On Ebola & WHO's Failures, Natalegawa Tells Inner City Press He Wants Clarity, Amorim More Justice

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 9, with video -- When the UN's High Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crises held a press conference on May 8, Inner City Press asked the panel about criticism by Doctors Without Borders MSF and others of the UN's and World Health Organization's initial response to Ebola. Video here.

 Former Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa replied about the need for clear chains of command; Brazil's Celso Amorim spoke movingly about disparities like $9 per person for health care in Liberia versus $8000 per person in some European Union countries.
 
  Inner City Press asked the High Level Panel's chair, Tanzanian President Kikwete, if he would speak about Burundi and his role there.Video here.

 Kikwete told Inner City Press to ask him about Burundi after the press conference. Inner City Press did, specifically if the EAC will be opining on if a third term would violate the Arusha Agreements or pose regional threats.

  "Be patient," was Kikwete's response, saying that the foreign ministers who visited Burundi will report back on May 13. We will cover that at that time.

  During the press conference, Kikwete dealt with aplomb when UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq called him the "former president" of Tanzania. There were a number of "formers" (and "futures") on the panel, but Kikwete is current.

   Moments after Kikwete's and the panel's press conference, the UN Security Council issued "elements to the press" which "called upon all parties to refrain from violence and to prioritize Burundi’s peace and stability through the current political dialogue and also to achieve their needs through legal and peaceful means. They stressed the need to hold a credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful electoral process."

 Inner City Press asked the Security Council's president for May  Raimonda Murmokaite of Lithuania how the third term was discussed in the Council's closed meeting. She replied that individual members did express their views on the third term but it was not really the essence of the discussion.  We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press has asked the UN about Burundi, most recently on May 4 and 5 and now May 6, below. Now it's said the UN's Said Djinnit will belatedly brief the Security Council on May 7 - we'll be there.

  On May 6, Inner City Press asked the UN, " I don't know if you have an update on Burundi?"

  Moments later, beyond an if-asked, a statement was handed to UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, who answered Inner City Press with this:

"Regarding Burundi, after a plenary session yesterday, Burundian stakeholders continued the political dialogue.  Our Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Said Djinnit, is facilitating work in smaller committees.  The objective of the dialogue remains to seek common grounds for creating conditions for the holding of peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections in Burundi.  Meanwhile, we welcome the arrival in Bujumbura of the foreign ministers of the East African community, and we look forward to working closely with the region on this."

  The UN is relentlessly upbeat - and marginalized. Watch this site.

 On May 4, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: On Burundi, I want to know if you have any statement on the violence in the capital in which at least two people have been killed today protesting the third-term run of the President?

Spokesman Dujurric:  Sure, we continue to follow the events in Burundi with great concern and deplore the loss of lives and injuries as well as the destruction of property that we've seen.  We reiterate our calls to all the parties to reject violence, exercise maximum restraint, and avoid using inflammatory language, as well as to take the necessary appeasement measures to create conditions for dialogue.  In this regard, the UN mission on the ground, MENUB, has been encouraging all stakeholders to seize the opportunities of the dialogue that is organized by the Ministry of Interior with the support of the UN on 5 and 6 May.  That is tomorrow and Wednesday.  And we trust that stakeholders will see and build on this dialogue as an opportunity to defuse tensions and seek common grounds for creating conditions for the holding of peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections in Burundi.

 Later on May 4, Ban Ki-moon met with Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, but no UN read-out was issued. On May 5, Inner City Press asked for this, and about the judge who fled the country amid death threats. Video here.

   

Indonesia's Natalegawa Pitches Business With A Dash of Human Rights at CFR

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 27 -- When the US foreign policy establishment as represented by the Council on Foreign Relations hosts Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, what gets asked about?

Mostly business rights, leavened or made palatable by a couple of human rights question, from two representatives of the same organization.

When Natalegawa replied Tuesday at CFR that Sri Lanka is "trying to do the right thing," there was no response or opportunity for Press questions.

CFR's presiding moderator was corporate lawyer James D. Zirin, whose specialty the program listed as "the defense of major accounting firms and financial institutions." So he's defended predatory lenders who took US government bail outs, before asking Natalegawa about his country's economic growth.

The money questions were followed up by, among others, Drew Ladner of Pascal Metrics Inc., who began by helpfully disclosing that he is "long" Indonesia. Listed as participants were businesspeople from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Corsair Capital.

As if to give the filthy lucre a sheen, both Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First were in the house, although only HRW got to question, twice as it happened. In essence this was window dressing to make the profit focus less venal.

Natalegawa twice emphasized his country's economy grew six percent in 2010, with 6.5% projected for 2011. If these was a roadshow, CFR was buying.

Inner City Press despite being invited, RSVP-ing and arriving on time was not allowed a question, nor a follow up to the Sri Lanka answer. No one asked for example about Saudi Arabia's treatment and execution of Indonesian workers.

Thankfully, thirty blocks from CFR's Park Avenue headquarters Inner City Press came upon Natalegawa and his Permanent Representative Monday evening in front of the UN, and asked if Tibor Toth's statement that Indonesia is about to join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is true.

Yes, Natalegawa answered, it is in the works. At CFR he spoke of a nuclear free zone, of ASEAN meetings with the nuclear powers. He fielded questions about Western Papua, speaking of groups armed with bows and arrows.

Natalegawa described Indonesia's policy at the Human Rights Council in Geneva as in evolution; he chided the proponents of country-specific resolutions for putting forward the same drafts year after year. Natalegawa called this inertia, a term that could equally be applied to today's Council on Foreign Relations. Watch this site.

On Thai - Cambodia, UNSC Defers to ASEAN's Natalegawa, UN Replacement?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 8 -- Despite a request from Cambodia's prime minister Hun Sen for a UN Security Council meeting on the fighting with Thailand, the Council on Monday did not schedule a meeting, deferring instead to the mediation of Indonesia's foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, for ASEAN.

Inner City Press, which reported before the Council's consultations on the matter that two countries wanted to hold a meeting, is now told that in the consultations, Russia spoke in favor of having a meeting, saying this is what the Council is for.

As Russian Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin left the Council on Monday, Inner City Press asked him about the Council having a meeting on Cambodia's request. We are not against it, he replied.

Inner City Press then asked the Council's president Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti if Hun Sen's public request that the UN establish a buffer zone around the Preah Vihear temple.

No, she answered, that request had not been made to the Council. Meanwhile, Thailand's prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said he will call UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday.

Natalegawa was previously Indonesia's permanent representative to the UN, and knows the system well. His successor on January 31 told Inner City Press that ASEAN led by Indonesia is trying to get Western sanctions on Myanmar lifted, while getting Myanmar to agree to an ASEAN envoy to that country.

Some expect Natalegawa to be able to keep the Thai - Cambodia issue off of the Council's formal agenda, by the withdrawal of Cambodia's request just as a similar request was withdrawn in 2008, when Viet Nam was president of the Council. But for now the fighting has continued.

A buzz at the UN this week concerns the open dissatisfaction with Ban by several countries, including veto-wielding Security Council member Russia. If Ban were denied a second term, as the US denied one to Boutros-Boutros Ghali, the next five or ten years would be seen as belonging to the Asia group, just as Kofi Annan replaced Boutros for the African group.

What higher profile and more adept replacement could there be from the Asia group, some say, than Natalegawa? Watch this site.

Despite Jakarta Protests, Xinjiang Is An Internal Matter, Indonesia's UN Envoy Says

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un3xinjiang071709.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 17 -- In Jakarta the day before the hotel bombings, the Chinese embassy was blockades by protesters about the deaths in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Chinese Charge d’Affaires Yang Lingzhu was quoted, "This is just a brawl between several groups of people. There is no ethnic violence in the province."

But as in Turkey, where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said his country would bring the matter before the UN Security Council -- it hasn't happened -- in Jakarta, "the Indonesian parliament urged the United Nations to immediately help overcome the conflict in Urumqi, the capital of Xianjing, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported."

Inner City Press on July 17 asked Indonesia's Permanent Representative to the UN Marty Natalegawa, after a question about the bombings, about calls for UN action on Xinjiang by parliamentarians in his country. "I'm not aware of it," Ambassador Natalegawa replied. Video here, from Minute 4:41.

Ambassador Natalegawa continued, "We have been following developments, as others have, I'm sure. It is essentially a matter to be addressed by the authorities in China, the Chinese government. We are seeing such efforts by the Chinese authorities. So we don't see anything beyond that."

Given the rumors of Natalegawa continuing to rise in the Indonesian government, this can be taken as an official statement of the country's foreign policy, despite for example the article entitled "Indonesian Parliament Urges UN To Handle Uprising In China." No one, it seems, including the Western powers, has actually asked for any discussion in the UN Security Council.

Still, Chinese diplomat Yang Lingzhu's quote that "there is no ethnic violence in the province" appears ludicrous. With separate mobs of Han Chinese and Uighurs have been filmed in the streets armed with sharpened sticks, to deny the ethnic dimension is to be in denial.

One candid Chinese diplomat described it to Inner City Press as similar to the situation of African Americans in the ghettos of cities in the U.S., saying that they have a right to protest, but not to burn the buildings down. Or physically attack those they view as their oppressors, or replacements.

If this happened in another country, it would probably be raised in the Security Council, and might be put on the agenda. But for now you have Turkey's double game, and the split between at least some Indonesian parliamentarians and that country's executive branches. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3xinjiang071709.html

How General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim Spends Money Is Questioned as Part of Reform by France and Indonesia

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2pgafunding031908.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- The day after the President of the General Assembly Srgjan Kerim acknowledged to Inner City Press that his rent and salary is paid by the Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and called for a reform in which this would be prohibited and funds provided by the UN itself, two Ambassadors on the Security Council raised questions about Kerim's proposal. France's Deputy Permanent Representative Jean-Pierre Lacroix said "there is already an envelope" of funds given to Kerim's office, "it's more a question of how is it used, frankly." The General Assembly has voted $280,000 a year for the Office of the President of the General Assembly, which Kerim's spokesman has told Inner City Press is devoted only to "travel and representation as well as transportation, communication and security related costs."

"I didn't know that was the arrangement," Indonesia's Permanent Representative Marty Natalegawa told Inner City Press. He said that before any hasty decision is reached to give the President of the General Assembly more money, a broader context must be considered, the possible precedent it would set for such posts as the "chairs of various committees, forums and processes."

While Ban Ki-moon has spoken of the need for transparency and reform to try to bring about greater public confidence in the UN system, when Inner City Press on Wednesday asked his spokesperson Michele Montas if he believes the President of the General Assembly should be funded by the UN, or by outside parties, she replied that "we don't have to comment on this... this does not have anything to do with the reform program."

Told of Kerim's position that currently no rules apply to whom he takes money from, Amb. Natalegawa asked rhetorically, "So all options are open, then."

Sources told Inner City Press that its story about Kerim's acceptance of rent in Essex House and a salary have summoned an inevitable comparison to what is paid to legislators and the president in FYROM, and its UN Ambassador in New York. Talk has begun that FYROM sought recoupment from Kerim's employer, the WAZ media group -- if so, Amb. Natalegawa would be right, all options have been open. Questions have arisen regarding whether the proper authorizations were obtained before these payments to Mr. Kerim began.

From the Balkans, it can be viewed that Kerim masterfully deflected an inquiry into what funding he has been and is taking into a broader called for reform, delivered to Inner City Press by Kerim's spokesman:

"President Kerim has always maintained that all costs related to the post and functioning of the General Assembly President should be covered through the regular UN budget... rather than the makeshift arrangements that currently exist.

"This would ensure each elected President has an equal opportunity to deliver results -- whether from a developed or developing country, no matter how large or small. An entirely UN funded budget would enhance the independence of the President, and increase transparency and accountability to Member States."

Lost in this proposal, seen from the Balkans, are the specifics of what has been received. Developing.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2pgafunding031908.html

Sanctions on Child Soldier Recruiters Debated at UN, Some Accused Question Report's Fairness

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2caac021208.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 12 -- The UN report on children and armed conflict was debated for eight hours Tuesday in the Security Council, with sixty separate countries each putting their own tweak upon the problem. The United Kingdom honed in on Myanmar, which it still calls Burma. But Myanmar responded that the report is one-sided, and that there is information the release of which the UN is blocking. The Russian Federation chided the report for not including the impacts of private military contractors, such as those used by the U.S. in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff praised the report, except its recommendations opposing cluster bombs and favoring referring the recruiters of child soldiers for prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Afterwards Inner City Press asked Amb. Wolff about the U.S. position, which he explained as opposing the automatic referral of recruiters to the ICC. The Special Representative behind the report, Radhika Coomaraswamy, explained that the ICC is an essential part of cracking down on child soldier recruiters.

Inner City Press asked UNICEF's Ann Veneman, both in writing and at a stakeout in the hall outside the Council, to address the fact that UNICEF formally counted the child soldiers recruited by Congolese warlord Peter Karim -- some 42 in just that last phase of demobilization -- but that Karim remains free and in the Congolese Army. At the stakeout, Ms. Veneman did not answer the question.* Video here, from Minute 4:59. Rather, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner answered, but with respect to another part of the Congo and other rebel, Laurent Nkunda, perceived as aligned with the government of Rwanda.

Rwanda's Ambassador Joseph Nsengimana spoke last, at 8 p.m., and afterwards Inner City Press asked if his government favored sanctions on and referrals to the ICC for recruiters of child soldiers. Yes, he said, but only if the underlying reporting is fair and even-handed. Amb. Nsengimana said that the report focused on Nkunda but not the FDLR rebels, who he said were worse.

Indonesia's Ambassador Marty Natalegawa, too, told Inner City Press that he is not so much against sanctions as concerned that Ms. Coomaraswamy's office have the resources to provide even-handed research. Council members Libya and Vietnam were not so nuanced in their opposition to sanctions. China, too, expressed concerns. Other Permanent Five diplomats opined to Inner City Press that China often follows the lead of the Council's African members on such issues, and that the Council's make-up now is more anti-sanctions than before, particularly with Libya's inclusion. Ms. Coomaraswamy said it is up to member states, and it is up to her office to convince them that sanctions are needed.

Canada testified that equal focus should be put on countries which are on and not on the Security Council agenda. It is the latter group -- including Colombia, Sri Lanka, Chad, Uganda and the Philippines -- which gives rise to the most controversy, an issue previously covered by Inner City Press. These countries do not want to slip only the Council's agenda indirectly. They complain, they issue counter-charges, they pull to get off the list. Sri Lanka, for example, accused Ms. Coomaraswamy of bias, and made the same accusation of her Canadian special envoy Allan Rock, when a photograph of him purportedly with Tamil Tiger sympathizers surfaced. Monitoring child soldier recruitment is a tough business. Listening through eight hours of UN debate is the least of it -- but not the last of it. We'll will continue to follow this issue.

And see, for update, www.innercitypress.com/un2caac021208.html