At UN, Musing of One-Term Ban by Obama and Russia, Ramos-Horta in the Wings

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/obama1horta101708.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 17 -- With Barack Obama opening a ten point lead over John McCain three weeks before the U.S. Presidential election, in the UN the question is being asked, what would an Obama administration mean for the UN? Inner City Press' inquiries and interviews have gleaned a theory that runs like this: Obama would want to put his imprint on the UN. Ban Ki-moon is viewed as the choice of George W. Bush.

For this reason, combined ironically with Russia's increasing dissatisfaction with Ban on issues ranging from Kosovo through the UN Development Program's funneling of Open Society Institute funding to Georgian President Saakashvili -- admittedly before Ban's time -- to Ban's agreement with NATO, a movement grows to limit Ban to one term. An exit strategy is devised: Ban will run for highest office in his native South Korea, and the Asian Group will get to keep the Secretary-General post for another five to ten years, as the African Group did when Kofi Annan replace the one-term Boutros Boutros Ghali.

But which Asian candidate emerges at the next Secretary-General? You'll read it here first: Jose Ramos-Horta, current president of Timor Leste, former Nobel Peace Prize winner. Ramos-Horta threw his hat in the ring to become UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, saying he was being considered even when sources say he wasn't. Among Obama's foreign policy advisers is Samantha Power, whose book Chasing the Flame deals at length with Timor Leste and Ramos-Horta.

But here's an incongruity, into which Inner City Press inquired this week before writing this story: Ramos-Horta is asking the UN to stop investigating the killing of civilians in East Timor in 1999, saying "we want a good relationship with Indonesia." This, in UN and other circles, is known as impunity. Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokesperson about Ramos-Horta's request, and to comment on it, which has been resisted.

On October 13, Inner City Press asked, "there are these reports that Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste has asked the UN to stop its inquiry into violence committed in the past in Timor-Leste. The reports don’t say where the request was made. Was it made to the Secretariat?"

Spokesperson Michele Montas said, "As far as I know, there was no official request." On October 14, Inner City Press followed up

Inner City Press: yesterday I had asked you about Ramos-Horta and whether he’d asked for the UN to not investigate the events of 1999. Now he’s being quoted in a pretty reputable paper as saying 'as Head of State, I did not authorize the UN to investigate the crime from 1999.' Does that mean the UN is going to stop…?

Spokesperson: As I said yesterday, there is no official request to stop the investigation. We have not received one, we have not received any communications on the subject from the President. Those are just media reports and statements reported by the media. And at any rate, as you know, we do not comment on statements attributed to leaders unless we receive an official statement or letter on that subject.

Inner City Press: If you were to receive, if this call was put in writing to the UN, would that end all UN investigations of the violence in 1999?

Spokesperson: Well, you know, there are two specific processes going on at the same time. There is no linkage between the Commission for Truth and Friendship, which is a bilateral mechanism between Timor-Leste and Indonesia. The UN has nothing to do with that one. It was set up in 2005 to look into the events of 1999. There is a second process, [a United Nations process], which is what they call the SCIT – which is a continuation of the serious crimes panels that were set up and working during 2002-2005. Those serious crimes panels were closed in 2005. All the case files were handed to the prosecutor in Timor-Leste. So, that process was brought back when UNMIT was established and it was agreed to set up that serious crime panel again simply to continue to assist the Office of the Prosecutor-General. So, this is our role, this is what we’re doing, and as I said, I will not comment on what was said.

Spinning away this incongruity may be a job for Samantha Power.

(Click here for story of Samantha Powers' May 2008 appearance at the UN, "Chasing the Flame with Cheese Cubes, US Progressives at UN Launch Campaign Funded by eBay."

Friday footnote: Or, as one wag said in front of the General Assembly on Friday when Iceland complained of broken promises, of country which took funding commitments and promised to vote for Iceland for a Security Council seat, maybe Obama will face such broken promises, through the so-called (Tom) Bradley effect or otherwise. In which case, we'll analyze John McCain's views and prospective impacts on the UN.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/obama1horta101708.html

On Sudan and ICC, Uganda Likes Deferral, Austria and Mexico Want Justice, Iceland Denounces UK

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga2scvote101708.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 17 -- Five new Security Council members were elected Friday at the UN, and afterwards these five, plus losing Iceland and the three Western Permanent Five members spoke to the media. Inner City Press asked questions of all nine speakers, mostly about Sudan but also about North Korea, Myanmar and the UK's freezing of Icelandic bank assets. On this last -- and also Friday's vote and broken promises of support -- Iceland is disappointed.

Uganda began, saying they will focus on the African continent. Inner City Press asked if Uganda supports the suspension or deferral of the International Criminal Court's prosecution against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir. The Ugandan representative said his country supports -- and thus presumably would vote for -- a deferral of prosecution so that "justice can be reconciled with the need for stability." Video here, from Minute 1:23.

Inner City Press then ask French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, who had just praise the five new members, what he thought of Uganda's position, and about suspending the ICC's proceedings against Al Bashir. "Once again," he said, "it is a procedure internal to the ICC... no one has raised it in the Security Council." He added "if it were raised tomorrow, we would not vote in favor of it." Video here, from Minute 19:49. U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff likewise said the suspending proceedings against Al Bashir is "not an issue to take up at this point" in the Council. Video here, from Minute 7:12.

Austria's Foreign Minister, after being asked about "right wing tendencies" in her country and saying the country's foreign policy will not change, was asked for her position on the ICC and Sudan. She said Austria supports the rule of law and is against impunity -- how surprising -- and supports the ICC and its work. Video here, from Minute 42:17. When Inner City Press asked then if there are any circumstances in which Austria would vote to suspend the process against Al Bashir, for example if indictee Ahmad Harun is arrested or even turned over to The Hague, she said "you will understand that I will not respond to questions formulated in a way not example the questions posed" and will not "speculate on specific voting patterns in the future." So the door is open.

Inner City Press asked the Mexican representative for his country's views, since there are so few Latin American issues on the Council's agenda, on how the UN should deal with the situation in Myanmar, and the ICC and Sudan. He said there's Haiti and there was Central America, but that Mexico will look broader. He said Mexico is committed to international justice. Video here, from Minute 45:18.

Footnotes: An interesting contrast, sadly out of sequence, can be found in the answers to Inner City Press of Iceland's Foreign Minister, who said the UK's freezing of Icelandic bank assets "under a terror law" was "not helpful" (video here, from Minute 23:48) and UK Ambassador John Sawers, who claimed that the problem "has been resolved between capitals" in a way that makes clear "the need to protect... invest[ors] in Iceland." Video here from Minute 4:54. If the UK believes in the rule of law, how can it freeze an unrelated Icelandic bank's assets, using an anti-terrorism law?

Inner City Press asked Japan's Ambassador if he thinks the Council has been doing enough on North Korea. He said that while the Six Party Talks are showing some promise, the Council should cast a "supportive eye." He spoke about the abduction issue and said while progress has been promised, it has not been forthcoming. Video here, from Minute 12:20. He didn't mention the fights North Korea and Japan have been having in the UN, during the General Debate and this week in the Third Committee. Click here for Inner City Press' story about Russia and Georgia and their war of words on October 16 in the Third Committee.

At Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked the spokesman for the President of the General Assembly about the stray votes -- were they write-ins? He said yes. Video here. But how then to explain the vote cast for Australia over Austria in the Western European and Other states Group? Austria, a long-time resident tells us, has a complex about being confused with Australia, even selling t-shirts that "There are no kangaroos in Austria."

We will inquire further into this mystery, and that of the Turkish gifts including chocolate left on each seat in the General Assembly. According to the spokesman, gifts of any kind or value are legal up to the moment when the voting begins. Iceland's problem, one wag said, is that they at least temporarily didn't have the money to buy their way onto the Council. As their Foreign Minister said, like the New York Yankees of late, "maybe next time, maybe soon."

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga2scvote101708.html

At UN, Russia and Georgia Spar Again on Child Rights, Genocide and Cover-Up Charged

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ga3russia101608.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- Russia and Georgia, which fought a war in August and pointedly did not meet each other at yesterday's planned meeting in Geneva, re-opened their war of words on Thursday night at the UN. At the end of a routine meeting of the General Assembly's Third Committee, on the protection of children, Russia's representative took five minutes to decry "the crimes of Georgia" in bombing South Ossetia on August 8 "with the assistance of foreigners." The allegation was made that Georgia's other breakaway region, Abkhazia, was slated to face the same fate, which Russia called "genocide."

Georgia, given its right of reply, said that the allegations were false and "we ask for an investigation." The chairman then gave the floor back to the Russian representative, who read into the record stories about particular South Ossetian victims. A car was hit by Georgia tanks, it was recounted, and a mother was "catapulted out." A 14-year old was killed by snipers. An elder spent three nights in a cellar surrounded by dead bodies. "They used knives on a pregnant woman, saying 'this child will fight against us.' Both died."

The Russian representative concluded that there was more to say, but not in "this lofty sphere." The chairman, seeming miffed, gaveled the meeting to a close. Afterwards, the Georgian representative who had spoken in the session emphasized to Inner City Press that the Russian had not responded to her call for an investigation.

Her colleague from the Georgian mission added that Russia could say that anyone had been killed, even Inner City Press -- "but they have to prove it."

It seems clear that the Russia - Georgia standoff will continue in all UN venues and elsewhere. On the aborted Geneva meeting of October 15, Inner City Press on October 16 asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson under what authority the UN had blocked the press from even covering the entrance and exit of officials from the meeting, held on UN premises. If the UN just fully excluded the press in Geneva, might they not do it in New York? The spokesperson, as she had on October 15, promised to look into it. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ga3russia101608.html

Manipur Conflict in India on UN's Margins Despite Child Soldiers, Impunity and Press Restrictions

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1manipur101108.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 11, updated -- The decades long insurgency in Manipur in northeast India gets little attention globally, and virtually none within the United Nations. This despite 10,000 deaths in the conflict, the imposition of martial law and restrictions on press access.

Manipur, with 2.2 million residents, was an independent kingdom until colonialized by Britain in 1891. It was incorporated into India at the end of British rule in 1947. Armed rebellion began in 1964 and martial law was imposed in 1980 and remains in place today.

Inner City Press interviewed the founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network Ms. Binalakshmi Nepram on October 10 after she narrated a short film about the conflict in an ill-attended screening across the street from the UN. Ms. Nepram said that India is so powerful that the issue can never be raised within the UN Headquarters.

Inner City Press asked her if there is any recruitment of child soldiers, as that should trigger involvement, with or without host country consent, at least by the UN's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy and UNICEF. Yes, Ms. Nepram said, children are incorporated into the fighting. "There are testimonies," she said. She also spoke passionately about the use in Manipur of rape as a weapon of war, which also should trigger UN involvement, unless double standards as is too common rule the day.

Even before receiving these from Ms. Nepram's office in New Delhi. it's worth reviewing the evidence that's in the public record.

In July 2008, Manipur police chief Y. Joykumar Singh said that "about 30 or more children are believed to be missing from different parts of the Imphal valley although many cases have not been reported to the police. So far, 13 cases of abductions have been registered." Radheshyam Singh, police chief of Imphal East district said "it is certain that these children were lured or kidnapped by various outlawed militant groups."

Among the accused recruiters are the Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, Prepak, both its Vice-Chairman and General Secretary factions and its so-called Cobra Task Force. Local accounts have 45-year-old Muhila Devi, a resident of Pishumthong near Imphal, crying inconsolably and breaking into regular fits when her 14-year-old daughter Surda went missing. "She is a minor and anybody who is holding her captive, please return her to me," a sobbing Devi said, as she blankly stared at her daughter's schoolbag. (The Pioneer, July 21, 2008.)

"Sensation prevailed in Manipur with the disappearance of two little boys July 6 and a separatist later claiming the children have joined the outfit of their own volition. 'The two boys are bent on joining us but we shall not stop them from returning to their families if they want,' Bobby Mangang, commander of the little-known group, the Prepak Cobra Task Force, told a group of journalists who visited the rebel base last fortnight.

"Yengkhom Naobi, 13 and Angom Langamba, 11, missing since July 6, appeared before journalists in Bishenpur district, close to state capital Imphal, and declared they have joined the group on their own. The children are students of Class III and IV. The children were paraded before journalists soon after their mothers had told the media that they were in the custody of the Task Force. Now, parents of Kshetrimayum, a Class VI student, and Wangkheimayum Sohadeva, a Class V student, have said their children are missing since June 19."

This should be enough detail for the UN to finally start working. Ms. Nepram said there is also evidence of Myanmar's military government being involved in the fighting in Manipur. This makes it a threat to international peace and security, the standards for UN Security Council involvement.

Inner City Press also spoke about Manipur with Walter Dorn, formerly a UN Peacekeeper in Timore Leste. Dorn called for the deployment of UN personnel in Manipur, while acknowledging that this would require the consent of the government of India. He said it would take "meetings like this to pressure India." There were less than a dozen people at the October 10 screening, held just across the street from the UN with free samosas and chai tea.

Dorn makes analogies to the UN's role in Timor Leste, Cambodia, Namibia and Central America, and his native Canada's granting of limited autonomy to Quebec. One could not help thinking of the precedent created by those countries recognizing the unlateral declaration of independence of Kosovo.

Film curator Somi Roy, also present, stated that Manipur has a distinct civilization than India's, and that New Delhi police recently produced an insulting booklet telling people from Manipur how to dispose of garbage and for women not to dress too provocatively.

Impunity is one of the biggest problems in Manipur, according to Ms. Nepram. She cites the 1958 Indian Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, in which soldiers in "disturbed areas" like Manipur are allowed to shoot to kill while remaining immune from prosecution.

Ms. Nepram said that the continuance of this law is one of the sources of resentment in Manipur, one of the reasons it remains a disturbed area. She expressed frustration that the press does not cover the deaths and abuse, including disappearances and rape by Army soldiers. Foreign media is rarely allowed in Manipur, and then only for ten days at a time. Similar restrictions in Sudan's Darfur region are widely covered and denounced. Why not those in northeast India?

The Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network is still small; its program to help women open bank accounts has to date helped 25 women. It also makes micro-loans to help women entrepreneurs. It began in 2004 in response to the killing of 27-year old Buddhi Moirangthem, and now "will keep documenting the testimonies of women and children gun survivors," including child soldiers. But will the UN listen?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1manipur101108.html

UN's Road to Accountability Is Murky and Long But Reporters Are Invited by Management's Kane

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/un2kane100908.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 -- "Accountability is a state of mind," UN Management chief Angela Kane said Thursday, quoting the representative of a UN member state she left unnamed. The Ban Ki-moon Administration's so-called Accountability proposal was criticized by UN budget advisors as vague and relying on overpriced consultants. In her first press conference since replacing Alicia Barcena, Inner City Press asked Ms. Kane to respond to this and other criticism. "You're absolutely right," said Ms. Kane, " they didn't take a positive view. Not everyone understands what we are trying to achieve."

But on an eminently simple issue, of filing required personal financial disclosure and Ban's call that his senior officials make summaries public, there appears to not yet be any accountability. While in 2006, there were 34 UN staff members who refused to file any financial disclosure, the number rose to 172 in Ban Ki-moon's first year, 2007. Ms. Kane and her colleague from the Office of Human Resources Management were not able to describe any repercussions for not disclosing. Instead they are focusing on why people didn't file, saying that it is difficult for example from the Congo.

But what about the fully 36 senior officials who explicitly declined to follow Ban Ki-moon's call to make public some basic financial disclosure? That's voluntary, Ms. Kane said. Yes, but recently Ban Ki-moon bemoaned that he tried to lead by example and no one followed. What is being done to turn that around? It wasn't answered.

Ms. Kane also glossed over doubts that have arisen about the UN's information technology plans. In two recent closed-door budget sessions, the plan has fallen under fire. In the first, it was unclear whether the plan was under the authority of the Executive Office of the Secretary General or of Ms. Kane's unit. That has apparently been resolved: Chief Information Technology Officer Mr. Choi will report to the Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Kane said on Thursday. But when Choi was asked, in a closed door meeting this week of the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee, how much money would be saved, he could not say. Questions were also raised about the UN's plan for a peacekeeping computer center in Valencia, Spain, which Ban Ki-moon announced but which has not yet been approved.

"We want to be more accessible," Ms. Kane said when asked if she will move forward on Barcena's promise to implement a UN Freedom of Information policy. She told a story about having staffer in the Department of Political Affairs who in response to a request for information had to read and redact information about the Hungarian Revolution -- "there was a suicide," said Ms. Kane, "private information" -- and ended up writing a book on the topic. Only at the UN.

In terms of when at least any right to UN information might exist, Ms. Kane neither specified when it might kick in nor when become effective: she emphasized that a recent policy in the UK will take five years to phase in. Sounds like the Capital Master Plan. On that, Ms. Kane said "a journalist will always have a space in the Organization," then said that spaces will be smaller and that she's "looking at the figures." Whether this will be consistent with what UN Correspondents are being told by their direct interlocutors is not clear.

We'll have more on these topics. For now we note that while Ms Kane made a point of saying she finds it "sad" the positions of New York and Geneva UN Staff Unions and that she has spoken several times with the representative of the Geneva Union and also with New York, the Headquarters Staff Union leadership when asked says no, that is not true. The road to accountability is murky, long -- and still uncertain.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2kane100908.html

UN Report on Algiers Bombing Is Withheld, Role of UNDP In Lower Defenses Too

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/un1zacklin100808.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- The UN inquiry that was supposed put to rest issues surrounding the deadly bombing of UN premises in Algiers in December 2007 has in fact only raised more questions. The head of the so-called Accountability Panel, Ralph Zacklin, told Inner City Press on October 8 that he could not say if any settlements have been paid out, and would not confirm who was being recommended for discipline.

Inner City Press asked about UN Development Program official Marc de Bernis, who sources say failed to act on requests by UN staffer Babacar Ndiaye to install waist-high metal barricades that can be raised and retracted, and did not raise the security phase above "One," the lowest of five numeric ratings. Zacklin on Wednesday confirmed that the level had been lowered to "One" in June 2006 at the urging of Algeria's government; he said that both Algeria and the UN had engaged in "politicization" in reducing the security phase to One.

This word, Politicized, appeared in the mere four page summary that, instead of the report, was provided. When Inner City Press asked Zacklin about the word and summary, he said, that is not my summary, it was written by the Secretary-General's Office. One wag wondered if that's not the case for the Report as a whole.

So who is responsible? First Zacklin said that as a matter of due process, he would not name names. Then he said there is a paragraph in his 88-page report, which is being withheld, on outgoing Security Chief David Veness. But when Inner City Press asked if there is a paragraph on UNDP or Marc de Bernis, Zacklin declined to answer, saying only that de Bernis was reviewed. Video here, from Minute 55:57.

So where's the accountability? And if the UN is so committed to due process, why were the 54 staff members subject to compulsory interview by Zacklin's panel not allowed counsel or even Staff Union representation? "Because it was a fact finding inquiry," Zacklin said, adding that denying representation was "in accordance with previous practice" at the UN. Video here, from Minute 27:18. But why not have the right to counsel?

Since the Report is being withheld, along with the names, it is difficult to see what has changed or been fixed since the bombing. In fact, not enough was changed after the Baghdad bombing of UN premises. Just before that, a long-time staffer tells Inner City Press, UN Security refuses to consider providing a more security plane to fly the 15 Ambassadors on the Security Council. Eventually, these Ambassadors flew in a German and not UN plane. After the Baghdad bombing, UN Security apologized. Too little, too late.

For the families of the victims, what has been paid? Zacklin told Inner City Press that Ban Ki-moon spokesperson could say. She in turn merely referred Inner City Press to UNDP. But they have declined a question on October 7 for Marc de Bernis' present location and status. And UNDP has not provided the detail of payments to families of victims of a recent helicopter crash in the Congo. The UN refuses to answer questions, then claims to be holding itself accountable.

Footnote: In fairness to Zacklin, other sources of Inner City Press describe him fighting against the expulsion of UN staff from such countries as Eritrea. But to not even write or stand behind the summary of its report is telling.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1zacklin100808.html

UNDP's Evacuation of Jordan Building Confirmed by UN, Unexplained by UNDP

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1jordan100708.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- The UN Development Program has evacuated its staff from its building in Amman, Jordan due to danger. This information was gleened not from UNDP, which twice declined to confirm it, but rather from UN system Security chief David Veness. Inner City Press approached him Tuesday afternoon in the Economic and Social Council chamber and he acknowledged that UNDP had deemed its building unsafe, and that when UNDP unilaterally pulled out, it led to "noice" and push-back from other UN agencies which felt they had not been consulted.

By contrast to this candor, UNDP's spokesman issued a vague non-non-denial, and then refused to say more. First,

"We are not curtailing operations. The delivery of programmes continues as normal in Jordan. However, we do from time, to take the necessary security precautions but they have not had an impact on our ability to do our work."

Then, after Inner City Press again asked for confirmation and description of the change, and where other agencies were informed, this:

"On Jordan, I will not get into the details of security precautions. There are procedures in place and they are being followed."

Why would UNDP think that that it has or can be more secretive that the chief of all UN Security?

It is anticipated that the so-called accountability report about the bombing of UN premises in Algiers will be released on October 8, and that UNDP and its Designated Officer Marc de Bernis will figure prominently. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1jordan100708.html

As UN's Ban Tries to Lead Reform, 36 Officials and 172 Staff Say No , Mobility Stalled

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1unreformed100708.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- Speaking publicly at last about UN reform, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said his idea of moving staff from job to job is to stimulate creative, a "fresh wind at the UN," as he called it. But he has a long way to go to sell this plan. Several of his Under Secretary Generals have told Inner City Press they oppose the idea. People with expertise, one USG asked Inner City Press on October 6, why should we send them to an entirely different job? It brought to mind Ban's complaint in his speech to this and other officials in Turin, that he tried to lead by example but no one followed.

The same applied, despite Ban's protests, to public financial disclosure. While at his October 7 press conference Ban claimed that compliance has been high, the most recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers shows that while in 2006 only 34 UN staff refused to submit financial disclosures, in 2007 under Ban Ki-moon, the number of non-compliant staff grew to 172. Click here to see the Report. To see Ban's claim to the contrary, video here.

In asking questions about UN reform, over the objections of Ban's spokesperson, Inner City Press said it is to Ban's credit that he made a public financial disclosure, how ever minimal. But while he called on other senior UN system officials to follow his lead, an updated review by Inner City Press on October 7 found that of 105 top officials, fully 36 declined to make any public financial disclosure. The names of these non-disclosers may be surprising to some.

The following officials chose not to follow Ban's lead, click to view their statements that "I have chosen not to disclose the information" --

• Ahmed Obaid, Thoraya – Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director, UNFPA
• Arrukban, Abdul Aziz – Special Humanitarian Envoy, OCHA
• Belka, Marek – Executive Secretary, ECE
• Cheng-Hopkins, Judy – Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, UNHCR
• Costa, Antonio Maria – Director General, UNOV and Executive Director, UNODC
• da Costa, Luiz Carlos – Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, MINUSTAH
• Diarra, Cheick Sidi – High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (Africa post and familial connections not disclosed)
  
• Dieng, Adama – Assistant Secretary-General/Registrar, ICTR
• Djoghlaf, Ahmed – Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UNEP
• Eliasson, Jan K. – Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Darfur
• Ennifar, Azouz – Acting Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Eritrea and Ethiopia
• Gaye, Babacar – Force Commander, MONUC
• Grandi, Filippo – Deputy Commissioner-General, UNRWA
• Graziano, Claudio – Force Commander, UNIFIL
• Haq, Ameerah – Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan
• Holthuis, Hans – Registrar, ICTY
• Houngbo, Fossoun Gilbert – Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Regional Director, UNDP Africa (since left, also without anti revolving door standards, to the government of Togo)
• Jomo, Kwame Sundaram – Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development, DESA
• Machinea, Jose Luis – Executive Secretary, ECLAC
• Mahmoud, Youssef – Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi and Head, BINUB
• Mattsson, Jan – Executive Director, UNOPS 1
• Moleko, Lebohang K. – Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Ethiopia/Eritrea
• Moller, Michael – Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Chief of Mission, UNFICYP
• Mountain, Ross – Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Moussa, Abou – Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, ONUCI
• Obeng, Seth – Representative to the United Nations, Greentree Agreement
• Obiakor, Chikadibia – Force Commander, UNMIL
• Reed, Joseph – Special Advisor to the Secretary-General
• Reske-Nielsen, Finn – Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Governance Support, Development and Humanitarian Coordination
• Riza, Iqbal – Special Adviser to the Secretary-General
• Ruecker, Joachim – Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission, UNMIK
• Simonen, Mari – Deputy Executive Director (Management), UNFPA
• Sutherland, Peter – Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Migration
• Titov, Dmitry – Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, DPKO
• Veness, David – Under-Secretary-General, DSS
• Yuge, Akiko – Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau of Management, UNDP

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1unreformed100708.html

UN and Microsoft, Conflicts of Interest and Increased Non-Reporting, Tech Help

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/un1conflicts100208.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- During the UN's General Debate last week, Inner City Press stopped the UN's Special Advisor on Africa Cheick Sidi Diarra on his way past the entrance sign to the event that seemed incongruous: the Microsoft African Heads of State Reception. That same day, Microsoft's Bill Gates was allowed to speak from the podium in the General Assembly Hall. How could a particular private company, even one the size of Microsoft, be treated as if it were a country, and be given a venue like this at the UN?

On October 2, Cheick Sidi Diarra gave a press conference on his other role, regarding land-locked less developed countries, and Inner City Press asked him about the Microsoft event, if he was there in his official capacity or as a sibling. Video here, from Minute 30:39.

Cheick Sidi Diarra said that the event was co-sponsored by his Office and Microsoft, "to bring Bill Gates to the UN" and as part of Microsoft's strategy for the Continent. Inner City Press asked if Cheick Modibo Diarra, listed as Microsoft's Ambassador for Africa, was Cheick Sidi Diarra's brother.

"It's become very personal," Cheick Sidi Diarra complained.

"But he has the same name," Inner City Press said. Not said, but relevant, is that Inner City Press on September 29 asked a senior UN representative about the Microsoft event and was told an answer was forthcoming. None was received.

Cheick Sidi Diarra said that his brother is a UNESCO Ambassador, and Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson moved the questioning on. Video here, from Minute 33:48.

While Cheick Sidi Diarra seems to be a nice person and has often stopped in the hall to answer Africa questions from Inner City Press, it seems like a possible conflict of interest to allow him to co-sponsor in the UN an event for a corporation that his brother works for. What safeguards are in place at the UN? Apparently none.

In a mark of backsliding ethics at the UN, the number of UN staff who have refused to file required financial disclosures grew by 500% before 2006 and 2007, from 34 staff members in 2006 to 172 in 2007, according to a just-released internal report which Inner City Press has obtained and puts online here.

The report, by PriceWaterhouse Coopers the "despite considerable follow-up by the Ethics Office and by the heads of departments, there was a high rate of non-compliance by staff members than for the previous year." This may explain Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon state to his senior staff in a recent speech in Turin, that he tried to lead by example "but no one followed."

This same report states that PwC "identified 21 cases... as having a potential conflict of interest. In relation to these 21 cases, nineteen staff members accepted PwC's advice regarding the appropriate compliance arrangement."

Did these include the Cheick Diarra brothers? Did it include Jane Holl Lute, serving in UN Peacekeeping and now Peacebuilding while her husband is President Bush's war czar for Afghanistan and Iraq? In both cases, when Inner City Press asked the question, the response was that the question was inappropriate or too personal. But these are structural conflicts of interest. The UN must be reformed.

Footnotes: Also on info technology, and on Microsoft, if you are a Lebanese minister in New York and you need to send confidential documents to your President in Beirut, where do you go? Next to the bar, of course, in the UN Delegates Lounge. There you'll find a help window leading to a room which until recently had been vacant for more than a decade. There are three desktop computers inside, one a wide-screen Macintosh, and two Chinese Lenovos running Microsoft operating systems. There are ten laptop which are lent out to Ambassadors. One of the desk top computers is secure, not run on UN wireless. The diplomats are promised secrecy, right inside the UN. Meanwhile, the conflux between the UN's computer operations and intelligence has never been closed.

To come full circle to the land-locked less developed states, Inner City Press asked Cheick Sidi Diarra if his office would help the undeniably land-locked South Ossetia, or South Sudan. Apparently the Office helps only UN member states. What is its position on pipelines, like BTC or Chad-Cameroon? This question wasn't answered. The Office coordinates with other UN agencies. How about Peacekeeping on shipping to the quite landlocked Darfur? How about coordinating with Jane Holl Lute's Peacebuilding Commission, on Burundi and Central African Republic? We hope to have more on this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1conflicts100208.html

At UN, France's Ripert Chided by Sarkozy on Serbia Resolution, of Belgian Banks

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un9298muse092908.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 29 -- Monday at the UN was a case of triple witching. Last week Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe called a correspondent here "a witch," then said that he was joking. But Monday marked the end of the General Debate, the end of Burkina Faso's presidency of the Security Council, and to some, the end of waiting to see if a financial bailout bill would pass the U.S. Congress.

In reverse order, mid-afternoon found Jan Grauls, the Ambassador of Security Council member Belgium, watching U.S. television about the vote in Congress. Amazing, he said. He asked Inner City Press if the House of Representative could simply re-vote on the bill. Yes, he was told, like the Security Council the Congress is master of its own procedure. But it would be hard to vote again on a vetoed resolution, he said. Hard but not illegal. He added that former Belgian bank Belgolaise, which had been active in the Congo, was swallowed by the just bailed-out Fortis, which he personally avoids.

Down at the Council stakeout, Burkina Faso's Michel Kafando read the final press statement of his Presidency, about the bombing in Tripoli. Afterwards Inner City Press asked him both if the case will be referred to the Hariri Tribunal, and to summarize his month at the top of the Council. No and satisfied, he answered, noting that of the problems before the Council in September, none had been vetoed.

Later, at the Burkinabe reception replete with Italian cold cuts and sushi, one of his staffers added that they were lucky to come between the Georgian war and the upcoming fight about invoking Article 16 of the Rome Statute to potentially freeze the International Criminal Court's prosecution of Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir.

The reception began even as the final speeches of the General Debate were made. Djibouti, it appears, never did speak. One of the last was Somduth Soborun of Mauritius, who incongruously said "Mauritius severely condemns the decision of Myanmar's military junta to prolong the house arrest of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi." Given African Union position, Inner City Press asked him about it afterwards. "We supported Nelson Mandela," he said. "So how can we not similarly support Aung San Suu Kyi?"

One Security Council Ambassador who reportedly got criticized by his boss is France's Jean-Maurice Ripert, who told Inner City Press that Serbia's request for a General Assembly resolution for an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's independence causes "turbulence." When Inner City Pres asked Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic about this quote, Jeremic scoffed that in the Balkan, they know what real turbulence is, and this isn't it. French President Nicolas Sarkozy apparently agrees, and according to well-placed sources told Ripert he is not authorized to speak this way on the issue.

We've saved the hardest news for last: it also appears that the United States will vote against the Serbian resolution.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un9298muse092908.html

At UN, Ban Is Called "Not Invisible" By His Aides, Myanmar Silence Unexplained

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1advisors092908.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 29 -- Asked about 19 days of silence about Myanmar by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his senior advisor Nicholas Haysum on Monday said, "We're dealing with the appearance of silence... the perception of invisibility." Ban's advisor on so-called "global goods," Robert Orr, was similarly abstract, saying that "this question of invisibility is a distraction."

Inner City Press had asked both men about criticism of Ban that has come out in the past month, and if their joint appearance for nearly an hour marked some sort of new beginning by the Ban administration. "No," said Mr. Orr, this has "nothing to do with criticism." He said that no country, in its bilateral meeting with Ban, had raised the UN reform questions of availability of audits to donor states, or of whistleblower protection.

If anything, Haysom said, Ban may issue too many statement. But why then did he cancel his scheduled September 27 press availability about Myanmar? Sometimes, Haysom said, involvement in delicate negotiations limits the "capacity to stand outside the process and shout." But 19 days after silence from Ban after his envoy Ibrahim Gambari left Myanmar without meeting with either Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi or General Than Shwe?

Another Nobel Prize winner, Jody Williams, told Inner City Press later on Monday that Ban's involvement in Myanmar has been useless, that's why Aung San Suu Kyi rebuff his envoy, and that Ban is legitimizing a scam constitution which excludes the regimes main opponents, who won elections in 1990.

Haysom said the decision to cancel the September 27 press availability about Myanmar had been Ban's, and that he couldn't explain it. Perhaps the track record on this issue, ascriticized by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams, explains it.

News analysis: Things can, of course, always change. If Ban, who seems a genuinely affable person, does not want to speak to the press on the record about such issues as Myanmar and Darfur -- the latter he confined to off the record lunches which were then suspended -- then availability by his top advisors Haysom and Orr is better than nothing. If they they claim it has nothing to do with the mounting criticism.

Footnote: Inner City Press caught up with Ibrahim Gambari later on Monday, and told him of the criticism by Jody Williams and fellow traveler Mia Farrow. Gambari said that he had been with Farrow in Angola, working together. Those then were the days. We hope to have more from and about Gambari later this week.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1advisors092908.html

On Myanmar, UN's Ban Says He Can't Speak, Press Must Fight for Access Even to Ministers

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban4myanmar092708.html

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 27, updated -- A year after monks were beaten in the streets by Myanmar's military government, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon convened a Saturday meeting of his Group of Friends of Myanmar in the basement of the UN. He was scheduled to speak to the Press about Myanmar after the meeting, at 12:45 pm. But at 9:50 am, Ban's Spokesperson announced that his press availability was being cancelled.

It was explained that Ban could not speak until a statement had been agreed on. To some this seemed strange. Previous Secretary General Kofi Annan, for example, would speak to the press on his way in and out of meetings and in the hall, particularly if human rights were involved. Another rationalizer of the cancellation of Ban's press availability proffered that his schedule was too tight. But between a 11:10 meeting with Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste there was only the Myanmar meeting, until a 3:40 p.m. meeting with Foreign Minister of Algiers.

Several UN correspondents interested in Myanmar then sought to at least gain access to the area in front of the meeting room, so that if attendees of the Friends of Myanmar meeting wanted to speak to the Press, about the meeting or the anniversary of the crushed Saffron Revolution, they could. But the journalists were told that since Ban cancelled his press availability, they would not be allowed to stand by the meeting room, even behind metal barricades. [See update below.]

Advocacy was made; various UN officials said that it was others, not them, that had the power to restore press access to the area in front of the meeting room. Reporters including Inner City Press were blocked by UN Security and watched as a flotilla of foreign ministers swept down an escalator and into the meeting room. "We're getting screwed," one of the reporters said. "This is like what Than Shwe does in his new capital in the middle of the jungle."

Whether that statement, not by Inner City Press, is hyperbole or not, it is undeniable that the sequence of events, the cancellation of Ban's press availability and then the barring of reporters from the area, would make it more difficult to cover the Myanmar issue, and might even result in some publications not running a story they otherwise would have. Such stories inevitably would mention the widespread analysis that Ban's envoy Ibrahim Gambari's most recent trip to Myanmar, during which he met with neither Than Shwe nor democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was a failure. Some surmise that this is the coverage that the UN Secretariat is trying to avoid. For this supposition, they point to the UN's 19 days of silence after Gambari left Myanmar.

After Press advocacy for access, the reporters who had waited by the security checkpoint were finally let through. Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert what he hoped to accomplish with the meeting. "The mobilization of the international community," he said. "The freeing of political prisoners."

In fairness, even if Ban had followed through on the promised press availability at 12:45, the press was only going to be allowed into the area in front of the meeting room at 12:30. So, after advocacy, being allowed in, at 11:15 resulted in more time near the meeting room than had been promised. On the other hand, why would the UN decide that its Secretary General was unable to speak to the press about a serious human rights and humanitarian issue like Myanmar until some statement had been agreed to?

Also in fairness, it may be that the UN has little leverage. But among its leverage is the ability to speak.

Javier Solana of the European Union also stopped to speak to Inner City Press. "What do you hope to accomplish with the meeting?" Solana said, "To support the Secretary-General."

News analysis: But support the Secretary-General in what, with respect to Myanmar?

Update of 12:14 p.m. -- Now it's said that UK Minister Milliband will speak to the Press, at the stakeout access to which was won only through advocacy.

Update of 1:02 p.m. -- Singapore's Foreign Minister emerged to speak of signs of progress and the need for economic development in Myanmar. Inner City Press asked if Ban should go to Myanmar if Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest. He said that the correcting timing of a Ban visit must be carefully considered, but would not give more details. "Let me go back into the meeting," he said. The UK has confirmed that Milliband will speak. What will he say when asked when and if Ban should go to Myanmar?

On the sidelines, a Deputy Permanent Representative of an ASEAN member state, also member of the Group of Friends, laughed when told Ban thought he couldn't speak on the issue until the Group had a statement, and said, of course he can speak, he was probably asked not to, pointing out that Ban met with Myanmar's foreign minister at 9:40. (At 9:50 Ban's 12:45 press availability was cancelled.)

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban4myanmar092708.html