Inner City Press

Saturday, October 10, 2009

New Carpet in UN's Shell Quietly Confirmed After Denial, Waste, and Questions Dodged

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ossg2rugjob100909.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 -- The UN issues many denials, but sometimes only by reflex. The UN's retractions of denials are done much more quietly. It begins with small things. On October 7 and 8, Inner City Press was told by a number of UN staff members about office space on the 23rd floor of the UN's headquarters building, vacated in the name of the Capital Master Plan rehabilitation, being re-occupied and even outfitted with new carpet.

The staff members who told this to Inner City Press, asking who was paying for the new carpet which by the Plan will shortly be torn out, had personally seen "brand new carpet." UN Spokesperson Michele Montas vociferously denied this on October 8, reported here and below. Then her Office on October 9 sent Inner City Press the following:

Subj: answer to your question on carpeting
From: unspokesperson-donotreply@un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 10/9/2009 11:52:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time

The UN is optimizing vacant space in the Secretariat for interim office space accommodations for temporary UN staff and others in an effort to minimize costs while additional space is in the procurement process.

A few offices on the 23rd floor temporarily used by UN staff have received new carpeting.

But on October 8, Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Michele Montas, video here from Minute 25:35, transcript here

Inner City Press: A couple of people have asked me this. Some of the floors are being vacated here, particularly, for example the 23rd floor.

Spokesperson Montas: Yes.

Inner City Press: They’ve said that, that the offices that once vacated are actually being filled now with other people, in some cases UN units moved in, in some cases contractors like [Richard L.] Hoffman and Associates handling [inaudible] the move, and new carpets put down, this is a thing that people that work up there, I mean, you can, you look, if you could, can you confirm to me whether new individuals are being moved into floors like the 23rd and the offices outfit with new carpets, it’s new…

Spokesperson: I would doubt that. I would strongly doubt that. Whether people working from the contracting groups are up there, that’s another story. But in terms of new carpets, new facilities, frankly, I doubt that. Yes.

Inner City Press: So, I mean, I guess, ask the Department of Management? Get them to say that there’s not new a carpet on the 23rd floor?

Spokesperson: [laughs] Of course I will.

Inner City Press: People wanted to know is what, who’s paying for it. Is it the UN paying for it or is the contractor…?

Spokesperson: Paying for what?

Inner City Press: For the new materials being put into the vacant…

Spokesperson: But I told you I doubt there is any new material being put up there. What is being done, there is new material coming in to refurbish the spaces where you guys are going to move to, where our offices will be moving to, where people moving to the lawn building will be moving to. There are no new materials being imported or brought in for the people on the floors that have been vacated. It doesn’t make sense, Matthew. It does not make sense and you’re asking me a hypothetical question. Who’s paying for it? For what?

Inner City Press: There have been people that saw it, have witnessed it, asked me, so I’m asking you, but that’s fine.

Spokesperson: If they are carrying carpets up there it’s not necessarily for there. I’m sorry. Thank you all.

Later on October 8, Inner City Press obtained photographs of the door of Room 2362.

The door to S-2362, with new lock, new blue rug behind smoked glass, (c) Inner City Press

Other rooms on the 23rd floor, which used to house Chinese translators, all have cold rugless floors. But 2363, with a new lock installed on the door, has brand new blue carpet. Ms. Montas never did obtain a denial from the Department of Management or Capital Master Plan, at least not by the time, after five o'clock, when the transcript goes online. Ms. Montas said it does not make sense, and in that she is right: it does not. We hope to have more on this.

Other questions this week have simply gone unanswered. On Monday October 5, Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas

Inner City Press; Carol Browner, who’s President Obama’s main adviser on climate change, has been quoted over the weekend as saying that any climate change legislation in the US this year is very unlikely. I wonder if the Secretary-General, given his interest in sealing the deal and all of that does he, does he, what does he think of that?

Spokesperson: We are not commenting on internal processes. It’s something between the Americans, really.

But Ban Ki-moon has commented on legislation by Representatives Markey and Waxman, and just this week commented on an internal Guatemalan election of judges.

On Tuesday October 6, Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas

Inner City Press: On the Capital Master Plan, I just wanted, the, the, I guess, two questions. One, the statement about the blast film at Madison Avenue was made during a High-Level Committee on Management by the Staff Union, so I just want to be, you’re saying erroneous media, media council [inaudible]. Has the Staff Union been informed, that’s what they say…?

Spokesperson: I don’t know whether the Staff Union was informed, but I do know that they have the films on the windows…

Inner City Press: Okay. What about in the, in the, what they call the luggage building, the building on the corner of 42nd and 2nd?

Spokesperson: I haven’t asked, but as they mentioned, all the buildings were inspected by DSS [Department of Safety and Security].

Inner City Press: Right, but the Staff Union says there was a safety plan, but that the blast film wasn’t put on. I am just saying there’s a dispute between the Union…

Spokesperson: I haven’t, but the Capital Master Plan, they know what they have done, right?

Then we'll expect an answer about the 23rd floor, and any other floor to which new carpets or office equipment is being moved.

On Wednesday October 7, Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas:

Inner City Press: On Iran, can you confirm that Foreign Minister Mottaki when he was here complained to Ban Ki-moon about the United States taking a nuclear scientist of Iran while he was in Saudi Arabia?

Spokesperson: I’ll check what the readout said for you and I’ll check with someone who was at the meeting. I was not at the meeting.

Inner City Press: I wanted to just, on Myanmar, I was just down in the Fifth Committee. They just presented the OIOS report and one of the things that it says among many critiques is that up to 59 per cent of the UN funds spent through NGOs in Myanmar are not monitored at all and it says, she complains [inaudible] does that, that, this is a recommendation that was not followed as were other ones. When, can we get a briefing by Mr. [inaudible] and also by Angela Kane or whoever it is who decides to follow or not to follow the recommendations of OIOS?

Spokesperson: I can try to ask, but at this point, the process is right now in front of the Committee, as you said yourself. So we usually wait for the Committee to act on something before we actually do anything about it.

This statement, about inaction, is true. The OIOS report mentions situations in which it was recommended that vendors be pursued for overpayments, and those who confessed guilt, including to possessing child pornography, be left go, and yet the Secretariat did nothing. Also on October 8, Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: That’s what I was asking yesterday, because this is all taking place in the Fifth Committee, these reports. I understand that the Department of Management will answer in some forum, but there’s a few of them that are really, really kind of newsworthy. One is a vendor that OIOS said should be, you know, prosecuted and the Department of Management didn’t. Another one is this pending child pornography case of the guy who was caught in Canada, who’s still apparently a UN staff member. Can we get, I want to add those two, if you are going to, able to get answers on some, because they, it doesn’t seem that waiting for December to figure out what the UN’s policy is on…

Spokesperson: Well, usually the OIOS gives a report to the Fifth Committee. The Fifth Committee reacts and it’s a decision, a General Assembly decision. But I‘ll try to get additional information on those two different cases for you.

We'll be waiting. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ossg2rugjob100909.html

At UN, of Bird Culls and Buzz Kill, From Ugly Betty to Than Shwe

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1animals100809.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- Should animals have a seat at the UN? In some sense they already do. The World Society for the Protection of Animals briefed the Press on Thursday about its efforts to insert two paragraphs into a resolution pending in the General Assembly's second committee, on "animal welfare as a component of development... and disaster reduction."

Inner City Press asked WSPA's director Mike Baker about the balance between assistance to humans and animals, in light of the Myanmar military regime's decision after Cyclone Nargis to allow in animal care workers while blocking humanitarian supplies. Baker's response included a swipe at the "Western centric view that people come first." Video here, from Minute 39:13.

He said that a group called Practical Action surveyed people "around the camps in the Darfur" and they listed their top three concerns as security, water and donkeys -- this last, to get to market and to plow. In Myanmar or Burma, General Than Shwe's concern may also have been with plowing, for rice production. But Myanmar exported rice for profit while food and monetary aid came in, with 25% skimmed by the regime through currency exchange scams using Foreign Exchange Certificates.

The animal kingdom can be brutal, but it is not so duplicitous. Inner City Press asked Baker if his organization might apply for observer status at the UN, if animals should have a seat at the UN's table. I don't think we'll get to that stage, Baker said. His colleague added that WSPA has consultative status with ECO-SOC, and would later that day be briefing the Group of 77 and China about the treatment of animals (shark fin presumably not included).

While the G-77 meeting was closed, one wonders if WSPA's criticism of Egypt's cull and slaughter of pigs, in the name of H1N1 swine flu, was raised. Regarding the culling of poultry, Inner City Press asked Vinod Kapur, a social entrepreneur and founder of Kegg Farm in India, if avian flu had impacted his organization's bird work in India. Yes, he said, adding that rather than killing, a vaccine should be developed, for the birds. A reception -- vegetarian, one hoped -- was scheduled for later on Thursday, perhaps including answers about the G-77 meeting.

Footnote: at the other end of the spectrum, two hours later in the UN briefing room, actors Judith Light, Ana Ortiz and Tony Plana from the TV show "Ugly Betty" spoke about malaria, an upcoming episode filmed at the UN in August. Inner City Press observed and reported on the filming, then got a response from the UN Foundation, click here.

UN Foundation's representative on Thursday, Ms. Gore, called malaria a "good news story," and handed out "Buzzkill" t-shirts. Since in his introduction producer Richard Heus said that the focus had been on filming in a New York landmark, and that Nothing but Nets was only one of the UN related projects presented to Ugly Betty, Inner City Press asked what the other projects were. This question was not answered. And so we can report what we saw during the filming: a staged fight, in a UN conference room, in front of a replica inauthentic UN logo. its on ABC on October 16 at 9 p.m.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1animals100809.html

UN's Congo Mission Leaves Civilians Unprotected in Dungu and Kivus, A View from the Ground

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/drc1view100809.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- The UN's Mission in the Congo, MONUC, is nearly its tenth anniversary, with civilians still being killed, raped and displaced in the Kivus and in the northern Lord's Resistance Army zones. The Mission's claim to fame of late, if it has one, is that the Congolese government of Joseph Kabila is collaborating in anti-rebel offensives with Rwanda and Uganda.

Not only are these offensives causing widespread civilian suffering -- it is also not clear if the UN can claim any credit for these deals between Great Lakes member states. With that subtracted, one is left with a mostly negative assessment of MONUC and its chief, Alan Doss, under fire for other reasons as well.

While MONUC's mandate does not expire until December, the non-governmental organization Oxfam is on a "world tour," the U.S. leg of which involved meetings in Washington including with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Holt, and in New York including with UN Peacekeeping deputy Edmond Mulet. In between, Oxfam made its Congo country director Marcel Stoessel available to the Press, in the half light of the Ambassador Grill across First Avenue from the UN.

Stoessel's main point was that Operation Kimia II against the Hutu rebels of the FDLR is not working. At an earlier stage, he said, one could debate whether the humanitarian cost was worth it. But now the cost, in death and displacement, has become too great. Inner City Press asked, who can make the decision for the UN to stop assisting a military campaign with a net negative impact? The Security Council, said Oxfam's New York director Nicole Widdersheim.

But what about Alan Doss, the head of the Mission? He has come to the Council repeatedly with rosy assessments of Kimia II. He has denied that indicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda is involved in Kimia II, when Stoessel on Wednesday said that Bosco is easily seen lounging around Goma, reported to be the de facto Number Two in the operation and army. He said that DPKO's reputation is on the line.

Even Doss' supporters concede that his forte, or what he is known for, is "closing down" UN missions, as in Liberia. When he was sent to the Congo, the UN thought the mission was winding down. But now things have gotten worse. He is not the right man for the job, a Doss supporter said. And that is without even referring to the mounting nepotism and abuse of UN resources and hiring procedures scandals.

Inner City Press asked what Oxfam knows about operations against the Lord's Resistance Army. Stoessel answered that Oxfam has just established its first presence in Dungu; the sending of special forces from Egypt and Jordan was mentioned but not confirmed. MONUC assisted the ill-fated December 2008 offensive in the area, that resulted in scattering the LRA into rampages against civilians who had no protection.

On this high-sounding topic, the Protection of Civilians, the Austrian mission has confirmed it will hold a meeting next month, when it hold the Council's presidency. There is talk of a more informal meeting, probably in the UN's basement, including the participation of NGOs like Oxfam and topics like the Congo, perhaps also Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

At press time, the Council's resolution on the ISAF force in Afghanistan was delayed, as Costa Rica held out for protection of civilians language in the pre-ambular paragraphs. And so it goes at the UN.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/drc1view100809.html

UN Denies Galbraith's a Whistleblower, Told Him to Be Quiet about Kai Eide's and UNAMA's Pro-Karzai Bias

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2elections100709.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- With the UN facing charges of bias and cover up of fraud in Afghanistan, Wednesday in New York the UN presented no fewer than three officials to the Press corps, all intent on rebutting and bad mouthing the UN's fired deputy envoy Peter Galbraith.

The Department of Peacekeeping Operation's second in command Edmond Mulet said the Galbraith has "personal motives" for going public with his complaints that main envoy Kai Eide has been covering up electoral irregularities in the service of Hamid Karzai. Inner City Press asked Mulet to describe how Galbraith has hired for the job, and why these personal motives, or propensity to be a loose cannon, had not been discovered at the time.

Mulet said that while Galbraith had been "a candidate among others... he was selected by the Secretary General... I cannot deny that him being a citizen of an important country that plays an important role in Afghanistan, that also was a factor we took into consideration." Video here, from Minute 1:01:56.

According to Mulet, the UN thought Galbraith's American citizenship was a plus, that Galbraith would somehow represent or be a conduit to the United States. So what now -- does Galbraith speak for the U.S.? Or, as some surmise, did Richard Holbrooke create a Frankenstein and then "leave him out to dry"?

Inner City Press asked Mulet and his colleagues to respond to Galbraith's statement in the Daily Telegraph that

"the final instruction from the Secretary-General before sacking him last week was: 'Do not talk.' He initially agreed to Ban Ki-moon's request after being given assurances that his dismissal would be presented as a dispute over how the UN mission was handling electoral fraud in Afghanistan. But he decided to break his silence, after officials announced instead that his sacking was in the 'best interests of the mission.' 'I might have tolerated even this last act of dishonesty in a dispute dating back months if the stakes were not so high.'"

While Mulet didn't answer, his colleague Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber, the Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of DPKO, said that while he didn't know what Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, DPKO has told Galbraith "do not exacerbate the divergence of views in public unnecessarily."

Since Galbraith was complaining not only of electoral fraud but also of bias by his boss, Kai Eide, and was told to be quiet and then was fired, Inner City Press asked how this complied or relates to the UN's statement policy of protection of whistleblowers' rights to make such complaints. Video here, from Minute 1:04:14.

Mulet insisted that Galbraith is not a whistleblower, saying "he has a personal agenda, a person objective that will become clear in the future." Another reporter said that Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar said that Galbraith was removed because he was trying to engineer an unconstitutional change of government in Afghanistan. There was no response to this, nor to Inner City Press' question about whether the UN will, as Karzai challenger Abdullah Abdullah and others have urged, conduct an investigation of Eide's actions, by the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

While Mulet and Craig Jenness, Director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the Department of Political Affairs both insisted that the UN had no monitoring role in Afghanistan, a May 11, 2009 press release by the UN stated that "UNAMA will follow these elections closely and monitor the campaign to help ensure that the fundamental political rights of the Afghan people are respected. " So which is it? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2elections100709.html

At UN, Kung's Ethics Cover Bayer and PetroChina, Some Say, Copenhagen Letdown

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ungc1bayerfesto100609.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 6 -- The UN Global Compact, which has already rebuffed activists' complaints about PetroChina and its dealings in Darfur and seems ready to reject complaints against Bayer and its pollution in West Virginia, on Tuesday embraced an ethics manifesto by theologian Hans Kung.

In a heady and surreal session in a 4th floor dining room at the UN, Hans Kung spoke against casino capitalism, but said there was still no consensus against the charging of interest. Along with former IMF chief Michel Camdessus and four others, he has launched the six page "Global Economic Ethic" manifesto.

Inner City Press asked Global Compact chief Georg Kell how this manifesto relates to the Global Compact, which rejected complaints against PetroChina's membership by saying that the wrong subsidiary was named. Might these principles require less legalism and more engagement on the substance, for example on the pending complaint with the Compact against Bayer?

Kell's answer, to "our colleague from the UN press corp," was that "there are no silver bullets." He directed the Press to the Compact's web site's presentation of a project -- sponsored, he noted, by General Electric -- showing how complicated the world is, using sample "dilemmas" about doing business in emerging markets. To those who think this sounds like a defense of PetroChina, or even of employing child labor -- they need the money, don't they? -- we refer to this Compact press release.

The master of ceremonies of the event was Swiss Ambassador Peter Mauer, who called Kung "the best that Switzerland has to offer the world." Not raised was sponsor Norvartis' position against donating any of its research into H1N1 swine flu vaccine to even the poorest countries. Is that the best that Switzerland has to offer the world? Back to Camdessus, some say Switzerland is about to lose its IMF seat. But that's another story.

Footnote: also at the event, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's advisor Jeffrey Sachs spoke of climate change, and said that "we probably will not complete negotiations at Copenhagen." Inner City Press went down to the day's noon briefing and asked:

Inner City Press: Jeffrey Sachs, speaking at this event, the Global Compact event, said that probably negotiations will not be completed before or at Copenhagen. So I wanted to know is he, is this the Secretariat’s view? Is the seal the deal…?

Spokesperson Michele Montas: No, it’s Mr. Sachs’ view.

Inner City Press: It’s his own personal view?

Spokesperson Montas: Yes

Back upstairs at the event, one of Inner City Press' table-mates said of Sachs, never forget the debilitating orders he gave to Russia. Another wag mused that since Ban's deputy envoy to Afghanistan got fired for disagreeing with his boss(es) about fraud in the Afghan election, why would another Ban advisor so casually disagree with Ban's "seal the deal" mantra? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ungc1bayerfesto100609.html

As UN Talks Control of Arms, MONUC's Goes Missing, Nigerian APC Conundrum

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/dpko1armsapcs100609.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 6 -- While the UN speaks about the need to control arms, in the Congo and Sudan for example, it has its own issues in this regard. Recently the Kenyan media reported that weapons and ammunition meant for the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC) went missing or were attempted to be seized while passing through Kenya.

Inner City Press asked about it, but the answer has been a long time coming. The UN has been faster in releasing its critique of the armored personnel carriers the Nigerian contingent is trying to take into Darfur.

Meanwhile, the chief of MONUC's office in South Africa, Pakistani military man Mujahid Alam, Tuesday at the UN proposed that the Security Council impose a pilot arms trade treaty or embargo on the Congo and Great Lakes.

Alam summarized his 16 page written proposal to a lunchtime crowd in the UN's basement, many of whom had come to here Norway's deputy permanent representative Mona Juul, suddenly famous at the UN for her hard hitting UN critique leaked and much discussed. Her remarks Tuesday were bland, while Alam's presentation includes even a reference to uranium "secured" in the Congo.

The function of MONUC's office in South Africa is not entirely clear. There is also the irony that one of MONUC's low points came at Kazana, where long expired ordnance fired by the South African contingent landed on Congolese army troops, who in anger torched a village.

Then MONUC chief William Lacy Swing attacked those who reported on the snafu. His successor Alan Doss has yet to be made to answer for his request that UNDP bends or break its rules and give his daughter a job, and other irregularities that DPKO -- or Alan Doss' MONUC -- delays day after day in answering.

DPKO has been faster in answering Inner City Press' Monday question about "Nigeria APCs for UNAMID called substandard, questions about medical preparations... do these two reported UN diagnoses of the Nigerian contingent have any effect on deployment in Darfur?" This followed up on Inner City Press' series of stories about the Nepali APCs meant for Darfur, click here for that. On the Nigerian APCs, a mere thirty hours later:

We have been working with the Government of Nigeria to update equipment for their troops deployed to Darfur. The pre-deployment visit to Nigeria was planned in consultation with Nigerian authorities in New York and consisted of UN, AU, and Nigerian representatives.

Contrary to the media report, the PDV concluded that Nigerian APCs met UN standards.

The PDV also indicates that it would take some time to assemble all requisite COE and self-sustainment capabilities for the Nigerian troops, including medical facilities and vehicles.

We will continue to work with the Government of Nigeria to ensure that the troops deployed to Darfur have the necessary equipment to work in the difficult environment.

Still working on the Doss question (I didn't forget and will continue to follow up with the Mission).

The (very simple) "Doss question" has been pending for five days.

Meanwhile, an update on the MONUC weapons in Kenya:

There was some sort of occurrence involving a convoy of trucks carrying ammunition and military equipment – all contingent-owned equipment for MONUC’s Bangladesh Infantry Battalion - on early Sunday, 13 September, near Kenya's border with Uganda.

However, MONUC has confirmed that no weapons are missing as a result of the incident and that Kenyan authorities launched an investigation and MONUC and the Department of Field Support are assisting them with this matter. We will keep you posted on any further developments.

Please do -- we've heard that at a minimum, some ammunition is missing. Perhaps MONUC's Mujahid Alam should take notice. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/dpko1armsapcs100609.html

At UN, Questions of Rain and Sri Lanka's Camps, of Elections and Interruptions

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/untrip9may2srilanka100609.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 6 -- As deadly rains and storms sweep through Asia, Inner City Press on Tuesday asked top UN humanitarian John Holmes what is being done about the UN funded internment camps in Northern Sri Lanka. Video here, from Minute 22:29.

Holmes replied, "especially about Manik Farm," that beyond digging drainage ditches, the plea is to "get people out," whether to their homes or to host families or even to "transit camps... as long as they are open." Video here, from Minute 24:36.

The last part of Holmes answer referred to the trend of even those who are moved out of Manik Farms simply being taken to other camps, further out of the spotlight. While the government brags that in some cases, people are given "day passes" to go out of these transit camps, this would tend to show that even the government acknowledges that such people have been "screened" and are not a threat.

Why not just release them, then? Some allege that the continued detentions, and also the move-arounds, are not unrelated to the elections. There's been a lot of talk about irregularities in Afghanistan, but not yet on Sri Lanka. Watch this site.

Footnote: When Holmes comes to speak to the UN press corps, he has jokingly said he knows the Press will ask him about Sri Lanka. But on Tuesday when Inner City Press began to ask about the Manik Farm camps -- after other series of questions were allowed about Yemen and Pakistan -- the moderator tried to cut Inner City Press off. Video here, from Minute 22:27.

Given the earlier conduct of the press conference, there was no basis, and so Inner City Press simply continued with the question. Only in (this) UN....

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip9may2srilanka100609.html

UN Accused in Kabul, Bombed in Pakistan, UNDP Questioned on Security

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1afgpak100509.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 5 -- With the UN in Afghanistan accused of siding with Hamid Karzai and covering up fraud, while the UN World Food Program in Islamabad got bombed and five staff members killed, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas faced a slew of questions on "Af-Pak" on Monday.

One reporter asked if the UN thinks there is any connection between the allegations against it in Kabul and the bombing in Pakistan. No, Ms Montas insisted. She said that the Iraqi staff member killed, Mr. Botan Ahmed Ali Al-Hayawi, survived a previous bombing of the UN in Peshawar.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas, since Afghan challenge Abdullah Abdullah has noted the lack of a UN investigation of its envoy Kai Eide, if the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services is beginning such a review. No, Ms. Montas said. One question is, why not?

Regarding Islamabad, while it might not be the right day to ask it, UN Development Program sources tell Inner City Press that UNDP had been charged with improving UN system security in Islamabad, possibly moving to a single UN system building in the diplomatic zone.

These sources muse that when UNDP Administrator Helen Clark met with Pakistan's representative, rather than security the topic was how to protect Pakistan's interests in connection with Bangladesh's announced investigative tribunal into war crimes, which UNDP was supposed to assist. Ms. Clark has yet to do a press conference in the UN briefing room.

The UN Staff Union aimed the blame yet wider, issuing a statement that

"The Staff Union is extremely concerned that the United Nations administration has not implemented all necessary safety and security arrangements to protect its staff. The Staff Union calls for an investigation to determine the circumstances related to this attack, especially since this incident was not without warning, occurred after two United Nations staff members were killed in the 9 June suicide attack on a hotel in Peshawar, and took place after the tightening of security that was a result of last year’s attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. "

And still, no action of the post-Algier so called "Accountability" report by the UN. Nor any OIOS investigation of Kai Eide. And so it goes at the UN.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1afgpak100509.html

UN's Capital Master Plan, In Dangerous Glass Building, Conceals Costs, Critics Say

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/cmp3budget100209.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 2, updated below -- Chicanery in the budget of the UN's Capital Master Plan rehabilitation were raised in public this week, in a report about contingencies, in the first meeting of the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee, and by Inner City Press in the October 1 noon briefing:

Inner City Press: the Fifth Committee, the budget committee, just began this morning for its new session, and in it, Mexico, on behalf of the Rio Group, said it’s highly problematic that the Secretariat hasn’t included in its proposed budget, among other things, the associate cost of the Capital Master Plan. There was no response that I saw from the Secretariat from the meeting, but it seems like the kind of thing. Is this factually accurate? Are there costs of the Capital Master Plan that are not in the budget?

Spokesperson Montas: I would have to inquire from the Capital Master Plan people. In fact, I was thinking of getting you a briefing very shortly, because some of you know you are going to be moving in a few weeks, and you might need to be updated on that.

While the move date for the Press has seemingly been moved back to November or even December, into what's been dubbed the "whistleblower free zone" in which offices will not have walls that go to the ceiling, more than 24 hours later, there was no response by the UN to the Rio Group's critique of its budget.

There was other CMP criticism, at the High Level Committee on Management, at which staff noted they had been moved into a glass building on Madison Avenue without, they say, blast protecting film over the windows in the event of a bombing. One staffer asked, have we learned nothing from the Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq? The statement read:

"With knowledge of the damage inflicted by glass in Baghdad, it is unconscionable that the administration has relocated over 2000 staff into a glass building on Madison Avenue, with is not equipped with blast resistant films. That building is adjacent to a construction site and too close to the street where trucks are parked... We hope that these trucks will continue to deliver cement and nothing more."

We will continue to follow this.

Meanwhile, arriving breathless from Madison Avenue, top UN humanitarian John Holmes said wryly that the Capital Master Plan is providing this form of exercise. He might note, the UN has implemented its own van service from Madison to First Avenue, only only every half hour. What was that again, about the associated costs? To be continued.

On human costs, now with the General Debate over, those who work in the UN Cafeteria and Delegates Dining Room are expect the lay off pink slips that have been threatened. At the UN, no re-training, no safeguards...

Update of October 6: at Tuesday's noon briefing, days after Inner City Press asked for a response to the Rio Group's criticism in an open meeting of the Fifth (Budget) Committee of what it calls the non-inclusion of the UN Capital Master Plan's associated costs in the budget, and after it wrote about the Staff Union's criticism regarding blast protection at 380 Madison Avenue in a meeting of the High Level Management Committee, spokesperson Michele Montas read this into the record:

One more note about the Capital Master plan to answer some questions asked. About Security at 380 Madison Avenue, even though we usually do not comment on measures taken so as not to compromise the security of our staff, this instance is an exception, because erroneous information has been circulating in the media already.

Before leases were signed, and before buildings were occupied after fit-out, all swing space locations were cleared by the Department of Safety and Security. At 380 Madison Avenue, the windows of the floors occupied by UN staff are covered with blast resistant film.

On associated costs, in its resolution A/RES/63/270, the General Assembly decided “that the approved associated costs for the capital master plan will be financed from within the approved budget of the capital master plan unless otherwise specified by the General Assembly.” The CMP stated last year and has stated again this year that they will continue to seek costs savings and attempt to absorb the associated costs. However, the CMP is not optimistic that they will be able to absorb all the associated costs.

While the admission about associated costs is appreciated -- still to come: contingencies -- the comment about inaccurate media report merits a same day response. Inner City Press reported on what the Staff Union said in the HLMC meeting. If the UN Department of Management does not respond to criticisms made in such settings, or in a public meeting of the Fifth Committee, it is not inaccurate for the Press to report on what the Staff Union or Rio Group say.

The head of the Department of Management has previously said, in writing, that she does not have time to answer questions. And so we report what's said and ask about it, and publish belated responses on the day they are received.

Also at Tuesday's noon briefing, after the unilateral read out above, Inner City Press asked: