On Ebola, UN Envoy Landgren Paints Bleak Picture of Liberia's Response, Johnson Sirleaf Re-Think?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- With ebola exploding across Liberia, the head of the UNMIL mission Karin Landgren provided the Security Council on September 9 with a bleak picture of the government's response. Elections have been postponed; quarantines were imposed without sufficient planning for even food and water for those cordoned off, for example in Monrovia's West Point neighborhood.

   While Landgren did not directly mention it, there favoritism was shown in allowing some to get out of the quarantine zone. Not surprisingly there is a growing distrust for the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirfleaf, long a UN and UNGA week darling. But will any of her champions now publicly re-think?

  Landgren insisted that UNMIL is not directly involved in quarantining. 

But the UN has still left unanswered a question about ebola related restrictions ascribed to its peacekeeping mission in Darfur, UNAMID.

On September 8, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: On Ebola, can you confirm that UNAMID has ordered troops from Nigeria and Sierra Leone either not to return to their countries on holiday in return because according to UNAMID, the UN-African Union Mission, they might bring Ebola, and also there is another statement saying that prior to this ban on traveling home for holiday, that UNAMID had ordered medical screening as they left and as they came back from, and to Nigeria and Sierra Leone, making trips to or from the UN?

Spokesman Dujarric: The report in the Sudan Tribune is incorrect.

Inner City Press: Okay, which part of it?

Spokesman Dujarric: About the UN telling troops not to leave. What we are always looking for in any peacekeeping mission is an orderly rotation of troops to ensure that any mission is able to perform in the best possible manner. On the screening issue, I don’t know and I can ask.

  Twenty-two hours later, there was no answer. So, the UN including envoy to Liberia Karin Landgren insists there is no UN involvement in quarantining, but could that too be a semantic difference?

  In terms of the screening reported at UNAMID, some contrast it not only to UN Peacekeeping not performed the most basic screening of the peacekeepers which it brought, along with cholera, to Haiti -- but of not screening for cholera even now.

  The stonewalling by UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous (video compilation here, UK coverage here) including on the question of accountability for his DPKO having brought cholera to Haiti raised questions as the UN speaks more and more about ebola. We'll have more on this.

   

Film as (Gonzo) Journalism, Central African Republic Worse Off After Mads Brugger's "The Ambassador," UN's French Connection

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 25 -- A film about the Central African Republic, "The Ambassador" by Mads Brugger, opened in New York a year ago. Using hidden cameras it cover efforts to purchase diplomatic credentials from Liberia and to deal in conflict diamonds in the CAR under the Bozize government.

  A year later, Bozize has been thrown out -- although he hasresurfaced in Paris. He was not ousted due to his corruption, but by the Seleka rebels, now themselves accused of child soldier recruitment and other abuses.

  While there is much hand-wringing, for example fromEuropean Union official Kristalina Georgieva and the UN's Valerie Amos, about the crisis in the CAR, the UN Security Council has not this month as expected passed any resolution about the country.

  As first covered by Inner City Press, the reason for inaction is that French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud and others in the French Mission are on vacation for the month, and France "holds the pen" to draft all resolutions in the Council on the CAR, as it does on other former French colonies like Cote d'Ivoire and Mali.

  In "The Ambassador" -- trailer here, 1.6 GB download for $8.50 here -- the CAR's head of state security Guy-Jean Le Foll Yamande says on hidden camera that it is France which "taught corruption" in the CAR. He is later tortured and killed.

  In full disclosure, Inner City Press appears in the film, in connection with exposing the reasons and results of the UN pulling out of Birao. Due to lack of planning by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, troops from the MINURCAT mission thrown out of Chad also left Birao in CAR -- and rebels took over the town immediately after that.

  The UN's DPKO has been run, for times in a row now, by Frenchmen. The current head of DPKO Herve Ladsous refuses to answer Press questions about his past, including during the Rwanda genocide in 1994, when he was France's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, arguing for the escape of the genocidaires into Eastern Congo.

Now Ladsous commanders an all-African Intervention Brigade to "neutralize" armed groups like M23 which Congolese leader Joseph Kabila doesn't like. Plus ca change.

While Liberia fought back against the film -- see for example Toga McIntosh's speech, here -- and while Brugger may have played a bit fast and loose, troubling questions remain about the head of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's Unity Party Varney Sherman.

A promise was made to Brugger, playing Mr. Cortzen, that he could get his credential when Johnson Sirleaf returned to Monrovia from the UN General Assembly in September 2010, and that the money he paid would go toward her re-election.

What is amazing almost two years after that General Assembly, and a year after the film opened in New York, is how little has been done. While again noting some unresolved question about whether some of the purported hidden camera video was in fact agreed to, we and the Free UN Coalition for Access recommend the film, including as journalism. Watch it.

   

As UN Security Council Visits Liberia, Why was Titov Rejected as Envoy?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- The UN Security Council arrived Saturday in Liberia to meet with the government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Among the back-stories was the unsuccessful attempt by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to place one of his most senior Russian officials, Dmitry Titov, as his Special Representative for UNMIL.

  Numerous UN sources have told Inner City Press that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf rejected Titov. But why?

  Some say that Titov can be hard to get along with. There is some basis: for example, when Inner City Press previously noted Titov moving through the UN with Foreign Minister Lavrov, the response was, "You'd never say that about a European." Things are clearer since then: such reporting goes both East and West.

   In any event there are several accepted SRSGs who are ornery. Others, including at least one Security Council member, say that there is some "Russian Mafia" action in Liberia and that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf believed that Titov, now in charge of "Rule of Law" at the UN, would inquire into it.

  Despite substantial from the UN and the US, which co-leads this leg of the trip with Morocco, for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, there are numerous questions. As simply one example, she appointed her own son, Robert Sirleaf, as Chairman of the Board of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL).

  The UK, which will co-lead the Sierra Leone leg of the trip, provided a read out of "Excellent meeting with Johnson Sirleaf and her ministers. Issues of UNMIL transition; reconciliation; justice; security.... and ECOWAS discussed."

  There have also been a series of issues about the UN's own UNMIL mission, from staff complaints, sexual abuse and UN double-talk about how frequent flier miles are used.

  The Council will fly onward in its West Africa tour, the newsiest portion of which will be a meeting with ECOWAS in Abidjan which will concern not only Guinea Bissau, where ECOWAS proposes 12 months for coup leaders, but one would think Mali as well. Watch this site.

Accident Shows UN Police Guard Liberia Ministry, Can't Use Toilet There, Loj on Base

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 20 -- From Liberia, Inner City Press received troubling whistleblower reports earlier this week and sought confirmation, on matter ranging from the deaths of UN peacekeepers and the facilities they are provided, to the unique lodging arrangement of the UN's Special Representative in Monrovia.

To a series of UNMIL spokespeople, Inner City Press asked:

Please confirm or deny, and comment: A member of India’s all-female police unit deployed by UNMIL has been seriously hurt in a traffic accident on or about 17 Oct, in Monrovia.

Please confirm or deny, and comment: Ms. Sheena, a constable, is battling multiple fractures of limbs and head injuries at a local hospital.

Please confirm or deny, and comment: the injured constable, a member of the team guarding the Liberian President’s office round the clock, was crossing the road past midnight looking for bush cover to relieve herself due to lack of adequate toilet facilities at the deployment site for the female police team.

Please confirm or deny, and comment: female peacekeepers have to rely on bush cover at night to answer nature’s call;

Please confirm or deny, and comment: So far three Indian peacekeepers have died while on UN peacekeeping duty in Liberia since their deployment four years ago;

Please confirm or deny, and comment: two of them in traffic accidents and one due to lack of proper and timely medical attention for illness.

Please confirm or deny, and comment: the SRSG in Liberia living in a UN-furnished, UN maintained apartment lavishly decorated at the expense of the United Nations.

Please confirm or deny, and comment: the free, UN maintained accommodation is part of her contract.

Please confirm or deny, and comment: the rest of the staff in the UN Mission in Liberia, including 2 Deputy SRSGS and the entire staff stay in rented houses paying between US $1,000 and 3,000 every month.

Inner City Press sent these questions to UNMIL spokesperson Yasmina Bouziane then to Michael Sahr, Margaret Odoch-Jato and Zayzay Kolubah, finally receiving responses from Ms. Bouziane, 24 hours after the stated deadline:

Subject: Re: Press questions re UNMIL, on deadline from resident correspondent at UN HQ
From: Yasmina Bouziane
Date: Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:46 AM
To: Matthew Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Cc: Martin Nesirky, Farhan Haq, Nick Birnback, Susan Manuel, George Somerwill, Anayansi Lopez, Josephine Guerrero, Ben Malor, Michel Bonnardeaux

Dear Mr. Lee,

Please find below responses to the queries you raised on behalf of Inner City Press.

Regarding the traffic incident on the 17th of October involving an UNMIL Female FPU in Monrovia, the investigation is still on-going to determine the exact circumstances of the incident.

The UNMIL FPU member is in stable condition after being treated at the UN Level 3 Jordanian medical hospital, for a minor head injury and a broken arm and leg. Last Sunday 17th October, the President of Liberia, accompanied by the UNMIL SRSG, paid a visit to the patient at the hospital. The President and the SRSG expressed their support and appreciation for the commitment of all UNMIL FPU staff in carrying out the duties mandated to them.

UNMIL is indeed saddened to have lost 3 Indian FPU staff since the beginning of the mission; two (one man and one woman FPU member) died in the course of performing their duties and one woman succumbed to illness with complications caused by malaria and typhoid; the Police Contributing Country expressed satisfaction at the level of care that was given to the FPU staff at the time.

On your query regarding lavatory facilities for the FPU guard post located outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building: Existing arrangements are in place for access to the near-by UNMIL Headquarters Annex building, which is a 2 minute walk from the guard post.

As for your queries about accommodations:

The UNMIL SRSG lives in a simple furnished apartment within the UNMIL headquarters. The SRSG pays for the accommodation herself, according to the UN rules and regulations that govern all staff members who are provided with UN accommodation.

The SRSG’s acceptance to stay within the headquarter premises saves the mission resources it would have otherwise used to provide security arrangements, if she had taken up an outside residence.

As for all other UN staff members, they are responsible for obtaining their own accommodation which must have a UN mandated minimum level of security, known as MORSS compliance. The costs of the accommodations are borne by the staff members and it is up to the discretion of an individual staff member how much he or she wishes to spend on living space within the local price range available.

Sticking for now to the accommodations questions -- it is amazing that the UN would send its peacekeepers to guard a Liberian ministry without making provision for them to use the toilet there, and that the President of Liberia would accept this, even after her visit -- it remains to be seen how much Ellen Margrethe Loj pays for this on-base housing.

In Darfur, executives like in four contiguous trailers in what's called “Guantanamo Bay,” surrounded by barbed wire. Liberia is described as much safer -- except, it seems, for Indian peacekeepers. To be continued, watch this site.

Alleged Sex Crimes of Dead UN Liberia Staffer Raised in Council, U.S. Awaits Results

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/usun1liberia090909.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- The American civilian employee of the UN Mission in Liberia accused of child sexual abuse until his recent and still mysterious death, Dale Fosnight, was belatedly a topic of discussion in and around the UN Security Council on September 9. Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, the Council's president for the month, for her views of the accusations against her country's national, and then asked the UN's head of Mission Ellen Loj for an update on the case.

She said the body was flown to Accra, Ghana for an autopsy, accompanied by the Liberian National Police, whose investigation remains ongoing. She denied, however, that she or anyone she knows in the UN had heard of similar allegations against Mr. Fosnight in Sierra Leone, as has been reported in the local press. Inner City Press asked Ambassador Rice, as transcribed by the UN Mission:

Inner City press: one other thing on Liberia. There is this case where an American civilian employee of UNMIL (inaudible) was under investigation for child sexual abuse while employed by UNMIL -- (inaudible) -- is that something that, I guess, as the U.S. with your interest in peacekeeping, are you aware of that case? And what do you think the U.N. should do to make sure -- (inaudible) --

Ambassador Rice: Well, Ambassador Loj did refer to that in her briefing to the Council. Obviously, the U.S. is gravely concerned about any allegations of sexual violence or abuse. And we take them very seriously. We understand that the government of Liberia and UNMIL are currently investigating those allegations and we await their findings.

Inner City Press asked Ellen Loj for an update on the case. She said "the investigation has been continued... after he passed away, unfortunately. I don't have the investigation done by OIOS yet. I have no knowledge and have not heard anyone in the UN [aware of] similar activities in Sierra Leone, but I'm sure it's part of the LNP [Liberia National Police] investigation."

When she said that the body had been transferred to Accra for autopsy, Inner City Press asked why. Ms. Loj said that until a year ago, Liberia had not capacity. Now they have a former UNMIL staffer, she said, employed by the World Bank.

So again: why was the autopsy not done in Liberia? Loj said she hadn't seen the results of that, either, adding that even she she has she might not speak to the press. The U.S. says they are awaiting the findings. But will the U.S., which speaks of zero tolerance and of transparency, make the findings public? Watch this site.

Footnote: In light of the U.S. statements about the end of impunity and those who have supported war criminals, Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: On Liberia, was there any discussion and what does the U.S. think of the truth and reconciliation commission? They were saying that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf should not be involved in public life for 30 years for having supported Charles Taylor. What's the UN, what is the Council's position, and what is the U.S.'s position on that?

Ambassador Rice: Well, the Council didn't discuss that in depth. I think we all recognize that President Johnson Sirleaf is the legitimately elected president of Liberia. The Council expressed strong support, members did in the broadest terms of the government of Liberia's efforts to improve the security situation, strengthen the security sector, enhance the rule of law and implement its poverty reduction and development strategy.

Repurcussions for having supported Charles Taylor, anyone?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/usun1liberia090909.html

At UN, Rapp Raps on Taylor Trial, Dodges on Johnson Sirleaf and Obama War Crimes Post

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1rapp071609.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 -- Already nominated to become President Obama's Ambassador at Large for War Crimes, Iowan Stephen Rapp came to the UN on July 16 to cautiously discuss the Charles Taylor trial ongoing at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague. In a nine-minute stakeout interview which only Inner City Press attended -- call it an exclusive -- Rapp and the Court's President Renate Winter took five questions and answer three and a half. Video here.

Inner City Press asked about the 227 witnesses that Taylor has called for his defense. Will the prosecution be trying to whittle the list down? Renate Winter said that will be up to the presiding judge. Rapp noted that in the case of the interim leader of the RUF, the defense named 330 possible witnesses and ended up calling 59.

Inner City Press asked about the missing and perhaps dead indictee Johnny Paul Koroma. Rapp said that either an internationalized court could be set up within the judicial system of Sierra Leone -- but then amnesty might apply -- or that the case could be transferred to other countries which would have jurisdiction. He said that discussion have begun with two such countries, which he would not name.

Since the recent press coverage of the trial has revolved around the skulls Taylor acknowledges authorizing his forces to display at roadblocks, Inner City Press asked what probative value if any this might have, and if Rapp thinks the media is focused on the wrong things at the trial. Rapp said he will not comment on anything under judicial consideration, but that skulls could constitute a "gruesome display of human remains" and have some probative value.

As it has asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson, the UN envoy to West African Said Djinnet and Congo envoy Alan Doss, Inner City Press asked Rapp to comment on the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendation that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf be barred from public life for thirty years, in part for providing financial support to Charles Taylor. Rapp said "what happened in Liberia... is up to Liberians," and noted that Liberia's parliament must consider the TRC's recommendations.

Now that Rapp has been nominated for his new U.S. job, Inner City Press asked Renate Winter what provisions are being made to replace him. She said there will not be a day with out a prosecutor. Rapp added that if he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will begin arranging for a transition, seeing how much notice he should provide.

Rapp is a lawyer's lawyer, but whether his soft spoken style is best suited for the Obama Administration's Ambassador at Large for War Crimes, as the Administration considers joining the International Criminal Court, remains to be seen. The fact that only one reporter waited to question him even after the nomination speaks either to lameness within the UN press corps, or to a perceived lack of news value. Rapp knows the system, and could well advise a more public face of the fight against impunity.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1rapp071609.html

Amid Liberian Calls to Bar Johnson Sirleaf, UN Says Nothing Except TRC Not At Risk

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/trc1sirleaf070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- The UN system has praised both the Liberia truth and reconciliation commission and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Now the commission has recommended that Johnson Sirleaf be barred from public office for thirty years, in part because she supported indicted war criminal Charles Taylor, including financially.

Inner City Press on July 7 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson Michele Montas if Mr. Ban or the UN Mission in Liberia have any response to the recommendation, given both the UN's central role in Liberia and Sierra Leone and previous statements about Ms. Johnson Sirleaf. It is up to the Liberians," Ms. Montas said, "not for the UN to decide." Video here, from Minute 16:56.

From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission has recommended that President [Ellen] Johnson-Sirleaf be barred from public office for 30 years for having supported Charles Taylor, including economically. Does the… given the central role in Liberia and Sierra Leone, what does the UN think of this recommendation?

Spokesperson Montas: This is a report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, and the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has received the draft of the Commission’s report. It will be up to the Liberians to determine how they want to take forward the reconciliation process. It is not for the UN to decide; it is for the Liberians to decide.

Inner City Press: What about the issue… because I have seen a lot of UN statements very laudatory of President Johnson-Sirleaf. She has acknowledged apparently giving $10,000 to Charles Taylor rebels at the time. Does that change the UN’s opinion at all?

Spokesperson Montas: I will not comment on this.

But the UN, particularly the UN Development Program, has supported Johnson Sirleaf including in her campaigns. Given reports that she gave $10,000 to Taylor's forces, which recruited child soldiers and cut off limps, shouldn't the UN have something to say now?

Inner City Press asked UN envoy to West African Said Djinnet, was briefing the Security Council on Tuesday morning, what he thought of the recommendation. Mr. Djinit declined to comment, noting that there is a UN Mission in Liberia, UNMIL. Inner City Press then asked Djinnit directly about what Inner City Press has quoted an African Ambassador as saying, that the UN offered Djinnit as a possible replacement for Rodolphe Adada in Darfur. Djinnit laughed and pointed at his ear.

On July 8, Inner City Press asked Ms Montas if the UN will be responding to the call by the Liberian Human Rights Campaign that UNMIL provided protection to the members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Ms. Montas wasn't sure; later in the day, UN Police Advisor Andrew Hughes answered Inner City Press by saying he wasn't the right person to ask. Said Djinnit thanked Inner City Press for not asking in public about the possible Darfur post. (Separately, a concerned diplomat told Inner City Press that "the West" likes Djinnet.) And then the following arrived:

Subj: Liberia and TRC Commissioners
From: unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 7/8/2009 3:27:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

Regarding your question at today's Noon Briefing regarding Liberia and the TRC Commissioners: UNMIL already supports the Liberia National Police, (LNP) in the police's primary responsibility for ensuring day-to-day civil security in Liberia.Currently, there is no credible evidence of threats to any member(s) of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). If any such threat was made, UNMIL, in support of the LNP, would be available to assist in the protection of TRC Commissioners. To date, no requests for additional security support have been made by the TRC Commissioners.

But still not comment by the UN about the recommendation of the TRC Commissioners. Some rule of law...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/trc1sirleaf070809.html