After UN Security Council Vote on Resolution, ICP Asks Colombia Foreign Minister Holguín About Urabeños, She Calls Them a Gang

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 25 -- After the UN Security Council quickly passed a resolution on Colombia for unarmed international observers responsible for the monitoring and verification of the laying down of arms on January 25, Inner City Press asked Colombia's foreign minister María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar two questions.

   Are there any names yet for the UN envoy post, should he or she like the observers come from CELAC? And what about the Urabeños, which some call paramilitaries and some call merely a gang?

    Holguín said it will be up to Ban Ki-moon to propose names -- and derived the Urabeños as narco-traffickers, to be frontally opposed. Video here.

   The resolution, which Inner City Press put on Scribd as soon as it was passed, “decides to establish a political mission to participate for a period of 12 months, as the international component and coordinator of the above-mentioned tripartite mechanism (the Mission), headed by a special representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and decides further that the Mission will be a political mission of unarmed international observers, responsible for the monitoring and verification of the laying down of arms, and a part of the tripartite mechanism that will monitor and verify the definitive bilateral ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, consistent with the Joint Communique, beginning all monitoring and verification activities, which will commence the 12 month period, following the signing of the Final Peace Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP."

  In its resolution, the Security Council “requests the Secretary-General to initiate preparations now, including on the ground, and to present detailed recommendations to the Security Council for its consideration and approval regarding the size and operational aspects and mandate of the Mission, consistent with the Joint Communique. as soon as possible and then within 30 days of the signature of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP, in light of its provisions and looks forward to the contributions of Member States of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to the Mission.”

 The Security Council in conclusion “requests the Secretary-General, based on the reporting of the special representative to the Secretary-General, to report to the Security Council on the implementation of the Mission's mandate every 90 days after the start of its monitoring and verification activities and on completion of the Mission and expresses its willingness to consider extending the Mission upon the joint request of the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP.”

As Ban Ki-moon Doles Posts to Podesta, Holgiun & Tawakkol Karman, Now Can She Speak?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- Seven months into his second term at UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has been doling out new UN posts at an accelerating speed. Tuesday posts went to, among others, John Podesta of the US, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, and Maria Angela Holguin of Colombia.

  Recently, Ban gave a similar post-2015 development post to a representative of the Gates Foundation -- a post paid for with "extra budgetary resources" from the Gates Foundation, as first reported by Inner City Press. But who is paying for these?

  Ban gave a "Global Education" post to former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, whose successor David Cameron he named co-chair of the High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda.

  That Colombian foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin was looking for a UN post was first reported by Inner City Press back in April. This post may not be what she had in mind, but it is something.

We hope, for the sake of those so desperately needing it, that this "High Level Group" results in some development.

   During the US election season to give a post to John Podesta, who served as "Co-Chair of the Obama-Biden Transition," seemed to some akin to a Ban Ki-moon endorsement. Other say the Obama administration nominated Podesta, just as they did Jeff Feltman, and what could Ban Ki-moon do?

  France got a post for a former official of an international financial institution. 

  No, not DSK, but Jean-Michel Severino, formerly of the World Bank. By the Podesta - Feltman logic, he had to be accepted just as Herve Ladsous was accepted by Ban, entirely at the last minute as reported by Inner City Press,after preferred candidate Jerome Bonnafont was found to be too brash, bragging in India about his new UN position. 

   Now Ladsous openly refuses to answer any question from Inner City Press.

  Arab Spring activist Tawakkol Karman was also given a post, and here we have no choice but to hearken back to mid-June, when the UN accused Inner City Press ofmisconduct for signing Tawakkol Karman into the UN as a guest where she -- horror of horrors! -- took questions from the press on camera.

 Now with Ban Ki-moon giving her this post, it seems clear that pretextual "misconduct" note to file must be erased. Watch this site.

On Syria, 45 Days Are Proposed Despite Araud's Denial, 11 & 3:30

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 -- After French Ambassador Gerard Araud told Inner City Press that "no," 45 days is not  the period, the UK circulated a draft resolution to "renew the mandate of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) for a period of 45 days." Inner City Pressis putting the draft online here.

  Other key paragraph are 13 and 14:

"13. Decides that, if the Syrian authorities have not fully complied with paragraph 5 above within ten days, then it shall impose immediately measures under Article 41 of the UN Charter

"14. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council on the implementation of this resolution within 10 days of its adoption and every 15 days thereafter;"

  Sources said that this "UK" draft will be discussed not only by experts at 11 in the morning on July 12, but also by Permanent Representatives that afternoon at 3:30 -- all this during an all-day Security Council debate featuring July's president Colombia's foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin.

  President Nestor Osorio left the Council session on West Africa on Wednesday afternoon to go pick up Holguin. The topic of the debate on Thursday, an an interactive (but closed door) session on Friday is "Peacebuilding." But as a seasoned non-Western diplomat told Inner City Press Wednesday afternoon, the Council is more and more irrelevant.

  Look at what the Council doesn't deal with, he said, mentioning North Korea and the Middle East. Even on Sudan, we try to step in front of Mbeki. All that the UK, France and US know how to do is ask for sanctions. But on Syria it would send the wrong message to the opposition. And so we will oppose it.

  Another non-Western Security Council members asked Inner City Press, rhetorically it seemed, "How do you sanction the opposition? Their right to self-defense has been recognized at the Friends of Syria meetings. And so it Assad does nothing and you sanction him, they will just grab territory, the country is majority Sunni."

  Meanwhile the head of the UN Office on West Africa Said Djinnit left the consultations without passing by the press stakeout. Some wonder if he can handle Mali, before more of Timbuktu is destroyed. Problems the UN Security Council could do something about, they don't. Watch this site.

As Colombia Pushes Back at UN on Child Soldiers, Its FM Seeks UN Post from Craven Ban Ki-moon?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 3, updated -- While Colombia pushes back against the UN on child soldiers and other issues, its foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin is said by Inner City Press sources to be seeking a senior UN post, as early as June.

On April 3 at the UN, Inner City Press asked a panel from the Watchlist on Child and Armed Conflict about Colombia's record. The answers ranged from the government's pressure on and against the UN mechanism to its opposition to inquiries by the International Criminal Court, in which outgoing ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo concurred.

As Inner City Press reported from the Security Council, in connection with the last briefing by also outgoing Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, Colombia accused Coomaraswamy of mission creep, saying that the UN should stay out of the issue. The argument, made more recently, is that this is merely crime, and not technically armed conflict.

While pushing back on the UN, Holguin is said to be seeking a UN job. There are only four open Under Secretary General positions in New York available: Public Information, Economic and Social Affairs, Field Support and Conference Services.

Some wonder how Ban Ki-moon's five year rule applies for example to Alicia Barcena at ECLAC, when her counterpart in Africa has recently been replaced.

How craven, some wonder, can Ban Ki-moon become? He has ceded UN Peacekeeping to France, and Political Affairs to the US. But, the question goes, to give a USG post to a country and official which pushes back at the UN?

The Watchlist in responding to Inner City Press noted child soldiers in Myanmar as well. Ban Ki-moon has said he may go there this month. But would he raise child soldiers?

From Tuesday's UN noon briefing, on the topic of DPA and Inner City Press' scoop on Jeffrey Feltman:

Spokesperson Nesirky: The recruitment process for these positions — and I am talking in particular about the ones that were recently advertised, unusually so, as you know, — but that’s a recruitment process that is under way. And when it is completed, we will make the appropriate announcements. I don’t have anything at the moment. I think you can also rest assured that our colleagues in the various departments are perfectly able to keep things moving along quite smoothly. Yes, Matthew?

Inner City Press: One follow-up on that. Some people say that, DPI, DGACM, DESA — these were all advertised in The Economist and there is a whole process, where as DPA wasn’t. So, some people interpret this to mean this is designated for the United States, maybe for Jeffrey Feltman. And I just wonder, what is the rationale for advertising some empty USG posts and not others — other than the explanation that I have just offered you?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, it sounds like you are doing my job for me. So, I am not sure I need to answer that. I think put simply, there is a transparent process under way to appoint senior officials, and when we have announcements to make on these appointments we will do so. I don’t have anything else at the moment.

Watch this site.