Serbia Questions France's Talk of Turbulence, Disappearance of Funds from Kovovo

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icj3serbia092408.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 24 -- Serbia's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told the Press on Wednesday that his country is confident of winning any General Assembly vote on its resolution to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice about the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence. Inner City Press asked him to respond to the comments by French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert on September 17 that the European Union, which France heads for this six months and which Serbia is trying to join, thinks that the Serbian resolution "creates some turmoil and some turbulences that are not very good for that." Video here, from Minute 11:58.

Jeremic said that in the Balkan, "we know what real turbulence is," and that goes beyond seeking an advisory opinion from a court. Serbia is discussing with new General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann getting a vote on its resolution soon after the General Debate ends. Jeremic said that European countries should be hard-pressed to vote against the international legal review process. This is what Finland's representative told Inner City Press on September 23, that they will never vote against Serbia's proposal because they support international justice.

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, preening at the stakeout on Wednesday, came back to the microphone to say that he had met with International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo because France is a friend of international justice. But he did not stay to take the question of Kosovo, how this professed love of justice could be consistent with not supporting Serbia's right to seek a legal ruling.Moreno-Ocampo, beyond meeting with France, also met with select journalists, telling them that he would not dignify the mounting criticism rising against him. He has not consented, however, to hold a public press conference where the questions could be asked. Accountability for other, apparently, but not for the prosecutor.

Inner City Press also asked Vuk Jeremic about the irregularities in the UN Mission in Kosovo's running of the Kosovo Trust Agency, which had the money for state-own enterprises privatized in Kosovo. Since some of that money clearly belongs to Serbia, Inner City Press asked Jeremic, where is the money? That's what was are askin the General Secretariat, he said. What about the reports of KTA documents being destroyed? We're asking about that too, Jeremic said. Mnay questions, few answers.

and see, www.innercitypress.com/icj3serbia092408.html

At UN, Ahmadinejad Denies Locking Up Journalists, Unless They "Infringe on Rights of Others"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1freepress092308.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- "In Iran, the only thing that is not penalized is speaking against officials," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Inner City Press on September 23. Ahmadinejad had started his press conference at the UN by saying that people can say whatever they want, both in Iran and around the world. Inner City Press asked about journalists imprisoned in Iran, including feminists and a blogger who satirized Ahmadinejad's security detail's purchas of expensive dogs from Germany. "There is no persecution," Ahmadinejad said. "I am not aware of that at all." Video here, from Minute 40:48.

At issue is Article 500 of Iran's Penal Code, which as translated on a UN website provides that "anyone who undertakes any form of propaganda against the state... will be sentenced to between three months and one year in prison." Inner City Press, reading from this very UN website, asked Ahmadinejad about the law. "Your information regarding Iran's penal code is not sufficient," Ahmadinejad replied. "Criticizing officials is free. But if you infringe on the rights of others, the law will respond."

Beyond the case of satirical blogger Reza Valizadeh and of "cyber-feminists" Parvin Ardalan, Jelveh Javaheri, Maryam Hosseinkhah and Nahid Keshavarz, there are a slew of journalists reported to be locked up inside Iran. Arash Sigarchi was sentenced to 14 years; Mansour Osanloo of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company has been jailed precisely for "propaganda against the state." Also, click here. While Iran is by no means the only enemy of press freedom, after Ahmadinejad claimed the people can say whatever they want in Iran, the issue had to be raised.

In posing the question -- which on the UN's webcast is left translated into Farsi -- Inner City Press acknowledged that there are limitations on press freedom in the U.S. and elsewhere. Still and all in the middle of his response, Ahmadinejad was handed a slip of paper which he read out, stating that in the U.S. the penal code prohibits criticizing the "military uniform." Perhaps the reference is to barring photographs of coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq. In any event, Inner City Press will be raising freedom of expression issues whenever possible with other heads of state during this UN General Assembly. Iran and the Press need a better answer, however.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1freepress092308.html

Finland Will Not Vote Against Serbia's Kosovo Resolution, Bolivian Silence and Italian Vacillation

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icj2serbia092308.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- "If Kosovo was not quite perfect," Finnish President Tarja Halonen told Inner City Press on Tuesday at the UN, "then the Georgia situations, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are much less perfect." Inner City Press had asked for Finland's position on Serbia's resolution to get the General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's independence. After Ms. Halonen said "we support the court," Finland's foreign minister Alexander Stubb made clear what that means. "Finland will not vote against" the Serbian resolution, he said. "If the EU is to have a unified position, it can only be to abstain." Video here, from 21:32.

This principled stand is contrasted to that of France, which while holding the EU Presidency has said that Serbia's request causes "turbulence," and also of Italy. Inner City Press on September 23 asked Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini for his country's position. He said that while he "personally" would prefer to abstain, Italy will follow whatever the EU does. Video here.

Frattini gave the same answer on how Italy will vote if asked to suspect the International Criminal Court proceeding against Sudan's Al-Bashir. To some, this seems to be an argument for having only one veto-wielding seat on the Security Council for the European Union.

Inner City Press also asked embattled Bolivian president Evo Morales about his country's position on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the independence of which Nicaragua has recognized. Morales gave a long answer about throwing out the U.S. Ambassador, but did not answer on breakaway republics, perhaps for obvious reasons: he has breakaway provinces of his own.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icj2serbia092308.html

Sarkozy Not Opposed to Freezing Bashir Prosecution, Preens for French Media on Wall Street Issues

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1sarkozy092308.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country would not oppose freezing the prosecution of his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir if Sudan, among other things, normalized its relations with French ally Chad, and removed Ahmad Harun, already indicted by the International Criminal Court, from his government ministry. This put an end to contradictory statements by France's mission to the UN, which last week told Inner City Press that it would not oppose freezing the prosecution if five conditions were met, and then the next day sought to "clarify" the comment. This time, at least, it's from the horse's mouth.

Sarkozy press conference, however, was pure theater. At last year's General Debate, Sarkozy excluded all but journalists with French passports. This year, UN correspondents were let in, but Sarkozy's press people directed the microphones at the traveling French press corps. They had apparently decided that the story of the day was Sarkozy taking the lead on the global financial crisis, and virtually all questions were softballs on that theme. Sarkozy preened and mugged and called for accountability.

But what about accountability for his sloppy negotiations in Moscow, where he told Russia it could have international discussions about the "future status" of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the same words that led to Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. Even those later Russia agreed to drop this phrase, since future security had the same connotation. Sarkozy later proclaimed his full commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity. But when the chips were down, the phrase and principle were nowhere to be seen.

On the financial crisis, Sarkozy said that Monday he had met with the officials of the Federal Reserve. On personal knowledge since Inner City Press met in Washington with four of the five sitting Fed governors on Monday afternoon -- click here for the story -- it is not clear with whom Sarkozy met. Perhaps he meant the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is not in fact a government agency. Rather it is owned by the banks. Sarkozy is said to have spoken very populist on Monday night -- at a fundraiser costing $1500 a plate. And so it goes.

Footnote: on Sudan, a question that hangs in the air is the degree to which France's insistence that Bashir normalize with Chad is based on France's interests in N'djamena. This question should have been allowed, but wasn't.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1sarkozy092308.html

As Indictment of Bashir Arises at UN, Moreno-Ocampo Accused of Ego and Errors, Even by Supporters of ICC

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc4ocampo092208.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 22 -- As a range of countries come to the UN General Debate in New York to ask for a suspension of the request by the Prosecutor of International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir, questions are mounting about ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. On September 17, a recent Foreign Minister of country that is a major support of the ICC told Inner City Press that Moreno-Ocampo had told countries that he had offered to not indict Al-Bashir if he would turn over two previous indictees, Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Harun. At a September 19 press conference, Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch answered Inner City Press that such an offer by Moreno-Ocampo, if made, would be "wrong and unprincipled." Video here, from Minute 31:44. "If you have more information, I'm interested," he said. But if as the ex-Foreign Minister said, Moreno-Ocampo bragged out his offer to more than one country, the information will come out, perhaps at an even more inopportune time.

The Convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, William Pace, after the briefing told Inner City Press that Moreno-Ocampo could be an "egomaniac," specifically in claiming that he had asked African heads of state to refer cases to him. Pace said that not true, the Ugandan's Yoweri Museveni, for example, had decided on his own to refer the Lord's Resistance Army. His own army's crimes, he thought, were largely before the ICC's jurisdiction began in early 2002. Likewise, Democratic Republic of the Congo president Joseph Kabila somehow felt confident that Moreno-Ocampo would never indict him.

Both during and after the briefing, Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch, a doctrinal supporter of the ICC, acknowledged that Moreno-Ocampo has made errors. On camera, Dicker called Moreno-Ocampo's failure to turn over potentially exculpatory information to lawyers for DRC militia leader -- and Kabila opponent -- Thomas Lubanga a mistake, that he hopes Moreno-Ocampo has learned from. Video here, from Minute 41:31. Dicker also said that Al-Bashir must have known that UN peacekeeping missions to which he consented would sent information against him to the ICC. As Dicker advised on a related matter, whether South Sudan leaders despite what they say are in favor of the indictment of Al-Bashir, Inner City Press will ask the Sudanese delegation if they know UN Peacekeeping would share information, that in turn would be withhold. Somehow we doubt it.

Watch this site, and this Sept. 18 (UN) debate.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc4ocampo092208.html

At UN, Russia - US Dispute Triggered Call for Adjournment by Nicaraguan Priest, Witnesses Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1coldwar091908.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 19, updated -- The mounting tensions between Russia and the U.S. resulted in security officers being called to restore order to a closed meeting of the UN General Assembly's General Committee this week. Responding to a heated dispute between the U.S. and Russian representatives on the Committee, the new General Assembly President, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, called a half-hour adjournment of the meeting, and UN Security. Since it was a closed meeting, attempt have been made to keep the incident quiet. Inner City Press, however, has been told the same story by numerous witnesses, and now reports it.

It was on the morning of September 17, during the General Committee's debate of putting a resolution to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the famine in Ukraine on the General Assembly's agenda. There was a list of speakers, starting with Kazakhstan and including Belarus. But the U.S. sought to speak first by claiming a point of order. The microphone of the Kazakh representative was cut off, and she spoke more loudly about the "outrage."

The U.S. representative pushed forward, and he and Russia's Representative got into a tit-for-tat through serial points of order. Finally the President of the Assembly, presiding over his first such meeting, thought it had gotten out of hand and called an adjournment and security. A half an hour later, things have been cooled, the U.S. apologized and allowed proceedings to continue. No press release was issued, and attempt to withhold the recordings have been made. But Inner City Press reports it here.

In public, in the Security Council during its last meeting on Georgia, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin intoned

"If here in our chamber today for the first time we had had aliens from outer space, I'm sure that having listened to our discussion he would have been filled with pride for the member of the Security Council, how consistently they champion the principles of international law. I must say I in particular liked the statement of the permanent representative of the United States, reminding the members of the Security Council that states in their activity must refrain from the use or the threat of the use of force.

"And I would like to ask the distinguished rep of the United States, weapons of mass destruction, have you found them yet in Iraq? I would like to ask the distinguished rep of the US as to whether there are threats coming out of Washington against another member of the UN to use force against that other member and even wipe it off the face of the earth. Now, several other members of the Council have referred to the importance of complying with resolutions of the Security Council, complying with the principle of territorial integrity. And where, dear colleagues, were you when we were discussing Kosovo?"

Being debated in the General Committee was a draft resolution by Serbia, seeking to have the General Assembly request an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence earlier this year. Russia supports Serbia's position, and as quoted above, cites Kosovo as a precedent for its recognition of the independence from Georgia of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia's Vitaly Churkin and Zalmay Khalilzad of U.S., d'Escoto Brockmann not shown

Following d'Escoto Brockmann's speech heavily criticizing the U.S., Ambassador Khalilzad was asked to comment on "the GA president's speech." Khalilizad responded

Ambassador Khalilzad: Well, it's very important to know what the role of the president of the GA is. He is the president of the entire 192 tribes that are here. And his role is to facilitate the discussion, to follow the rules, to do things that makes this organization work and brings people together. So I hope that the president appreciates that, that is his role, and that's the expectation of the members of this organization. For him to succeed in the role that – he has to play his role, and that role is to be a unifier, to look forward representing the interests of all members rather than picking on some members, siding with others. That, I think, would undermine his effectiveness, and I don't think that's in his interests or the interests of the organization.

On September 19, Inner City Press asked Brockmann's spokesman about the comments, and was told that the two had met and agreed to work together.

Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1coldwar091908.html

At UN, A Curried Goat Farewell to Mengesha, Mobility Called Unhelpful, Wall Between G and P Staff Must Go, He Says

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1dgacm092008.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- In the run-up to the hype of the UN General Debate, dominated by will-she or won't-she come questions about U.S. candidate Sarah Palin, there was a glimpse on the night of September 19 of what some call the Real UN. It was, as so often happens at the UN, a party complete with thumping music and open bar. This one, however, was for the farewell of long-time Assistant Secretary General Yohannes Mengesha of the never high-profile Department of General Assembly and Conference Management, known by the guttural acronym DGACM, pronounced duh gack um.

Back on July 6, Inner City Press reported that Mengesha was choosing to leave the UN system, for lack of communication. Specifically, sources told Inner City Press he felt blocked and under appreciated as the number two of DGACM. The number one, the two-named Shaaban Shaaban, was last seen opening up a computer service window next to the bar in the Delegates' Lounge, about which Inner City Press asked on September 16, per the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: In the Delegates’ Lounge, they've opened up this thing called the ICT Center. It seems to be like a computer either repair or training center, but it seems to be, actually for diplomats, not for UN staff. It was opened yesterday by Mr. Choi, Mr. Shaaban Shaaban and the Ambassador of Switzerland. How is it funded and what is it for?

Deputy Spokesperson: That's a good question, I’ll find out for you, okay? If there are no other questions for me, please stick around or come back in a few minutes, because the General Assembly President should be here in three minutes. Have a good afternoon. And at 5 p.m., don’t forget, the new General Assembly President will be here.

[The correspondent was later told: The ICT Resource Centre is a Department for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Management initiative. It is designed to serve as a central point of contact for Delegates needing information and communication technology support during the sixty-third General Assembly session. Services provided include printing, scanning and technical recommendations, as well as assistance with IT questions and problems. The Centre will also provide to delegates, upon request, digital recordings of just-concluded Security Council and General Assembly meetings and official United Nations documents.]

In fact, the strategy as ASG tells Inner City Press is to make diplomats, particularly those serving on the GA's Fifth (Budget) Committee so grateful for computer fixes that they vote the ever-mount millions of the ICT plan of Ban's man Mr. Choi. Another ASG criticizes Ban's new focus on so-called mobility, moving people from job to job, as a loss of expertise in the UN system. But we digress.

Friday night in the UN's third floor Ex-Press Bar, there was live music and curried goat and drinks as strong as the orderer wanted them. Photos of Mengesha flashed across a big-screen television. "He's a grandson of Haile Selassie," Inner City Press was told by a UN friend of reggae music.

People from across the UN system, at all levels of service from Aramark cleaners to fellow Assistant Secretaries General, came up to shake Mengesha's hand, or kiss him three times on the cheek. "He was the best ASG we ever had," more than one DGAC-er told Inner City Press. "It's a bad sign for the UN that he sees a need to leave." Another more more bitterly linked Mengesha's treatment to the consolidation of the Office of the Special Advisor on Africa, and compared the failure to have found him a USG post with another non-transparent recent, non-African promotion from ASG to USG.

Mengesha in 2006, hitting the glass ceiling on the UN's 38th floor

Simply to move the debate forward, we're compelled to report that even some ASGs were critical of Shaaban Shaaban and his style so far. "Never trust a man with two names," said one. While based on the music Inner City Press thought Duran Duran, the joke went out: Boutros Boutros Ghali. Among the UN press corps, little is known (or offered) about him and DGACM. Questions at times are asked and merely frowned on. But it is a major arm of the UN, on which we hope to report more. This night, Shaban had come and left quickly from the party; Mengesha had given a speech calling among other things for tearing down the wall between Professional and General Services staff at the UN.

On the margins people told stories to Inner City Press, from which we'll cull this one. There was a move to privatize and outsource the UN's publishing operations, which take place in a huge room three stories underneath the now under-construction North Lawn. Mengesha went down to see and was impressed. He told them, let's bring the delegates who would vote on outsourcing down to see what you do.

The visit or visits were arranged, the printing presses and other work shown. Food was served, operations explained. Outsourcing was averted. Somehow it was different than the more recent craven hole in the Delegates' Lounge wall. A difference was that involved impacted staff, built camaraderie, value them. That this was Mengesha's approach was clear on Friday night, where people lined up to say goodbye. "I've never seen a farewell this heartfelt at the UN," one G level staffer told Inner City Press. Neither had we, and so we note it, in the run-up to the hype.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1dgacm092008.html

Afghanistan Resolution Slowed by Civilian Deaths Raised by Russia, Cold War in UN

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/isaf1coldwar091908.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 19, updated -- The mystery of the delay this week in considering Security Council's draft resolution to extend approval of the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan has been explained to Inner City Press by involved diplomats: Russia is attempting to introduce language about the type of civilian casualties recently caused by U.S. missile strikes.

Russia last month introduced a draft Press Statement on the topic -- in the wake of criticism of its military activities in Georgia by the U.S. and others. The Press Statement appeared to die on the vine, but its spirit lives on, now delaying the ISAF extension. The item was on the Council's schedule, and then disappeared. Neither Russia nor the U.S. is publicly discussing the issue.

Update of 3:15 p.m. -- in closed consultation in the Council, Italy has proposed to put the draft into "silence procedure" until 7 p.m., then vote on it on Monday. Russia has countered that they must go back to their capital. Now the vote is set for noon on September 22.

What some call the new Cold War is gathering strength, but not all the moves are in public.

For example, in the closed meeting of the UN General Assembly's General Committee this week, sources tell Inner City Press that the U.S. and Russian representatives got into a dispute so heated that security had to be called. Also in private at the UN was a meeting by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad with the new President of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua. Following his speech heavily criticizing the U.S., Ambassador Khalilzad was asked to respond "to the GA president's speech."

Khalilizad responded

Ambassador Khalilzad: Well, it's very important to know what the role of the president of the GA is. He is the president of the entire 192 tribes that are here. And his role is to facilitate the discussion, to follow the rules, to do things that makes this organization work and brings people together.

So I hope that the president appreciates that, that is his role, and that's the expectation of the members of this organization. For him to succeed in the role that - he has to play his role, and that role is to be a unifier, to look forward representing the interests of all members rather than picking on some members, siding with others. That, I think, would undermine his effectiveness, and I don't think that's in his interests or the interests of the organization.

On September 19, Inner City Press asked Brockmann's spokesman about the comments, and was told that the two had met and agreed to work together.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/isaf1coldwar091908.html

In UN Musical Chairs, Guehenno Returns as Advisor, Kerim on Climate, Roed-Larsen's Connections

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1chairs091808.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 18 -- Former chief UN Peacekeeper Jean-Marie Guehenno has returned to the UN as a Special Advisor on regional cooperation, it was confirmed to Inner City Press on Thursday. The UN has yet to formally announce Guehenno's new post. On September 17, the UN did annouce that the former head of the UN's Office of Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel is returning as the UN's envoy to the Gabon - Equatorial Guinea territorial dispute. And on September 18 Srgjan Kerim, only two days after stepping down as General Assembly President, was named a "Climate Change Envoy" of the UN system.

Inner City Press is told that these returns are becoming a matter of concern to the new Under Secretaries-General appointed by Ban Ki-moon. Their predecessor just don't leave, but rather remain as possible back seat drivers. In some cases, the return is so that exemption from taxes and other perks of being an international diplomat, such a the G-4 visa, can be maintained.

When Guehenno was feted by the General Assembly's committee on peacekeeping, Inner City Press asked him what he would be doing next. He said it wasn't clear, maybe an institute, maybe writing a book. Then on September 18, Inner City Press was told by a well-placed source of the new post. It was subsequently confirmed, albeit off the record. Why not just announce it?

These sources describe a process whereby some UN officials, even if no longer effective, stay on. The example given was Terje Roed-Larsen, who has clearly worn out his welcome in parts of the Middle East. When Ban Ki-moon came in, however, Shimon Peres told him to keep Roed-Larsen around. The Hariris, too, took a liking to Roed-Larsen, and hooked him -- and apparently some of the institutes that he works for, according to the course -- up with the Saudis. Ah, public policy...

Incoming chief UN legal officer Patricia O'Brien held her first press conference on September 18, but the questions were kept limited to next week's treaty-signing events. Inner City Press asked that she return for a wider-ranging briefing, and she said that she would. Afterwards, another Office of Legal Affairs staffer said that Ms. O'Brien, like her predecessor Nicolas

Michel, will try to keep questions limited to a single topic: the Hariri tribunals. What about the Thomas Lubanga case frozen by the International Criminal Court judges, and the thorny issue of when and who UN Peacekeeping should share information with the ICC Prosecutor? On September 17, Inner City Press asked incoming chief Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy for his view on sharing evidence, specifically in Sudan. "I'll have to ask OLA," he said. But then the head of OLA could not take any questions about the matter. Next time, then.

Footnote: At OLA's press conference, at which it was emphasized that questions would only be accepted if about treaties, Inner City Press asked Ms. O'Brien about a listed 2005 treaty with no (zero) parties. It's the UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts. We're trying to raises its profile, Ms. O'Brien said. How can you have a treaty with no parties?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1chairs091808.html

Re-Branding Responsibility to Protect, Gareth Evans Says Somalia's Not Covered

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/r2p1evans091708.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 17 -- If Somalia, where civilians are killed every day in a cross fire between Ethiopian occupiers and Islamic insurgents, does not trigger the so-called Responsibility to Protect, what good is R2P? Australia's former foreign minister Gareth Evans was asked this question on September 17, as he pitched his R2P book to a handful of reporters including Inner City Press. "It's not a classic situation," Evans said of Somalia. "It has the capacity of deteriorating into mass atrocity crimes."

But how many deaths does it take? Evan listed the now-stemmed violence in Kenya as "classic R2P;" a photograph from Kenya is on the jacket of his book and he noted that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited R2P during the Kenya crisis.

But the death toll by violence in Somalia is higher, and there is no end in sight. When Inner City Press pursued the issue, Evans turned to a fellow staffer of the International Crisis Group, who gently disagreed with her boss, saying that Somalia is a classic case, in that the government is not only unwilling but also unable to protect the people of the country. She acknowledged that war crimes are being committed, including by the Ethiopian troops. Somalia would be R2P, she said, except no one wants to go.

Evans made this same point about Darfur, noting that while none of the 22 needed helicopters has been given, there are some 11,872 suitable helicopters available around the world. Still, Evans argued against invoking R2P in Darfur, saying that it failed the "balance of consequences" test, in that intervention would put at risk the 2.5 million internally displaced people, and the North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Evans rather posited Burundi as a victory for R2P, a concept which he said needs to be "re-branded." The first conceptual switch, he said, was from the French-inspired idea of the right to intervene to R2P, which is at least phrased from the point of view of the victims. Still, it was pointed out to him that R2P is often called just a reinterpretation of the white man's burden. Evans countered that on a recent trip to New Delhi and Islamabad, he found "senior levels" of the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministries open to R2P, more so that the "multilaterals here" at the UN, who he said are suffering from "buyer's remorse" after agreeing in 2005 to R2P.

Inner City Press asked Evans if he thinks China and Russia will invoke the concept any time soon. After pointing out Chinese representation on the High Level Panel that formalized the idea, Evans criticized Russia's citing to R2P for its actions in South Ossetia. "To defend your own nationals is not R2P," he said, "it's national self-defense, under Article 51 of the UN charter." He said that Russia "misused" the concept of R2P, while in his view France and Bernard Kouchner only "put at risk the consensus" by linking R2P to General Than Shwe's blockage of foreign aid to Myanmar after cyclone Nargis.

Evans said that he spoke to "a Burmese on the ground" who said that the warships off Myanmar's coast in the cyclone's aftermath "did concentrate the generals' minds." This is not dissimilar to arguing that the International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Al Bashir is making him act better. It's a circular argument. If the accused keeps acting badly, it proves the accusation. If the accused starts acting better, then the accusation helped. The accusation, then, can never be disproved. White man's burden, indeed...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/r2p1evans091708.html

At UN, Freezing Indictment of Al Bashir Discussed by France, Sharing Evidence with ICC Dodged

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1icc091708.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 17 -- As judges in The Hague consider whether to grant an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, information has emerged about secret negotiations to forestall the requested indictment. On September 17, Inner City Press asked France's Permanent Representative to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert if his country is engaged in discussions with Sudan about conditions to invoke Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which would freeze proceedings against Al Bashir. Video here, from Minute 11:58.

Ambassador Ripert listed a series of conditions, ranging from "stopping the killing to Darfur" to improving Sudan's relations with Chad to starting in-country trials of the two current Sudanese ICC indictees. Asked if France would then support invoking Article 16, Ambassador Ripert said, "Why not?" Video here, from Minute 16.

Earlier on September 17, Gareth Evans of the non-profit International Crisis Group told Inner City Press that not only France, but also the UK have made such outreach to Sudan. He likened it to a "plea bargain" and argued that "there are no absolutes in this business [of] conflict prevention."

It is understood that Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has told friends of the ICC that the information he recently used to seek Al Bashir's arrest, he had back in December 2007, and he showed it to Sudan saying that if they met certain conditions, no arrest warrant would be sought. The difficulty here is that the indictment is for past acts, not future actions. But both Moreno-Ocampo and, at least, France and the UK appear to be blurring the difference.

Moreno-Ocampo's work also came up as an issue at the new UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations chief Alain Le Roy's press conference later on September 17. Inner City Press asked Le Roy for his position on DPKO sharing information with Moreno-Ocampo and the ICC, in the wake of the suspension of the case against Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga on the grounds that complying with DPKO's confidentiality agreements would deny Lubanga a fair trial. Also implicated is whether the UN in Sudan gave evidence to the ICC against Al Bashir.

"That is a difficult question," Le Roy said, adding that he would have to check with the UN's Office of Legal Affairs. When Inner City Press asked the last head of OLA, Nicolas Michel, for his position on ICC defendants' rights to see such information, Michel referred to an offer he had made, to let defense counsel see but not take notes on the documents. That was rejected by the Court. On September 17 it was announced that Michel is resurfacing as the UN's envoy to the Gabor - Equatorial Guinea border dispute. Inner City Press asked if the post is part-time, if it is at the Assistant Secretary General Level and paid "When Actually Employed."

"He is a USG," the UN Deputy Spokesperson said, adding that is is part-time and paid When Actually Employed -- at the USG rate. Once a USG, always a USG?

Footnote: for more on the Lubanga case, click here for Inner City Press' story yesterday, which has been supplemented to add that Liechtenstein's Ambassador Christian Waneser's statement that "I don't personally exclude that the judges will throw out the genocide charge" apparently referred to the possibility of the ICC judges not granting Moreno-Ocampo's request for an arrest warrant against Al Bashir on grounds of genocide. The warrant could issue on some charges and not others. We note for the record that Moreno-Ocampo did not indict the DR Congo's Thomas Lubango for genocide -- although Lubanga was so-charged in the DR Congo, click here for a document on the ICC's website to the effect.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1icc091708.html

At UN, Nicaraguan Priest Takes Helm and Swings Left, New Cold War at the Movies, Georgia Story Re-Told in UN Basement

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1descoto091608.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- A priest has taken the reins of the UN General Assembly, and Tuesday he preached peace and love. But Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann at his post-preach press conference, when Inner City Press asked the first question about what he will do to defuse what's been called the New Cold War, said that there are many more serious issues than Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Georgia, the ones Inner City Press listed from this summer.

Iraq, d'Escoto said, do you know how many people have been killed there? He cited the Lancet, as he had to journalists throughout the week. When asked by another reporter if he equated Russia in Georgia with the U.S. in Iraq, as wars of aggression, d'Escoto touched his hearing aid and said he hadn't heard right, was the question if Georgia's entry into South Ossetia was an aggression and against the UN Charter. Of course, he said. Far from holding both sides to account, Father d'Escoto is a partisan on the other side. Other questions are sure to arise

The same reaction - formation was on display in the UN's basement, an hour before d'Escoto's speech. The Russian mission to the UN screened films of devastation in South Ossetia, one of them a Russia Today TV piece entitled "Desolate Mothers." The voice-over excused the views of the corpses of Georgia soldiers being spat on, and the burning of ethnic Georgian's houses. While Georgia's presentations, given more prominent coverage on CNN and elsewhere, were equally one-sided, it surprised many that the Russian films were screened in the UN. Apparently its a privilege of being a Permanent Member of the Security Council. The new Cold War at the movies, one could call it.

A Russian diplomat told Inner City Press that "the Europeans" had called his mission to say they would not come to the film screening, just as they wouldn't go to a Georgian equivalent. Then again, if they have television sets and live in New York, they've seen the Georgian story.

After this press conference, d'Escoto spoke about Gandhi and Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. The Catholic Workers are pacifists, they protested the Russians as they protested the Americans. D'Escoto does not ascribe to this idea. It will be, if nothing else, an interesting year. Many questions should be asked.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1descoto091608.html

UN Remains Unreformed After Srgjan Kerim's Year, Sarah Palin on Her Way?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1kerim091608.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- At the end of his year as president of the UN General Assembly (PGA), Srgjan Kerim on Tuesday said he is "personally disappointed" with how the member states dealt with a UN reform issue that, due to Press coverage, became synonymous with Kerim: the lack of independence of the PGA due not being paid by the UN but by a particular country or, in Kerim's case, company.

Early in his tenure, Inner City Press asked Kerim how he got paid, and it emerged that his pay came from his country and once and future employer, WAZ Media. While Kerim showed some displeasure when Inner City Press went on to analyze the potential conflicts of interest created by these arrangement, he maintained that he would seek General Assembly action before the end of his term.

On Tuesday, as Nicaragua's Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann took over as PGA, Kerim acknowledged that the problem has not been fixed or reformed. He called the situation "urgent." We'll see. Video here, from Minute 17:53.

Elsewhere in his eight-minute response to Inner City Press' two question, Kerim said that the UN budget process is broken, and recounted that in December he spent 23 hours straight in the UN working on the budget, even telling Ban Ki-moon to give a speech to the General Assembly promising to report on spending every three months.

Kerim also took credit for changing the Capital Master Plan to renovate the UN Headquarters, saying he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he'd agreed to the initial plan, to leave a portion of UN staff inside the building while it was being fixed.

Kerim had a farewell reception last week, at which shrimp and even foie gras were served, with cocktails sipped out on the balcony over the East River. He was given an award for the Millennium Development Goals, like his predecessor and probably his successor, and now according to his spokesman will return to WAZ Media, which he notes in investing in Vietnam and hospitals. We will follow his movements.

Footnotes: as Ambassadors stream in to d'Escoto Brockmann's speech to kick off the 63rd General Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, it emerged that two new crypto-states, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, have tried to get their representatives in but still do not have visas. It was also said, not for attribution that John McCain and Sarah Palin will come to the General Debate, specifically for the latter to "meet world leaders." This might later change.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1kerim091608.html

Alaska House in SoHo, Even Palin-Less, Is a Bridge to Somewhere: But Where?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in SoHo
www.innercitypress.com/us1alaskahs091608.html

NEW YORK, September 16 -- In a gleaming white storefront on SoHo's Mercer Street on Monday night, Native Alaskan art was displayed and some was destroyed. It was the opening of Alaska House, a gallery and also the state's economic embassy in New York. Governor Sarah Palin had been slated to attend, until John McCain tapped her as his running mate.

The space's two stories were standing room only with hipsters, and it at first appeared there were no Alaskans, much less Natives, in attendance. Inner City Press, drawn as a matter of news by the prospect of Palin, interviewed a series of lobbyists and filmmakers, finally finding one of each who was an Alaskan Native. The initial purpose was to ask for views of Palin, but the trail soon led farther afield.

The U.S. Arctic Research Commission's Mead Treadwell, soon to fly to Tokyo to speak of whaling "among other things," one of them being drilling the Arctic for oil, told Inner City Press about Alaska House's founder, Alice Rogoff Rubenstein. "Her husband David started a hedge fund you may of heard of," Treadwell said. "The Carlyle Group. It dawned on her that her husband didn't need her for the business. So she found a cause, Alaska. The state is lucky."

"But what's her connection to Alaska?"

"You'll have to ask her." Ultimately Inner City Press did. But first the question was put to her beneficiaries, direct and indirect. Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, the Alaskan Native director of Sikumi (On Thin Ice), a winner of the Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, explained that his mother Edna Ahgeak MacLean is a noted Inupiaq linguist, and that his current project is about a murder on Alaskan ice. "Who did it?"

We won't spoil the murder mystery for you, his non-Alaskan producer Cara Marcous said.

They were accompanied by a Alaskan Native who gave her name only as Mary and who said that her boss is on the board of directors of the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. She works in Washington for the North Star Group, which "promotes a bunch of project in Alaska," as she put it.

"Do these include oil?"

They do. Mary is from Dillingham, the same town as Sarah Palin's husband the First Dude, Todd. What does she think of Palin? Her running for vice president is great for the state, Mary said, adding that she'll be voting for Obama. "She's a little too into Jesus," Mary said of Palin. "It makes people who aren't a little scared, that they'll be discriminated against."

There was a crash as an Alaskan Native mask was knocked from the wall to the floor. From outside on Mercer Street came another crash, as the ice sculpture that marked this unmistakably as a climate change event collapsed. "Did it happened naturally?" someone asked, as in a murder mystery. Yes was the answer. An ice piece was carted off.

There by the front door was Alice Rogoff Rubenstein, saying goodbye to her guests. Asked for her views on Sarah Palin, she echoed that her candidacy is good for the state. "My personal views, I'll keep to myself," she said. Inner City Press recounted Mead Treadwell's summary and asked, how did you choose Alaska. "It had nothing to do with my husband," she quickly said. She'd always wanted to go to Alaska, and finally did. She followed the Iditerod dog sled race around, and on the way found Native art. The rest, she said, is history.

But is there any government money behind it? Well, yes. There was an appropriation from Congress used for it.

Would that be an earmark?

Yes.

Even amid the crashing of the masks and ice sculpture, the irony was thick. Palin's tale of rebuffing earmark funding for the so-called Bridge to Nowhere stands in contrast to her state's embassy to hipsters being funded, at least indirectly, by earmark funds from taxpayers, combined with money from a hedge fund involved not only with military contractors but also subprime lending. Alaska House, it turns, is itself a bridge to somewhere. But where?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/us1alaskahs091608.html

In UNDP Secrecy Plan, Even Funders Must Gives Reasons to See Audits, Board Must Be Notified, Resuming Sept. 19

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN Analysiswww.innercitypress.com/undp1audits091208.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 12 -- The culture of secrecy and cover-up in the UN, at least in the UN Development Program, was on display on Friday night. The UNDP Executive Board meeting went into overtime, without translators, due to objections to even the watered-down proposal to let member states see audits of UNDP country programs while withholding them from the public. A proposal was made by UNDP's Board President to add a requirement that any requester of an audit must state the "reason / purpose of the request," and also that UNDP notify not only the "concerned country" but also the wider Executive Board before providing any documents.

This falls far short of most Freedom of Information laws, which provide for individuals to gain access to documents whether or not they fund they underlying programs. Here, roadblocks are being erected to funders seeing audits of what they have funded. Only at the UN...

UNDP's Administrator Kemal Dervis, who has contributed to this culture of secrecy by for example refusing to answer even factual questions was not in the Board meeting to the end. Nor was his Associate Ad Melkert, who had promised transparency and reform. Akiko Yuge was in the house, as a ten minute recess was called to consider the enhanced secrecy amendments. The ten minutes too were extended. "Thomas of Switzerland," as the Board president called him, was called to the front to translate. The Board president bragged that he had a very fun schedule for the weekend -- "maybe you don't" -- and so he wanted a vote on his language of more secret audits.

The draft he circulated also differed from what he'd read out loud, this time allowing the Executive Board as well as the concerned government to "view and comment on the report" prior to it being given to any funding member state.

Update of 8:25 p.m. -- "Ten minutes" has gone over an hour. Rationales for secrecy are offered to Inner City Press: disclosure can lead to suspension of programs as in North Korea; even if a country commits to not share an audit with the press, there is no recourse for violating the commitment. But if a program is funded by a public body like the UN, how can how the money's spend legitimately be kept confidential?

Update of 8:40 p.m. -- The president finally re-gavels the meeting to order, only to announce that no concensus was reached. China speaks, to say this will have an impact on for example the UNICEF board, which meets next week. China "can't make position at this stage."

Do other delegations which to take the floor? India speaks, supporting the Chinese position, requesting more time. Pakistan says the same (Kashmir notwithstanding). Russia "also would like to express its regret... and hope that in the meantime no negative precedent."

The president says, we are not to wait until the next meeting in January. An African delegate says that the issue has been focused on UNDP, not UNICEF.

Update of 9 p.m. -- the president suspends the session until next Friday. Even the most basic and constrained transparency can't fly at UNDP...

Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1audits091208.html

UNDP's Funding of Saakashvili Causes Russian Uproar, For-Ex Stonewalling Continues

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1russia091108.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 11 -- As the UN Executive Board lurched through the fourth of its five day meeting, with UNDP management having stoked its its ostensible overseers into demanding it re-open the flow of money to Kim Jong Il's North Korea, one of UNDP's equally dubious programs on the other side of the political spectrum fell under fire. It involves UNDP having paid salary to Georgian president Saakashvili, with its own funds and those of George Soros' Open Society Institute. Inner City Press first reported on the program in December 2006, then again on August 25, 2008, click here for that story. This was picked up by Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin and by Russian media. See examples here, here and here.

The question to be answered is, are the members of UNDP's Executive Board really informed by UNDP management what type of programs are going on?

Meanwhile, despite the Executive Board president's gushing on September 10 that no member disagreed with the head-long rush to return to Pyongyang, even in the face of uncertainty if Kim Jong Il is on his death bed or dead, possibly toppled by even harder-line generals who have restarted that country's nuclear program, in front of the Security Council Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Khalilzad for the U.S. Mission position, video here at Minute 6:43:

Inner City Press: UNDP has been meeting this week. The US position seems to be that the UNDP should go back to North Korea. Do you feel--

Ambassador Khalilzad: We have been under the view that there is a need for steps to make sure that some of the problems that have been listed will not take place again. Thank you.

But when Inner City Press asked UNDP's spokesman early on September 11 for a copy of Regional Directly Ajay Chhibber's so-called "roadmap" to return to North Korea, which even the Executive Board president said should be distributed and made transparent, it was not provided.

Also in front of the Security Council on September 11, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari to explain the UN system's silence while it was losing 20% of aid funds to the Than Shwe regime. "Matthew, I hope you raise that with [OCHA's] John Holmes and with UNDP." Video here, from Minute 7:19.

Well, Inner City Press has had currency exchange loss questions pending with UNDP for weeks and weeks, and has repeated sent reminded, still with no response. This did not impinge on the self-congratulatory dream world of some Executive Board delegates cooking up rubber stamp resolutions in Conference Room C in the UN's basement on the night of September 11. Nor did it stop once and future UNDP-er Jan Mattsson for patting himself on the back for finally getting an audit of the UN Office for Project Services after seven years, and moving to pay off a blatant cost overrun for Afghan elections in 2005. It all cuminates, he told the Board on September 11, in a new UNOPS web site, in three languages: English, French and Spanish. Maybe that's why Russia didn't know about the funding to Saakashvili...

Meanwhile, UNDP has not provided answers as simple as the volume of fees it collects as a conduit for funding for prisons and military barracks all over the world, and to pay an ex-UN Kosovo Mission staffer to work for Kosovo's government. Not only could this dubious middle-man role raise more Russian questions about UNDP -- more generally, it is for reasons like these that many believe that UNDP is an opaque, unaccountable and even corrupt organization.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1russia091108.html

UN's Ban Avoids Questions of New Cold War, U.S. War on Terror, Excluded Journalists Speak

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1coldwar091108.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 11 -- A new Cold War is how many have described recent dynamics in the UN Security Council. Things came to a boil when American criticized Russian military and political moves with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, breaking away from Georgia. Russia countered by citing the precedent of Kosovo, not only the recognition of its break-away from Serbia earlier this year by the U.S. and most of the European Union, but also NATO's bombing of Belgrade in 1999. Russia vetoed a draft resolution to impose sanctions on Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, along the China, put Iran sanctions on the slow boat thereto, and asked the U.S. whether it had found the weapons of mass destruction it had claimed were in Iraq.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was largely invisible during these fights. On September 11 he finally held a press conference, and began by apologizing for what he called his summer absence, promise to henceforth do monthly question and answer sessions. Inner City Press asked about what's called the new Cold War, what Ban thinks and is trying to do about it. Video here, from Minute 14:28.

After reading from notes about humanitarian aid to Georgia, Ban did not answer the question. So Inner City Press repeated it, linking the rift not only to Georgia but also Kosovo and Zimbabwe and asking if Ban is seeking to be an impartial mediator between the U.S. and Russia.

"As Secretary-General, I really try to avoid your question," Ban said. "I do not want to think of that kind of possibility." Video here, form Minute 19:33.

This candidly admitted attempt to avoid questions was repeated in the balance of the press conference. Ban was asked twice to comment on U.S. military incursions into Pakistan in search of insurgents. First he said he was not ready for the question, then that he did not want to answer it.

A journalist from Lebanon asked about Ban's previous envoy to Beirut, Johan Verbecke, who as Inner City Press reported left his assignment due to death threats. Ban called these "unavoidable circumstances," adding that "I do not wish to discuss [them] with you publicly."

Ban was asked, is Kim Jong Il of North Korea dead? "I am not in the position to have any independent source of information to confirm" that, he said. Some of Inner City Press' sources opine that the North Korean military may have moved against Kim Jong Il, finding him too conciliatory to the West, and then moved to restart North Korea's nuclear program.

Surprisingly, Ban did not raise and no one asked about either Iran or Sudan. The latter can be ascribed to Ban himself. He described Darfur and climate change as his two signature issues. Now things are going so badly in Darfur -- even the U.S. contractor to which Ban's UN gave a $250 million no-bid contract, Lockheed Martin, is leaving in failure -- that Ban has dropped the issue. The press corps shouldn't.

Speaking of failure, Inner City Press asked Ban about the trip of his envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Mynamar without having met with democracy leader Aung San Soo Kyi or military strongman Than Shwe. "I do not like to characterize it as failure," Ban said. "Video here, from Minute 14:50.

Ban also took issue with press reports, presumably including this one, that focused on a speech he gave to or at his managers in Turin, Italy. Ban said he was misunderstood, that he is flexible, that if anything he was criticizing senior officials, not lower level staff. He was not asked to example the phrase, "I tried to lead by example. Nobody followed." That line is more and more repeated in the UN and now beyond. How to avert a Cold War, in the UN and more importantly the wider world? While there were on September 11 more responses than before, which must be noted here, no real answered were advanced.

Footnote: After the press conference, there were complaints about perceived bias in the way questions were allocated. James Bone, who among other things famously questioned Kofi Annan about the financing and whereabouts of his son Kojo's Mercedes until being called "an overgrown school boy," told Inner City Press he has not been called on for a question since. Nizar Abboud, representing both a television station and a newspaper in the Middle East, was again not called on. He told Inner City Press, on the record, that he asked Ban's Spokesperson why he hadn't been called on. The Spokesperson in turn asked, "Remember when you walked out of the briefing?" Abboud did remember, it had been in protest of not being called on. "Well it was wrong," the Spokesperson said.

Abboud comments that this shows the arbitrary basis of exclusion, which is also inconsistent because Ban personally is nothing but polite with Abboud and others. Abboud notes that another correspondent more favorable to the U.S. position on Lebanon was called on for three questions. Another long-time correspondent, who asked for anonymity in order to retain access, said that everything Ban does is in favor of the U.S..

But that analysis can wait for another day. To be charitable, Ban was better on September 11 than in previous press conferences. His offer to come at least once a month is welcome. Whether anything will be accomplished is another question, the results of which will be reported on this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1coldwar091108.html

As Myanmar Defends N. Korea, UNDP Covers Up For-Ex Losses, Mute on Revolving Door

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1rk090908.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- Myanmar came to the defense of North Korea at the Tuesday Executive Board meeting of the UN Development Program. Urging resumed funding by UNDP to the Kim Jong Il government, despite financial and accounting irregularities found even by the reviewers chosen by UNDP, Myanmar decried "political motives" and called for "national ownership" of UNDP programs.

Notably, the Than Shwe government of Myanmar has shown itself adept at owning UNDP's programs and the funds of the wider UN system, requiring currency conversation into Foreign Exchange Certificates leading to losses of 20% of aid money. Just last week, UNDP Associate Administrator Ad Melkert answered Inner City Press' questions about currency exchange losses by saying that this had been a problem in North Korea, and would have to be resolved with the government there before any UNDP program could resume. But at Tuesday's session, before any other member had spoken the Executive Board president said that "the absence of UNDP from Pyonyang can only be temporary." Even if Kim Jong Il insists on choosen UNDP's staff, and taking their paychecks?

The North Korean representative, emboldened, called for a resumption of UNDP programs and offices "as early as possible." Iran spoke of the need to "redress damages" to North Korea, and said that UNDP has over-reacted to the charges of a whistleblower.

Throughout this saga, in reviewing speeches by member states on UNDP's Executive Board, it has become clear than many languages either do not have a word for whistleblower, or only have words with negative connotations like "rat" or "spy."

Apparently, the word "revolving door" does not translate either, at least not in UNDP world. Over the weekend it was announced that UNDP official Gilbert Houngbo was named prime minister of Togo. Inner City Press immediately formally asked UNDP's spokesman

"Regarding Mr. Houngbo, please disclose as soon as possible any and all involvement he has had in UNDP's programs regarding Togo and, separately, please describe any safeguards UNDP has in place to prevent conflicts of interest or 'revolving door' issues when its officials go directly to work for a government with which UNDP has economic relations."

In the two full business days since, no such safeguards have been described. Nor have questions, much longer standing, about currency exchange losses been answered. UNDP management hides behind the somewhat understandable closing of ranks by developing countries. But it is UNDP management which is responsible for not allowing, rather than covering up, losses of 20%, or even 5%, to government-required currency exchange and other chicanery.

Like any demagogue, it is not difficult to whip up supportive speeches. But this approach has led UNDP from one scandal to the next, each one averted only by self-selected investigators and rebuffing outside review such as by the UN Ethics Office. Ultimately the cause of development and poverty reduction is ill-served by this. But one wouldn't have known it on at Tuesday's meeting of UNDP's Executive Board.

Footnotes: while UNDP's Executive Board meeting proceeded in the basement virtually ignored by the rest of the UN press corps, there were cameras and microphones up on the second floor, where the star of the UN's symposium on supporting the victims of terrorism, Ingrid Betancourt, took questions on both Myanmar and North Korea. Inner City Press asked about her statement about Aung San Soo Kyi: is she a victim of state terrorism, and is Ban Ki-moon and the UN doing enough for her? "None of us are doing enough," Ms. Betancourt said, adding that her definition of terrorism includes any arbitrary detention "without reason" such as Aung San Soo Kyi's. Video here.

Asked about North Korea's abductions, including of more than a dozen Japanese citizens, Ms. Betancourt recounted the kidnapping of a school girl, whose name she said she didn't remember. To Inner City Press, it appeared to be the case of Megumi Yokota. Betancourt said "she should be in the Press every day." Oh that it were so.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1rk090908.html

At UN, From Togo Lies to Red Flags, Discrimination and Corruption Alleged on the Record, "GA Should Act"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1owondo090808.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 8 -- Whistleblowers about the UN are nearly always nameless, given the UN's record of retaliation. Given this record, Inner City Press grants and defends anonymity of whistleblowers. Recently, however, a former UN system staff member in Angola, Ivory Coast and at the International Criminal Court for Rwanda approached Inner City Press with his story, explicitly asking that he be quoted by name. He produced UN evaluations of his previous work, and a list of UN system jobs he has applied for without success.

"They've put a red flag on my file," he said. "I'm a lawyer but they've given me no chance to defend myself. The General Assembly should start a team to investigation discrimination and corruption in the UN, and they should use my story and my contacts. Please go ahead and name me."

His name is Joseph Owondo. He first approached Inner City Press at the Security Council stakeout. He wore an identification card from the Guinea-Bissau mission, for which he is working. He previously worked for the mission of his native Gabon, and before that for the UN, most recently in 2003 to 2005 as head of human rights for the UN Mission in Ivory Coast. He left, voluntarily, and returned to New York. Later he applied for a UN human rights post in Togo, another French speaking country. But after he applied, a colleague called him and said, "There's already someone for that post."

"How can that be?" he asked. "They've just advertised the post, and they say they're going to interview me."

"That's just for show," his friend told him. "You'll see."

When the interview occurred, it was conducted according to Mr. Owondo by a three-person panel. None of the three spoke French. "But the official language of Togo is French," Owondo protested.

"Togo officials all speak English," the head of the panel insisted.

Owondo disagreed, and made his answers in French. He did not get the job, the person it has been pre-promised to got it.

"This is what happens in the UN and everyone knows it but doesn't say," Owondo told Inner City Press this week. "People are afraid, they'll lose their jobs or have red flags put on their files and never get a job. This is what's happened to me."

Owondo paints a bleak picture of the current UN, saying that disappointment is widespread, even leading, he said, to suicide. "That lady who died out on the lawn?" he asked, pointing down at the grass between the UN and the East River. "Why does a person come in to their work if they want to kill themselves? Then a man died for lack of medical attention. We've hit a new low. The UN belongs to everyone. Member states have to beat their hands on the table and change things."

On August 4, Inner City Press exclusively reported on a seven-page letter to Ban Ki-moon which alleged systemic corruption and discrimination in the UN, primarily in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Click here for Inner City Press' story, which called the author, who wrote under the pen name Alice Gervais, a whistleblower, and wondered what investigation or retaliation might follow.

After publication, and without Inner City Press even having asked, a member of Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson told Inner City Press that no request for protection for retaliation had been filed with UN Ethics Officer Robert Benson, and that Ban Ki-moon would have no response, since it was an "anonymous" letter. Since then, numerous staff members have complained to Inner City Press about this non-response, asking why the factual allegations in the letter, against high UN officials, are not being inquired into, for example by the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Inner City Press sent OIOS chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius questions weeks ago, only to receive an auto-response that Ms. Ahlenius is on a six-week vacation extending through September 15.

On September 3, Inner City Press re-sent the seven-page letter to the spokesman for DPKO, Nick Birnback, and two other UN officials, asking for comment and response on the factual allegations in the letter. To date no such response have been received. Mr. Owondo has told Inner City Press that he has been "accused" of being the author of the letter.

"I did not write it," Owondo emphasized. "Many of the things in the letter, I know nothing about. But there is truth in that letter, that must be investigated. The General Assembly, which starts later this month, has to look into this. The UN itself won't do it, they just try to silence staff members who speak out. Take my evaluations, please put them online. I have nothing to be afraid of. They know where to reach me."

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1owondo090808.html

At UN, Indigestion at Request for Court Ruling on Kosovo Independence

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icj1serbia090508.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 5 -- On Serbia's UN resolution to seek a ruling by the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, the European Union is in a conflicted position. On September 4, Inner City Press asked Jean-Maurice Ripert, the Permanent Representative to the UN of France, which currently holds the EU Presidency, what the EU will go in the upcoming General Assembly meetings. Ambassador Ripert said it is still being considered, but "we do not contest" Serbia's right to "address the General Assembly and we will even facilitate it." But question is what position the EU will take on voting on the resolution, not Serbia's right to present the resolution.

An EU diplomat who insisted on being identified as such because not authorized to be quoted in his own name told Inner City Press that EU consultations are still ongoing. Some, he said, are urging EU support for the resolution as a way to support Serbia's pro-EU government by helping them "park" this burning domestic issue in the Hague. The downside, he said, is that the pendency of such a case would slow down if not halt other countries' recognition of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

Costa Rica's Ambassador Jorge Urbina said that his country, even though it has already recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, will be voting in favor of getting ICJ review. Ambassador Urbina rhetorically asked Inner City Press, how can we oppose a member state which has lost a province getting a court ruling?

Inner City Press asked U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff how the U.S. will vote on the resolution. We haven't reached a decision on that yet, Ambassador Wolff replied.

Inner City Press asked Serbia's Ambassador Pavle Jevremovic if he thinks his country's resolution will pass. He nodded, and said, "We're trying to keep things uncontroversial." Some cynics even speculate that Serbia's current government might want to lose the case, or at least wouldn't mind losing it, because then the Serbian public could be told, "We tried everything possible, now let's get on with the business of business." Among the evidence presented for this theory is Serbia's foreign minister's statement that if the ICJ rules against his position, Serbia will have to respect it. Meanwhile, even if Serbia won, the ruling would only be advisory. The theory goes, why would anyone start a court case they could lose, but couldn't meaningfully win, unless they want to lose?

Another diplomat not authorized to be quoted by name said it will be difficult for his African country not to support the resolution, and he wonders how the United States could justify not supporting it. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icj1serbia090508.html