Corporations Gone Wild at Clinton Global Initiative, Barclays Spin, No Haiti

By Matthew Russell Lee

NEW YORK CITY, September 20 -- Held at the same time as the UN General Debate, the Clinton Global Initiative is at once slicker and more sinister.

At a session on Disaster Preparedness late Tuesday afternoon, videos promoting Toyota's work on the Gulf Coast were screened, while media personality Riz Khan chose questions from Barclays Bank and Dell Computers, and one promoting UPS.

On stage Bill Clinton's head of FEMA and Denis O'Brien of Digicel said give money to established groups. Flacking for Bill Clinton and the UN, Denis O'Brien told fellow panelist and chief UN humanitarian Valerie Amos he had "no complaint about the UN, I saw what you did in Haiti." Introduction of cholera and sexual abuse in Port Salut were not discussed.

Inner City Press had been shepherded into the back of the room. During the Q&A, while attempting to ask Amos about humanitarian crises on the agenda of the Security Council, a staffer came over and said "members of the press are not invited to participate."

Still, at the table to which Inner City Press was led, an operative of Swiss Re insurance company handed out fliers and offered interviews after the session.

The listened sponsors were not only corporate but included long time New York political mystery Tom Golisano -- where's Lenora Fulani, one jaded reporter asked without answer.

While defanged and denied questions, the press corps was well fed, with free granola bars, fruit and soda, and wireless Internet stronger and more reliable than at the UN. For a time there was discussion of ex President Clinton becoming Secretary General, overriding a rule that no national of a Permanent Five member of the Council can be S-G.

Instead, Clinton holds his corporate heavy parallel UN every September in Manhattan. The lobby of the Sheraton is full of hucksters; the soundtrack is smooth jazz, with Fleetwood Mac in the wings. Obama will come here, and Hilary and Chelsea Clinton. It's as if the mis-service of Haiti never happened. But that's true back at the UN too...

Diplomacy and Oil Mix at CFR Talk by Ivorian Ouattara and Koroma

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- When Cote d'Ivoire Alassane Ouattara spoke Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, one expected him to raise, or be asked, about accountability for killings by his supporters and those of Guillaume Soro, in Douekoue for example.

Ouattara had promised to take action against anyone found responsible; this was said to set him apart from Laurent Gbagbo.

But in a discussion led by an executive from ExxonMobil, Walter Kansteiner III, Ouattara neither mentioned accountability nor was asked about it.

Rather he was asked about his economy and the African Development Bank -- by a banker -- and what he thought of the African Union. The answer to the latter was, not much.

Ouattara said he is "disappointed" with the African Union's "lack of efficiency." As an example of this, he pointed to the AU not yet recognizing the Transitional National Council in Libya. He said if you just look at the television you see who is in power. The audience laughed.

ExxonMobil, one wag muttered, likes to do business with those who are in power. (It was by this same logic that Tony Blair, sometime UN official, pitched J.P. Morgan Chase's wares to Gaddafi, and now appears in the guise of convincing the Palestinians not to seek UN membership.)

Ouattara was accompanied by Sierra Leone's president Ernest Bai Koroma, who Ouattara called his "brother," and the moderator's logic in the pairing quickly became clear.

"We have started oil exploration," Koroma said, "and the results have been very interesting." More interesting than the fate of underaged prisoners in Freetown's jails?

The Council on Foreign Relations has been in a frenzy the first two days this week, starting by hosting Alain Juppe on Monday. In that one, the first question was given to French state media; after that, the moderator asked about the Euro. CFR puts out good reports, but it is also interested in business, witness the ExxonMobil host for President Ouattara. An intellectual gloss on the great game for resources, in a venerable building on 68th and Park Avenue. Ouattara left at 2:30, and CFR pitched its 5:30 offering from Iran. Pump that oil!

Observer State Vote for Palestine Could End UNRWA, Sources Say, Tricky Colombia

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- While the UN on September 19 told Inner City Press it has "carefully sidestepped" whether Palestine as an Observer State could automatically join the International Criminal Court, within the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are worries that if Palestine is declared a statement, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) apparatus would have to be dismantled as the Palestinians would not longer be "stateless."

After the chief of the UN Treaty Section Gabriele Goettsche-Wanli on September 16 told Inner City Press that Ban Ki-moon would have to decide if Palestine is a state for purposes of the ICC's Rome Statute, Ban's spokesman on September 19 refused to confirm this, claiming instead that the question had been "carefully sidestepped."

A simple review of the September 16 UN webcast shows that the question was, in fact, answered, based on the UN Office of Legal Affairs written statement of Practice.

While much focus has gone to which Security Council members beyond the United States would vote against or abstain on Palestinian membership in the UN -- "Colombia is tricky," one well placed Polital Coordinator told Inner City Press as an example on Monday -- the impact on the large UNRWA structure has been much less talked about.

But some long time UN hands say that the premise of the UNRWA operations is that the Palestinians are stateless, and that a vote in the General Assembly to grant non-member Observer State status could end that -- and UNRWA. Watch this site.

From the UN's September 19 transcript:

Inner City Press: there was press conference here on Friday by the head of the Treaty Section. And she seemed to be saying — and I just want you to confirm this — that based on an Office of Legal Affairs… its practice on filings, that it is up to the Secretary-General to decide if an applicant, for example, to join the International Criminal Court is a State. That it is his determination to be made, in consultation with the GA. And I just --

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, I am privy to what happened at the press conference, and I know that that topic of any application in this regard was carefully sidestepped because this was not the topic of the press conference. So, let’s try any… are there any other questions related to the readout that I’ve just given?

At UN, Chadian President Deby On TNC's "Hypocrisy, " 400,000 Chadians "Blocked" in Libya, Claims "No Political Prisoners in Chad"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 19 -- Chad's President Idriss Deby told Inner City Press on Monday that there remain 400,000 Chadian's "blocked" inside Libya.

He said the vast majority had gone to Libya to work. Some had been recruited to fight but by both sides, he insisted, Gaddafi and the National Transitional Council.

Deby accused the leaders of the "New Libya," the National Transitional Council, of hypocrisy as many of them previously worked with Gaddafi. He said there should be greater African Union involvement in the New Libya, and chafed at Inner City Press' statement that South Africa has led on that issue, and on that of African migrants.

"There are other African countries on the Security Council," he said, naming Gabon and then Nigeria.

Inner City Press asked Deby for his view of developments in Sudan. Deby spoke of Southern Kordofan and "Nil Bleu," Blue Nile, then said that much remains to be solved between North and South Sudan.

On this, Inner City Press asked Deby to respond to reports that the publication N'Djamena Bi-Hebdo was told not to compare South Sudan to Southern Chad:

"In the October 14 to 17 edition of the local newspaper N'Djamena Bi-Hebdo, the publishers included an article comparing southern Sudan with southern Chad. The prime minister called the article 'dangerous' and asked the HCC to act on the matter. On October 19, the HCC met with journalists and warned N'Djamena Bi-Hebdo in particular and all media houses in general to "observe ethics rules" by not printing articles that risked inciting hatred, violence, or separatist sentiment."

Deby said he didn't know about the case. He said "come to Chad" to see the freedom of the press, and also said that "there are no political prisons in Chad." Inner City Press began to ask of one example -- Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh-- but Deby didn't answer on it.

The interview was over, and Inner City Press left the Plaza Hotel. Deby will speak before the General Assembly on Friday, after meeting with Ban Ki-moon the day before. "Mais vous savez de tout," Deby said. Not as much as we'd like to. Watch this site.

At UN, Ban Ki-moon's Quiet Diplomacy Veils Abuse in Haiti, Bahrain from Saudi Meeting

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 19 -- At the UN on Monday, so much movement and so little truth. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Haitian President Michel Martelly and issued a read out that didn't even mention theabuse by Uruguayan UN peacekeepers that his Office said it being taken so seriously. Nor was cholera mentioned.

Ban met with the the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia Saud Al-Faisal and his read out mentioned a discussion of Yemen but not of Bahrain, despite for example Saudi Arabia's deployment of troops to Bahrain and unrest there even this week.

Inner City Press Monday at noon asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky whether in fact Bahrain was discussed, noting that Ban has previously been spoken to by Saudi Arabia about Bahrain. Nesirky said that he didn't know, that the read out said tha Ban and "the Foreign Minister exchanged views on a number of important issues in the region, including Yemen."

But did they discuss Bahrain? Nesirky wouldn't say. Video here.

Inner City Press has previously reported, based on well placed sources inside Ban's Department of Political Affairs, that after Ban proposed sending DPA's Oscar Fernandez Taranco to Bahrain, the Saudi's called Ban and "reamed him out." After that, Ban canceled the trip of Taranco, and there has been no envoy.

Some things, apparently, go without saying. Watch this site.

Libya Mission of UN Headed by Brit & Finn, German Coming 3d, Juppe Says NATO Will Keep Bombing

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 19 -- Two weeks after Inner City Press wrote that Finn Georg Charpentier would be named deputy chief to Brit Ian Martin in heading up the UN's mission in Libya, on Monday Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed both postings, then refused to answer criticism about them. Video here, from Minute 25:38.

Inner City Press asked for confirmation of its next scoop, that the Number Three official in the UNSMIL mission will be the German Hansjoerg Strohmeyer, chief of the Policy Development and Studies branch with the UN Office for the Coordination of Political Affairs."

Nesirky said, "I've read out two, it's not enough for you, you want the third." But Inner City Press reported on Charpentier getting the deputy post, from sources inside the UN Department of Political Affairs, back on September 1.

As Inner City Press wrote on September 14, "Three top UN jobs on Libya -- four if you count [Canadian elections expert Craig] Jenness -- and no Africans or Arabs, after all the planning was done in New York by a Brit."

Twice Inner City Press asked Nesirky to respond to criticism from within the UN's own Department of Political Affairs that Africans, and Arabs, have been cut out. Nesirky repeated, these are international civil servants. Europeans only?

Many questions were raised about Charpentier's closeness with the Khartoum regime of Omar al Bashir, indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court. This is the best the UN can find?

Since Ian Martin erred by writing in his report, leaked to and published by Inner City Press, that NATO would have a continuing role in Libya, it appears that Ban looked for a non-NATO member -- but only as far as Finland.

Earlier on Monday, French foreign minister Alain Juppe took five questions at the Council on Foreign Relations, mostly about Palestine. Inner City Press was there, but not called on by fawning moderator James P. Rubin to ask about Libya. In his opening remarks, Juppe said that NATO will keep bombing until all Qaddafi supporters give us. He called South Africa "the most reluctant" of the IBSA countries, but said that on March 19 at the UN South Africa "got convinced." And so it goes.

At UN, Top Climate Official Figueres Says Solyndra "Unfortunate," Of Obama Stalling on Ozone says "US Makes Own Decisions"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 19 -- Climate change was a topic at the UN Monday, in the run-up to the General Debate proper. Inner City Press asked Christina Figueres, Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, about US President Barack Obama having postponed ozone rules, and about the failure of poster-child subsidized gree business Solyndra.

Figueres called Solyndra an "unfortunate example of not an effective way of doing it." She did not address the allegations of crony capitalism, but rather said that a green economy can increase employment. Video here.

Why then did Obama cancel or postpone the ozone rules? Figueres did not directly comment on this either, saying that the US makes its "own decisions," then spoke about Montreal Protocol secretariat in Nairobi. How very UN.

Another example of crony capitalism, this time in UN Peacekeeping contracting, is around the UN this week:Suntech, a company regarding which many questions were left answered by the UN, click here for that. Watch this site.

As Sudan Breaks Abyei Agreement, Susan Rice Says Obama Will Meet With Kiir, Focus Lost?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- When President Obama came to the UN a year ago, the meeting on Sudan was a focus. This year the stated focus is Libya, with elephant in the room in Palestine and a possible US veto of UN membership. But is Sudan in better shape?

Inner City Press on Friday asked Susan Rice if Obama "that things are better there than they were last year?" Rice expressed concern, then said Obama will meet with the president of South Sudan Salva Kiir. It's sure to be a feel-good moment, but what about Sudan proper?

Amid bombing in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile state, even the supposed good new in Abyei has fallen apart, with Khartoum negotiator Omar Suleiman saying that contrary to UN claims his country has not agreed to pull out of Abyei by September 30.

Inner City Press asked Rice and the UN about this. The UN provided Inner City Press with a copy of the agreement, here. Earlier on Friday, Sudan's Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the Sudanese Armed Forces will only leave once the UNIFSA mission is fully deployed, which the UN denied.

Rice when asked hearkened back to the underlying June 2011 agreement and advised Sudan to comply. But what's the leverage, especially if Obama's focus has moved on?

From the US Mission transcript:

Inner City Press: On Sudan, I wanted to ask you this. That beyond just the fighting and bombing in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, there was an agreement that was announced by the UN in Abyei that Khartoum and Juba would both pull out, even before the UNISFA mission was fully implemented. And now Khartoum has said that that's not true-they didn't agree to that, that the UN misspoke. I wanted to know what's your understanding of when they committed to pull out. And, two, what-in President Obama's bilateral, what's the place of Sudan. I mean last year it was quite high profile on his visit. Does it remain that? Does he think that things are better there than they were last year? And what's he going to be doing here while he's here on Sudan?

Ambassador Rice: Well, with respect to the redeployment of forces from the Abyei area, the two sides signed an agreement and made a commitment to withdraw those forces, in fact, earlier in the process than we are today, and certainly long before the full deployment of UNISFA.

So we think that redeployment is overdue and needs to be accomplished urgently. And any suggestion that that wasn't in fact the agreement is belied by the document that both parties signed. Obviously, the United States remains very interested in, very committed to peace and security in Sudan, both the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, and we're frankly quite concerned that many of the critical issues that need to be resolved between North and South remain unresolved. Many of the crucial aspects of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement remain unresolved and unimplemented and that, in and of itself, has the potential to be a spark that could ignite underlying tensions.

We're also very, very concerned by what is transpiring in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, where aerial bombardments, attacks on civilians and humanitarian crisis is continuing and intensifying. So that also is of concern, and, of course, we remain very much focused on what is transpiring in Darfur.

So there's no diminution in the U.S. government's focus on, or commitment to what transpires in Sudan. And as was mentioned today at the White House, President Obama will have the opportunity to meet briefly with President Salva Kiir of South Sudan during the United Nations General Assembly.