UN "Concerned" that Hutu Rebels in Congo and Burundi's FNL Collaborate, Trip by PBC Is On, to Meet FNL

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/pbc1burundi050808.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 8 -- The UN says it is concerned that a group charged with the Rwanda genocide is now assisting the main rebel group in neighboring Burundi. In a sparsely attended meeting Thursday of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, UN peacekeeping official Kevin Kennedy expressed "grave concern" that "the FDLR may be collaborating with the FNL." The FDLR, in English the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, is comprised of ethnic Hutu from Rwanda, and is a group blacklisted by regional countries and the U.S. as a terrorist organization. The FNL is the "Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People - National Liberation Forces," which just last month attacked the Burundian capital, leading the UN Peacebuilding Commission to cancel its visit planned for April 19 through 24.

At Thursday's meeting, the PBC's chairman for Burundi, Johan Lovald of Norway, proposed proceeding with a visit from May 13 to 16, including possible meeting with the FNL. The representative of South Africa, which has for some time been facilitating the unconsummated peace talks in Burundi, discouraged any meeting with the FNL. Others called the FNL a "stakeholder," which is hard to dispute. Whether the UN's expressed concerns that the FNL may be collaborating with the FDLR, which the UN is supposed to be chasing out of Eastern Congo, remains to be seen.

Inner City Press asked the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and then the UN Spokesperson's Office, for a copy of Mr. Kennedy's remarks, but none was provided by deadline. His comments, however, were taped, along with his disclosure that on May 6, the UN Department of Safety and Security raised Burundi to threat phase 4. Still the visit will proceed, Ambassador Lovald said, urging Committee members to check for their "tickets and per diem" with the director of the Peacebuilding Support Office, Eloho Otobo. The UN's head of Peacebuilding, Carolyn McAskie, is slated to leave soon. In a potentially troubling sign, her replacement has not been named, nor has the replacement of the head of peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno, with whom Inner City Press caught up later on Thursday, praising Kevin Kennedy's not-provided presentation. Developing.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/pbc1burundi050808.html

At UN, Sri Lanka Serves Quiche for Rights Council Seat, France Missing, UNDP Worker and Gun

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2hrc050708.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 7 -- Sometimes in the battle of human rights perception, platters of boiled shrimp and cream puffs must be deployed. This happened on May 7 across from the UN, at the Sri Lankan Ambassador's 38th floor apartment over Second Avenue. The country's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama stood in the apartment's entrance way shaking hands with invitees. Since Sri Lanka is one of six countries running for only four Asian seats on the UN Human Rights Council, Inner City Press asked how the votes were shaping up. But questions and answers weren't the point. Despite the balloting being secret, commitments were being made.

Inner City Press watched as an Ambassador pledged his nation's fealty to Sri Lanka. One wondered if Bahrain and Timor L'Este, to other competitors, were getting the same commitments. Pakistan, which U.S.-based Freedom House ranked "Not Qualified" like Sri Lanka, is said to be likely to get a seat. Some ascribe this not to the new government, but to the diplomatic and schmoozing skills of Ambassador Munir Akram. His charms may not be working in Islamabad. He has privately conceded his days as Permanent Representative may be numbered. At Wednesday night's event, Akram was praised by other diplomats for having written a dispassionate memo laying about positives and negatives of requesting a UN investigation of the murder of Benazir Bhutto. If that's his last act as Ambassador, one said, it was a classy one. Others say he's still looking for a UN post.

France, Spain and the UK are dueling for two seats on the Council. UK Ambassador John Sawers moved quickly through the Sri Lankan reception, stopping to jokingly wonder if the croissants being served constituted a Sri Lankan dish. There were also mini-quiches, and Amb. Sawers also attended a Nigerian reception. France, on the other hand, did not appear at either. Whether this attitude, and the "Responsibility to Protect" drama at the Security Council on Wednesday, will prove helpful to France's cause is not known. It's never too late for quiche...

More seriously, a UN Development Program worker has been suspended in Sri Lanka for smuggling weapons -- or maybe just, one weapon. New UNDP spokesman Stephane Dujarric, asked for comment by Inner City Press, stated that "as soon as we were made aware of the arrest of Mr. Thiyagaraj Prabakaran, while he was off-duty, UNDP cooperated fully with the local authorities. Given the seriousness of the allegations, he is currently suspended. We consider this an isolated incident but all staff in Sri Lanka have been reminded of the importance of maintaining the highest standards of conduct. As soon as I know more about his status, I will let you know. " We'll be waiting....

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2hrc050708.html

In Myanmar Cyclone's Wake, Lack of Disaster Risk Reduction Follow-up after Tsunami Is Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ocha1myanmar050608.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- With the death toll in Myanmar continuing to rise, five days after Cyclone Nargis, among the lost is what follow-up there was to the June 2007 "Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction," which was chaired by John Holmes of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At the time, much was said about setting up systems of early warning. On Tuesday at UN Headquarters Inner City Press asked OCHA's New York director Rashid Khalikov what follow-up there had been to the UN's Disaster Risk Reduction announcements, which extend at least back to the so-called Hyogo Framework for Action adopted in January 2005 at the the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Kobe, Japan.

"I'm not sure I'm the person to articulate an answer for you," he said. "After the tsunami there were various ideas... I cannot give you information on any progress achieved." Video here, from Minute 44:22. He referred to the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction -- but it was his OCHA boss John Holmes who chaired the July 2007 meeting on the the topic.

In fact, OCHA's Holmes gave a briefing in the same room in October 2007 about Disaster Risk Reduction. Ironically or by coincidence, Inner City Press on that day Inner City Press had asked Holmes about humanitarian access to Myanmar, on which Holmes gave a rosy answer. Video here, from Minute 37:27. Amazingly, even on Tuesday Mr. Khalikov said there was nothing out of the norm in not yet having visas for access to Myanmar, five days after the cyclone. He blamed the delay on Monday having been a holiday in Bangkok. But did OCHA even call the Myanmar authorities to ask them to open the embassy for visa review? Put otherwise, who's taken the C out of OCHA? If this is a test, maybe that's where the C has gone. What are they coordinating? UNICEF, for example, put out its own press release about its accomplishments in Myanmar. One from WFP is sure to follow, and UNHCR after that.

Many at Tuesday's press conference wondered at how little information was provided, including on such basis issues as what UN aid has gotten into the country. A flash appeal is due Friday, we'll continue to follow this aspect of the story.

Footnote: in both the October 2007 and May 2008 press conferences linked-to above, the spokesman for the General Assembly was left to be the last speaker, to a nearly empty room. Both times he wryly thanked those reporters who remained, the second time suggesting they might be members of the "Friends of the General Assembly." Actually, it was the General Assembly which called for the Disaster Risk Reduction strategy. So where is their follow up?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ocha1myanmar050608.html

UN "Could Do More" on Human Rights, is "Not Free" as to Press, Releasers of Study on Human Rights Council Conclude

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1hrc050608.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- Even on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the place of these rights in the UN system remains less than clear. Because it is a club of nations, and because it needs access even to dictatorships in order to run programs there, the UN is often silent about human rights abuses. Tuesday at the UN, the staff of the Commission on Social Development said that no issues has been raise this year about Zimbabwe's chairing the Commission, in fact its chair has been praised. Click here for article, here for video.

Also on Tuesday, the organizations Freedom House and UN Watch came to unveil studies rating the countries which are up for election to the Human Rights Council. Inner City Press asked about the UN's own record with promoting human rights, particularly in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the UN spends over $1 billion a year, and in Timor L'Este, where is has played a central role. The organizations rate Timor L'Este "questionable" qualified for the Council, and the day's news about DRC include a report on secret prisons and the locking up of journalists.

Freedom House's Paula Shriefer said that much of the UN's work is not related to human rights. She praised the UN's Democracy Fund. Inner City Press asked if the organizations' rating included what countries like the U.S. do as occupiers, as in Iraq. No, came the answer, countries are only reviewed on what they do within their own borders. So much for Guantanamo Bay, then. In fairness, Freedom House put out a separate study of the U.S. on Monday -- but, such issues are not included in its "Freedom in the World" rankings. Also to Freedom House's credit, its Karin Deutsch Karlekar, when asked last week by Inner City Press to what press freedom ranking the UN would get, given its lack of a freedom of information policy and its blocking of web sites, looking around for a moment and then said, "Not free."

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch, last mentioned in Inner City Press when he was wrongfully accused, temporarily, of murder while in Massachusetts, said that the U.S. lost points for voting against the UN resolution to ban the death penalty. He acknowledged that such issues as France's support of the government in Chad, which appears in Freedom House's "Worst of the Worst," was not factored into the "Qualified" rating UN Watch gives France in its race against the UK and Spain for two Council seats.

One of the candidates panned by the two organizations, Sri Lanka, is actively lobbying at the UN, including in its press corps, to get a Council seat. Speaking of candidacies, what about what Geneva sources tell Inner City Press is Bernard Kouchner's pitch for Louise Arbour's post? We will have more on all of this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1hrc050608.html

At UN, "Ban-Handling" of Press Triggers Apology But Not Yet Any Explanation

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1handled050608.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- After a week of talk at the UN about press freedom, the Organization's commitment to the issue was put to the test, in a small but significant way, this week. On the evening of May 5, after Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon gave a short speech to an audience of a few dozen in the fourth floor penthouse of the Dag Hammarskjold library -- click here for Inner City Press' coverage of the speech -- a journalist spoke with him on his way to the elevator, and followed into the elevator.

During the short ride down, the journalist asked a question about the UN's views about Iraq. Mr. Ban began to answer, but when his staffer Ms. CHOI Soung-ah reportedly said "No questions" and grabbed the journalist's arm, as a restraint. As later recounted, what struck the journalist most was that this took place in the presence of the Secretary-General.

On May 6 at the UN's regular noon briefing, the following brief Q&A occurred:

Question: does the Secretary-General condone the right of journalists to ask questions without interference?

Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: I didn't quite understand...

Question: Following the UNRWA event, I had approached him to ask a question and one of his UN staff held my arm back. Is that something that he condones?

Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: I'm not aware of that incident, so we'll need to talk about that afterwards.

The promised "talk afterwards" focused not on the "ban-handling" of the journalist, but on why the journalist had raised this question during the noon briefing, rather than in private. Meanwhile a number of other UN correspondents remarked that for the common good the issue should be pursued and reported.

While later a one-line apology was issued by the Spokesperson's Office, the question asked, whether BAN himself supports that rights of journalists to ask questions without inference, in this case physical interference, remains unanswered. Nor has Monday's stakeout question to Mr. Ban, whether he supports a Freedom of Information Act at the UN, nor the other related questions put to the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, been answered. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1handled050608.html

On UN's Congo Scandal, Ban Defers to Ahlenius' OIOS, Which Itself Stands Accused

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4oiosmonuc050508.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 -- A scandal stretching from the Eastern Congo to UN Headquarters in New York gathered force last Friday, while UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon was in London at a meeting about Gaza.

Internal reports by and about the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services were released by whistleblowers, showing among other things that complicated allegations about Indian peacekeepers trading gold, guns and ivory with rebels were abruptly dismissed in less than two weeks by OIOS in February of this year. More systemically, two reports about OIOS, which the unit's director Inga-Britt Ahlenius had previously refuse to release, were put online by Inner City Press here and here, which describe a "lack of trust in investigative outputs," politicization, nepotism and a need for a "break from the past" at OIOS.

Inner City Press on Monday asked Mr. Ban what he intends to do about the Congo, OIOS and the lack of transparency and any freedom of information law at the UN. In a two-minute on-camera response, Ban said that it will be up to OIOS, which he hopes "will look at this issue carefully." But since the allegations are against OIOS itself, Ban was asked "how does one hold OIOS accountable?" Ban said that he cannot, that it is up to the UN General Assembly, which created the Office. Video here, from Minute 18:55; transcript here.

In interviews Monday with Inner City Press, sources from both the UN General Assembly's budget committee and its Advisory Committee of Administrative and Budgetary Questions said that OIOS' most recent proposals have not been kindly viewed, that OIOS "doesn't have an idea so far." Proposals to withdraw investigators from peacekeeping missions such as the one in the Congo to so-called regional hubs are described as "unclear" and not well-argued. "I would not give a good rating on management," a well-place source responded when asked about Ahlenius' tenure.

The problems with the Ahlenius era at OIOS are not limited to the Congo. Despite telling the Washington Post of Feb. 17, 2008 -- just as the Eastern Congo allegations about the Indian Battalion were being summarily dismissed -- that "it seems to me that the ones who argue for secret reports have something to hide," Ms. Ahlenius refused repeatedly to release the two reports about her agency. In her May 2 statement to Inner City Press, she explains

"The report was commissioned by me solely for my own managerial information to provide an independent opinion on issues in the Investigation Division. This review was only part of many inputs in the process of considering a reform. I am the owner of the report."

But one of her colleagues, who is to retire in three months time, last week told the press that regular UN budget funds were used to commission the reports. So does Ms. Ahlenius own them?

BAN did not answer whether he favors, as part of UN reform, a freedom of information law which would make clear to UN officials like Ms. Ahlenius that they do not "own" records paid for by the public.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4oiosmonuc050508.html

UN's Budget Committee Complains of Late Reports, Diagnosis of Problems at UN Office of Internal Oversight Services

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1acabq050508.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 -- As the UN budget committee began a month-long set of meetings on Monday, it criticized the Ban Ki-moon administration for providing its proposals late, and not answering its questions. An insider to the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, in an extended interview with Inner City Press, explained why the UN system is not working. The Secretariat works all twelve months of the year coming up with proposals for funding, he said. Then these are funneled through a seven-month session of the ACABQ, which does not have sufficient time or staff to appropriately report. Then the General Assembly's budget committee, in sessions from September to December, then March and finally May, is expected to seriously review the proposals and reports. This proves impossible, and much review is confined to the final 72 hours of each session. (Click here for Inner City Press' coverage for the dusk to dawn budget session in late December.)

ACABQ must be given better information and resources, he said, and the budget committee must meet more frequently. The UN's budgets have skyrocketed, while the oversight as not. See today's story on the problems at the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services. The insider opined that OIOS' proposal to shift investigators from peacekeeping missions to regional centers is not yet well thought out, and may not pass in its current form.

These perspectives found their way into some of the speeches given on Monday in the Fifth Committee. For the Group of 77 and China, Conrod Hunt began, "It is regrettable that we once again have to register our concern with the late submission of reports by the Secretariat." He continued that "while the size of the peacekeeping budgets of the UN have increased significantly over the past few years, Member States, however, are put in a position where they have less and less time each year to complete our consideration... The ACABQ has not been able to prepare reports except on five peacekeeping operations so far."

Inner City Press last week asked OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius for an update on OIOS' action on the General Assembly's call, in December 2007, for her to examine the Secretariat's invocation of "special measures" allowing no-bid contracting, including the $250 million contract with Lockheed Martin's PA&E unit, and waiving hiring rules in the Darfur mission. She replied, "OIOS does not make any comments on our ongoing work other than to say that the audit is still in progress and will be submitted to the GA in accordance with the slot date." Here's hoping the Budget Committee follows-up. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1acabq050508.html

As UN Breaks Ground in NY, Cracks Develop in Temporary Swing Space Plan, City Records Show

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4cmp050508.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 -- It was a sunny morning Monday as UN officials and Ambassadors used shiny ceremonial shovels to break ground in front of the East River for a temporary conference building for some function to move to during a renovation of its headquarters. But storm clouds were gathered one block west, at the Albano Building to which 700 UN staff members are slated to move. A Partial Stop Work Order was glued to the glass front door of 311 East 46th Street, for unsafe work conditions.

Of even more concern was a stop work order for the construction site next door at 315 East 46th, where the Buildings Department notes a "violation served for cracks of non load-bearing wall at cellar level of adjacent building at 305-311 East 46 Street." The Fire Department of New York has "requested structural stability check," which remains "due." The UN's prospective swing space is itself swinging, "building shaking / vibrating -- structural stability affected."

Even after this warning, of cracks in the building to which the UN wants to move its staff, work continued illegally at 315 East 46th Street. The Building Department notes "work contrary to Stop Work Order," specifically, "drilling."

Inner City Press reported exclusively on Sunday about the violations at 311 East 46th Street. On Monday at the ceremony, Inner City Press raised the issue to Under Secretary General for Management Alicia Barcena, who said she would have more to say about it later. We'll be here. As the ground breaking celebration took place, the sound of drilling was heard from across First Avenue.

For now, these impressions on the sunny day on the North Lawn. Some Ambassadors had not been told they would be wielding shovels. The UK's John Sawers, for example, expressed surprise but then took his place. Chief of staff Vijay Nambiar wore large dark sunglasses. There were Ambassadors everywhere, of Japan, Ghana, Cyprus, Morocco, and too many to count. Assistant Secretary General Michael Adlerstein read out a list of corporations. Dollar-a-year Under Secretary General Joseph Verner Reed was said to be representing the Rockefeller family. Plus ca change.

Footnote: At the subsequent reception -- the UN Spokesperson's Office told Inner City Press on Friday the cost would be $30,000 to $50,000, depending on the weather, now resolved one would think on the lower side of the range -- Reed said he had worked for 17 years for the Rockefellers. Lapel pins were handed out, staff members sang, and much food was left over. Ms. Barcena spoke for BAN Ki-moon, who was headed to speak to the press. Inner City Press asked about the just-released (by whistle-blowers) reviews of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, and whether BAN thinks the UN should have a Freedom of Information Act so that such reports are routinely released to the press and public. The answers were not entirely clear; watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4cmp050508.html

UK Schizophrenic on Human Rights, But Says No Impunity for Lord's Resistance Army's Kony

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/uk1sc050208.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- The UK, which holds the UN Security Council presidency this month, demonstrated incongruous positions on human rights in recent days. On April 30, along with France and the United States, it opposed requests to include human rights in the Council's resolution on Western Sahara. On the morning May 2, it agreed to a Presidential Statement on Myanmar which dropped any reference to Nobel Prize-winning Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

UK Ambassador John Sawers glossed over both issues when asked about them at a press conference later in the day. But when asked by Inner City Press if the UK would agree to suspend the International Criminal Court indictments of Joseph Kony and other leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, Amb. Sawers said that the UK would oppose the Council doing that. "The indictments of the ICC should stand," he said. "It would be for the ICC to determine if the trial arrangements in a particular country for someone they indicted" are an appropriate substitute for proceeding with the indictment. Video here, from Minute 30:42.

On the issue of accountability within the UN, the UK is not so strong. Inner City Press asked Amb. Sawers about charges, widely publicized including in Britain, that UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo engaged in trading of gold and guns, and that the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services essentially covered-up these crimes. "I have no comment on that," Amb. Sawers said.

One analysis has it that since the UK punches above its weight through the UN, it is hard pressed to criticize the Organization no matter what it does. We'll see.

Footnote: well-placed diplomatic sources told Inner City Press on Friday night that the background to the Myanmar statement was that Ibrahim Gambari had asked the Council to hold off, to allow him to travel to Myanmar and deliver these points in person to the regime. But when he was denied entry, he gave the green light to the Council. China, in this account, demanded that any statement tip its chapeau to Myanmar's sovereignty, the UN's loose "good office" role, and that any solution must come from the Burmese -- well, Myanmarese, or Myanmarian -- people themselves, and that Aung San Suu Kyi's name must come out. And the US and UK agreed, and then agreed to cover it up and dodge questions. And so it goes...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/uk1sc050208.html

At UN, Reports Withheld by Ahlenius of OIOS Are Put Online, Congo Cover-up Alleged

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3oiosmonuc050108.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- The UN's culture of secrecy and impunity has been punctured with week by a one-two punch. After reporting on UN Peacekeepers involvement in the trading of gold and guns in Eastern Congo, which the UN denied and dismissed but only off the record, now there is more support for the underlying reporting, including two reviews of the Office of Internal Oversight Services which OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius told Inner City Press she owned and would not release have been put online by Inner City Press, here (1st) and here (2nd).

The reports are damning. The first, by Erling Grimstad, states among other thing that
"OIOS suffers from an ineffective and unclear structure, lack of independent budget and limited to no administrative support (check in and separating procedures, travel arrangements, etc.), poor management, conflicts at the senior management level, lack of communication inside ID/OIOS as well as with stakeholders and clients of ID/OIOS, lack of standard operating procedures and constant disagreements with regard to the scope of some of the investigative procedures of the division. This has obviously resulted in instability, high turnover rates and non-optimal working conditions for investigators."

The second report, on the "culture" of OIOS and compiled by Michel Girodo, states for example that, "secrecy and central control of information facilitated independence but also insulated managers from external review."

The fact that Ms. Ahlenius refused to release these on her own is, if anything, more troubling. The refusal to disclose would not be blamed on member states. She told Inner City Press, "It is my document."

Earlier this week, in a briefing in which the speakers insisted on being identified only as "senior UN officials," Inner City Press asked who had paid for the report. "The UN budget," the senior UN official replied. So how is it Ms. Ahlenius' report? Now it and a companion report are available for the world at large. While the UN speaks about moving away from impunity, who will be held responsible for all this? We'll have more on this Friday, from the United Nations.

Footnote: UN insiders are wondering about the timing of BBC's report early in the week, without any quotes from HRW, and HRW's follow-up punch, put online early Friday. Did the UN's two "off the record" briefers earlier in the week know the second punch was coming? They certainly have their sources, including inside HRW. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3oiosmonuc050108.html

UN Global Compact Duo Call Food Price Speculation Serious, But No Guidance Offered

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/gc1food050108.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- Corporate chieftains on the board of the UN Global Compact met Thursday in a UN conference room. Outside a stakeout microphone had been set up; the press had been told that the CEOs would be available for comment. Only one, however, deigned to take questions from the press, the ex officio chairman of the Foundation for the Global Compact, Mark Moody-Stuart of Anglo-American Mining. Inner City Press asked him if the Compact's board has discussed corporate roles in the food price crisis, including as speculating and profiting on the price rises. "It's an issue of serious concern to companies," Moody-Stuart said, but added that "the Compact cannot offer advice or guidance." Another reporter wondered, what's it good for then?

Moments later, Moody-Stuart reversed course and had the Compact "encouraging" companies "to sign up for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative." Moody-Stuart said of "countries with weak governance" that if you pour aid in, "it leaks away." He said that even forgiveness, presumably of debt, leaks away. He said he was recently in Norway, with the EITI has established its Secretariat, to meet with major donors to the Global Compact. He praised Norway as a country moving to show how its oil revenues are spent. Audio here, in MP3.

While not at the UN microphone, Mary Robinson, former High Commissioner of Human Rights, took two questions from Inner City Press. Of the links between financial speculation and rising food prices she said "absolutely," there is one, although the Compact has yet to discuss it. Of the Beijing Olympics, she said that topic was raised at a recent meeting of the Compact's Human Rights Working Group in Boston, that the companies at the meeting noted that protests of the journey of the Olympic torch "had an impact, they are meeting with the Dalai Lama." She said the companies wanted to see avoided any "push of ordinary Chinese toward nationalism," which she said "would be not good for China or for the rest of the world."

Moody-Stuart's comments on China were that if the rising costs of food and other "inputs" leads to a slow-down of the Chinese economy, the whole world will suffer. He said that many Compact members are involved as sponsors in the Olympics, and while "it doesn't mean we should forget the other issues," engagement is what it's all about.

Meanwhile, the other members of the Compact board did not deign to take questions, with the exception of Petrobras' CEO speaking with a Brazilian journalist, and Emirati environmentalist Habiba al Marashi speaking with a regional newspaper. On the board, but not speaking on these issues, were chieftains from Goldman Sachs, Areva, Tata, Lego, Fuji and Deloitte. And so it goes at the UN.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/gc1food050108.html

Access to Information Discussed But Not Practiced at UN, Which Journalists Are Protected?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1wpfd050108.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- In the run-up to World Press Freedom Day, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists released at the UN a report ranking "countries where killers of journalists go free." The methodology, as explained by CPJ's executive director Joel Simon, excludes so-called crossfire events, such as the U.S. bombing of Al-Jazeera's office in Iraq. Nor does the ranking reflect countries with the least press freedom. North Korea, for example, does not appear on the list. Rather, the list focuses on countries in which there is an expectation of press freedom, which is then betrayed.

Inner City Press asked for CPJ's view on the UN's own promotion of press freedom, using the example of UN personnel in Nepal stopping local journalists from filming the site of a UN helicopter crash and seizing their film. The UN could do more, Simon said."We would like to see more engagement throughout the UN bureacracy." Video here, from Minute 22:04.

While killings were counted in the study also came up. Inner City Press asked about so-called targeted crossfire; Joel Simon said that is not included, but that CPJ still asks for accountability, for example in Iraq. Video here, from Minute 20:43.

After the press conference, Inner City Press asked Joel Simon how CPJ defines who is a journalist. There is no hard and fast rule, he said. But he said CPJ does not want to include "advocates and their screeds." He said he would e-mail Inner City Press DPJ's definition of who is a journalist.

The following day, at a UNESCO luncheon graced by a speech by South African Justice Albie Sachs, Joel Simon was again present. "Oh right," he said. "The definition of journalist." Yes, that. One would think CPJ would have such a definition, to know who to protect. But eight hours after the luncheon, we're still waiting. There will be a debate on just this topic on May 14 at Columbia's School of Journalism - but how is that defined? Click here for a video on the topic. We'll have more on this.

Footnote: Albie Sachs spoke of the importance of access to information, using examples from South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the country's Promotion of Information Act, under which he sought and obtained records about his own torture. He took three questions then ran to catch a plane. Inner City Press asked him in the hall, Should the UN have a Freedom of Information law? He answered - and then said, "Don't quote me." So his answer is not here. But one wonders: what is it about the UN that its supporters, even those of the stature, moral and otherwise, of Albie Sachs, are no reticent to say, "Yes, this could be improved"?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1wpfd050108.html

France Wants In on Human Rights Council, But Rights Out of W. Sahara Resolution, Sri Lanka Question

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1zimeray050108.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- For the UN Human Rights Council, three European countries are running for only two seats. Thursday the French mission to the UN made its "Ambassador for Human Rights" Francois Zimeray available to select media outlets, as part of its campaign. Reportedly Zimeray was not able to explain France's opposition, only the night before, to requests by South Africa, Costa Rica, Panama and others to include human rights in the Security Council resolution on Western Sahara.

Nor did French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert address the issue: after Wednesday night's meeting, he ran past the stakeout microphone, even as Inner City Press asked, not without volume, about "les droits de l'homme." How this selective media strategy will play remains to be seen. The UK deployed Mark Malloch-Brown on the margins of the Security Council's Africa meetings two weeks ago. Spain, as demonstrated in getting the UNIFEM top job after two large contributions, is willing to very concretely pursue posts. How this French campaign for the Human Rights Council relates to the jockeying about who will replace Jean-Marie Guehenno as head of UN Peacekeeping is not known. And what is the relation between Rama Yade, also cited on human rights, and M. Zimeray?

Speaking of Amb. Ripert, earlier this week Inner City Press asked the Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, about Ripert's response to a question from Inner City Press at the stakeout, if the Working Group on the topic, which he chairs, is looking at Sri Lanka and might go there. Ripert said the Group is going a lot, and he spoke about a visit. But Ms. Coomaraswamy, after speaking movingly about the plight of children in Iraq, said that Sri Lanka is not in the plans, the next trip will probably be to Cote d'Ivoire to view success. While some question whether the problems of childred in Cote d'Ivoire have been solved or only swept under the rug, and UN reports never released, the answer puts the ball back in the court of Amb. Ripert. Or could this be another of the human rights issues for Ambassador Francois Zimeray?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1zimeray050108.html

In MINURSO's Wake, Doubts About Van Walsum, French Ambassador Ripert on the Run

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4minurso043008.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- At 11 p.m. around the microphone outside the Security Council's meeting on Western Sahara, the scene was pure UN: a gaggle of diplomats before a handful of journalists, with hawk-eyed UN staffers standing on the side. Outgoing Council president Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa called it a dark day for human rights, with France, the UK and United States opposing any presence of the term in the MINURSO resolution, when he said he would be fast to apply it to Sudan, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and "even South Africa." Inner City Press asked Kumalo why then he hadn't called a vote on the Costa Rican amendment that would have added human rights to the resolution. Kumalo answered, that would have sent a message that the Council is divided. But perhaps it is.

Inner City Press asked the Frente Polisario representative if UN envoy Peter van Walsum should continue in his post. Maybe he has undermined his role, and "the basic principle of neutrality and impartiality," was the answer. To the side, van Walsum's staffer for the Department of Political Affairs stood taking notes. When a reporter asked her for comment, she turned away. That too is undermining, given that van Walsum rarely if ever takes questions about his work. Inner City Press asked the Polisario representative to compare his situation to that of Kosovo. "I don't want to go in that direction," he said. No one does, these days.

U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, in a low and hoarse voice, explained of the resolution, "This is as far as we could go." In response to Inner City Press' question if the negotiations had excluded non-permanent members of the Council, as Kumalo had alleged, Wolff said that all had been consulted. But several non-permanent member staffers said, two days before the scheduled vote, they had not been shown the text. Others pointed out that while the Council presidency may have been excluded, former Algerian ambassador Abdallah Baali was around all week, perhaps with unexplained access. As said up top, it's pure UN. What's the point, one non-permanent representative asked rhetorically, of running for a seat on the Council? In the open meeting, Costa Rica expressed this same doubt, which Kumalo called courageous.

On the other hand, French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert ran past the stakeout without speaking. "Les droits de l'homme," the press called after him. But he was gone.
Footnote: Kumalo told the press he is leaving Thursday for "hiking in Nevada." Later one wag joked, "The Matterhorn casino, no doubt." He is the funniest of the members of the Council, even if the "I'd didn't do it" protest needs to be updated. One day, speeches on the Council may be matched by action. But today was not the day.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4minurso043008.html

At UN, Western Sahara Session Goes Late But Words Not Changed, Realism Disputed

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3minurso043008.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- Western Sahara was debated behind closed doors in the Security Council into the night on April 30, the last day of South Africa's presidency of the Council. At 10:29 p.m., the so-called MINURSO resolution was put on the agenda at a televised meeting for a vote, with no changes to the language proposed two days previous. Before the formal vote, Costa Rica and others explained their upcoming rubber-stamp votes. At 10:45, the resolution was unanimously approved.

Following the controversy about Ban Ki-moon's envoy Peter van Walsum issuing a report calling on those in Western Sahara to be "realistic" and not expect a referendum with independence as an option, the Western Saraha resolution got bogged down in a series of disputes, mostly focusing on the 25-word Operative Paragraph 2, which as drafted indicated that the Council "endorses the report's recommendation that realism and a spirit of compromise by the parties are essential to maintain the momentum of the process of the negotiations."

The Polisario Front, South Africa, Panama and Costa Rica said they were opposed to the reference to "realism," wanting it removed or made to apply to both parties. Also on the table was changing that the Council "endorses" the report to merely "takes note." Costa Rica wanted to include "within the framework of international law," and to "call upon the parities to engage in continuous ... dialogue with the UNHCHR" on human rights. But these amendments were withdrawn.

The Polisario Front, and South Africa (and Panama and Costa Rica) are pushing to get in the resolution a reference to human rights, which France, and reportedly the US and UK, oppose. The Polisario representatives said that the UK and US had, in closed consultation, offered to allow reference to human rights, and the France alone opposed it. But France claimed to have support from the UK, US and others of the "Group of Friends." South Africa points out that this Group does not include any African or Arab countries. And so it goes.

At a 3 p.m. press conference, Inner City Press asked South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo why, if South Africa opposed the Group of Friends' draft, he wouldn't vote against it. Because those on the ground don't want us to, Kumalo said. And behind the stakeout's coffee machine, the Polisario's representative said the draft "preserves the essentials," while shamefully leaving out human rights.

As the clock moved past ten p.m., and journalists and UN experts on South Sudan drifted away, Ambassador Kumalo emerged. He told the press he was not hopeful of changes being made to the text. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia returned, to much back-slapping. France's Jean-Maurice Ripert apologized to Kumalo for skipping his end of presidency lunch. He mused about a dinner he was missing. "Anything else, I could leave," he said. "But on Western Sahara, if I leave, I'm dead."

At 10:29, the Council moved toward approving the text exactly as it went into blue two days before. Statements began, with Costa Rica asking why international law was ignored by the resolution, and why the drafers ignored and took no changes from the non-permanent members. Permanent member Russia pointed out that it opposed the amendments because it had no agreement from its capital, that "others" spoke inside the consultations. South Africa's Kumalo echoed Costa Rica, stating that the Group of Friends refused to take any suggestions or changes.

Kumalo asked, are we going to "tell the people of Palestine that they should be realistic? Or to the people of Serbia to accept Kosovo as a reality because of what has happened?" The first of these analogies got Kumalo into hot water earlier in the day. But he repeated it at night, planning to head the next day to Nevada. Kumalo said he found it "curious" that some members speak of human rights in countries not on the Council's agenda, like Myanmar and Zimbabwe, but won't include the phrase with regard to Western Sahara. Then he said, my delegation will vote in favor, with the hope that the people of Western Sahara will one day retain their right to self-determination." And at 10:45, the vote was unanimous, the resolution was approved. Afterwards, the U.S.'s Alejandro Wolff issued many caveats. Burkina Faso issued some. France's Ripert half-explained his country's position. And so it goes at the UN.

Footnote: as dusk turned to night at the Security Council, a theory was advanced that while the U.S., for example, once tried to mediate the Western Sahara issue, now under Elliot Abrams it has decided that Morocco is key to its "war on terror," and therefore "forget human rights."

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3minurso043008.html

At UN On South Sudan, Killing the MINURCAT, Lord's Resistance Army to be Reported On

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN

www.innercitypress.com/un2unmis043008.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- The final night of April, and of South Africa's presidency of the Security Council, stretched past nine p.m. when the Council members emerged to vote on a South Sudan (UNMIS) resolution, and a statement on Eritrea and Ethiopia. After the vote, Sudan's Ambassador spoke to the few reporters remaining. "We prevailed over many suggestions of the sponsor, the United States," he said. "We killed the reference to the Sudan mission working together with MINURCAT," the acronym for the UN's new mission in Chad and the Central African Republic.

The UNMIS resolution refers in two places to assisting with, or reporting on, the Uganda peace process. It "requests the Secretary-General to submit for the Council's consideration a report on possible measures UNMIS would take to assist, with the implementation of a future Final Peace Agreement between the government of Uganda and the LRA," the Lord's Resistance Army. Sudan says it can live with this paragraph, and argues that it is the International Criminal Court which is blocking peace in Uganda. The argument's purpose is to say that the ICC's indictments in Sudan are a hindrance to peace.

Inner City Press asked outgoing Council president Dumisani Kumalo about the Sudanese statements. "MINURCAT involves police, it can only work with UNAMID," he said, referring the hybrid UN-African Union Mission in Darfur. He expressed some surprise that the LRA paragraphs remained in the resolution. "Well, they do negotiate in Juba," he said. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2unmis043008.html

Zimbabwe Opposition Calls UN Agencies Complicit, Not Helping Refugees, Council Action Blocked

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN

www.innercitypress.com/un1zimmdc042908.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- The funds and programs of the UN have been "complicit" and "incestuous" with the Robert Mugabe government in Zimbabwe, Tendai Biti of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change told the press on Tuesday. Following a closed-door briefing of the Security Council by UN political chief Lynn Pascoe, UK Deputy Permanent Representative Karen Pierce emerged to predict that in May, when the UK has the Council presidency, an open meeting on the topic will be held. Inner City Press asked her for the UK's response to the MDC's critique of UN agencies' support of Mugabe. Amb. Pierce focused on the UN's food and other humanitarian aid. She did not address the degree to which such aid, particular the "capacity building" offered without standards by the UN Development Program, may serve to prop up what the UK calls regimes or dictatorships, in Zimbabwe, Myanmar and elsewhere.

Inner City Press' question to Mr. Biti resulted in his description of the MDC office on Nelson Mandela Avenue in Harare being full of "internal refugees," compared to a near-empty UN space he described nearby. UK Ambassador Pierce said she had not been aware of this. She is, however, in a position to do something about it.

U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff was asked, " Zimbabwe's Ambassadors made a lot – a number of times made the comparison to Florida in 2000 and said this is a vote dispute. Do you see anything to that analogy? They're saying it took six weeks then, why not six weeks for them? "

Ambassador Wolff replied, as transcribed by the U.S. mission, "I'm not even going to comment. It’s a ludicrous comparison and all you have to do is talk to the Zimbabwean opposition and see what their views are on how America conducts its elections." But are they the right one's to ask?

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, responding to Wolff's comments, said that countries have elections, some of them do it well, some not so well. He noted that SADC and the African Union are involved, and that the Mugabe government has invited a team from the World Food Program to come and visit the country. As to the UN's so-called "good offices," Kumalo said this should not be discussed in the Security Council, or on camera outside of the Council. Quiet diplomacy is what he said is needed, not unlike what China says it is doing in Darfur. When Biti said that some countries are "playing ping-pong" with the people of Zimbabwe, it was to China that one correspondents mutterings turned. Formal Council action on Zimbabwe was blocked. Russia said the matter did not belong in the Council.

Some wondered how the MDC, a self-described non-state actor, came to speak on UN Television at the Security Council stakeout. In the past, Western Sahara's Polisario Front, a non-state actor that is party to a Security Council monitored negotiation, had the plug pulled as they spoke at the stakeout. The MDC, some noted, was supported by the United States, which also set up a meeting at its mission for Mr. Biti late on Tuesday. Some UN cynics wondered how helpful it will be, in the long run, to be so closely aligned with the U.S. and the UK. Only time will tell.

Footnote: an Inner City Press present at the UNCTAD meeting in Accra, Ghana recounts that the meeting between the UN's BAN and MDC's leader Morgan Tsvangirai did not look planned in advance. "He just button-holed the S-G," the source marveled. "Then it was claimed as an example of diplomacy." Whatever it takes...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1zimmdc042908.html

At UN, France Says Timing of Ivorian Elections Not Important, Nor of Zimbabwe Meeting

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1cotezim042908.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- As the Security Council met on Cote d'Ivoire on Tuesday morning, the Ambassador of former colonial power France Jean-Maurice Ripert took to the stakeout microphone. His lead focus was Zimbabwe, but Inner City Press asked for France's position on the delay of the Ivorian elections from June to November 30, and whether the promised disarmament and identifications for voting will take place before then. We must support the process, Ripert said. Inner City Press asked, but what about the delay? "It doesn't matter when it happens," Ripert said, "but that it happens." Some say it won't happen until 2010, if then...

K.Y. Choi, who hasn't spoken to reporters at UN since he became the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, strode into the Council at 9:55, decidedly earlier than the Ambassadors he would address. While he spoke, Inner City Press asked the Spokesperson's office if, at least, Choi would come to the stakeout microphone for questions. It did not take place.

As Lynn Pascoe briefed the Council about Zimbabwe, reporters scoured the UN following reports of sightings of representatives of the Movement for Democratic Change. Amb. Ripert emerged, and Inner City Press asked if he had met with the MDC today. We meet with all sides on Zimbabwe, including here in New York, he said.

Ripert was asked, but did you meet with them today?

That doesn't make a difference, he said.

It does to us, Inner City Press said.

The point is, we meet with all sides in Zimbabwe, and well before this crisis, Ripert said. His statement to the Council favored a UN mission to Zimbabwe, but only "en liaison" with the African Union and SADC. Fat chance...

Footnote: the rumor of Ripert taking over from fellow Frenchman as head of UN Peacekeeping continues to circulate. Some opposition was heard, from a party with business before the Council. But the opposition was whispered, back by the cigarette butt strewn bar that was closed after the First Gulf War. The Secretary General gets to pick his USGs, another diplomat said, reminiscing on Boutros Galli's selection of Kofi Annan. That will not happen here. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1cotezim042908.html

UN Investigates Itself in Kosovo, with Francis SSekandi, and in Haiti Shoot-out Aftermath

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN

www.innercitypress.com/un1investig042808.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 -- While in Haiti the UN says it is actively investigating its reported killing of two people on April 12 in a street market following the shooting of UN peacekeeper, in Northern Kosovo its investigation of UNMIK's decision-making in re-taking a courthouse in Mitrovica has just gotten underway. Inner City Press' sources in Pristina tell of the arrival on April 26 of three officials of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and a UN-chosen Ugandan lawyer, Francis SSekandi, who previously serviced on the Rwanda genocide tribunal. We've made the name public. But will their report be made public?

This is always an uphill battle with the UN. Witness the UN's reaction Monday to charges that its peacekeepers in the Congo traded gold and guns with rebels. The UN gave a briefing, but only on condition that the briefers not be named. About Haiti, on Monday at the UN's briefing, Inner City Press asked "there are reports from Haiti that a protest has been filed with MINUSTAH (the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) after the death of the peacekeeper and the shooting up of street vendors and the destruction of their property and some deaths. Has MINUSTAH received a protest in that regard and is there an investigation?

Deputy Spokesperson: "I'll look into that for you."

Added later to the transcript:

"The Deputy Spokesperson later told the correspondent that, according to MINUSTAH, the mission says it has not been sent any complaint or protest directly, but it has received a copy of a letter from two local commercial associations (Association of the Defense of Haitian Merchants & Consumers and The Association for Small Businesses) addressed to the Government prosecutor, in which it is alleged that the two persons named were killed by MINUSTAH troops on 12 April 2008 following the public murder of a Nigerian United Nations Police, who was shot dead in the market in Belair. MINUSTAH is, of course, investigating these allegations, but has not found any facts to substantiate them. Consequently the allegations that any MINUSTAH personnel killed these individuals or subsequently removed their bodies from the scene remain unsupported by any evidence."

The individual named in Inner City Press follow-up written question were Amonese Pierre and Anna Ainsi Connu. While the UN has said it is investigating itself -- we have heard this before -- this particular case should continue to be followed, as a matter of the UN's own "Responsibility to Protect" and otherwise.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1investig042808.html