Amid Kyrgyz Blame Game, UN's Jenca Claims Progress, Water War Looms

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 13 -- After attacks on ethnic Uzbek communities in Kyrgyzstan last year, what has the UN done? This month's Security Council president Ivan Barbalic of Bosnia painted a positive picture in a press statement he read out on January 13.

Inner City Press asked him if UN envoy Miroslav Jenca, in his closed door briefing, had mentioned continued charges of torture in Kyrgyzstan. Video here, from Minute 2.

Balbalic said that Jenca portrayed “a lot of progress achieved in Kyrgyzstan” but that it would be better to ask Jenca himself. That has not always been easy. As other Council members came out, Jenca walked by. Inner City Press asked, “Are you going to speak at the stake out?”

“No, I am going to UN Radio,” Jenca said. Inner City Press repeated Barbalic's statement, and asked about Kyrgyz torture.

“We are looking closely,” Jenca said, “attracting attention to the problems in the south.” Some would that a UN envoy who is seeking to attract attention to human rights problems would probably speak on camera at the stakeout. Kyrgyzstan is run by a former UN staff member, Rosa Otunbayeva.

Recently the Kyrgyz official inquiry into the clashes that pushed Uzbeks out of Kyrgyzstan blamed the incidents on the Uzbeks themselves. Inner City Press asked Jenca whether the UN took part in what's called the international inquiry headed by Finnish MP Kimmo Kiljunen.

The UN Spokesperson's Office never answered Inner City Press repeated questions about what role, if any, the UN would play, just as it did not answer Inner City Press' questions of January 13 and before about Ban Ki-moon's Panel on Sri Lanka, whether it will in fact travel to that country and make any public report.

“We maintain close contact,” Jenca said, “we provide technical assistance.” He said the work “on the ground” will be finished by the end of January, and a report out in February or March. We'll be waiting.

Inner City Press also asked about the water wars between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, an issue on which it is not clear if the UN Regional Office is doing anything. Jenca responded by referring, as before, to an different water issue, an organization to Save the Aral Sea.

“You've spoken with the Tajiks and Uzbeks, you know how it is,” Jenca said. “We need to keep impartiality.” He mentioned the dam at issue, and an World Bank risk assessment. “Both sides are looking at us,” Jenca said. “We cannot just be there and do nothing.” We'll see.

As UN Confirms Darfur Rape, Council Claims IDP Camp Arrests “Addressed”

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 5 -- Sudan will be the issue most frequently discussed by the UN Security Council in January, but the deteriorating situation in Darfur is becoming an afterthought with very little follow-up.

The month's program of work was confirmed Wednesday by Council president Ivan Barbalic of Bosnia, with three days of briefings about Sudan, beginning January 6 with a briefing by Benjamin Mkapa and the UN's Haile Menkerios, who on New Years Eve praised Omar al Bashir for his “courage” and leadership.

That Bashir is under indictment for genocide and war crimes in Darfur did not seem to be of concern to Menkerios or the UN Secretariat, whose spokesman Martin Nesirky on Wednesday spoke of the release of a kidnapped UN peacekeeper in Darfur “courtesy” of Bashir's government.

Nesirky also belatedly answered a question Inner City Press had been asking since last month, about two reported rapes by Bashir's forces in Tawila, near UN peacekeepers under Ibrahim Gambari's command. Nesirky issued a long read out, concluding that one rape was been verified -- but not two! We will have more on this.

Inner City Press asked Barbalic about Bashir's arrest of three people who met with the Security Council delegation to Darfur in October 2010, of which Barbalic was a part. While Barbalic paused to say how moved the visit had made him -- he said “we can only cry aloud permanently” -- he claimed that the arrests have somehow “been addressed.” Video here. That is not the case.

We will follow all three Sudan briefings at the Council -- but will Darfur remain just an afterthought? Barbalic said that Southern Sudan and Darfur are connected. Most recently, Salva Kiir of the SPLM has reportedly agreed to push all Darfur rebels -- and refugees? -- out of South Sudan. Watch this site.

In UN Council, Bosnia's January Light Except Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire a Footnote

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, December 22 -- The UN Security Council in January, when Southern Sudan's secession referendum is scheduled, will be chaired by Bosnia - Herzegovina.

A confidential copy of the Program of Work, obtained by Inner City Press, shows a month with at least three briefings on Sudan including Darfur (on the 6th, 17th and 26th), one on Central Asia (on the 13th), an open meeting on post conflict institution building (on the 21st) and explosive Cote d'Ivoire in a footnote, to be brought up if necessary.

Many close observers of the Security Council deem it a surprisingly light schedule. Also, in the assignment of chairman positions for the Council's subsidiary bodies in 2011, Bosnia has been given only one working group, that on Working Methods.

Cynics said the Permanent Five members had chosen Bosnia over Portugal for this potentially reforming post precisely because they do not want reform.

Bosnia's Permanent Representative Ivan Barbalic has to date always been genial, though most in the UN press corps haven't yet heard much from him or his Deputy. That should chance this month.

In wider Balkan - Security Council news, the youth video from Serbia initially selected for one of the final four by the US Mission was vetoed as not being sufficiently tied to the Security Council's agenda, as it was about natural resources.

A diplomat remarked that the Serbian youth who made the vetoed video was particularly well spoken: a new Vuk Jeremic, it was said.

Footnote: in yet more Bosnia video news, concerning the protests to UNHCR by Bosnian rape victims of Angelina Jolie and her new movie, Inner City Press this month asked the UN's expert of Sexual Violence and Conflict Margot Wallstrom for any guidance on the controversy. Though Wallstrom had just been in Bosnia, she said she didn't understand the protests. We'll see.

Rice of US Thinks "Highly" of Menkerios, Ghost Tweets by UN Council, Bosnian Chaos

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1crorice020110.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 1 -- It's a new month and a new day at the UN. With France taking over the presidency of the Security Council from China, on the morning of February 1 other Council members met one by one with the presidency to discuss the month's agenda or program of work. It was not a formal or even listed Council meeting, and therefore the stakeout area was dark, with no other journalists present.

One European Ambassador told Inner City Press, "You're all alone out here." U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, on her way out, slowed and took a question from the Press.

"What does the U.S. think of Mr. Menkerios, the new chief of the UN Mission in Sudan, UNMIS?" (Click here for Inner City Press' story over the weekend about the nomination.)

"Highly," Ambassador Rice said. Inner City Press asked, "Haile?" -- it is Menkeios' first name. There was laughter in the half light. Ambassador Rice had been taking fire of light, including for not being present and accessible enough at the UN and Council in New York. Perhaps this is a new beginning.

A response to the criticism, signed by Ambassador Rice's spokesman Mark Kornblau, has appeared online. After Mr. Kornblau unleashed buckshot at flock of "canards" -- a l'orange? one wag wanted to know -- a snarky commenter retorted, "How much do you get paid to 'pump up' her IMAGE! obviously she isn't doing anything. if she was, then reporters would write what she was doing. instead, she has her assistant write a PR piece."

But simultaneous with Ambassador Rice's exit from the Council, two tweets were posted in her new Twitter feed, noting two resolutions passed in January, and the handover to the French. Does she tweet and walk at the same time? Or, like Ban Ki-moon, is someone tweeting for her?

Footnote: Other Ambassador greeted going in to consult with the French were those of Austria and Russia -- one wanted to ask about portions of Henry Paulson's memoir, more on this soon -- but not Croatia. The Mission of Bosnia is embroiled in controversy. The new Ambassador Ivan Barbalic is said to have requested the removal or reprimand of his deputy, Mirsada Colakovic.

But Ms. Colakovic pulled rank, and made her putative boss withdraw the request. Meanwhile the Bosnian Mission pays more rent in New York than its Balkan counterparts. If you can't run your Mission, how will you be effective on the Council? We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1crorice020110.html