German spokesman came out afterwards and said that when his country -- which was represented Monday by Deputy Permanent Representative Miguel Berger -- raised the issue, the Russians responded that they had circulated a new draft 45 minutes ago.

Many in the Council were unaware. The Russians said they had sent the new draft to "the experts," that is at a level lower than DPR Berger (and the US representative in the Council on Monday, see below.)

In the first consultations on Syria since December 27, the Council members' expert at now scheduled to meet on January 17 at 3 pm. Watch this site.

Footnote: As some of the few correspondents outside the Security Council on Monday commented on the "low level" at which most Council members "including the US" were represented for the West Africa and then Syria consultations, Inner City Press asked two US Mission spokesmen in writing about their level of representation, including on the West Africa topics of Boko Haram and the fuel subsidy protests in Nigeria.

(Inner City Press asked UNOWA envoy Said Djinnit about #OccupyNigeria; he said it is "economic" and not in his mandate.)

Two hours later when the meetings ended there had been no response from the US Mission.

US Mission quiet on MLK Day Jan 16, but SC in action (c) MRLee

Yes, it is the Martin Luther King's day holiday. But the UN is open, and the Security Council meeting, including on Syria. Press - Mission relations are a two way street, at least when the UN is open. South Sudan questions remain outstanding - watch this site.