At UN, 5 Year Rule Has Haysom Offered Afghan Deputy Post, Kane Resists Lebanon

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, January 4 -- The "five year rule" propounded by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, under which high official should serve no more than five years in a particular post, is causing a game of musical chairs.

Senior adviser Nicholas Haysom, for example, is said by Inner City Press' multiple sources to have been offered the Deputy envoy post at the UN Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA. He had previously been in contention but not chosen for the top envoy post for the UN in Lebanon.

Haysom is an able diplomat and humanist, having worked alongside no less than Nelson Mandela. He showed passion for the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Sri Lanka, rare among Team Ban. Some feel that Ban's UN has wasted his talents and now provided too low an exit from New York. "But that's Ban," as a longer time UN hand put it to Inner City Press.

The Lebanon post, the sources go on to say, is being offered to Angela Kane of Germany, who is said not to want the post. Germany is said to want to keep a USG post, and Kane wants to stay in New York, and one idea is to give her the Disarmament post that is being vacated (also by application of the five year rule.)

The idea is that if the US keeps the Department of Political Affairs, which used to belong to the UK, the UK may now get the Chief of Staff or Chef de Cabinet post which Vijay Nambiar is slated to give up, leading the UK to have to sacrifice Baroness Valerie Amos at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. And who will get that? Watch this site.

After S. Sudan Bloodshed, Briefing at UN, Rice Says Cattle Rustling's "No Joke"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 3 -- After the bloodbath in Pibor, the UN Mission in South Sudan was criticized by Murle clergy and members of parliament for not having protected civilians but only government buildings in the center of town. Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesperson for comment on Monday, without response.

In front of the Security Council on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice on her way in if the events in Pibor would be the subject of a briefing of the Council, as predicted here earlier in the day.

Ambassador Rice on her way out, after meeting with this month's president of the Council Baso SSangqu of South Africa, said "probably yes." Inner City Press asked her about a mock cattle rustling demonstration she and some other Council members saw in Malau in South Sudan during their trip there on May 24 of last year. [See photo below.]

Rice said it was "not just cattle" but also "children being abducted" that leads to inter-communal instability. She said the demonstration was change to see the issues "first hand," but that only half of the Security Council members went, with others staying behind in Juba.

"I wish all had a chance to see it," Rice said. "Some thought cattle rustling was a joke. It's not a joke."

From Juba on Tuesday UN official Lise Grande briefed the Press, acknowledging that the "southern flank" of Pibor had been left unprotected. She said that before Luo-Nuer fighters arrived, "ninety to ninety five percent" of the Murle residents had left and were "out of harm's way."

Inner City Press asked her about reports that the Murle were "slaughtered" once they left Pibor -- after being "urged" to leave by the UN -- and about what if anything the UN is doing to try to avoid further cattle rustling reprisal attacks like the one directed at the Luo-Nuer in August 2011. Video here, from Minute 14:05.

Grande said that UNMISS' mandate is to provide early warning, to support the government of South Sudan and only step in when the government is not able to protect civilians. Did that happen here? And did the UN urge the Murle to flee, as it were, the frying pan for the fire? These questions should be answered.

UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant told Inner City Press he favors a briefing "this week," adding that while some people might think it is not a matter of international peace and stability, it can have impacts. With UNMISS "involved," he said, "it will be useful to get a briefing." Watch this site.

Footnote: Inner City Press asks asked Grande if UNMISS has yet gone to the town of Jau, which South Sudan said Khartoum's forces invaded.

After some back and forth, Grande emphasized that UNMISS is in the Yida camp to the south, saying that the border is not demarcated, not agreed to be the parties. By the UN Mission not going, it seems like UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous did to be saying that Jau is in north Sudan. We'll see.

Losing WFP Fight, Sheeran Sets Sail for WEF, Cousin Fix In UN System Fog?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 3 -- This morning Josette Sheeran, the head of the World Food Program who didn't want to leave, announced that when her term ends in April she will become the deputy at the World Economic Forum.

As Inner City Press reported in early November, Sheeran was enlisting Republican members of the US Congress to threat to cut funding to WFP if she did not get a second term.

But Barack Obama had in mind a former Chicago public relations executive Ertharin Cousin. Conveniently, Cousin has been serving as US Ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, whose director along with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon nominates the head of WFP. So it would seem the fix is in.

Back in July 2009, as Inner City Press exclusively reported,

"UNITED NATIONS, July 11 -- On the sidelines of the G-8 meeting on July 10, the World Food Program shut down its headquarters for a "simulated food distribution" for the spouses of the G-8 leaders, flying in school children from Ghana to put them on display. Many WFP staff members found the display disgusting, a waste of money and a disrespect to UN recipients. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama may have shared some of the concerns: she did not attend... Sheeran, rumored to be under review by the the U.S. which nominated her under George Bush, conducted a 'seminar' which some attendees found awkward and stilted, 'a quest for personal publicity.'"

There was also some less public jockeying: again as Inner City Press exclusively reported, within the UN system community in Rome, many alleged Sheeran engaged in a quid pro quo with then FAO chief Jacques Diouf, hiring a relative of his for an information technology post in exchange for FAO hiring the husband of her personal assistant, Tanujah Rastogi.

(Cousin, we note in passing, once served as Deputy Director of the Chicago Ethics Board.)

One thing Sheeran can be credited with during most of here WFP tenure is not shying from questions, in marked contrast to most other UN system executive in Ban Ki-moon five years.

Footnote: Sheeran's announcement was re-tweeted by the head of the UN Development Program Helen Clark, who like Ban's chief lawyer Patricia O'Brien has refused multiple requests to take questions in New York, the headquarters of UNDP.

So here's a question for UNDP: does the agency deny, or why has it covered it, that the Sudanese National Security Committee has barred it from entering Al Muglad in South Kordofan, including having vehicles detained by military intelligence for days in Babanusa and being barred from passing to El Obeid in North Kordofan? There are of course other questions. Watch this site.

With UN Blamed for S. Sudan Killings & Protested in Haiti, Saleh Thumbs His Nose

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 2, updated -- The UN speaks but does not follow through. Just around the New Year's weekend, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued statements about averting violence in South Sudan, avoiding reprisal killings in Guinea Bissau, as well as inflating his role in the Arab Awakening.

Then when Yemen strongman Ali Saleh reversed course from what Ban had said Saleh said -- that he'd leave Yemen -- and said he'd stay and would "not allow the collapse of state institutions," the UN and Ban had nothing to say, even when directly asked in writing, in response to

"a statement published by Yemen's official news agency over the weekend, Mr Saleh said he would 'not allow the collapse of state institutions,' in response to an increased number of protests within government institutions designed to unseat Saleh loyalists that continue to hold key positions. Meanwhile, Yemeni officials said Mr Saleh cancelled a planned trip to the United States after a request by party members."

Similarly, no explanation was offered when requested for the UN's failure to reach even all parts of Pibor town in South Sudan, where the UN has a peacekeeping mission.

Of the "scores" left dead, "Murle MPs blame SPLA, UN for Pibor attacks" -- again, no response or explanation as "South Sudanese MPs from the Murle community have blamed the army and UN peacekeepers for allowing armed men from the Luo-Nuer ethnic group to attack Pibor town on Saturday."

While Ban has stopped speaking much about Haiti, since his Office received a claim for reparations for introducing cholera, no response was given to a new series of protests over the weekend at the UN base in Mirebalais demanding the withdrawal of the MINUSTAH mission. Holidays took the day.

Ban's call to avoid reprisals in Guinea Bissau, where the UN had already sheltered the coup leaders / drug kingpin, fell on deaf ears, with at least one lower lower coup participant subject to extrajudicial killing, Major Yaya Dabo: "as he arrived at the police station to turn himself in, agents on duty encircled his vehicle, he was shot at and killed."

But there was no response from the UN. This bodes badly for second term of Ban. Watch this site.

Update: Nine hours after the questions were posed, and after publication of the above, the UN put out a statement on one of these four issues: South Sudan. It did not respond to the Muerle MPs blaming the UN and South Sudan authorities "for allowing armed men from the Luo-Nuer ethnic group to attack Pibor town." Rather, it was a read out of Ban Ki-moon speaking WITH the South Sudanese president. Watch this site.

Ethiopia's Incursion into Somalia Draws No UN Comment, Garowe Sideshow?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 31 -- Now that Ethiopia has driving further into central Somalia, taking over the town of Beledweyne, neither the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon or the Security Council have had anything to say.

Rather, Ban on December 30 offered fulsome praise to the so-called Garoowe Principles, which are subject to some detailed criticism by Somali patriots.

Back on November 25, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about Ethiopia:

Inner City Press: given the past impact of Ethiopia entering Somalia, the reaction of the populace to it. Doesn’t the UN, with an envoy, have some view of whether this is a good thing or should it come to the Council? Is it a positive step for Somalia to have the military involvement of its close and contentious neighbor?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, it is not for me to say what should or should not be discussed by the Council; that’s for the Council to decide. As for the meeting that took place, the IGAD meeting that you are referring to, obviously we are aware of that and we are looking at that. I don’t have our readout of that yet.

Inner City Press: I just want to clarify. I am not asking you to say what they should discuss, I am saying, in upholding the UN Charter, should the entry militarily of one country into another… previous Secretary-Generals have spoken on that point, so I think it’s fair… I am just wondering if there is any statement by this Secretary-General on this incursion.

Spokesperson: Yes I do, I do, and I think as we have mentioned, with regard to Kenya, there was a clear understanding between the countries concerned.

But what about Ethiopia? There was never any response. When Ban traveled to Somalia, Inner City Press on December 8 asked if he would speak about Kenya bombing an IDP camp -- there was no answer -- and on December 9, about Somalis' protest to UN envoy Augustine Mahiga:

Inner City Press: Various Members of Parliament there say that they are petitioning Ban Ki-moon about problems they have had with Mr. Mahiga and UNPOS, saying that he has violated the Transitional Federal Charter by engaging selectively with parties, and that they don’t consider him an honest broker. I wanted to know whether the Secretary-General, in his visit, received such a petition and also when he met, whether or not he has, what he makes of this criticism by parliamentarians in Somalia?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I do not know whether such a petition was handed to the delegation or not. I am sure that we will be able to find that out. Mr. Mahiga obviously enjoys the full confidence of the Secretary-General in the work that he does in very difficult circumstances.

This was followed, on December 30, with Ban's unqualified praise of the so-called Garowe Principles:

"The Secretary-General commends the commitment by Somali political leaders, as outlined in the Garoowe Principles adopted on 23 December, to a clear process and timeline for the finalisation of the draft constitution, the reform of Parliament, and the conclusion of the transition."

Of these, others have noted that powers are being transferred to six persons called stakeholders– three in the TFC (President, Speaker, Prime Minister) and three others (the Presidents of Puntland, Galmudug and an alternating representative from Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama).

Decisions prepared by the UNPOS under the guidance of the UN Department for Political Affairs are or will be rubber stamped by the six persons. UNDPA is led by American Under-Secretary General B. Lynn Pascoe and, they say, Assistant Secretary General Taye-Brook Zerihou of Ethiopia.

And so what of this failure to speak of the incursions into Somalia? We'll have more on this in 2012.