As UN Aid Chief Valerie Amos Leaves, Inner City Press Asks If Post Is UK's Like France & Peacekeeping, US & Political Affairs

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- When the UN announced on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving the departure of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy will be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.

  Amos' predecessor was UK Sir John Holmes, just as current UN Department of Political Affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman's predecessor was American B. Lynn Pascoe, now back at the UN on the UN Peacekeeping Operations review panel. UN Peacekeeping is even more closely held, with France controlling it four times in a row, now at a nadir with Herve Ladsous.

  Haq insisted that the Humanitarian Affairs vacancy will be open to candidates from all regions. But when Inner City Press asked if it will be advertised for example in The Economist, Haq did not answer.

  There have been rumblings, noted by Inner City Press, of DPA chief Jeffrey Feltman leaving -- and of the US perhaps trading Political Affairs for Peacekeeping. But that theory seems to have been that US State Department Number Three Wendy Sherman would move up to William Burns' deputy spot, opening her position for the return of Feltman.

  Now that the Obama administration has put Tony Blinken into the State Department Deputy post, as one insider told ICP, “Feltman stays at the UN.”

Even without any double switch, Ladsous is under fire atop DPKO, not only for refusal to answer questions, back to rapes in Minova in DR Congo, but now in Tabit in Darfur as well. 

 Haq, like lead UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on November 26, would not when Inner City Press asked confirm receipt of a letter, critical of Ladsous' DPKO, from Darfuri groups, here. 

 Outgoing UN Security Council president Gary Quinlan of Australia not only confirmed receipt of the letter - he circulated it to the other Council members. A press officer of UK mission to the UN tells Inner City Press, "I can confirm that we received the letter indirectly." We'll have more on this, and on Amos' work while at the UN, and perhaps reason(s) for leaving.

  On November 25, it was Quinlan and not Amos who took question after Amos' briefing on Syria. How much will Amos speak, publicly, before her departure at the end of March? Much, is the hope and goal of the Free UN Coalition for Access. Watch this site.

   

As UNSC Hears of Guinea Conakry, and DRC Brags of Brigade, Has France's Pen Gone Dry?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 -- Another Francophone African country is in chaos, and its name is Guinea-Conakry. After protests killed one and injured ten, the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman briefed the Security Council on Thursday afternoon.

  Afterward Council members told Inner City Press about the briefing, with views ranging -- in France -- from “c'est dommage” (it's a shame) to “ca ira” (it will work).

  Then another French phrase: ville morte. Tomorrow there is a “dead city” protest.

  What about the elections set for June? Previously, Feltman's predecessor B. Lynn Pascoe listed Guinea-Conakry as one of the UN's mediation successes. Now what?

  Inner City Press asked, Who had the pen on Guinea?” This means, which Security Council member is in charge of drafting Council products? France drafted the Mali resolution, and a few Central African Republic press statements. The US drafted, then changed, the Western Sahara resolution.

  But who's got the pen on Guinea? It seems, as one wag said, that France's pen has gone dry.

  Meanwhile up in the General Assembly, the Democratic Republic of Congo took the floor to say its problems come from “certain neighboring countries,” and that the UN's new intervention brigade will “eradicate negative forces.” Click here for that.

  Then Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman trashed a Temple University professor who has spoken about Darfur, Molefi Kete Asante. It wasn't clear who had set up the "expert" panels in Vuk Jeremic's GA debate, but there was talk of a declaration, being coordinated by South Sudan, and South Africa. Watch this site.

UN's Pascoe Met with Kyrgyz Otunbayeva Days Before Bakiyev Ouster, Johnny Appleseed?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2kyrgyz041210.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 12 -- When the UN's Ban Ki-moon was in Kyrgyzstan last week, just before the violent overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, his top political advisor met with a single opposition figure: former UN staff member Roza Otunbayeva, days before she took over Bakiyev's place as a de facto head of state a/k/a coup leader.

Last week Inner City Press reported, then exclusively, that Ms. Otunbayeva had worked for the UN from 2002 to 2004 in Georgia. Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban's spokespeople if Ban "or his staff had any communications with her prior or subsequent to the fall of the Baliev Government yesterday?"

Ban's associate spokesman Farhan Haq replied archly, "" I wouldn't comment on the leadership in Kyrgyzstan while Jan Kubis prepares his visit. I can confirm that Rosa Otunbayeva had been Deputy SRSG for UNOMIG from 2002 to 2004. "

But over the weekend, sources told Inner City Press that Ban's head of Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, had met with opposition figures including Ms. Otunbayeva. Some suggested, perhaps tongue in cheek, that Mr. Ban had belatedly become something of a Johnny Appleseed of revolutions, in this case one which Russia also supported.

And so at the next noon briefing on April 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the meeting with Ms. Otunbayeva, which (other) opposition figures the UN met with. Video here, from Minute 9:50.

"I think it's singular rather than plural," Nesirky said, "and it was Ms. Otunbayeva." He alluded to a "half dozen representatives, mostly journalists, including Ms. Otunbayeva."

But what was the purpose of the meeting? Was Ms. Otunbayeva a journalist?

"The S-G," Nesirky continued, was in other meetings and so asked Mr. Pascoe and others in the delegation to do the meeting and report back.

Who else was in the meeting: now UN envoy Jan Kubis? Inner City Press asked for a read out on the pre-revolution meeting, but Nesirky declined. "I don't think that's possible, that goes beyond normal diplomatic practice."

So what did the top political advisor for Mr. Ban -- or should be call him Johnny Appleseed? -- discuss with Ms. Otunbayeva?

Footnote: moments later in front of the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked this month's Council president Yukio Takasu of Japan about the call by Bakiyev for the UN to send peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan. Video here, from Minute 4:07.

Ambassador Takasu said he and Council member are "obviously aware of the report" but the Council and S-G have not received "official notification." Could it be a bit difficult to send an official letter from Kyrgyzstan right now? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2kyrgyz041210.html

In UN Sanctions Branch, Of Sex and Waste and Fiefdoms, Pascoe's Transfer Re-Examined

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/undpa2filenote101309.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- The UN's Sanctions Branch is run in such a way that when one of its Democratic Republic of the Congo experts began spending its money on prostitutes while in the DRC, he was allowed to continue by converting the working woman into his girlfriend, responsive UN sources tell Inner City Press.

The team on Sudan sanctions was stacked with non Arabic speakers, friends and acquaintances of the UN official who recruited them, costing tens of thousands of dollars in extra translation fees.

The Sanctions Branch is a part of the UN Department of Political Affairs, currently embroiled in controversy. Last week Inner City Press obtained and published a sharply worded "note to file" by DPA chief B. Lynn Pascoe reprimanding two long time staffers, Horst Heitmann and Aleksandar Martinovic, who oversees the Sanctions Branch. Since then additional whistleblowers have stepped forward, and the picture has become more complete.

It is, as is so often the case at the UN, a story about family connections, nationality and fiefdoms. To fill an opening at the P-5 level in the Sanctions Branch Mr. Martinovic, a Peruvian who came into the UN along with Javier Perez de Cuellar, favored one James E. Suttlin, whose father James S. Sutterlin wrote a central bank about Perez de Cuellar.

Lynn Pascoe's supporters recount that the Sanctions Branch under Martinovic faced complaints of sexism and "lack of gender balance."

With two long serving women leaving the sanctions branch, the hiring of Sutterlin was not positively viewed. Nor was the fact that until one of the women left, the Sanctions Branch lacked staff meetings and coordination. "Just one on one, divide and conquer" is how one insider described it to Inner City Press. And so Pascoe intervened, circumventing an already ongoing recruitment process to laterally send in someone in his office.

Martinovic and Horst Heittman protested, suddenly declaring that the position wasn't needed. The Pascoe supporters point out that while Heittman now contests USG Pascoe's lateral transfer, he himself favor a lateral move of his fellow German Gregor Boventer into the Charter Research Branch, with little background in the subject.

National fealty and power politics seem to have determined much of the make up of DPA and its Security Council Affairs Division.

It is said that when Heittman came in at D-1, then German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger pleaded his case to then DPA chief Kieran Prendergast. Now with another Germany Ambassador on his way, this level of support is not known.

Heittman is said to have offered German help to Kofi Annan's last DPA chief Ibrahim Gambari, to try to keep this post under Ban Ki-moon. This didn't work, and now Lynn Pascoe is said to not let Gambari work on any African issues.

It is like archeology, and if what Inner City Press reported in its last article, that the Obama administration wants peacekeeping and would give DPA to the French, a new round of musical chair might soon begin. But we like to get as close to the truth as we can for each round, hence this follow up report. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undpa2filenote101309.html

At UN, Rebellion and Retaliation in Political Affairs Unit, Pascoe's Transfer Questioned, Faces French - Obama Switch?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/undpa1filenote100809.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 8, updated Oct. 9 -- The UN Department of Political Affairs, charged with working internationally for peace, has devolved into some internal warfare. On October 8, DPA chief B. Lynn Pascoe wrote an angry "note to file" about two of his directors, who rebelled against what many of Inner City Press' sources in DPA call a flawed and even corrupt hiring process. The note to file, after DPA's response, is being published by Inner City Press here.

As Mr. Pascoe's Note to File about "Unacceptable Conduct by Messrs. Martinovic and Heitmann" has it, "a P5 level staff member in my office volunteered for the internal mobility exercise. I reviewed the Vacancy Announcement that was posted for the P5 in the Subsidiary Organs [of the Security Council] Branch, and I deemed that she was qualified for the post."

There was only one problem: public notice of this P5 post has already been published, and three candidates from outside the UN had already applied. They were told that a test would be administered to make the process competitive and merit-based. Then they were told that the examination was canceled "for technical reasons."

One of the suddenly disqualified finalists, from Germany, came to New York and demanded of Mr. Aleksandar Martinovic to know what these "technical reasons" were. Another internal candidate, already expert on sanctions, was also sidelined by Mr. Pascoe's unilateral decision to place his colleague Michele Griffin into the vacant P5 post, effective October 20, 2009.

Returning to Mr. Pascoe's disciplinary version, after he "issued a note to all DPA staff announcing the move, plus one other transfer, on 2 October, 2009" suddenly Mr. Martinovic and Horst Heitmann, the head of the Security Council Division, informed Mr. Pascoe's Special Assistant Karin Ann Gerlach that "they no longer required the post, did not need the staff member I had laterally re-assigned."

This was a protest of Mr. Pascoe's circumvention of an already begun recruitment process, sources tell Inner City Press. But rather than reconsider his actions, challenged by two respected directors in DPA, Pascoe fired off a note to their personnel files, calling it a "direct contravention of... the instructions I issued as head of the Department... unacceptable conduct for senior managers."

For the head of the UN Secretariat's main diplomatic unit to resort to managing his directors by vituperative notes to personnel files strikes some as a bad sign.

Less documented than the above but not entirely unrelated, well placed sources in the UN say that the United States is mulling taking over the Department of Peacekeeping Affairs, thereby displacing its current chief Alain Le Roy, but in exchange giving DPA to Le Roy's native France. They noted, however, that India too is making a claim to the Peacekeeping post. Watch this site.

While there is no mechanism, it appears, for a "note to the personnel file" of Mr. Pascoe, his circumvention of an already begun recruitment exercise, disregard for the protests of two long time directors, and notes to their files do not reflect well on him. Pascoe concludes, "I have asked Mr. [Haile] Menkerios to duly note this incident on both e-PAS' for the 2009/10 cycle."

Mr. Menkerios is known as Pascoe's "go-to" guy for African issues, totally sidelining Pascoe's predecessor as DPA chief Ibrahim Gambari. But with Menkerios reportedly up to replace Rodolphe Adada in Darfur, will he continue as the e-PAS hatchet man against two of his directors?

A month ago, Inner City Press posed a simple question to DPA and its spokesman, about a hiring process. It took more than three weeks to get it answered, and even then, only partially. While that story is finally in preparation, the report above, supported by two documents with Mr. Pascoe's signature, does not require any three week wait. Pascoe's note to file says "they will have an opportunity to respond in writing should they wish." So, on that or Pascoe's response, we have have more. Watch this site.

Footnote: On October 8, the day Pascoe signed the above quoted note to file, Inner City Press asked him questions on the record about both Somalia and Guinea. On the former, both on and off camera, Pascoe presented himself as unaware of the specifics of the United States' curtailment of aid to the UN World Food Program due to questions about the applicability of anti-terrorism laws to aid in the Al Shabaab controlled portions of Somalia. Video here from Minute 7:47.

On the latter, Pascoe expressed outrage about the rapes in Guinea, and said he hoped for an election, to which the UN would provide help. Video here, from Minute 11:29.

Hopefully clearer than in Afghanistan.

Then Inner City Press obtained a copy of Pascoe's note to file, which seems an equally or more accurate reflection of current DPA diplomacy.

Update of October 9, 2009: rather than the more that three weeks it took to answer a simple question about an office overseen by the Department of Political Affairs, this time DPA sent a response the next day:

Subj: in response to your blog posting of today
From: Jared Kotler [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 10/9/2009 12:03:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

Under USG Pascoe’s leadership, DPA is undergoing a process of strengthening and renewal which includes a mobility exercise intended to broaden the experiences of staff members, consistent with broader efforts to create a more mobile and well rounded Secretariat. The staff transfer you refer to on your blog today was taken in that context. Incidentally, you may be unaware that, as established in ST/AI/2006/3, it is entirely within the authority of a Department head to transfer staff laterally within a department. The reasons for the note to the file you refer to on you blog are well summarized therein.

Jared Kotler
Office of the Under-Secretary General
UN Department of Political Affairs

And so, we publish the note to file, here and above. The protest / refusal to go along of two long standing and respected directors in DPA remains noteworthy. Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson, who Inner City Press asked about this on October 9, said that Ban would have not comments on the specifics. The question was and is, does UN "mobility" allow for a hiring process so irregular that long time and respected directors protest it? And is the answer to fire off vituperative notes to file? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undpa1filenote100809.html

Burmese Days of UN's Ban Ki-moon Are a Failure, By Ban's Own Measure, North Korea Fires Missiles

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban7burmapress070409.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 4 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon leaves Myanmar, not only is Aung San Suu Kyi still on trial, Mr. Ban was not allowed to visit her. On the other hand, Ban offered ham handed praise of Than Shwe's moving his country forward. Ban claimed that perhaps other political prisoners would be released, if not now then before the election.

Why did Ban Ki-moon go to Myanmar? In the run-up to the trip, before it was announced that he would go, Ban sent his envoy Ibrahim Gambari to test the waters. Whatever test was applied, upon Gambari's return to New York, Ban's office confirmed to the eight journalists hand picked to be allowed to cover Ban's trip that it would in fact occur. Several had been told in advance and had booked tickets, canceled them then re booked at additional cost.

With Ban already in Japan with an entourage of 22 UN personnel -- but few of the selected UN correspondents cover this first leg of the trip -- Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas what would be in the indicia of if Ban's Myanmar venture was a success or a failure.

The question was asked against the background of negative reviews of Ban's performance and predictions that Myanmar's Than Shwe regime would use Ban's trip to legitimize their trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and their highly controlled, pro-military mock election planned for 2010.

Ms. Montas reacted with exasperation, saying that Ban had clearly enunciated his goals for the trip. But that was not the question: how would the public know if it was a success or failure? Montas appeared to acknowledge that if the goals Team Ban had set out were not moved forward during the trip, it would be a failure.

Now, not only is Aung San Suu Kyi still on trial, Ban was not allowed to visit her.

On the other hand, Ban offered ham handed praise of Than Shwe's moving his country forward. Ban claimed to his hand-picked scribes that perhaps other political prisoners would be released, if not now then before the election.

Meanwhile North Korea, fresh from throwing Korean-speaking international UN staff out of the country, fired seven missiles in contempt for the US, the UN and, some said, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. The UN Spokesperson never provided basic information that had been promised in the pre-holiday press briefings. None of the promised pool reports were ever provided. And the circus like trip continued. Watch this site.

Footnote: as Inner City Press reported June 28 and was confirmed by Ban's Spokesperson Michele Montas on June 29, Ban's office hand-picked which journalists would be told of the opportunity to cover his trip to Burma. Ms. Montas first said that the UN "picked people who were willing to pool for others." On July 2, when Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas when these pool reports would begin, she reversed course and argued that "I said some of them were willing to pool, some of them... There is no print pooling, no."

Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas to confirm the information in a list it has seen, that there are at least 22 UN personnel in Ban's traveling party, ranging from political chief Lynn Pascoe and deputy chief of staff Kim Won-soo to Hak-Fan Lau, to whom reporters on Ban's previous UN mission to Burma gave at least some pooled material. "I can check for you," Ms. Montas answered. By noon on July 4 in New York, no information was provided. Watch this site.

UN's Ban Says "Assured" of Fair Burmese Elections, Despite Junta's Constitution

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

UNITED NATIONS, July 3-4 -- After the first of what may be two meetings with Burmese strongman Than Shwe, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the reporters he picked to travel with him, "I was assured that the Myanmar authorities will make sure that this election will be held in a fair and free and transparent manner."

As simply one example, since the constitution the junta pushed through in the wake of Cycle Nargis in May 2008 provides that fully one-quarter of seats must go to military members, it is difficult to see how an election under it could be described as fair.

Unnamed UN officials -- in New York the UN has still refused to confirm even which officials are traveling with Ban -- are quoted that the general are considering endorsing "allowing the National League for Democracy to open offices across the country and to permit her to campaign," referring to the imprisoned and on trial Aung San Suu Kyi. There is only one problem: the junta's constitution prohibits anyone who ever married a foreigner, as Mrs. Suu Kyi did, from running for office.

Myanmar is not, however, isolated from the whole world. It is reportedly seeking to import more weapons from North Korea, and it on the record gave $50,000 to President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, perhaps in tribute to him having done to the Tamil Tigers and civilians what Than Shwe would like to do with Karen rebels and civilians.

The UN, of course, continued unabated seeking to raise donor funds for Myanmar, with the attendant run off through current exchange to Than Shwe's regime, without any question about Myanmar turning around and giving post bloodbath aid to Sri Lanka. Nor has the UN tried to track the use of Nigeria's $500,000 grant to Myanmar, on which Inner City Press exclusively reported.

Ban's deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe, who is along on the trip, is quoted telling the reporters whom she identified for the trip that Ban will have a second meeting with Than Shwe. (It is not clear why Ms. Okabe or her Office could not have conveyed this announcement to other UN reporters).

In the air is that Ban might then pull a rabbit out of the hat. But what if the rabbit is dead? Watch this site.

* * *

UN's Ban "Appreciates" Than Shwe's Actions in Burma, Scam Election on Horizon

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

UNITED NATIONS, July 3 --UN's Ban Ki-moon told Burmese military leader Than Shwe on July 3, "I'd like to appreciate your commitment to move your country forward." Since Cyclone Nargis hit the Irradwaddy Delta in May 2008, Shwe has used the displacement it occasioned to give land under what used to be fishing villages to his regime's cronies.

While to some that is "moving [the] country forward," to others it is the antithesis of the type of development the UN should be praising. While unlikely, perhaps Ban meant that while he would like to appreciate Shwe's actions, in good faith he cannot.

Inner City Press is told by well placed UN sources that, even beyond the currency exchange scams through which the UN allowed up to one quarter of post cyclone donor funds to be taken outright by Burma's junta, the UN Country Team continues to subsidize the dictatorship by, for example, accepting requirements to buy certain equipment in-country at inflated prices.

While some argue that the UN stays silent out of commitment to remain serving Burma's poor, the staged theatrics of Ban's current trip lead others to see a darker, more mixed motive.

"Ban desperately needs the appears of a win at this time," Inner City Press was told July 2 by a UN official who requested anonymity from fear of retaliation. "The generals in Naypyitaw know that, and they are using Ban's desperation to legitimatize the fixed election they plan for 2010."

The official characterized the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi as a less fundamental issue, one on which Ban might be allowed to claim some victory such as her transfer from Insein Prison back to house arrest, or a commit to later full release. Such a commitment, if the past is any guide, could later be rescinded, as could the release of lower profile political prisoners during Ban's current two day trip. Who knows -- maybe Ban will claim credit for the adjournment today of Suu Kyi's trial for a week.

The stated rationale was the failure of a Burmese (kangaroo) appeals court to return to court the file along with its decision barring two of Suu Kyi four proposed witnesses from testifying. Perhaps as his entourage claims, Ban's quiet diplomacy and soft power work in mysterious ways. Watch this site.

* * *

As UN's Ban Lands in Burma, Kibuki Theater Omits Rohinya and Karen Peoples

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

UNITED NATIONS, July 3 -- With news of his airplane's touch-down in Yangon, the carefully stage managed visit to Myanmar of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon began on July 3. To a group of accompanying reporters whom he had hand-picked, Ban called his task difficult but necessary. The media dutifully performed their electronic drum roll, as for a magician before he performs a sleight of hand.

Clearly, Ban's current envoy Ibrahim Gambari got some commitments for photo-ops for Ban during his preparatory trip to Myanmar. These predetermined win-wins were withheld from, and apparently not obtained by, the accompanying media. Thus fresh from Ban's stop in Japan the kibuki theater began: a widely reported challenge with a preplanned denouement. But could he flub up even this?

Of the accompanying wire services, two of the three -- or with Yonhap was it four? -- quoted Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch on what would constitute success, or failure, on this trip. Might Ban meet with Aung San Suu Kyi? Might she nonetheless be sentenced to further house arrest? Why is she being barred from the 2010 election?

Beyond the Aung San Suu Kyi show, about about the Karen people? Even more oppressed, what about the Rohinya?

The UN's Ibrahim Gambari told Inner City Press that the Rohinya, Muslims long in Burma but denied citizens' rights, are beyond the scope of this "good offices" mandate.

Ironically, an Afro-Arab UN Ambassador to the UN told Inner City Press that Gambari wanted but was passed over for the job of UN envoy to Darfur because as a Muslim he was viewed by Western power as too pro Sudan. That his name was put forward for the Sudan job shows what an afterthought Myanmar is -- until Ban Ki-moon is desperate for the appearance of a win. He has chosen the reporters, and has hidden the Gambari-won hole card. But might the game still not work out? Watch this site.

* * *

With Only Ban-Picked Press Allowed on UN's Burma Trip, Promised Pooling Denied, Theater with Than Shwe

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

UNITED NATIONS, July 2 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon approaches Myanmar to meet with its military leader Than Shwe, information about his performance on the trip became even harder to come by. On June 29, Ban's spokesperson Ms. Montas told Inner City Press that the UN in hand selected the reporters who could accompany Ban "picked people who were willing to pool for others."

On July 2, when Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas when these pool reports would begin, she reversed course and said that only TV images would be pooled, no print. Video here, from Minute 19:07.

Even on Ban's first trip to Myanmar, when he says he saved 500,000 people, wire service reporters gave information from their notes to a UN staffer named Hak-Fan Lau, who is also on this trip, for dissemination to other reporters who cover the UN. Faced with a spate of negative publicity, Team Ban is providing even less information now than then. Some surmise this is an attempt to control coverage.

Ms. Montas told Inner City Press to wait to see what the reporters with Ban published. "We gave priority to wires... three or four, sorry, three are traveling with the Secretary General."

The confusion between three or four wires appears to depend on whether South Korea-based Yonhap, which was selected to go, is considered a global wire service. AP, Reuters and AFP are all on the trip, as is a correspondent from the New York Times. Another major U.S.-based daily, which along with two other media organizations the UN met about on May 8 with an eye toward suing, was not allowed to go.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas to confirm the information in a list it has seen, that there are at least 22 UN personnel in Ban's traveling party, ranging from political chief Lynn Pascoe and deputy chief of staff Kim Won-soo to the aforesaid Hak-Fan Lau. "I can check for you," Ms. Montas answered. By 6 p.m. on July 2 in New York, no information was provided. The UN in New York is closed for holidays both July 3 and 4 when Ban is in Myanmar. Still, watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban7burmapress070409.html

Back from Sri Lanka, UN's Holmes Admits NGO Killings and Restrictions Not Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may7srilanka052609.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 26 -- Just back to the United Nations from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's surreal tour of Sri Lanka, Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador John Sawers if the UN paying for interment camps for Tamils rounded up from throughout northern Sri Lanka compiles with international humanitarian law.

Ambassador Sawers, rather than answer, said that there has been a "high level of attention" to the issue by the UN, by envoy Vijay Nambiar, humanitarian chief John Holmes and the visit of the Secretary General over the weekend. There's been not report to the Security Council yet, Sawers said, we look forward to that and "we'll have to consider steps after that." Video here, from Minute 6:15.

Ban Ki-moon is still out of New York. John Holmes took questions by phone, since he was outside of the UN (some said in Upstate New York). Inner City Press asked Holmes about the people looked up in the camps who were not in the final conflict zone. "I was not aware of that," Holmes said, arguing that "the whole Vanni" or jungle area was under Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam control "so in a sense was the conflict zone." Video here, from Minute 21:15.

Interviews in the camps, even under the watchful eyes of Sri Lankan soldiers and seemingly pro-government UN personnel nevertheless revealed that people were swept into the camps. The goal, if not to move members of the Sinhala majority into the now-vacated areas, is to screen anyone who lived under the LTTE for whether they support Tamil separatism or autonomy. Should the UN be assisting in such ideological if not ethnic cleansing?

Holmes insisted that "there is no question of the UN funding the sweeping up," the UN is "only providing emergency relief in the camps." But if the camps are being used, not as a temporary fix to a natural disaster but to ethnic and ideological screening, providing food and money -- and in the case of UNOPS, planning the camps and helping build them -- makes the UN's role more direct, and problematic.

Inner City Press asked Holmes if Ban Ki-moon, in his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaka, has raised the issue of press freedom, including of the editor will last year, and other reports who have been harassed, arrested and disappeared, and of the aid workers, including from Action Contre la Faim, who have been killed, allegedly by pro-government militias. No, Holmes said, neither issue was raised by Ban in his meetings. He did not say, why not?

The government's proposed Memorandum of Understanding it wants NGOs to sign would require them to provide information on all their clients, which these NGOs don't do anywhere in the world. Since NGOs have told Inner City Press that they are not in the best position to fight the proposed MOU, as they are working in Sri Lanka; they would to see John Holmes and OCHA take the lead in fighting back the intrusive NGO. Holmes admitted that the "MOU was not raise by the Secretary-General," and said that the issue had been set on the side. He did not say, by whom?

Since some NGOs have expressed concern about the publication statements about what they expect from Holmes' OCHA -- to fight back against the MOU, for example -- and in light of major NGOs' summary from last week that John Holmes "had objected to the trip, as many of you know," Inner City Press asked Holmes about this position, and to explain it. Holmes replied that "I did not say to the NGOs that I was against the visit, I simply said that there were some tricky presentational aspect about which we were very well aware and that we would be dealing with while there, and which I think we did successfully."

Apparently, Holmes was comfortable with the "presentational aspects" of children in the camps being forced to sing "Ban Ki-moon" to the Secretary General, and of Ban acceding to Rajapaksa's demand that they meet not in the capital but in the Buddhist shrine town of Kandy, which many say was a message to Tamils, we win, you lose. In fact, there are reports of Tamil shopkeepers in Colombo being besieged by Sinhala mobs and told to pay money, since "you lost." The UN should be countering such trends, not covering them up or, worse, stoking them.

Lynn Pascoe was also at the briefing, but said less. When Inner City Press asked about reports that Tamil MPs were barred by the government from entering the Colombo airport's VIP lounge for the meeting they had been promised with Bank Ki-moon, Pascoe said he is investigating those reports and will "pass on to Maria" [Okabe, the Deputy Spokesperson] what he learns. Inner City Press asked about the symbolism of the visit to Kandy. Pascoe said it was a misperception and that "when a government says where, it's their decision."

Inner City Press asked both Pascoe and Holmes if they thought the forcing children in the camps to sing to Ban Ki-moon was appropriate. Pascoe said that he's seen children waiting in the sun for longer than he could put up with, and not only in camps. Video here, from Minute 34:34. Holmes did not answer about the appropriateness of the forced signing and flag waving in the UN-funded camps. Watch this site.

Footnote: as the Human Rights Council in Geneva takes up the question of Sri Lanka, not only is there a pro-Rajapaksa resolution, now there is a Swiss proposed compromise, which would ask the Rajapaksa administration to investigate itself...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may7srilanka052609.html