Srebrenica Draft Fails in UN Secuity Council, With Four Abstention & Russia's Veto, Final Text Here

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- When the draft resolution to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Srebrenica was put up for a vote in the UN Security Council on July 8, after having been two times postponed on July 7, both Russia's Vitaly Churkin and China's Liu Jieyi urged that a vote not be held. Deputy Permanent Representative Peter Wilson of the UK, the sponsor of the resolution, said that a vote should be taken.

   The resolution then failed, with ten in favor, Russia casting a veto against, and four countries abstaining: China, Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela.  Inner City Presshas put the failed draft resolution online here. 

  Before the vote, Russia's Ambassador Churkin told the other members of the Security Council that

“when the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina first approached us with the need to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tragedy in Srebrenica we agreed that this to be done solemnly, given the particular sensitivity of the topic for people in Bosnia Herzegovina and in the region on the whole. We were saying that what we need to do is to underscore the positive in the road covered and look into the future. That is exactly what in the beginning was being said by the United Kingdom delegation, when they said they are ready to prepare a draft resolution for the Security Council. However, the implementation of the initiative has shown that this is following a different direction. The draft submitted by the United Kingdom turned out to be not constructive, confrontational, and politically motivated. It contained distortions, as a result of which the blame for the past is placed basically on one people. This approach, according to which you single out one party for a war crime, is not legitimate and can result in even greater division within the Bosnian society. From the very beginning, we tried to make sure that the document is valid in its nature. We proposed an alternative option, aimed on forward looking logic. However, our key statements were ignored.”

      China's Ambassador Liu Jieyi then said, “regarding the draft resolution to commemorate Srebrenica event, at this moment Council members still have great concerns. To force a vote on the draft resolution when major differences still remain is not in conformity with national reconciliation within Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the region at large. It will also affect the unity of the Council members. China believes that the Council members can well continue their exchange of views on the matter of the draft resolution and should refrain from hasty actions.”

  In a statement issued after the vote by the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, “We are disappointed that our Resolution to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Srebrenica was vetoed today. We had three goals: to commemorate the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica and victims on all sides during the conflict in Bosnia Herzegovina; to appeal for justice for all and reconciliation; and to note the lessons for the UN, of these tragic events. The Resolution did not point fingers of blame nor seek to reopen painful divisions. The failure to adopt this Resolution is a snub to the families of the victims and the survivors of Srebrenica.  True reconciliation requires facing up to the realities of the past by all sides and determination to learn the lessons for the future. We owe it to all those who lost their lives in the war to work together to help build a safe and prosperous Bosnia Herzegovina.”
   

On Bosnia, Zvornik Post Office Attack Downplayed, Or Seen as Symbol

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- During the Bosnia and Herzogovina debate in the UN Security Council on May 12 the attack on the police station in Zvornik on April 27 was described with varying levels of detail.

High Representative Valentin Inzko said "A week after submitting my report, Bosnia and Herzegovina was rocked by a shocking incident when a lone attacker killed one police officer and injured two others at a police station. I take this opportunity to again offer my condolences to the family of the police officer who lost his life in the line of duty. I also wish a speedy recovery to the two injured police officers. The response of the authorities was swift and it will be important that we see ever closer cooperation between authorities at all levels to tackle a wide range of law enforcement challenges facing the country, including the ongoing fight against terrorism, which as we know is a global change."

 Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin in his speech said, "We would like to draw your attention to trends which should lead to concern, not only within the context of Bosnia Herzegovina, but the region as a whole. We are referring here to a growth of extremism among the Bosnian population in Bosnia Herzegovina and in other Muslim communities in the region of the western Balkans. This threat is one which should be viewed in the right key. The terrorist action in the city of Zvornik on the 27th of April, where an armed Islamist attacked a police station, is confirmation of this. 

"Especial attention should be devoted to the participation of Bosnians in the conflicts in the Middle East. As part of IS and Jabhat al Nusra, you have hundreds of citizens of BH and there is also a channel for the transit of terrorists through the country. We welcome the efforts in Sarajevo to increase the responsibility of foreign fighters for their actions abroad. Last year, amendments were made to the criminal code which are to limit the recruitment of Bosniaks into ISIL and other illegal formations abroad. Bosnian law enforcement agencies are carrying out special operations on such networks are arresting locals. At the same time, such actions and measures remain insufficient and ae not providing the necessary impact on reducing the influence of Islamists. Of course in the post conflict situation in the western Balkans this is especially dangerous, confirmed by the recent outbreak of inter ethnic and inter religious confrontation in multinational Macedonia and in neighboring regions."

  The violence in FYROM have drawn nary a peep from the UN Security Council.

  Back on November 11, 2014, the Bosnia and Herzegovina resolution put to the vote in the UN Security Council drew a rare abstention, from Russia. After that, the speeches went on in their predicable way.

  High Representative for BiH Valentin Inzko said that “we expect the needs of citizens to be tackled head on and for the country to be put back on track for Euro-Atlantic integration.”

  Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, himself Russia's envoy to Bosnia at one point, said that the 5 plus 2 process in the country should not be “infused with new concepts such as the integration of the country into European Union and NATO.”

 Guess what was the elephant in the room, or chamber? On November 12 at 2:30 pm, there is now scheduled a briefing about Ukraine, by Oscar Fernandez Taranco's replacement Jens Toyberg-Frandzen of Denmark, who was until recently UNDP Resident Representative ad interim in Ukraine (July-September 2014) and back in 2003-2006,  Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Small world.

  Earlier this year at the International Monetary Fund's May 22 embargoed briefing, spokesperson Gerry Rice answered Inner City Press' question about the Balkan floods.

  From the IMF transcript released today, video here from Minute 26:

GERRY RICE: Let me go online for a minute, because I've got a couple of questions here from Matthew Russell Lee. He asked Mali... and about the serious flooding in the Balkans which we're all, of course, very concerned about that. He's asking about the impact on the countries of the Balkans, and Serbia, and Bosnia.

Serbia's, again, been significantly affected. We have great concern, also, about the human casualties and the wide-spread damage, but we do not yet know the full extent of that. As an EU pre-accession country Serbia will be eligible for aid from the EU's disaster Fund.

In the meantime, the IMF engaged with Serbia through our policy advice, as well as in our discussion with other international, financial organizations through our resident representative. On Bosnia, actually, we have a staff team on the ground right now.

  Inner City Press, beyond Mali (reported here), had also asked about Yemen, adding the response to that as an update and now here:

ICP Question: Yemen's Finance Minister said the country will reduce fuel subsidies to get a $500M IMF program, hoped to be concluded by end of May. What is the status, and what about fuel shortages and impacted Yemenis?

IMF Answer: A mission is discussing with the authorities their economic reform program and how the IMF can support them.

  Well, a similar reduction in subsidies by the government in 2005 led protests that left dozens killed and wounded. And now? Watch this site.

   

At UN, New Zealand's National Day Has Tukutuku, Broad Turn-Out, From Ukraine to Eritrea

By Matthew Russell Lee, Country by Country

UNITED NATIONS, February 12 -- When New Zealand celebrated its national day in the entrance of the UN General Assembly on February 12, there was music and art and Ambassadors ranging from South Africa and Afghanistan through Lithuania and the UK to Eritrea, Bosnia and Ukraine.

  There were venison sliders and kiwi martinis; there was a speech from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, thanking New Zealand for, as the invitation put it, "43 handwoven tukutuku hand-woven panels that have been installed on the New Zealand wall, our original gift to the United Nations which has stood by the Delegates’ Entrance since 1952."

 Some of the weavers were present, speaking with the press and posing for example with well-known UN Security officer Ralph (who showed them his selfie with Barack Obama).

  In the run up to speeches by New Zealand Ambassador Jim McLay then Ban, Urkaine's Ambassador Sergeyev mused to Inner City Press about Nagorno-Karabakh, also negotiated in Minsk. Herve Ladsous, head of UN Peacekeeping caught in a sale of jobs scandal, huddled with Afghanistan's Ambassador Zahir Tanin. On that, we'll have more.

  Many of those in attendance marveled to Inner City Press at the breadth of the turnout. Is it due to New Zealand's nuanced positions?

Three weeks into a two year UN Security Council term, New Zealand's Permanent Representative Jim McLay on January 21 offered a criticism, however diplomatic, to the Council's work on Ukraine.

   After speeches by his US counterpart Samantha Power and Russia's Vitaly Churkin, among others, McLay said that “we believe the Security Council must live up to its responsibility under the UN Charter. This Council met in 2014 no fewer than 27 times to discuss the situation in the Ukraine. So far we've seen very little impact from all this high level attention.”

   “And so it is,” McLay continued, “that at this meeting number 28, New Zealand affirms that this Council is properly seized of this matter and it calls for a more purposeful Council engagement with a real focus upon supporting efforts for negotiation a solution to this conflict. Only then we will see tangible outcomes for those most affected, the people of Eastern Ukraine.”

    When Ambassador McLay left the Security Council chamber, this reporter asked him what he meant about this “more purposeful Council engagement” on a topic which has devolved into little but accusatory speeches.

  McLay stopped and replied, “I'd prefer to leave that until we have some closed consultations.” He added of the day's Council meeting on Ukraine, “It was going to be in private, then some said it's going to be in public. We didn't object to that, but as you and I both know...” His voice trailed off.

   In the open meeting, Russia's Churkin said that “at the beginning of today's meeting we were supposed to have closed consultations to actually take a look at whether or not the Security Council could makes it contribution to settling the Ukrainian crisis. However the delegation of the United States waved its hand and, no.”

   Could taking at least part of the Security Council's meetings about Ukraine behind closed doors, where negotiation or at least more direct talk is possible, be a New Zealand contribution to the Council's work? Watch this site.

   

Outside UN Correspondents Ball, How to Get a Scam "UN" Award Explained, Haiti Silence, Of Pioli Tenants Past & Future

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- When the UN Correspondents Association, which has tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN, held its ball in Cipriani on December 16, among with representatives of Missions at various levels were some glitterati, in black 4 by 4s without diplomatic plates.

  When Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli arrived, to receive an award about Haiti without any questions having been answered about UN Peacekeepers shooting demonstrators there, he again did not answer on Haiti, or the UN's role in cholera there.

  Meanwhile the Turkish billionaire who emerged as another UNCA awardee has, Turkish sources told Inner City Press on the sidewalk outside, claimed that it is a "UN" award - which it is not. How did he get it? "You know how," one attendee told Inner City Press, entering Cipriani bemused.

   Since the past and future president of UNCA Giampaolo Pioli somewhat famously rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's ambassador for who he later screened a war crimes denial movie inside the UN, one mused at the limos, how many of these have been or will be tenants of Il Presidente? How many, indeed.

   Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived, and was met curbside by his spokesman. Bosnia's Permanent Representative arrived, France's arriving later, solo. Several Security Council members' spokespeople arrived. One attendee had a hard time getting in with a walker - imagine a wheelchair - UNCA is inaccessible. 

  Earlier, UNCA's former first vice president was called out harshly by a Council member but was seen smoking, in a tux, on the sidewalk. But that's another story. This individual censored Google (how European); now UNCA as a organization blocks those who ask questions from its (not very interesting) Twitter feed.
 
   UNCA blocked Inner City Press from its Twitter feed; later its web site began to require a password to view it: no access.)

  This is the UN's Censorship Alliance, or an organization in decline, or both. This apparently is what happens when you try to censor, or when the censor in chief Giampaolo Pioli returns to helm the group turning in on itself.

  What's on the menu?

  Pioli, who rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador who later got Pioli to agree, without the agreement of other UNCA board members, to screen a war crimes denial film in the UN, has a real estate mini-empire founded on pasta, some of it, at least initially, Turkish.

  Beyond the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and the Turkish billionaire Enver Yucel (presumably absent any explanation to the contrary chosen by UNCA's Italian president and Turkish first vice president), are UNCA's other awardees aware UNCA blocks access by the press? 

  One awardee is an UNCA board member, so one would assume he knows. Another has indicated it's not worth the time to cover UNCA and its actions, even trying to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN or otherwise censoring.

 But how about Hanan Alkiswany, Al-ghad Daily (Jordan), Francesco Semprini, La Stampa, Alice Su, Freelance, Marina Aizen, Revista Viva, Clarín (Agentina), Soma Basu, Down to Earth Magazine (India) Amy Yee, Freelance and, with regard to Herve Ladsous, below, Tatiana Mossot, France 24? Are they aware of their awarder's censorship and blocking of the Press? What do they think of it? Four of the above have been made aware, by Twitter. Now the site is behind a wall. Watch this site.

   This is the association with which the UN partners, giving it a big clubhouse even as the UN threw the News Agency of Nigeria out of its work space, claiming it was in short supply.

The claim is that UNCA represents those who cover the UN; it's at the $100 (and more) UNCA ball Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will speak, though almost certainly not about the UN's responsibility for cholera in Haiti, and shooting at protesters there. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.

  Less than 100 correspondents of the thousands who cover the UN voted for its past and future president, Giampaolo Pioli - and that without competition, for his and the other top five spots.

   But now we ask in more detail: who controls the UNCA Twitter account with the right of censorship - just Pioli? The 15 members of the Executive Committee, or just the six officers listed below? The (less than) 100 voting members?

The six officers of UNCA, elected in each instance with less than 100 votes out of the thousands of journalists who cover the UN, consists of:

Giampaolo Pioli, Quotidiano Nazionale / La Nazione / Il Resto de Carlino / Quotidiano.net / El Giorno; Kahraman Haliscelik, TRT Turkish Radio & TV; Sylviane Zehil, L'Orient Le Jour; Ali Barada, An-Nahar / France 24; Bouchra Benyoussef, Maghreb Arab Press; and Seana Magee, Kyoto News Agency.

  The rest of the Executive Committee, who may have been involved -- we have been checking -- includes Reuters, Bloomberg, Al Arabiya, the US Broadcasting Board of Governors, and the Italian news agency ANSA, with votes out of 105:

Nabil Abi Saab, Al Hurra (US Broadcasting Board of Governors) 71 of 105

Talal Al Haj, Al Arabiya 51 of 105

Emoke Debiak, DPA 58 of 105

Sherwin Bryce-Peace, SABC 68 of 105

Zhenqui Gu, Xinhua 57 of 105

Melissa Kent, CBC 66 of 105

Michele Nichols, Reuters 58 of 105

Valeria Robecco, ANSA 65 of 105

Sangwon Yoon, Bloomberg 53 of 105

 For now we ask: is this an Italian thing? Now that Giampaolo Pioli is returning to head UNCA, after his previous attempts to use UNCA to censor articles about himself, does that explain this new Twitter block? We'll have more on this.

 After UN peacekeepers fired tear gas and a pistol at Haitians demonstration for democracy on December 12, on December 13 Inner City Press wrote to four agents of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, slated to receive an UNCA humanitarian award about Haiti this week, to request comment on the shooting and on cholera.

  No response has been received. But on December 15, UNCA blocked Inner City Press from the Twitter account it had used to announce giving awards to Bocelli (about Haiti) and also now to a Turkish billionaire, the selection process for which has not been explained.

  This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.

  Not only is the UN's role in bringing cholera to Haiti being ignored -- afterUN Peacekeepers under Herve Ladsous shot tear gas and pistols into crowds of protesters for democracy, Andrea Bocelli, his management Almud and his Andrea Bocelli Foundation have been asked for comment and have not provided any. 

   If he's accepting a UN-related award, shouldn't he? 

  The UN Censorship Alliance belated announced another awardee -- a for profit education magnate from Turkey whose firm Bahcesehir Ugur ismajority owned by the Carlyle Group. The president of UNCA is Italian (Bocelli), and the vice president is Turkish (Enver Yucel) - is this any coincidence? The latter chimes in to note scholarships by Enver Yucel, saying these should be encouraged and not discouraged. We note this, as offered to the former - but dispute that association with the UN's Censorship Alliance is "encouraging." 

The group, which has tried to get the investigative Press thrown out, has grandiosely (and hypocritically) issued statements on some other journalists jailed. Given its current officers, will it in this case? And if it doesn't, what does attending its grotesque ball really mean?

  After this question was posed, about arrest of journalists by Turkey and whether the "United Nations Correspondents Association" and its first vice president would stay silent, the response received involved defending the honor of the mysterious (or not so mysterious) selected billionaire, thusly:

"Having been very well known for his contributions to the cultural and educational life in Turkey and providing 25m USD of scholarship every year to the students in need, Enver Yücel was awarded with 'Outstanding Service Award' by The Turkish Grand National Assembly in 2008. He was also awarded with the 'Education Award' by the American Turkish Council in 2010. Mr. Yücel was accepted by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for his contributions to the alliance of civilizations."

  The proffered paragraph has been published in full. But where is the answer as how the Turkish billionaire and the Italian tenor were selected? And will this dubious UNCA, before its grotesque ball, issue a statement about censorship by Turkey?

  Posed otherwise if Federica Mogherini, until recently Italy's foreign minister, speaks out against these arrests of journalists in Turkey, will UNCA ostensibly under the leadership of Giampaolo Pioli do so? Or, as before, is the first vice president position the one to watch (out for)? Watch this site.

  On the same day, the sentencing of Barret Brown is scheduled, and the US government is fighting to keep all filings confidential from the press and public. 

  When Ban Ki-moon was selected as UN Secretary General in 2006 it was an untransparent process, with secret ballots in the Security Council.  But at least there was competition. Now reportedly the top spot at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs may be given without competition.

  This trend at the UN under Ban, including for example UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, has been enabled and concealed by what has become the UN's Censorship Alliance, formally the United Nations Correspondents Association.

  On November 14 this organization in decline formally announced a slate of six officers -- all without any competition at all. These six were "elected" on December 3. The top post was handed (back) to Giampaolo Pioli of Italy, who engaged in outright censorship while last using the position. 

   An Italian media, the only ones reporting Pioli's coronation, said that "Back to guide the Italian Association of correspondents accredited to the United Nations (UNCA). Giampaolo Pioli, the National Newspaper, and 'was elected president of the organization that owns the 250 journalists 'residents' at the UN that become about three thousand in the days of the General Assembly."Click here for that, then (Google?) translate.

  It's telling, the idea that UNCA "owns" journalists, particularly all resident correspondents -- that is false. Also, well under fifty percent of that false 250 number voted. And what is that percentage, of 3000? The censor does not have the mandate that Dujarric UNwisely publicly claimed, for the UN's Censorship Alliance. Will correction of any of this be sought? We'll see.

  That Andrea Bocelli is UNCA's awardee -- Pioli was head of the committee -- was revealed here: "The Made in Italy arrives in America with a partnership against violence against women. The more than 600 distinguished guests will receive the bracelet Tatu, the new brand led by Manuel Giannini, Luca Zafarana Benedettelli and Barbara... This year the United Nations Correspondents Association will award the Master Andrea Bocelli and his wife Veronica Berti with UNCA Global Citizens of the Year for the devotion of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation towards people in difficulty due to illness, disability, poverty and ' social exclusion and for the 'special commitment in favor of Haiti. Sting and Trudie Styler will be rewarded for the work as co -fondatori Rainforest Foundation Fund."

  In fairness to Bocelli, it is pointed out he has worked on the Haiti issue. We'll add a link here - his foundation (which when searched for the word "cholera" yields "no result found - Sorry, we were unable to find any results that matched your search terms.") So what about the UN bringing cholera? What about the group, the UN Censorship Alliance, that's using him and others to prop themselves up?

   UN scribes and censors citing Haiti without reference to the UN having brought cholera there and killed over 8000 Haitians and hidden from court papers since, providing no restitution to families who lose their breadwinner. In a dinner for which they are hawking "discounted" tickets for $100. This is telling.

  After his censorship push in 2012, Pioli was rarely seen at the UN; even when back, pressuring people to vote for him, he did not ask questions in any noon briefing or stakeout (though he did appear in evening wear with his ubiquitous glass of wine, winning the title Party-Boy Pioli.)

  But there is nothing funny about it. Pioli, who had rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's ambassador, unilaterally granted Kohona's request to use UNCA to screen inside the UN a government film denying war crimes, and sat on a panel with only Kohona and his deputy Shavendra Silva, who is still in the news. 

   When Inner City Press reported, after his screening panel with Silva and Kohona, that Kohona has been his tenants in the past, Pioli demanded that reporting of these facts must be removed from the Internet (compilation of audio here) or he would use UNCA to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. There followed a kangaroo court proceeding, which has resulted in Inner City Press receiving death threats from Sinhalese extremists in Sri Lanka. 

 Voice of America, then on the UNCA Executive Board, wrote a letter to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be reviewed; a Freedom of Information Act request showed that VOA said it had the support of Agence France Presse and Reuters (which they tried to censor its anti-Press complaint to the UN by claiming it is copyrighted, here.)

  Now for 2015 Pioli returns. Reuters has on the board its current correspondent though no longer its retired UN bureau chief. Agence France Presse, which had been off the UNCA Executive Committee after having used it to complain about Press reporting on Herve Ladsous, sought to return but was not able. 

 Only News Agency of Nigeria, which ran in 2013, did not run this time: its UN office space was taken away in 2014, ostensibly due to scarcity when UNCA is given a big room that sits empty and locked most of the time. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance -- now again with a chieftain with a documented history of demanding censorship.

  This is the face of UN decay, sanitized if at all by the desire of some to go to parties and balls, free lunch, or a backdoor way into the UN, like Kohona requested and got unilaterally from his former landlord, without written polling of other board members, to screen inside the UN a government rebuttal to a firm that was not shown in the UN. And then a campaign for censorship, triggering death threats. This is the face of UN decay: unsanitizable.

Silva, Pioli and his former tenant, Kohona, censorship demand not shown (but sample audio links here)


Ready for censorship, raised wine glass, Haiti cholera not shown

 As to the Secretary General's race, a November reform letter's signatories include Avaaz, Amnesty International, CIVICUS, Equality Now, FEMNET, Forum-Asia, Global Policy Forum, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Social Watch, Third World Network, Women’s Environment and Development Organization, the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and the World Federation of United Nations Associations.

The new Free UN Coalition for Access, formed in response to the decline in media access and transparency generally under Ban Ki-moon, heartily agrees with the need to reform and improve the Secretary General selection process. 

 Candidates so far including Helen Clark of UNDP, who virtually never takes press questions while in New York, the headquarters of UNDP, amiduntransparent layoffs, and Irina Bokova, the Director General of UNESCO, an agency which on November 3 led an event about journalists at which not a single question from a journalist was taken. There's also among others, in this SG race we will closely cover, a Latina trio, Kristalina Georgieva, Miroslav Lajcak, Kevin Rudd, Dalia Grybauskaite, Vuk Jeremic, Danilo Turk, Jan Kubis - that is, unlike the UN's Censorship Alliance, at least there is some competition.

Tellingly, after September's General Assembly debate week, UNCA's“complaints” to Ban's Secretariat are to ask for fewer events, for a private wi-fi network for in-house UN journalist and not those who cover to cover the week, and a booklet co-signed with Ban.

UN Censorship Alliance lunch, Feb 11, 2014 including Pam Falk and continuing Kahraman Haliscelik, Sylviane Zehil, Erol Avdovic, Bouchra Benyoussef, Seana Magee, Nabil Abi Saab, Evelyn Leopold, Talal Al-Haj, Melissa Kent, Michelle Nichols, Sangwon Yoon, Valeria Robecco, Sherwin Bryce-Pease, Zhenqiu Gu UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Meanwhile, UNCA makes no mention of restrictions of access that week such as the French mission ordering all non-French journalists out of the UN's Press Briefing Room, and UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous physically blocking the Press' camera, Vine here.

  The new Free UN Coalition for Access has raised these issues, publicly, in fliers and in the UN's Press Briefing Room. Tellingly, the UN Secretariat appears ready to limit its "interlocutors" on media access to the very insiders at UNCA who have overseen and promoted the decline in access. 

 Pioli, while strong-arming in his fashion for votes, said no one could simultaneously be a member of the Free UN Coalition for Access and "his" UNCA. Meanwhile, while UNCA tries to demand that it always gets the first question at press conferences, that this is somehow a precedent, at the December 2, 2014, Program of Work press conference by the Chadian UN Security Council President, the first question explicitly went to the Free UN Coalition for Access. That's it: no precedent, no more, particularly with the return of the Censor in chief.

  An analogy that some have now made: it's one thing that Kurt Waldheim was UN Secretary General once. But what would it say about the UN if he were to return, after a haitus, for more time atop the organization? We'll see.

  Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, is appearing in polls as running for president of his native South Korea in 2017. Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson about it, who said Ban is “currently” focused on his current job. This has been repeated in South Korea, here. The UN is being used; the UN is in further decline; there are moves afoot to stem the tide of decay. Watch this site.

   

As Russia Critiques UN Security Council “Propaganda Wrangling” Session on Ukraine, Petr Iliichev to Succeed Pankin

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- The UN Security Council wrap up session that have become an expected part of each monthly President's program of work came under fire on November 26 from Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. 

  Beyond critiquing the Security Council's approach to such issues as Syria, Bosnia and Ukraine, Churkin questioned the utility of the wrap up sessions.

  He said these have become a theater for “glorifying approaches that are not effective.” As an observer, it does seem strange to have the Council's 15 members generally praising themselves and each other, rather than for example listening to the other 178 member states -- and, why not, the Observer State of Palestine. As with the spirit behind this Country - By - Country report, critique and disagreements are more illuminating than pablum.

  Churkin complained about a Russian draft Presidential Statement on the dangers of terrorists possibly using chemical weapons in Syria and Iraq being blocked at the expert level. 

  He again explained Russia's abstention on the month's Bosnia resolution, saying “it unacceptable that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be urged to join the European Union and NATO through a decision of the Security Council on the basis of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.”

  On Ukraine, Churkin said that “the meeting on November 12 was used by those that proposed it for another round of propaganda wrangling.” On November 25, Ukraine saidUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation with Petro Poroshenko had “assured that the entire world supported Ukraine."

  Another Permanent Representative who spoke during the wrap up session, Mark Lyall Grant of the UK, largely praised Australia's month as Council president (Inner City Press' review is here), describing the Council's response to the reports of rape in Darfur “agile.” Others disagree, and wonder why the Council didn't “take up” the Secretary General's report on UNAMID's earlier cover ups.

  Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to confirm receipt of a letter from Darfuri groups calling for a review of the response of Herve Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping and got this in return: “I can confirm that we received the letter indirectly. In terms of contents, on alleged rape cases, the Security Council issued a press statement calling for a full investigation. The UK initiated the call for a press statement and so agree that this issue needs to be looked at.”

  Inner City Press has previously reported that Lyall Grant will leave as UK Permanent Representative in April 2015 and be replaced by Matthew Rycroft, here.

 Today, with Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Alexander Pankin's departure public confirmed by his farewell call on Ban Ki-moon's schedule, Inner City Press can report that Pankin's successor as Deputy Permanent Representative will be Petr Iliichev, expert in among other things African affairs. 

 These make up more than half of the Security Council's agenda, so it is appropriate -- how ever frequently or honesty the Council's work is reviewed. Watch this site.

   

On Bosnia in UN Security Council, Inzko Pitches EU, Russia Abstains, Ukraine Briefing To Come by Toyberg-Frandzen

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 11 -- The Bosnia and Herzegovina resolution put to the vote in the UN Security Council on November 11 drew a rare abstention, from Russia. After that, the speeches went on in their predicable way.

  High Representative for BiH Valentin Inzko said that “we expect the needs of citizens to be tackled head on and for the country to be put back on track for Euro-Atlantic integration.”

  Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, himself Russia's envoy to Bosnia at one point, said that the 5 plus 2 process in the country should not be “infused with new concepts such as the integration of the country into European Union and NATO.”

 Guess what was the elephant in the room, or chamber? On November 12 at 2:30 pm, there is now scheduled a briefing about Ukraine, by Oscar Fernandez Taranco's replacement Jens Toyberg-Frandzen of Denmark, who was until recently UNDP Resident Representative ad interim in Ukraine (July-September 2014) and back in 2003-2006,  Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Small world.

  Earlier this year at the International Monetary Fund's May 22 embargoed briefing, spokesperson Gerry Rice answered Inner City Press' question about the Balkan floods.

  From the IMF transcript released today, video here from Minute 26:

GERRY RICE: Let me go online for a minute, because I've got a couple of questions here from Matthew Russell Lee. He asked Mali... and about the serious flooding in the Balkans which we're all, of course, very concerned about that. He's asking about the impact on the countries of the Balkans, and Serbia, and Bosnia.

Serbia's, again, been significantly affected. We have great concern, also, about the human casualties and the wide-spread damage, but we do not yet know the full extent of that. As an EU pre-accession country Serbia will be eligible for aid from the EU's disaster Fund.

In the meantime, the IMF engaged with Serbia through our policy advice, as well as in our discussion with other international, financial organizations through our resident representative. On Bosnia, actually, we have a staff team on the ground right now.

  Inner City Press, beyond Mali (reported here), had also asked about Yemen, adding the response to that as an update and now here:

ICP Question: Yemen's Finance Minister said the country will reduce fuel subsidies to get a $500M IMF program, hoped to be concluded by end of May. What is the status, and what about fuel shortages and impacted Yemenis?

IMF Answer: A mission is discussing with the authorities their economic reform program and how the IMF can support them.

  Well, a similar reduction in subsidies by the government in 2005 led protests that left dozens killed and wounded. And now? Watch this site.