As Musharraf Campaign Stops on Park Ave at CFR, Coups, Cases & Debt Scoffed At, Osama Likened to Che Guevara

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- Pervez Musharraf is on a roll, or thinks he is. After launching his All Pakistan Muslim League in the UK, he has held roll out events in hotel ballrooms in Florida and New Jersey.

Tuesday morning found him at the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan, fielding questions about how and why he plans to reclaim power in Islamabad.

Musharraf sung his own praises, that after his 1999 “coming into power” -- as his CFR biography tactfully puts in it -- he grew the Pakistani economy until, he said, it had more promise that India's.

But after things were “stirred up against” him, foreign direct investment has dried up and 50% of factories have closed, in his telling.

Back in Pakistan other stories are told, of how Musharraf hurt the electrical power market, allowed for the first time the US to fly drones over the country, attacked the judicial system. (Click here for Inner City Press recent coverage of Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund, on power subsidies and textile taxes).

Musharraf claimed there are no court cases against him in Pakistan, and that if any began now it would be “political.” Meanwhile, in his New Jersey appearance where he took no questions from the media, he accused Nawaz Sharif of stealing $1 billion and hiding it in London.

At CFR questions were taken, chosen by NPR's Deborah Amos from among “members,” as she put it. At least one member called on was a journalist, Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker. The last question was finally given to the back of the room, but to (at least) 32 year CIA veteran Jack Devine of the Arkin Group, who asked about Osama Bin Laden and Pakistan's seven tribal areas.

Musharraf compared Bin Laden to Che Guevara, saying the latter was able to evade capture too.

He said that the tribal areas were left undeveloped as a buffer between Russia and India, there there is “two to three percent literacy.” Bin Laden “is viewed as their guest,” Musharraf said, recounting how on one of his visits, he traveled virtually without security because he was protected as a guest of an elder.

According to The Nation, beyond possible court cases Musharraf has been told not to return to Pakistan due to a lack of “security arrangements.” This heralds back to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto when she returned. The UN's three person investigations panel's report left open many questions as to Musharraf, but no one raised it at the CFR event.

It was unclear if Musharraf viewed his appearance as part of his campaign, or more akin to a speaking tour. He said he's spoken in Hong Kong and is going to Nigeria, that his son in Palo Alto started his Facebook page on which he has 350,000 friends. But how many enemies? Watch this site.

With UN Peacebuilding on Hold in Guinea, Munoz Steered from Pakistan by DSS

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unpbf1guineapak110309.html

UNITED NATIONS, November 3 -- As the UN on Tuesday promoted its Peacebuilding Fund, and urged that people buy a Yoko Ono song on i-Tune as a way to support it, Inner City Press asked about the PBF's support to conflict ridden Guinea-Conakry. The chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission, Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, said "we may have had a project in the past." Video here, from Minute 17:41. One of his staffers said that Guinea was approved for eligibility, and the next step is the development of a priority plan.

But the PBF's web site already shows the plan, in April 2009 before the military government killed 150 protests and raped others. The PBF web site says that $6 million for this government was approved, and $100,000 already approved (it doesn't say for what).

Afterwards the staffer said that discussions "on the ground" in Guinea are conducted by the UN Development Program, as agent of the PBF. Inner City Press asked, How much overhead does UNDP charge? Eleven percent, said the staffer.

Inner City Press asked Munoz what UN Peacebuilding could bring to a crisis like Guinea. Munoz answered by switching countries, to Kenya. Inner City Press asked about Honduras, but it seems they have not applied.

Like the Security Council and the ICC, the agency of UN Peacebuilding is top heavy with African countries. Inner City Press asked Munoz why he thought this might be. Video here, from Minute 25:45. Munoz did not answer, except indirectly, that Honduras is being dealt with by a regional organization - the OAS. But Africa has the AU.

Is there some stigma in applying to UN Peacebuilding? An involved diplomat, after the briefing, told Inner City Press that some countries do not want to be among the four now only the Peacebuilding Commission's agenda, thinking it might undermine other funding. The example given was Haiti, which has taken Peacebuilding Fund money, but does not want to be on the agenda.

Footnote: in the final minutes of the briefing and afterwards, the talk turned to Munoz role on the panel investigating Benazir Bhutto's murder. Munoz on camera said he didn't want to answer. Off camera, he said that the UN's Department of Safety and Security has advised him and the panel not to travel there for now.

Inner City Press asked about an article reporting that Munoz panel is finding it difficult to put questions to Pervez Musharraf. Where is that article, Munoz asked. Inner City Press via laptop computer showed it. It's not accurate, Munoz then said. Has he has interviewed Musharraf? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unpbf1guineapak110309.html

At UN, Of Missing Staff and Undelivered Letters, Venom in the Council Triggers Mistranslation Charge

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1missing032508.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 -- "There's been a mistake in translation," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday told the Security Council, of which he serves as President this month. "The time limit on statements is five minutes, not fifteen or twenty."

The UN's now-routine monthly briefing on the Middle East included back-and-forth between Israel and not only the Palestinian Permanent Observer and Syrian Ambassador, but also Cuba and Sudan. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman denounced Libya for having blocked action after the killing of religious students in Jerusalem, referred to Sudan as the "monsters of Darfur," and questioned whether Cuba really speaks for the Non-Aligned Movement. Yes, Cuba answered, it spoke for all of NAM's 118 members.

Meanwhile, Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson maintained that the Group of 77's letter protesting Ban's proposed merger of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa with Small Island Developing States and other mandates had still not been received. A G-77 member expressed wonder at what he called the breakdown in the UN's postal system. "It's that they don't want to answer the substance of the protest," he said. "So they say the letter's not been received." We'll see.

Speaking of letters, Inner City Press asked the head of the UN's Alliance of Civilizations Jorge Sampaio, at a briefing about an upcoming event on tuberculosis, about the letter he wrote to Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf back in December, with condolences for the still unsolved murder of Benazir Bhutto. Did Sampaio check with the Secretariat or his board of advisors and friends before issuing the letter? No, he said. It was only a condolence. Video here, last question. And now the new Prime Minister of Pakistan is asking for a UN investigation of Bhutto's murder.

Inner City Press asked the spokesperson's office Tuesday morning for a list of the 40 missing, arrested or detained staff members listed in the UN's press release. Twelve hours later, no such list was provided. This was the day of solidarity with missing staff, celebrated Monday by attendance at a film about Sergio de Mello, click here for that. The most recent Secretary-General's report lists 22 "staff members under arrest, detained or missing." So where are the other eighteen -- missing? There are other outstanding questions. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1missing032508.html