With UK's Andrew Lansley for UN Aid Chief Called Appalling, Herve Ladsous' Story, Dumped on UN Peacekeeping

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- Minutes after the UN announced the departure of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy will be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.

  While Haq insisted that the position is "open to people from any region," transcript below, the disposition of the top jobs in UN Peacekeeping (four Frenchmen in a row) and Political Affairs (two consecutive Americans) indicates otherwise.

  Now from the UK comes word that Prime Minister David Cameron is tapping the man he in July "sacked as Health Secretary and Leader of the House: Andrew Lansley" and "has reportedly refused to come up with two alternative candidates, as requested by the UN Secretary General."

  While the UN refuses to be transparent about this "please submit three candidates" form of limited competition for positions already designated by nationality, it is what happened with UN Peacekeeping, multiple sources have told Inner City Press.

  But even this is often waived. It is UNclear if when B. Lynn Pascoe left as head of the UN Department of Political Affairs, the US put forward anyone beyond Jeffrey Feltman, who has the job.

  For Peacekeeping, as Inner City Press exclusively reported in July 2011, when Alain Le Roy left France put forward three candidates and Ban Ki-moon selected Jerome Bonnafont, then France's ambassador to India.

  After Bonnafont started bragging about having the job, and Inner City Press reported such boast based on sourcing in India and closer, Team Ban decided that Bonnafont was not the team player they were looking for.

  But then president Nicolas Sarkozy, angered, refused to put forward another trio of candidates, instead "dumping" on the UN Herve Ladsous, who had been rejected by Kofi Annan during a previous one-of-three process. Ban Ki-moon accepted these damaged goods, and Ladsous has gone on to cover up rapes by the Congolese Army and now in Darfur, and to openly refuse to answer Press questions,video compilation here, UK New Statesman coverage here.

  How would Lansley be? And how is the UN in such decay? Even for the Secretary General position there was some limited competition. 

 At a much smaller but not unrelated level, the in-house United Nations Correspondents Association is set to "elect" as president, with no competition, a rarely present Italian scribe Giampaolo Pioli, who tried to censor Press articles about Sri Lanka in his previous tenure, click here for that. Also under Pioli, UNCA was used to try to censor, or censure, Inner City Press' reporting about how Ladsous was foisted on the UN, here.

  One reason the UN is in such decay is that few questions are asked, and even fewer are answered, at the UN. Here's the UN's transcript of what Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq on November 26:

Inner City Press: on the Under-Secretary-General position for OCHA, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, could describe what the process for recruitment will be in the context that many people say that at least the top three jobs are pretty much assigned by country, for Humanitarian Affairs that was John Holmes and then Amos; the US had [B. Lynn] Pascoe, now Mr. Feltman; that France has had peacekeeping four times in a row.  Is this job going to be put in The Economist?  Are you seeking candidates from any Member State that chooses to step forward, or is it essentially designated for the United Kingdom?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  The idea that there are spots that are designated is more a popular myth than reality.  As you know, many of the positions that have been said to be earmarked for this or that country have not over time proven to be that way.  There was an idea that Political Affairs was reserved for someone from the United Kingdom.  It hasn’t been that way for quite some time.  There’s been talk of how different agencies are headed by Americans or other nationalities, for example, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), and over time you see that hasn’t held true.  That’s the case with this position, as well.  We’re seeking applicants from every area.

Inner City Press:  Will it be like in The Economist?  Is there going to be some public process to seek candidates?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  We are seeking candidates.  We don’t talk so much about the appointment process as it’s in procedure, but certainly it’s open to people from any region.

  We'll stay on this.

  There have been rumblings, noted by Inner City Press, of DPA chief Jeffrey Feltman leaving -- and of the US perhaps trading Political Affairs for Peacekeeping. But that theory seems to have been that US State Department Number Three Wendy Sherman would move up to William Burns' deputy spot, opening her position for the return of Feltman.

  Now that the Obama administration has put Tony Blinken into the State Department Deputy post, as one insider told ICP, “Feltman stays at the UN.”

Even without any double switch, Ladsous is under fire atop DPKO, not only for refusal to answer questions, back to rapes in Minova in DR Congo, but now in Tabit in Darfur as well. 

 Haq, like lead UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on November 26, would not when Inner City Press asked confirm receipt of a letter, critical of Ladsous' DPKO, from Darfuri groups, here. 

 Outgoing UN Security Council president Gary Quinlan of Australia not only confirmed receipt of the letter - he circulated it to the other Council members. A press officer of UK mission to the UN told Inner City Press, "I can confirm that we received the letter indirectly." We'll have more on this, and on Amos' work while at the UN, and perhaps reason(s) for leaving, including as, like Lansley, may related to UK politics.

  We might also suggest, if the UN under Ban is to remain so captured by Permanent Members of the Security Council, a more deserving British candidate, in connection with the April 2015 arrival of Matthew Rycroft atop the UK Mission to the UN.

  On November 25, it was Quinlan and not Amos who took question after Amos' briefing on Syria. How much will Amos speak, publicly, before her departure at the end of March? Much, is the hope and goal of the Free UN Coalition for Access. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Jose Ramos Horta's Panel Must Balance UNSC Mandate Concerns with Darfur Cover-Ups, Haiti Cholera

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 20 -- The review of UN Peace Operations chaired by Jose Ramos Horta of Timor Leste kicked off with a press conference then an interactive dialogue with the Security Council on November 20.

In the press conference, Ramos Horta was asked of scandals facing UN Peacekeeping, from cover-ups in Darfur of attacks and now 200 rapes in Thabit, to a lack of accountability for cholera in Haiti to the use of private military contractors and even “eavesdropping.”

  Inner City Press asked Ramos Horta about UNAMID's pro-government press release of November 9 denying theThabit rapes, and about Haiti cholera, which Ramos Horta vowed to raise to his fellow panel members.

  Some of these members spoke with the Security Council later on November 20, and a smaller subset with Inner City Press after the meeting. From that and what some Council members said, it appears that the Security Council's vision of the panel's mandate is far narrower and more bureaucratic, on such issues of how mandates should be drafted.

  That's all well and good for the pen-holding countries in the Security Council, some of which contribute few to no peacekeepers to UN missions. But what about the people ostensibly served by those mission? Those in Haiti, impacted by cholera? Those in Darfur, under-protected, now criticizing UNAMID and the ultimately the Department of Peacekeeping Operations run by Herve Ladsous?

  One outgoing Security Council member, Rwanda, said it had raised the cases in which UN Peacekeeping does not live up to its mandate, like letting civilians be attacked and killed mere miles from its bases. Others pointed out that while many Troop Contributing Countries question the mandates now being given, those drafting the mandates come from countries without their own soldiers in the field.

  Permanent Five countries are well represented on the panel, including former Ambassadors who served in the Security Council, former diplomats who then served the UN like B. Lynn Pascoe, long time UN-ers like Ian Martin (who, for the record, is interested in Sri Lanka but not working on it at the moment). 

  Norway's Hilde Johnson, after what some view as a controversial time at the helm of the mission in South Sudan, was present on November 20 but did not speak afterward. Others did, like Wang Xuexian of China, Ameerah Haq of Bangladesh, still the head of the Department of Field Support and Alexander Ilitchev of Russia. Radhika Coomaraswamy, named an “ex officio” member by Ramos Horta, did not appear to be present for this dialogue with the Security Council, at least not in the hallway afterward.

  Ramos Horta has vowed to listen to all constituencies, including those impacted by UN Peacekeeping. This could result in needed reforms, or at least a report publicly calling for them. Watch this site.

   

Amid UN Peacekeeping Cover-Ups, Crashes & Cholera, Ban Ki-moon's Review Panel of 14 Has Only Two Africans, Heavy with Insiders, Ladsous Defenders?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 31 - UN Peacekeeping has become subject, under Herve Ladsous, to mounting questions about its operations, from crashed drones, selective “neutralization” of some rebels groups and not others, like the FDLR in the DR Congo, covering up attacks in Darfur and lack of accountability for negligently introducing cholera to Haiti, to name just a few.

While Ladsous refuses and even blocks Press questions about these topics, recently Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has taken to saying that a major “external” panel will be set up to review the issues. On Friday, October 31, Ban’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced the 14-member panel, to be chaired by former Timor-Leste leader Jose Ramos-Horta.

In a run-on sentence, Ban listed the panel’s topics: “the changing nature of conflict, evolving mandates, good offices and peace-building challenges, managerial and administrative arrangements, planning, partnerships, human rights and protection of civilians, uniformed capabilities for peacekeeping operations and performance.”

Inner City Press asked Dujarric about a word NOT in the list: drones. Earlier on October 31 in the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, the representative of Ecuador said that UN Peacekeeping’s use of drones should be subject to review by the General Assembly’s C-34 Committee: that is, by member states. (Ladsous evaded the C-34, then deployed more drones than he’d mentioned to the Security Council, and won’t answer on the reasons behind the crashes; DRC envoy Martin Kobler told Inner City Press it was due to “wind.”)

Dujarric cut the question off, saying that it was “too granular” and that drones might fall — as one did in DRC — under “the changing nature of conflict.”

But the question is, should UN Peacekeeping and Ladsous be subject only to review by a panel picked by Ban Ki-moon, or by the member states? Dujarric said Ban’s panel’s report will go the the General Assembly.

It is called an “external” panel, but included not only a number of long-time insiders, but even the current Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Ameerah Haq. This reporter asked Dujarric if this meant that Haq is leaving, and Dujarric said yes. The Free UN Coalition for Access opines: she is the wrong one to be leaving.

Strikingly, only TWO of Ban’s Panel’s 14 members are from Africa, where the vast majority of UN Peacekeepers are deployed. These members are from Ghana and Tunisia, not from countries with UN Missions like DRC, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic if not to say Liberia, where Ladsous is said to be planning “emergency responses” with a government that has quarantined whole neighborhoods like West Point in Monrovia.

Recently during the Security Council proceeding to renew the mandate of the mission in Haiti, many ambassadors from Latin America said Troop Contributing Countries weren’t sufficiently consulted; Argentina said it would not participate in certain policing or repression activities. Will that be reviewed? We’ll have more on this.

Beyond Ramos-Horta, the Panel’s members include Jean Arnault of France — some wonder if he’s there to protect Ladsous — Abhijit Guha of India, Ameerah Haq of Bangladesh, Andrew Hughes of Australia, Wang Xuexian of China, Hilde Johnson of Norway after a troubled stint in South Sudan, Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko Mensa-Bonsu of Ghana, Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto of Brazil, Bruce Jones of Canada, Youssef Mahmoud of Tunisia, B. Lynn Pascoe of the US, whom Inner City Press reported was in the mix to replace Alexander Downer as UN envoy to Cyprus but was said to be blocked from getting it, Alexander Ilitchev of Russia and Ian Martin of the UK, who returned to the UN to mull mediation after starting the ill-fated UN Mission in Libya. Martin’s previous Board of Inquiry report on bombing in Gaza in 2009, Ban Ki-moon undercut with a cover-letter. We’ll have more on this, too.

   

Two Masters: UN Tells Inner City Press That Ray Chambers Can Serve Ban Ki-moon and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie - But Was UN Ethics Office Told? When?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- The UN Charter is clear: a person cannot serve both the UN and their own government. But does that also mean “local government”? Or, as the UN today told Inner City Press, it is fine to serve both Ban Ki-moon and Chris Christie?

At the August 11 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: on Ray Chambers. He was recently named to a panel by Chris Christie of New Jersey and the article reporting that said that he’s a former UN official. But, the website says that he’s the current, you know, adviser to the Secretary-General on…

Spokesman Dujarric: I’m not aware of any changes to Mr. Chambers.

Inner City Press: Can he do both? Can he serve the State of New Jersey and the UN at the same time?

Spokesman Dujarric: Let me check what his exact status is.

Five hours later, Dujarric has still not answered. So Inner City Press asked (on this) in writing:

On Ray Chambers and his new New Jersey post, here is a citation[calling Chambers a "former" UN official - misleading?]

Again: can he do both, UN and NJ? Any ethics office ruling?

And any answer on the UNDP audit I sent you?

Finally: does SG's “press availability” at noon tomorrow mean no noon briefing? Is so, why? As you know, there are questions about the full range of the UN system and missions. Please explain.

Dujarric said, no UN noon briefing on August 12 -- the Free UN Coalition for Access objects -- and on Chambers, he then replied:

“On Ray Chambers, he remains the UN SG’s Special Envoy for Financing the Health Millennium Development Goals and for Malaria. His post is on a $1 a year. We see no conflict with his serving on New Jersey-focused commission.”

Is that consistent with the UN charter? And why not answer on if the UN Ethics Office was asked? Recently Dujarric's office refused to say if the UN Ethics Office was asked about Ban accepting free private jet travel to the Middle East paid for by Qatar, with its own interests in the region.

In the past, Ban's spokesperson's office dodged Inner City Press questions about then UN envoy on the Sahel Romano Prodi simultaneously running for office in Italy (more recently he called Egypt's Sisi about Libya and was identified, still, as a UN official).

But can Chambers serve Ban Ki-moon and Chris Christie at the same time?

Ban's previous “good offices” envoy on Cyprus Alexander Downer was vying for political roles and then Australian Ambassadorship(s) while serving the UN, and working for consultancy Bespoke Approach. Now Inner City Press is told the UN is being lobbied to name as Downer's successor a former UN (and US) official, B. Lynn Pascoe. We'll have more on this.

   

Syria Run-Up for UN Has Germany's Angela Kane, at CFR Judith Miller, Questions UNasked

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 27 -- Amid the drums of war and the UN Secretariat's wan accompanying music, a few connections are worth noting, a few more questions asked. (Here's video of some from August 26.)

  For August 27: when did the UN ask to visit the site at Ghouta? 

  While the delay from Wednesday to Sunday (or Monday, when the team got out and said, if this YouTube video is not false, that they are not even looking at what type of munition was used in part because they didn't want to put it in their white UN 4 by 4) is now an element in the case for missile strikes, Syria says the UN didn't even ASK until Saturday.

   Is that true? Even if the UK, for example, asked earlier, it is a UN team. So when did the UN make the request?

  Saturday August 24 is when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's High Representative on Disarmament Angela Kane re-arrived in Damascus.

   Inner City Press covered Kane when she was head of Ban's Department of Management, including an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services for favoritism in the UN's so-called UMOJA computer management system.

  When Japan's Yukio Takasu returned after a pause from being his country's Ambassador to the UN to take over Kane's job, Kane's native Germany lobbied for her to get another top UN job. She was offered one in Lebanon, as Inner City Press reported, but did not want it. So she "got" Disarmament.

  This connection must be noted: it was Germany which got Kane this job, in the same way that France installed Herve Ladsous as the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, and the US picked Jeffrey Feltman, formerly the State Department's chief on the Middle East to replace B. Lynn Pascoe as Ban's political chief.

  So the fact that Germany has expressed a willingness to join a coalition to strike Syria, without UN Security Council approval, and the Germany's Angela Kane's role in the "UN's" chemical weapons inspection team should be noted.

  But by most media covering the UN, it is not. When Inner City Press even mentions Ladsous' and UN Peacekeeping's French connection, Ladsous refuses to answer questions, and some media, including the French wire service Agence France Presse on one of whose management boards Ladsous served, have even filed complaints with the UN against Inner City Press. 

  This is dysfunction, and is now being countered by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Another major wire service, Reuters, joined in the second of AFP's complaints. On August 26 Reuters based a piece essentially selling or planning for the legality of military strikes on Syria without Security Council or even General Assembly approval around, as lead, a comment by the Council on Foreign Relations' Richard Haass.

  But on that CFR call, as noted by Inner City Press, wasJudith Miller. Given her role during the lead up to the US intervention in Iraq, one might think this would have been included in an overly-long rehash story. But no. 

 Notably, Reuters' UN bureau has been shown to have spied for the UN, handing over an internal anti-Press document of the UN Correspondents Association (which under 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS hosted Syrian rebel Jarba for what it called a "UN briefing") to UN official Stephane Dujarric. Story here, audio here, document here.

This beat just goes on. Watch this site.