On Currency Exchange Losses, UN Starts Cover-Up in Myanmar and Beyond

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1newno081408.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 14 -- Despite an internal UN memo admitted a "serious 20% loss" of aid money in currency exchanges required by Myanmar's government which led to an admission of $10 million in losses, on Thursday the UN cut its losses to $1.5 million, then refused to explain. The UN Development Program has for weeks refused to disclose how much money it has converted in Myanmar, nor in which other of the 160 countries it does business in its loses money in government-required conversions. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, whose director John Holmes initially took the lead in admitting the losses, has similarly declined to provide information about any other countries, despite Holmes' July 28 commitment to do so. As is too frequent in the UN, exposure of a problem has been followed not by reform but by cover-up and stonewalling.

In fact, despite a clear written and video record, the UN now claims that the problem wasn't exposed at all, but rather was "first raised" by John Holmes on July 24. But Inner City Press asked Holmes about the losses on July 9, 10 and 11, just as it had asked UNDP about the losses as far back as June 26. In minutes of a conference call that day, which whistleblowers showed to Inner City Press, a "serious loss of 20%" was admitted to. Inner City Press subsequently quoted from and then published the minutes.

On August 14, after reading out a statement that losses were "only" 4.5%, UN Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq refused to answer Inner City Press' question about how the 20% loss admitted in the internal memorandum had been changed, without explanation, in this new public figure. "Internal conference calls are internal discussions," Haq said. When Inner City Press asked that someone come to a press conference to answer questions about the new numbers, Haq said he's check "if Holmes is interested in talking," but that Holmes is not available now. Video here, from Minute 12:11.

Inner City Press sent written questions to Holmes' office and to Haq, stating that on the record answers were being sought on deadline:

"of how the 20% loss referred to both in the Teleconference minutes and elsewhere was changed to a 4.5% loss, and by whom. I am told, by a participant in the estimate-reduction exercise, that UNDP took the lead; I would like a confirmation or denial of that. I have asked UNDP the following, and hereby ask OCHA (and spending under OCHA's control), on deadline

how much money has OCHA / the UN converted through Foreign Exchange Certificates in Myanmar in the past one, five and ten years? At what rates? With what losses? If any, how were these disclosed? And, please any and all other countries in which OCHA / the UN has faced currency exchange losses of over 5%, and what you have done and, separately, will do about it? And when will Mr Holmes (and separately Mr. Baker, in light of his July 10 statements) hold press conference(s) at UN HQ on these topics?" I trust you remember that Mr. Holmes said he saw no reason not to make public a list of countries in which OCHA / the UN suffers currency exchange losses. So, please do.

Eight hours later, no answer of any kind had been received. UNDP, as noted, has had the questions before it since June 26, multiply reiterates since then. On August 14, rather than providing the numbers about how much money UNDP has converted in Myanmar, UNDP's Spokesman Stephane Dujarric wrote:

On Myanmar, you received extensive answers on the currency exchange question at the noon briefing. With regards to our programme in Myanmar, UNDP does not have a regular country programme in Myanmar. Since 1993, all assistance from UNDP to Myanmar has been governed by a restrictive mandate from UNDP's Executive Board, which stipulates that assistance must be focused at the grass-roots level, particularly in the areas of primary health care, environment, HIV/AIDS, training and education and food security.

Extensive controls are in place to ensure compliance with the UNDP Executive Board mandate in Myanmar and the Executive Board receives regular reports. Independent assessments have all found that the programme is in full compliance with the Executive Board mandate: i.e., that it is effective in addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable in rural areas of Myanmar, and that all projects operate independently of the government. The full 2005-2006 assessment, including the budget, is available online on the Executive Board website www.undp.org/execbrd/adv2006-second.htm .

But the questions, asked of Mr. Dujarric and in his absence of UNDP's Christina Lonigro and, in great detail, Stanislav Saling, included how much money was been in UNDP's account at the Myanmar Foreign Exchange Bank, how much was converted and at what loss. Also, Dujarric entirely ignores the wider question posed to him and to UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis, to disclose "any and all other countries in which UNDP has faced currency exchange losses of over 5%, and what you have done and, separately, will do about it?"

This is a question that, as to OCHA, John Holmes said on July 28 there was no reason he would not answer. But despite repeated reminders, the question has not been answered by him and OCHA, nor UNDP, nor the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, to which Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson passed the buck (DPKO in turn has said it has asked the UN Controllers Office, just as it passes from the UK's Warran Sach to a new Controller from Japan). DPKO has promised an answer, and we'll wait for it and publish it on this site.

Inner City Press has been contacted by other whistleblowers concerned with the UN system's currency losses. But is the only way to get any change to shame UN officials and point out their mis-statements? We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1newno081408.html

UN's Darfur Mission Mis-Served by Lockheed and Donors, Agwai Says JEM's the Player

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2unamid081208.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 12 -- The UN and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur was badly mis-planned from the beginning, comments by UNAMID force commander Martin Luther Agwai on Tuesday made clear. Inner City Press asked about the $250 million the UN gave on a no-bid basis to Lockheed Martin to build camps, work only 20% completed by the contract's expiration on July 15. Agwai first attempted to defend Lockheed's PAE subsidiary, saying they were only in charge of four "super camps" in Darfur. But he then said that the Nyala super camp has only moved forward once Chinese engineers arrived. Video here, from Minute 29:11.

Pressed on the issue, he noted both that Lockheed was trying to maximize profits and that, as an American company, Sudan's government was obviously not well-disposed toward granting Lockheed visas or fast access to equipment. Of course, this could and should have been foreseen. Instead, then logistics chief Jane Holl Lute, wife of U.S. President Bush's war czar for Iraq and Afghanistan, insisted that Lockheed must get the no-bid contract, that only Lockheed could do the job. In fact, Lockheed was uniquely unqualified for the job. The Lockheed question now is how much of the money they should have to return.

Inner City Press asked Agwai why UNAMID does not protect the World Food Program trucks bringing supplies into Darfur, as WFP staff in June in El Fasher told Inner City Press is needed. Agwai pointed out that UNAMID still has less than 10,000 of its approved 26,000 strength, and has not been given the legal mandate to protect trucks on their way to Darfur. Again, bad planning.

Agwai went further, saying the before the UN took over peacekeeping in Darfur from the African Union force AMIS on January 1, 2008, the AMIS force had its equipments and maintenance from donors. Agwai said that now the donors no longer pay for spares and repairs, and have taken away a maintenance workshop. Why the donors took his all away is not know.

Inner City Press asked Agwai why UNAMID had not noticed the build-up of Justice and Equality Movement rebel forces preparing their May 10 assault on Khartoum, which ended five kilometers outside in Omdurman. Agwai bemoaned the lack of even a single surveillance plane, then opined both that JEM is the only organized Darfur rebel groups, and that they must have infiltrated toward Khartoum in small "packets" of vehicles. He noted that the government must have known something was coming, because it started bombing in the area just before the attack. Agwai said UNAMID was so bound up in verifying the bombings, if they happened or not, that they missed the real target. Video here, from Minute 1:02:34.

Appearing alongside Agwai was his fellow Nigerian Lt.-General Obiakor, the new UN Military Advisor. Inner City Press asked Obiakor about the proposed UN logistics and computer base in Valencia, Spain, which sources say Nigeria wanted. I will have to look into that, Obiakor said, promising to get back with an answer.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2unamid081208.html

On South Ossetia, Denials by Khalilzad of Foreign Fighters, by Yerevan of Russian Planes in Armenian Bases

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/us1sossetia081108.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- Propaganda or underground truth, on the sidelines of conflict in South Ossetia, Russian media has been reporting that foreign fighters, including Americans, were found among the dead in Tskhinvali. Russia Today quoted South Ossetia's Eduard Kokoity that "Ukrainians and mercenaries from the Baltics as well as nationals from other countries were involved in the fighting, as 'foreigners have been found among their bodies.'" South Ossetia's envoy to Russia was quoted that "in yesterday's most recent tank attack, the advancing tanks were supposedly crewed by Ukrainians. Two unidentified bodies found today... Americans... who were probably either mercenaries or instructors in the Georgian armed forces."

Against this backdrop, Inner City Press on Monday afternoon asked the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, Russian media is reporting that foreign fighters including Americans were involved in Tskhinvali. "Some say this is propaganda, some say this is true. What do you say?" Video here, from Minute 8:44.

Khalilzad answered that "we hear a lot of propaganda. We've heard the U.S. gave the green light to this operation... I have nothing specific with regard to these report, but I would not conclude that they are true. We did not have any prior knowledge or were not consulted by Georgia." He encouraged agnosticism as to what happened on August 6, that one "not necessarily buy the line that Georgia initiated a conflict." We'll see.

Meanwhile, responding to an earlier Inner City Press report, from Yerevan comes a quote by Georgian Ambassador to Armenia Revaz countering that the airplanes that bombed Georgian airports flew off from the Russian military base in Armenia: "No Georgian official structures said this. As representative of official authorities of Georgia, I don't say it either. We don't doubt that Armenia will remain neutral in this case and no airplanes will bomb the territory of Georgia from Armenia. I have no doubt." But the allegation was made by a Georgian official. Armenian Colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan was also quoted that "there are no bomber aircrafts at the Russian military base in Armenia," only light interceptors. Again, we'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/us1sossetia081108.html

ICC's Ocampo Dismisses Sudan's Process, Sudan Dismisses Ocampo, of Moral Damages

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/icc2ocampo081108.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- Less than a week after Sudan belatedly named a special prosecutor for Darfur, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called this no more than a cover-up. While that may be true, Luis Moreno-Ocampo's fast dismissal raises the question of who decides when a nation's justice system is credible.

When Inner City Press asked Moreno-Ocampo why all his cases have been in Africa, he said he had considered Colombia, but found their justice system credible. Now there are calls, how ever cynical one may view them, to refer the president of Georgia to the ICC in The Hague, for what Russia alleges is genocide in South Ossetia. One imagines that Moreno-Ocampo would deemed Georgia's legal system credible. But again, who decides?

On Monday at UN headquarters, Inner City Press asked Sudan's Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem Mohamed about Moreno-Ocampo's comments. "We have been saying, that man is not credible," he answered. "He wants to beforehand judge. Every day he is putting oil on fire. We will hold him responsible for the very irresponsible statements he makes. You can quote me."

Moreno-Ocampo on Monday was in Senegal, apparently trying to lobby President Wade to back off his public position that the legal process against Al Bashir should be frozen. In 2005 as Darfur was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council, Moreno-Ocampo was in Cape Town, taking a female journalist's car keys and saying, to get them you must sleep with me, as found by an International Labor Organization panel which found Moreno-Ocampo engaged in retaliation and ordered the payment of moral damages.

Even some who generally support holding leaders personally accountable for deaths now are pointed not only to Article 16 of the ICC's Rome Statute, which provides for freezing of indictments, but also to Article 42.3, which requires that "the Prosecutor and the Deputy Prosecutors shall be persons of high moral character." Moreno-Ocampo may be lobbying on this front as well, in Senegal and elsewhere.

The situation is that those who support the ICC feel compelled to support or cover up for Moreno-Ocampo, feeling that he is weakened, the Court is weakened. But impunity at the ICC undermines it. It is possible, perhaps even necessary, for those who support international criminal law to not make excuses for Moreno-Ocampo.

Moreno-Ocampo's fast dismissal stands in contrast to the response gleened from Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson on August 6, 2008 --

Inner City Press: the Government in Khartoum has now appointed, as had been requested as part of this AU plan, has appointed a Special Prosecutor for the situation in Darfur. Does the UN think that’s a positive step?

Spokesperson: Well, let's see what's happening. Every move made by a national Government, we cannot give an opinion on every single move made by that. Of course it is a positive step.

Inner City Press: The reason I ask is because it's also reported that Al-Arabiya is reporting that, quoting UN sources, that Ban Ki-moon prefers freezing any arrest warrant against President [Omar] al-Bashir. So, I'm wondering, is that not true?

Spokesperson: Well, Al-Arabiya, I guess, has its sources. I cannot comment on that.

Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc2ocampo081108.html

UN Shrugs at Zimbabwe Amnesty Draft as Ban's Envoy is Barred from Harare

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban2zim080808.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 8 -- The UN's and Ban Ki-moon's approach to Zimbabwe has grown more soft or distant. On August 7, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas about the draft agreement between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai which reportedly "would grant amnesty for every Zimbabwean who, in the course of upholding or opposing the aims of ZANU-PF or Zimbabwe, committed crimes within Zimbabwe. Since the United Nations is involved through Mr. Haile Menkerios, does it have any view on whether that blanket amnesty is acceptable?"

Despite the UN's usual mouthing of the mantra of the end of impunity, Ms. Montas declined to comment on the amnesty provisions, stating instead that "we are not part of the negotiation, which is led, as you know, by President Thabo Mbeki. At this point, the negotiations, as far as I know, Mr. Mbeki is supposed to go back there but so far, Mr. Menkerios is in Pretoria, still discussing the different issues." Video here.

But when, the very next day, it was reported that Mugabe has blocked the UN's Haile Menkerios from visiting Zimbabwe, Ms. Montas was that "we are not involved directly" and that she was not aware of Menkerios being blocked.

Some found this strange, given that it has been reported in the South African press that

"Zimbabwe's permanent representative to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku, confirmed that Menkerios was blocked from visiting Harare. 'The talks have now reached a delicate stage and we don’t want any interference. Why does he want to engage in a parallel process?' he said. Diplomatic sources said Menkerios -- who was due in Harare today -- was told by Zimbabwean authorities... that even if he arrived there, no official would meet him and his visit would not be regarded as authorized... UN spokesman Farahan Haq said yesterday Menkerios was in Pretoria and 'arrangements are still being made for his visit' to Zimbabwe. UN representative in Harare Agostinho Zacarias is expected to travel to Pretoria today to meet Menkerios."

It's worth noting that just after the U.S.-sponsored sanctions resolution failed due to Russia's and China's double veto, Ban through Ms. Montas harshly criticized Amb. Boniface Chidyausiku for questioning the objectivity and impartiality of the UN's Department of Political Affairs, click here for that.

Later on August 7, Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for the U.S. position on amnesty for Mugabe. His answer was long, but he did not address amnesty until he was walking away from the stakeout, when he deployed the "we are against impunity" phrase. Video here, at end. His pre-walkaway answer, from the U.S. mission's transcript:

Inner City Press: There are reports of this draft power sharing agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai that would provide for blanket amnesty for all crimes committed in the past. Given the US's position in the sanctions resolution that didn’t pass, what does the US think of a power sharing agreement that provides for blanket amnesty.

Ambassador Khalilzad: Well first we have to see that there is an agreement that restores legitimacy to Zimbabwe. There is a crisis of legitimacy there because of did not happen and what happened there in the second round of elections. Whatever happens has to respect the results of March the first round and two has to be acceptable to the opposition and we will have to see. And second there is also a crisis of the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe. Still there are conditions on NGO operations in Zimbabwe. Those need to be removed and removed immediately. So we want these negotiations to succeed, we want there to be a path to establishment of legitimate order in Zimbabwe.

We thought the way to bring that about was to put pressure on Mr. Mugabe and those responsible for the crisis by putting focused sanctions on them. But some thought that no, that is not the best way, and that the best way is to proceed without sanctions. So the burden is on those who disagreed with our approach to produce results. And I think we are not there yet. We haven't seen anything that can assure us that both the crisis of political legitimacy and the crisis of humanitarian assistance to the people of Zimbabwe is being effectively addressed, yet. But, you know we will see. We will see what happens. Thank you very much.

Then, in response to a shouted follow-up about amnesty, he said that the U.S. is against impunity.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban2zim080808.html

At UN, Jane "Lockheed" Lute to Head PBC, Spain Eyed for Safety, How Will Irish Legal Chief Compare?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1lutepbc080708.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 7 -- If at the UN you push for a $250 million no-bid set-aside for a military contractor from your own country, then decline accountability even while the contractor under-performs, what happens? Apparently, you get a new Assistant Secretary General job.

On August 7 it was confirmed that Jane Holl Lute, who actively pushed for Lockheed Martin to be given $250 million on a "sole source" basis to build peacekeeping camps in Darfur, will be the new ASG for Peace-building. This should present many opportunities, what with the Peacebuilding Fund -- coincidentially, a $250 million fund, video here -- and projects already in Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Cote d'Ivoire. Lockheed's Pacific Architects & Engineers subsidiary, before flaming out in Darfur, was found by the UN to have over-billed in the Congo, and is reputed to have provided services to Charles Taylor and others of his ilk. In the PBC's portfolio there will be many such chances.

It is interesting to note that those who are usually concerned with mis-management at the UN have been strikingly silent on l'affaire Lockheed and Ms. Lute's documented role in it. It is perhaps for this reason that statements like "it had to be no-bid because the UN only knew in July 2007 it had to take over at the end of the year" have not been seen through. But Ms. Lute pushed Lockheed, in writing, in April 2007, before the Security Council's July 2007 UNAMID resolution.

Ms. Lute's insistence on Lockheed's PAE was objected to by the UN Controller, by the Headquarters Committee on Contracts, and ultimately by the General Assembly, which called for an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the results of which have yet to be released. Throughout all this, Ms. Lute saw no need to publicly explain her actions until after actor George Clooney told Inner City Press, in front of Ms. Lute and over her objection, that "I am not a fan of no-bid contracts." In other circumstances there would be a hue and cry.

Here, there is only surprise that Lute didn't get a larger promotion, to Under Secretary General for Safety and Security. Having another American USG might have been too much, even for Ban Ki-moon. The DSS post is being held for another country. At Thursday noon briefing, beyond asking for a Lockheed Martin pull-out of Darfur update that was not given, Inner City Press asked for a second time about Ban Ki-moon's meeting in Mexico City earlier this week with Spain's vice president. The Spanish media reported that, along with again providing assurances about a Valencia Peacekeeping base which the General Assembly has still not approved, Ban asked Spain's vice president to nominate one of her countrymen for the Safety and Security post, "since Spain has been a victim of terrorism."

Spokesperson Michele Montas replied that Ban has sought nominations for the post from many, many countries. But, Inner City Press asked, does he make up a "this is why you're being asked" rationale for each country?

And why, some are wondering, was Ireland given the UN's chief legal job this week? Friends of the departed Nicolas Michel say that he grumbled, as he left, about being asked to sign off on dubious contracts. Will his replacement be even more pliant?

Footnote: in more transition news, the previous and founding UN Peacebuilding director Carolyn McAskie, in her farewell press conference on July 31, told Inner City Press that Guinea-Bissau is awash in drugs -- soon to be echoed by drug-fighting contracts, surely -- and that Somalia may not be ready. She said that in the future, member states and presumably her successor should develop rules and criteria for its agenda. Video here, at Minute 38:52.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1lutepbc080708.html

As UN's Ban Ki-moon Fetes His Envoys' Nepal Roles, Copter Co. Vertical-T is Suspended, UN Heats Up

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3nepal080608.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 6 -- As the UN celebrated its contribution to the Nepali peace process, in a ceremony Wednesday at which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech, more quietly news emerged that the UN helicopter contractor responsible for a deadly crash in Nepal in March has now quietly been suspended by the UN. Inner City Press had asked the UN's envoy to Nepal, Ian Martin, for his response to the national aviation authority's report which severely criticized the UN's contractor, Vertical-T. Mr. Martin had said he was not the one to answer, so the questions were directed elsewhere. And this written answer resulted:

Here is the reply from the UN Department of Field Support on your question... The State of Occurrence (Nepal), has provided the UN with a copy of the Final report. The report is currently being reviewed by the relevant Accredited Representatives to the accident investigation. As per established procedures, once the review has been completed DFS will follow up on all the recommendations in the report.

Meanwhile, for internal purposes, the UN convened a Board of Inquiry (BOI) to review the circumstances of the accident and make recommendations concerning any actions, steps or measures, which the board considers should be taken by the UN authorities to avoid the reoccurrence of such accidents.

Vertical-T has been suspended as a UN registered vendor. The reasons for the suspension are a lack of cooperation with the Nepalese Accident Commission and an inability to meet contractual requirements. The UN currently has no charter agreements with Vertical-T.

As for the procedures for modifying existing contracts or taking negative performance reviews into account in future contracting, DFS has established Aviation Quality Assurance and Accident Prevention Programs in place that address contractual, operational, performance and safety issues.

This reporter, in riding in a Vertical-T helicopter in Chad in June, noted that all safety information was in Russian, and communications with the pilots was impossible.

Footnote: at the Nepal even on Wednesday, on the other hand, Ban Ki-moon was sired around by Chinese Ambassador Wang, as Lynn Pascoe and Vijay Nambiar worked the crowd. There was grumbling, yes, about Ban's decision to raise the temperature in Headquarters, to save money and the environmental. The number of electric fans coming in continues to climb, and Ban is slated to leave on a vacation. Should the UN Department of Political Affairs have given advice on this?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3nepal080608.html

Spanish Coins Face Stealth Sale by Secret Museum, Frank Lorenzo Is Said to Change Hispanic Society of America

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press, in NYC: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/nyc1hsa080608.html

NEW YORK, August 6 -- Under a leaking ceiling on 155th Street in West Harlem, paintings by Goya and Velasquez hang in near obscurity in the Hispanic Society of America. Surrounded by the vacant shells left by museums which have decamped to lower Manhattan, and with controversial airline investor Frank Lorenzo now taking a leading role on the board of trustees, the Hispanic Society has taken to selling off the treasures collected by its founder, Archer Milton Huntington. Last year a 13th century Koran was sold in London.

On August 6, Sotheby's began cataloguing for immanent auction a collection of 38,000 coins which Huntington lent to the American Numismatic Society. The HSA's board of trustees have assumed unfettered discretion to under-promote, under-protect and ultimately sell off Huntington's collection, in a process some analogize to Lorenzo's treatment of airlines during his heyday.

"This is to cry," a Spanish art lover sighed during a recent visit. It didn't have to be this way -- and the coin sale could still be stopped. Potential bidders should be aware of the history, particularly how the sale may run counter to not only the spirit but also the letter of Huntington's intent.

Despite Huntington's transfer of the coins to the American Numismatic Society being described as a "permanent" loan, the HSA has fought and litigated to regain the coins, but only for the purpose of selling them, not for display. In early 2007, the HSA drafted a Loan Agreement which gave it the right to cancel Huntington's transfer. In response to persistent questions from the New York correspondent of the Madrid newspaper La Razon, HSA management denied the intent to sell the coins. But in a contemporaneous series of court filings and letters to the New York State Attorney General viewed by Inner City Press, the HSA refers to its board of trustee's January 23, 2008 resolution to "deaccession" the collection -- museum terminology for selling off. Then Sotheby's today began cataloguing the coins for sale.

During an August 6 visit to the American Numismatic Society's new location at 75 Varrick Street, Inner City Press observed a team from Sotheby's and a spin-off company specializing in coin sales, Morton & Eden, preparing to catalogue the coins, which number 38,000. A sworn affidavit by Sotheby's David Redden spells out the auction house's demands during the cataloguing process: a separate, carpeted room to which they will have their own key, Internet access and, strangely, the right to bring in their own food. Once catalogued, the coins will be sold the highest bidders. Pending a legislative proposal in New York State, A995A, which would limit the uses of "deaccession" profits, the Lorenzo-led Hispanic Society of America could put the proceeds to any use whatsoever.

Lorenzo is best known for the bankruptcy of Eastern Airline; he has been described as, among other things, a "vulture investor." Now, museum sources say, he is applying to same slash and burn philosophy to the Hispanic Society of America, moving to sell off anything that is not nailed down. "It's a social club for a handful of businessmen," one well-placed source complained, describing these "gentlemen's" jockeying to meet Spanish royalty and other European dignitaries and titans of commerce.

Archer Milton Huntington, himself the adopted son of a railroad magnate, stumbled into appreciation of Spanish art after reading a then-popular book about gypsies, George Borrow's The Zincali. He traveled to Spain and bought art works and coins. The museum opened in 1908, on land he purchased from naturalist James Audubon. Huntington gave 30,000 of the coins he had collected to the Hispanic Society and then, according to a HSA-printed biography, "in 1946 placed [the coin collection] on permanent loans with the American Numismatic Society."

But in the years after Huntington's death in 1955, the Hispanic Society museum drifted from its mission. By 1993, the Commissioner of New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, Luis Cancel, accused the HSA's board of trustees of failing to engage with the museum's largely-Hispanic neighbors. The Society's then-director responded that the area would soon be gentrified, which largely has yet to happen.

A visit to the museum by this reporter on a recent Sunday found only a handful of tourists and two security guards. The Society's library was closed to the public, and 16th century wood carvings sat under a leaking ceiling with peeling paint. Upstairs, rare ceramics sat on the floor next to electric fans of the type sold in discount stores, protected only by a two-foot high strip of plastic or Lexan. Even though no direct comment was offered for this initial story, it emerged that the HSA's trustees have also considered leaving 155th Street, but concluded that space lower in Manhattan was too expensive. Whether the subprime crisis changes that, or explains the shameless sell-off, is not yet clear.

It is noteworthy, as least in coin and ceramic circles, that the Euphronios-painted "hot pot" that the Metropolitan Museum of Art had to return to Italy was purchased in 1972, with proceeds from the Met's controversial sale of its coins, which had been on loan to the American Numismatic Society. Call it karma or a cautionary tale.

A review of tax returns of the Hispanic Society of America lists the HSA with $29 million. But if the Society's representations in its legal papers about the small percentage of its assets made up by the coins are true, its assets would be up to thirty times higher. Marcus Burke and Patrick Lanaghan are listed as annually receiving $65,000 and $63,000, respectively, along with $30,000 each in deferred compensation. Other trustees beyond Frank Lorenzo include William R. Harman, Miner H. Warner and George B. Moore, who signed the Trojan horse revised loan agreement, and who works at Merrill Lynch.

None of these were present on Wednesday when Sotheby's began final cataloguing of the coins at the American Numismatic Society. The Sotheby's group were behind a locked and secured door, presumably with the lunch they had brought in. Archer Milton Huntington, one imagined, was rolling in his grave. Will his voice and intent be heard, before at Frank Lorenzo's direction, Huntington's hard-won collection disappears into the hands of the highest bidder?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/nyc1hsa080608.html

UN in Myanmar Still Losing 20% on Currency Exchange, Asks for More, Problem Widens

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/un2forex080508.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 5 -- While the UN in Myanmar has yet to resolve or even minimize the 20%, $10 million currency exchange losses it admitted eight days ago, it is going public with requests for more funds. At the UN's noon briefing on Tuesday, spokesperson Michele Montas quoted UN humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar Dan Baker that $51 million is needed for rice paddies, and that of the UN's July 10 revised appeal, there is a $285 million, or 59%, shortfall. Video here, from Minute 4.

Inner City Press, which back on June 26 first reported on the UN's losses to government-required currency exchange, asked Ms. Montas if the UN is still losing 20% of each dollar spent in Myanmar. "The information you have stands," Ms. Montas said. "I have heard of no changes." Video here, from Minute 12:03.

That each dollar of aid must be converted with Myanmar's military government for a Foreign Exchange Certificate with, now, 80% of the value means that 20% of aid is directly benefiting the regmine led by General Than Shwe. This puts in a different light -- bribery, some call it -- Chevron Corporation's self-described "$1 million cash contribution." $200,000 of that goes to the government, which controls licenses, including of those few money changers which in turn convert the devalued FECs. Other corporate contributors include French oil company Total, Siemens AG and JP Morgan Chase.

On July 28, the UN's John Holmes publicly admitted $10 million of losses and promised both to get to the bottom of it, and at Inner City Press' request to produce a list of other countries in which the UN is losing more than 5% to currency exchange. So far neither has been done.

A representative of the UN Development Program telephoned Inner City Press the day after Holmes' public admission, by contrast providing UNDP's answers only on a not for direct attribution basis. He said that the Myanmar government, in order to "control" foreign exchange, licensed a few approved money changers. He jotted down Inner City Press' request for UNDP's pre-cyclone currency exchange losses and a list of other countries in which UNDP is losing 5% or more to currency exchange, but said that UNDP will be relying on and deferring to John Holmes' inquiries in this regard.

Now, however, well-placed UN sources tell Inner City Press that the reason for the delay on making any disclosures, even about Myanmar, is that UNDP demanding a re-do of the numbers, trying to whittle down Holmes' admission of $10 million in losses. The attempt to re-fudge the numbers is being down through the UN Country Team, headed by UNDP's Bishow Parajuli, previously the head of the UN World Food Program in Egypt.

Meanwhile, UNDP has been unable to provide any figures about how much money it has converted in Myanmar, including for a program it calls "Micro-Finance." The spokesman-without-name repeatedly like a mantra, our work is good. But how much was converted and spent? How much money has been and is in UNDP's account with the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank? There has still been no answer.

Belatedly joining its Western Permanent Five compadres the U.S. and UK, the French Mission to the UN provided Inner City Press with the following response to the scandal:

"Obviously, we are sharing the concerns expressed by John Holmes toward these difficulties. Since the beginning, France has been very engaged in the international effort to hurry assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Consistent with the principle of the responsibility to protect, we have also urged the Myanmar government to fully allow access of international aid to victims. We pay tribute to the UN involvement to improve the situation. It is obviously crucial that no financial resources dedicated to humanitarian assistance should be wasted, and we therefore support the UN efforts to find a solution to that problem."

But for now the efforts focus on cover-up, and nothing is being done to ensure that the problem doesn't continue, and in countries beyond Myanmar.

On August 5, to try to get answers since UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis has refused to answer questions or to hold a press conference, Inner City Press attended a meeting of UNDP's Executive Board. After a presentation by UNDP controller Darshak Shah, comments were sought by UNDP from the member states on the Board. Nothing was said about Myanmar or the currency exchange losses. Rather the talk was of boosting UNDP's "direct budget support" to governments, and ensuring "government ownership" of funds. This has been UNDP's priority in Myanmar.

[Since Kemal Dervis does not, as he puts it, "answer questions in the hallway," nor hold press conferences, Inner City Press has formally posed the questions here.]

Similarly, despite a commitment by World Health Organization official Eric Laroche -- previously of UNDP -- to provide a description of WHO's currency exchange practices and losses in Myanmar, no information has yet been provided by WHO, despite reminders to Mr. Laroche's spokesman. Apparently the cover-up mentality of UNDP spreads with its former employees.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas when the Holmes-promised list of other countries with currency losses would be provided, and how that would cover UNDP and UN Peacekeeping. Ms. Montas said that Inner City Press will have to ask each agency, even each department, separately. One agency spokesman told Inner City Press that the agency's controller / accounting department might not be tracking currency exchange losses, even now, and that if is such information were being collected, it is not the UN's job to "do research" for Inner City Press. How about making basic disclosure, of losses up to 25% of each aid dollar, to donors? Apparently the UN does not that that is required, either.

The time for semi-proactively disclosing other countries with currency losses is now.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2forex080508.html

UN's Ban Distances Himself from Sudan's Bashir, After Off the Record Lunch with Journalists

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/ban5press080108.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 -- With Sudan's President Omar Al Bashir threatened with an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, it has been reported that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been advised by his lawyers to "distance himself politically" from Al Bashir. The London-based newspaper Al Hayat, with a long-time correspondent at UN Headquarters, sourced this to "Ban aides."

At the August 1 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas if the report is true. "I don't have a response," Ms. Montas said. But was Ban advised to distance himself from Al Bashir? "I'm sure that issue was discussed with the Secretary-General," Montas said, adding that is Ban's decision what to do with such advice. Video here, from Minute 23:16.

Further inquiry by Inner City Press leads to the inference that the sourcing of the story was Ban Ki-moon himself. It is an open secret that Ban has been holding a series of off-the-record lunches with select reporters, including on July 30 the Al Hayat correspondent. Whether a shifting of the sourcing from Ban to his aides -- or perhaps in fairness a subsequent confirmation by aides -- complies with Ban's understanding remains to be seen.

The question arises, as the trigger for this piece, why would Ban be distancing himself from the advice or decision that he be distant from Bashir? What is gained by telling select journalists, on the condition that they not report it, that he is taking seriously the ICC Prosecutor's charges of war crimes including rape, and of genocide, by Al Bashir? Perhaps it was understood that they would report it?

Some say that the decision to step back from Al Bashir is as much personal as legal. Just before ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo formally announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant against Al Bashir, Ban telephoned Bashir. Afterwards, Sudanese state media characterized the call as one in which Ban was critical of the prosecutor. Ban's office ultimately responded to the characterization, and criticized statements by Sudan's Ambassador to the UN. When Inner City Press asked, on the record, which statement were being criticized, there was no answer. But was there an off the record answer?

The series of lunches continued on August 1, when Ms. Montas was seen escorting a half dozen journalists to the elevator. Would the lunches become on the record? Would they cease? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban5press080108.html

The Strange, Short Tenure of UN's Verbeke in Lebanon, Reports of Safety Threats

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1verbeke080108.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 -- The UN announced Friday that Johan Verbeke, who only recently was appointed UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, is being given a new assignment, as UN envoy to Abkhazia, Georgia. On July 24, Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Michele Montas why Verbeke had not meaningfully deployed to Lebanon. Ms. Montas responded that "I can simply tell you that Mr. Verbeke had to go back home for personal reasons, family reasons, and that's why he was not in Lebanon."

Inner City Press has been told by well-placed Beirut sources that Mr. Verbeke faced threats to his safety, to such an extent that rather than rely on UN Security, he approached the Lebanese government and even the Hariri family. Neither could offer assurances. He stayed for a time in the Moven Pick hotel, Inner City Press is told and can now report, given his transfer to Georgia. But ultimately he left Lebanon due to lack of security, Inner City Press is told.

At the August 1 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Montas why Verbeke was leaving, personal or safety? From the transcript

Inner City Press: "I didn't know that there was announcement today of Mr. Verbeke. Before I had asked, and you had said there was some personal issue. I don't want to get into any personal issue, but I do want to ask you, I had heard that there were some security concerns. I know that you also don't like to talk about them. Specific, not to just the mission in general, but to Mr. Verbeke himself. Either threats or that he'd sought protection from either the Lebanese Government or the Hariris, various things. Does this transfer, what is, how does it relate to whatever the personal issue was, which I don't want to know what it was? But is it because of a personal issue or is because of a safety issue? What's the basis of the transfer?"

Ms. Montas said, "I am not aware of the details." Video here, from Minute 24:08.

He will be replaced by Michael Williams, returning to the UN from a stint with the UK government. Why is it safer in Lebanon for Williams than Verbeke? Various theories have been advanced to Inner City Press, including Verbeke's role on the UN Security Council's Al Qaeda sanctions committee. What is concrete is that due to this uncertainty, the UN was un- or under-represented even at the inauguration of Lebanon's new president. Another part-time UN envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, competed with the head of UN Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno to attend. The result was the UN becoming less and less of a player in the conflicts.

And see, http://www.innercitypress.com/un1verbeke080108.html

UN's Ban in Shirt-Sleeves, a Cooling Room Next Door, Asked about Double-Standards by Fox

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1cool080108.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 1 -- Television camera crews were waiting for the UN's Ban Ki-moon on Friday morning; he showed off for them a short sleeved shirt and lack of tie. To set an example, he said, of action for climate change, the UN will raise the temperature in the building by five degrees. A photo opportunity was scheduled for 9:15 in Ban's office, but upon arrival the Press was told there would not be enough space. It was said Ban would take no questions, that no reporters should go upstairs. Ultimately questions were allowed, by CNN, Fox and Inner City Press.

The Fox TV reporter demanded that Ban address the "double standard" in the cooling of rooms on the 38th floor. Ban's office felt warm, but a conference room next door was, the Fox team estimated, closer to 60 degrees. Ban said, "I have been sometimes very warm in this room, I have to switch to the next conference room." To some, this meant that he will have his own cooling spot upstairs, which Fox called a meat locker, while other UN staff, particularly in rooms facing the sun and East River, sweat through August. The Staff Union, in a July 31 meeting, questioned whether Ban had consulted with the UN medical service.

Inner City Press asked Ban if he is encouraging Presidents like George Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy to follow his lead. "I don't have any control over member states," he said. "They are sovereign member states... I will be happy if member states follow." In fact, South Korea and Japan, for example, already have such programs. Ban added that when he met with Japan's foreign minister, they did so without ties.

The Press was then escorted down to the UN's third and fourth sub-basements, control and machine room. One staffer said, "This won't really reduce greenhouse gasses, but it might save us money." He said that under Kofi Annan, something similar was tried, in order to save money. When Inner City Press asked how much money had been saved, he said to ask the spokesperson's office. Inner City Press did, at Friday's briefing, and will publish the answer when received.

And at 6:16 p.m. on Friday the following arrived --

"The UN introduced a cost-savings program in 2002 in response to significant budget cuts made by the General Assembly at the time. The program included the total shutdown of the fan system every night after 6 p.m. There were other measures that were introduced, such as reduced service to the conference rooms and reduction in mail service. Most of the services were later restored. No specific savings figure is available."

We can further report that, at least for today, complaints were becoming widespread about being too hot, about whether the savings were worth it and, yes, about what some called Ban Ki-moon's cool room on the 38th floor...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1cool080108.html

Darfur Mission Is Extended as U.S. Abstains, Indictment of Bashir Denounced by China and "Majority"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unsc4unamid073108.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 31/August 1 -- The joint African Union - UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur UNAMID had its mandate extended with less than two hours remaining, after the voting was delayed for more than six hours by demands for changes by the U.S., which ended up abstaining. At issue was a paragraph "taking note of the African Union communique" which called for suspension of the International Criminal Court indictment of Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir. The U.S. wanted the reference removed, saying it would send the wrong message to Bashir. But even the UK and France, even Croatia and Costa Rica, voted for the resolution with the paragraph in. Does this mean that the U.S. is more committed that these other countries to the cause of international criminal justice, even to the ICC?

As the vote kept being put off, questions mounted about why the U.S. had let things get this far, to a finalized draft, hours before the mandate expired, without having even one other country supporting its position. Ironically, some compared it to the vote earlier in the month on imposing sanctions on Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, in which the U.S. among others thought, particularly after Russia's seemingly pro-sanctions statement at the G-8 meeting in Japan, that China would be left standing alone as the only veto-wielding member with Mugabe, and thus might abstain. On that vote, Russia joined China in a rare double veto, three others voted no, and one abstained. Here, it was the U.S. which stood alone, isolated as it were, with no other country with it.

While the explanations of vote were still ongoing in the Council chamber, Inner City Press asked Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangwa if and when China will move in the Council for a resolution seeking to suspend prosecution against Al Bashir under Article 16 of the ICC's Rome Statute. "We do hope that in the next couple weeks all the interested parties should get together," Amb. Wang said.

Inner City Press asked, since the U.S. abstained even from mentioning suspension, whether it was possible they would vote to suspend. "Differing members have different interpretations," Amb. Wang said, but "in the Security council all council member, particularly the permanent members, we must take up our political responsibility." Some thought he meant that the public position of U.S. -- and others that will ultimate vote with it -- amounts to grandstanding that makes achieving a peace deal in Sudan more difficult.

Another few is that since Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has not yet succeed in convicting through the ICC a single defendant, he was arrogant to indict Sudan's president at this time. Supporters of the ICC won't say it, because that would be viewed as undermining the ICC. But perhaps it is Moreno-Ocampo himself who is, in this instance, undermining the ICC.

Inner City Press asked Amb. John Sawers of the UK what he thought of Russia's and China's argument that two thirds of the member states of the UN support the position that the indictment should be suspended. Amb. Sawers responded, in essence, that on other issues he doesn't see them citing to the views of the majority of states.

While the French mission did not speak to the press at the stakeout on Thursday evening -- France's explanation after the vote was delivered in the Chamber by the mission's political counsellor Nicolas de Riviere -- a statement was issued attributed to Deputy Permanent Representative Jean-Pierre Lacroix, that "on the AU request regarding the ICC prosecutor's recommendations, we do not think that the current situation regarding Khartoum's cooperation on all these issues warrants taking action at the Council at this stage." This echoed a statement made earlier in the month by Permanent Representative Jean-Maurice Ripert, that if President Bashir were to turn over the indictee Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Harun, it might be helpful in terms of his own indictment. It must be noted, however, that Moreno-Ocampo has charged Bashir with far more than non-cooperation. Absent a Council resolution, it is hard to see how the ICC process would stop.

Inner City Press asked U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff to explain his statement that the construction of infrastructure for peacekeepers in Darfur must speed up, in light of the UN report that the no-bid contractor Lockheed Martin, a U.S.-based firm, has under-performed in Darfur. We are all to blame, Amb. Wolff said, listing the UN, the international community and "especially" Sudan. He did not list Lockheed Martin, although the UN's report did. Will Lockheed be returning some of the money? We will continue to follow these stories.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc4unamid073108.html

UN Base in Spain Still Is Not Approved, Despite Photo-Op of Castle Made of Sand

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban2valencia073108.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- In Spain on November 17 of last year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with the Spanish Vice-President "unveil[ed] a plaque at the site of the future United Nations Peacekeeping Logistics Base." To the Spanish media and people, it was implied that the approvals and funding were in place. The message in context was that President Zapatero's donations to and support of the UN were bearing fruit; "Bambi is bringing home the bacon," as one wag put it, using one of Zapatero's nicknames.

There is a problem, however: there had and has been no approval of the funding or location of this UN Peacekeeping Logistics Base. This week the UN confirmed that it was not approved in May, despite the "expectation" that it would be. Now it is envisioned it will be approved, if at all, in the next General Assembly session.

On April 7, Inner City Press e-mailed the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) "as asked at today's noon briefing, what are the specifics of the planned peacekeeping logistics base in Valencia, Spain, when was it proposed and has it been approved by the General Assembly? If so, was it approved before November 2007?"

DKPO's spokesman replied on April 9 that

"The Valencia site will be utilized to provide ICT services to UN peace operations. In conjunction with current operations in UNLB (Brindisi), the creation of this secondary active telecommunications facility will mitigate the single point of failure risk that exists in our current infrastructure and will ensure the safety of peace operations' information/data assets in the event of a catastrophic incident. It will also provide continuous voice, data and video services to field missions in case of short-term disruptions. The proposal to establish this facility is with the General Assembly and it is our expectation it will be taken up in the second resumed session."

This "second resumed session" took place in May 2008. But why, then, did Ban jump the gun and along with Spanish Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega unveil a plaque in Valencia in November 2007, which the UN captioned as Ban and the Vice President "unveil a plaque at the site of the future United Nations Peacekeeping Logistics Base." How could he be so sure?

In fact, the proposal was not even approved at the May 2008 budget session.

To confirm, Inner City Press again asked DPKO to explain, and received this week in return a similar statement, but for the addition of a paragraph portraying the siting decision as having been competitive and adding at the end that DPKO again "envisions" that it will be approved -- in the next General Assembly session:

On the Valencia site:

The establishment of a secondary active telecommunications facility is being sought to provide additional and complementary capacity for the information and communication technology infrastructure currently in place in the United Nations Logistics Base (UNLB) in Brindisi, Italy. The proposed facility will be utilized to provide ICT services to UN peace operations and will operate in conjunction with current operations in UNLB to ensure the safety of UN' data assets in the event of a catastrophic incident. It will also serve to provide continuous voice, data and video services to UN missions in cases of short-term disruptions.

In July 2006, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) submitted requests to 43 Member states (located within a predefined geographical area translating into a satellite footprint) to submit proposals to the host the facility. Several Countries, including Spain, submitted firm proposals. Following an exhaustive selection process, the proposal submitted by the Government of Spain to establish the facility in Valencia was selected as meeting all of the selection criteria, while also representing the most advantageous offer to meet this requirement for the Organization.

The request to the General Assembly for approval to establish the facility is currently being reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) as part of a comprehensive review of the Secretariat's information and communications technology. It is envisaged that the proposal, along with the ACABQ’s recommendation, will be considered by the General Assembly during the main part of its Sixty-Third session.

So the Secretary-General apparently jumped the gun in November 2007; DKPO was incorrect in its "expectation" of approval in May 2008, but now "envisions" approval in the next session of the General Assembly.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban2valencia073108.html

At UN, Questions of Skanska's Involvement in NJ Bribery Case and Cut-Back of Tours

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un5cmp073008.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 -- While publicizing an initiative to raise the temperature by five degrees this August inside UN headquarters, the UN's Michael Adlerstein was asked for his reaction to the UN's contractor, Skanska, being part of a bribery guilty plea on a New Jersey job they were fired from, and why public tours of the Security Council will end later this week. "I'm cautious that that's accurate information," Adlerstein said, arguing reflexively that general contractors are only responsible for "their people" and not "one of their hundreds of subsidiaries." Video here, at Minute 22:55.

But Skanska's own senior vice president for communications, Tom Crane, reportedly confirmed that the "United States Attorney's office has notified Skanska USA -- the construction contracting company initially hired to oversee the construction of the metal-draped science library designed by Frank Gehry -- that an employee of the company is suspected of receiving 'unauthorized payments.'" As Inner City Press cited to Adlerstein, this was reported in New Jersey's Daily Princeton, here, citing the Times of Trenton.

So does Adlerstein's Capital Master Plan office monitor Skanska? Apparently Skanska does not disclose such material information to the UN.

On the abrupt discontinuance of public tours of the UN's Conference Building, including the Security Council, Adlerstein was vague on what work the City of New York asked to be done. He mentioned sprinklers, which have not been installed. The municipal officials involved in the meeting emerged with the adjective "contemptuous." But at least at Wednesday's press conference, Adlerstein was on his best behavior. UN COOL, one wag quipped.

At Wednesday's noon briefing, spokesperson Michele Montas announced the new prices with the truncated tours, which are barely a dollar cheaper than the previously full tours. One journalist asked: so the Security Council, along with ECOSOC and the Trusteeship Council, are worth only a dollar? The experiment in less air conditioning in the UN smacks of Jimmy Carter in the 1970s -- by no means the worst reference. One Japanese journalists notes the "Cool Biz" program in his country, in which he said government officials ended up dressing like yakuza gangsters, "in suit coats but no ties." We'll see.

Footnote: a personnel matter which Adlerstein may be asked about is the shift from Facilities Management to the CMP of one Joan McDonald. An event marking her transfer was cancelled due to a fire drill and building evacuation last Friday. But why the transfer, one year before retirement? Adlerstein, it emerges, is in charge of both the CMP and Facilities Management. Whether this helps the UN in its negotiations with the City of New York is open to question.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un5cmp073008.html

UN Peacekeeping Chief Guehenno Dodges On ICC and Lockheed to the End, Still a Fond Farewell

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1guehenno072908.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 29, updated July 30 -- As Jean-Marie Guehenno said farewell to the UN on Tuesday after eight years heading UN Peacekeeping, he declined to comment on the UN's ill-fated $250 million no-bid contract with Lockheed Martin in Darfur, saying it had been a "tough call" which he "wouldn't like to second guess." Video here, from Minute 1:00:37. Inner City Press, which asked him the question on Tuesday, had previously asked him and been referred to then-logistics chief Jane Holl Lute, who did not answer.

The contract's lack of competition led to extensive criticism of UN Peacekeeping in the UN's budget committee, and ultimately the UN's own reports found that Lockheed Martin performed poorly under the contract, although it is not clear that any money will be returned. Some were disappointed that even in this light, Guehenno could or would not acknowledge that the no-bid contract with Lockheed was a mistake. While Guehenno to his credit spoke of UN Peacekeeping learning as it goes along, its recent failure to protect civilians in Abyei in The Sudan is reminiscent, structurally if not in numbers, to inaction in Rwanda. As exposed and asked about on Tuesday, the UN's initial report on Abyei was a whitewash contradicted by eyewitness reporting.

Guehenno was similarly evasive on the question, raised in another farewell press conference on July 25 by outgoing UN legal chief Nicolas Michel, about the extent of the provision of information by UN Peacekeeping to the International Criminal Court and its Prosecutor. Michel said that the UN Secretariat, including its peacekeeping operations, "have been in very close contact, repeatedly, with the Office of the Prosecutor" of the ICC. This undermined another argument the UN has been making, that the government of Sudan would be wrong to link the ICC Prosecutor's request earlier this month for an arrest warrant against President Omar Al-Bashir with the two UN peacekeeping operations in the country.

Inner City Press twice asked Guehenno this question on Tuesday. Guehenno's first answer was that "our human rights officers report to the [Security] Council" so it is all "on the table and transparent." But the cooperation, for example in the case of Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga which Inner City Press asked about, was by all accounts more extensive the the public reports to the Security Council. Inner City Press followed up, but Guehenno again dodged, saying that "when there's a pending case... if advised by the legal office, we share" information with the ICC. Video here, from Minute 1:00:37.

Again we ask, if UN operations on the ground provide information to the ICC, and will increasingly do so in the future, why would it be surprising if potential or actual targets of the ICC barred access to or expelled UN operations? The question remains for Guehenno's successor Alain Le Roy.

Guehenno did venture some thoughts on peacekeeping in such places as Somalia, saying cryptically that sometimes even a doctor must say no. Less equivocally, and leading to a seemingly unanimous interpretation by the UN press corps that Guehenno does not favor deployment to Somalia, at least at this time, he listed among factors weighing against insertion of peacekeepers the lack of a peace agreement that includes those who actually control the guns on the ground. This is one description of Somalia, wher the Shabab continue fighting even after the Djibouti talks (which Inner City Press attended and reported on), and in which threats to shoot at UN peacekeepers have been made. To some, it appears Guehenno meant, even when there is no other alternative, the Security Council should not send peacekeepers to places like Somalia. It may even appear that, in retrospect, he meant or would have meant to Darfur as well. It could be worse, muttered one wag. One hears that more and more at the UN these days.

Footnote: Inner City Press ran into Guehenno later on Thursday, said a proper farewell and noted that Guehenno had not been asked about the UN's need to decide whether to retain as deputy force commander in Darfur the Rwandan general Karake Karenzi, who has been indicted for war crimes by a Spanish court. Guehenno said he was surprised and glad that the question had not come up. Consider it a farewell gift -- the question who not have been answered anyway. Guehenno has told Inner City Press he is weighing proposals and offers from think tanks in New York; he confirmed on Tuesday that he will be writing a book. Perhaps answers to the questions of the no-bid Lockheed Martin contract, and the implications of peacekeepers sharing information with the ICC's Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will finally be answered in that format.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1guehenno072908.html

Spending on Vanity Press History of UNAIDS Called a "Detail" By Peter Piot Before Mexico City HIV-AIDS Confab

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/un1aidsbook072908.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 -- In advance of the International AIDS Conference started August 3 in Mexico City, UNAIDS director Peter Piot was asked about his use of agency money to publish what some call a vanity press book, "UNAIDS: The First Ten Years." Piot responded defensively that "this is the classic way of doing things" and that it cost only "half a million dollars." Inner City Press asked about reports that it cost, in fact, $1 million, and asked Piot to respond to criticism by his former senior advisor, who criticized Piot's publishing frenzy and use of funds. "Definitely not true," Piot said, looking over at this spokeswoman. Video here, from Minute 21:16.

But concerns have arisen, too, about his "Art for Aids" coffee table book, which reportedly cost nearly $400,000. "It is standard to record," Piot said, sitting next to Kemal Dervis, the Administrator of UNDP, an agency which begrudging admitted spending more than Piot's half-million dollar figure for its own official history, UNDP: A Better Way?

UNAIDS' Peter Piot, publishing costs and criticism not shown

Dervis on July 25 told Inner City Press that he will not answer questions in the UN hallway, as other UN system officials do, and that he will no hold a UNDP press conference until after the "high summer season" is over.

Inner City Press asked Piot if he expects his spending on "UNAIDS: The First Ten Years" to be raised in next month's conference in Mexico City. "I can't imagine," he said, "it's a real detail." So, half a million dollars is a detail? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1aidsbook072908.html

UN Admits $10 Million Exchange Loss in Myanmar, Says Will Disclose Others Countries and Losses

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1forex072808.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 -- At least $10 million in UN aid money raised by the UN after Cyclone Nargis hit has been lost in government-dictated currency exchanges, UN humanitarian chief John Holmes admitted on July 28. He stated that at the time he launched a second appeal for aid on July 10, "we here" in New York had not been aware of the seriousness or extent of the losses. But an internal UN document obtained by Inner City Press shows that the UN knew as early at June 26 of a "very serious 20% loss on foreign exchange... changing US Dollars to Foreign Exchange Certificates [FEC] then to local currency, Kyats." This appears in the internal "Notes for the Record" of an "Emergency Task Force Teleconference" call involving top officials in Yangon, Bangkok and Rome, available here.

Inner City Press on June 26, after being read the minutes by a source, wrote an article and asked questions about it, including to the UN Development Program. On July 9, before the appeal was launched, Inner City Press asked Holmes about it, on camera in front of the Security Council, video here, at end.

Holmes on July 28 put the loss at $10 million and called it unacceptable. Inner City Press asked what percentage loss through government-dictated currency exchange he and the UN would find acceptable. "I think we've had this discussion before," Holmes said. "It's very difficult to set the bar." Video here, from Minute 31:58. "We are arguably a bit slow to recognize, since the spread widened in June." But prior to June, and prior to the cyclone, the UN was losing 15% to currency exchange. Was that acceptable?

Given the UN's losses in Myanmar only came out due to questions being pursued about these leaked minutes, Inner City Press asked Holmes if he would commit to now releasing a list of those countries in which the UN suffers currency exchange losses of greater than five percent, and a plan to address the losses and / or appropriately disclose them to donors. "I don't see any reason why not," Holmes said. "There's no reason not to be transparent." Video here, from Minute 55:57. He added, "we had not been trying to conceal it."

But why then not have disclosed it in the July 10 appeal for several hundred million more dollars for Myanmar? Notably, if a publicly-traded company was even negligent in this way, there would be fines and worse. This now becomes a test-case not only for Holmes but also for Ban Ki-moon. The problems of currency exchange rip-offs by governments may have pre-existed their tenures. But now that it is belatedly known, if only through questions being pursued about leaked minutes, it remains to be seen if they and the UN move to clean out this heretofore undisclosed leakage of aid money.

Inner City Press first raised the issue on June 26 itself, in print and in questions to the UN Development Program, which handles UN finances in the field. UNDP Spokesman Stephane Dujarric provided a written response that

"UNDP Funds are remitted into the UNDP US dollar account at Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank. UNDP Myanmar exchanges US dollars for Foreign Exchange Certificates at the Bank, and then converts these into local currency (Kyat)."

After that, in response to Inner City Press' request for how much money UNDP and the UN have converted into FEC, UNDP has provided no information. Mr. Dujarric left a message that he was going on leave but that his colleagues would provide the information. This never took place. On July 25, Inner City Press asked UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis after he launched an appeal for more most-emergency funds if he would answer questions about UNDP's Myanmar operations, there in the UN's conference room 4 or in a press conference. "You know I don't answer questions like this," he said, adding that any press conference would have to wait until "after the high summer season." There are indications that UNDP, even prior to Cyclone Nargis, provided larger cuts to Myanmar's Than Shwe government than the 25% now admitted to by the UN's humanitarian operations.

The amount of money the UN system has turned over to the Than Shwe government goes back far before the cyclone. At UN Headquarters on July 16, Inner City Press posed questions to Eric Laroche, now at the World Health Organization, but previously the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, and further back with UNICEF in Myanmar. When Inner City Press asked if Laroche thought it legitimate to accept a low exchange rate from a government in order to have access, he stayed silent for a full eight seconds before saying, "It's a very difficult question, and a more difficult answer. It has to do with principles." He said that when he was in the country with UNICEF, auditors were told about the exchange rate arrangements with the government. He and his spokesman committed to explain how WHO exchanges money in Myanmar, but to date have not done so. After a telephone call on the afternoon of July 28, their response is expected immanently, and will be covered as this series progresses.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1forex072808.html