On Western Sahara, Draft Reports Published as UN Refuses to Take Morocco QOn Western Sahara, Draft Reports Published as UN Refuses to Take Morocco Q

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 -- For days, senior UN officials have been telling Inner City Press about aggressive lobbying by Morocco about the specifics of the forthcoming UN report on Western Sahara, a leaked copy of which Morocco was given from within the UN Secretariat.

Inner City Press on April 4 wrote about the topic -- having also obtained a copy from diplomatic sources -- and on April 6 repeatedly told Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky that it wanted to ask a Western Sahara question at that day's noon briefing.

“I have a question on Western Sahara,” Inner City Press said, ceding first to another journalist on Haiti. But Nesirky then declared without explanation he would take only one more question, on another topic. Inner City Press repeated, “I have a question on Western Sahara.” But Nesikry stood up, declaring his briefing over. Nor does he respond to or even acknowledge the majority of e-mailed Press questions.

Diplomatic sources tell Inner City Press that Ban's final, post-lobbying report is due out. And so, Inner City Press now published a scanned version of the draft to obtained, both with Paragraph 119 as urged by Morocco and a proposal by the Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights, which proposes a human rights mechanism for the UN's MINURSO mission.

Click here and here.

Even those close to Ban say that the level of pressure -- which Ban has apparently given into -- was extreme. At the same time, Ban is closely linked with France in military action in Cote d'Ivoire.

A day after French foreign minister Alain Juppe said that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon agrees that Laurent Gbagbo must sign a letter ceding power to Alassane Ouattara, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky if that is, in fact, Ban's position.

“I don't speak for the French Foreign Minister,” Nesirky said.

“But you do speak for the Secretary General,” Inner City Press asked. Is it Ban's position or not?

Nesirky would not answer, saying he would not characterize the Secretary General's communications with Juppe. Then he refused repeated requests that he answer a question about Western Sahara.

Thus does the UN thumbs its nose at transparency and lose credibility, by being used by France and Morocco, not only in Cote d'Ivoire but Western Sahara too. Watch this site.

At NYU, Galbraith's Kurdish Oil & Abrams' Contra Conviction Unmentioned

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 -- With Elliot Abrams slated to debate Peter Galbraith Tuesday on whether America's global wings should be clipped, moderated by ABC's John Donvan for the Intelligence Squared series, certain basic facts were expected to come out.

Elliot Abrams was found guilty -- and later pardoned -- for misleading Congress about Iran - Contra. More recently, Peter Galbraith's financial interest in oil in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region was exposed by the Norwegian and then US press. (Full disclosure: Inner City Press wrote about it, on this site.)

But neither fact was mentioned even when Galbraith, hiding in plain sight, asked why the US hadn't just left Kurdistan alone, since “it was working.” For him, clearly.

This is what happens when you set up a debate between people with similar Achiles Heels. With Mutually Assured Destruction, each debater clips his wings. But where was the moderator? Where was this Intelligence, Squared?

The program for the event, held in NYU's Skirball Center, listed among “Bright” donors Mort Zuckmerman, and among advisors Fareed Zakaria. So where was the journalistic impulse?

Donvan asked the audience for faux applause for rebroadcast on Bloomberg television. Eliot Cohen said his non-clipping side should win because on the other wise would be Kim Jong-il and Hugo Chavez. Lawrence Korb played the churlish accountable to Galbraith's oil man feint. Ultimately the two Elliots won. Truth and full disclosure, however, were each ill served.

All four panelists said they supported US involvement in Libya, though the wing clippers said they agreed that no ground troops should be used. But what about arming the rebels, and Obama (and Cameron's) position that they can, despite the arms embargo in UN Security Council Resolution 1970, even as modified by Resolution 1973? America's wings clipped, indeed....

n Cote d'Ivoire, Juppe Says Ban Ki-moon Also Demands Gbagbo's Signature

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 -- In what appears to be an endgame in Abidjan, the relation between France and the the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been put into the spotlight.

Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky on April 5 if UN attack helicopters had fired at Laurent Gbagbo's residence in self-defense.

Nesirky bristled that it was not the UN which fired on Gbagbo's residence. Video here.

But when a French reporter stated that helicopters of the French Force Licorne had fied on Gbagbo's house, and ask if that was on behalf of the UN, all Nesirky said was that it was legal for Licorne to support the UN.

Then Nesirky dodged a series of questions about the UN's role in negotiating with Gbagbo, who reportedly retreated to a bunker under his fired-upon residence.

When a reporter read him a quote from France that the UN was engaged in negotiations, Nesirky said that because he did not have a wireless computer with him, he did not know. Video here.

French minister of foreign affairs Alain Juppe, however, said that Gbagbo must sign a letter relinquishing power to Alassane Ouattara, and that “Ban Ki-moon agrees with me on that.”

Even if Security Council Resolution 1975, authorizing the UN to shoot at and “take out” heavy weapons of Gbagbo's forces if they were to be used to fire on civilians, can be read to permit UNOCI and Licorne to fire missiles at Gbagbo's house -- Russian foreign minister Lavrov, among others, was not convinced on Tuesday -- the resolution is not about Ban adopting France's demands as a condition of ending military action.

So who, some want to know, is working for whom? Watch this site.

Footnote: after Ban's spokesman Nesirky's noon briefing, a more senior Ban official suggested to Inner City Press that Gbagbo, “if he's smart,” will demand UN protection at the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara stayed, and begin holding press conferences there. That, is seems clear, France would not accept.

The Ban official also noted that until recently, it was Ban's envoy Choi Young-jin who was hiding in a basement. Turn about is fair play?

In Ban's UN, Amid Nepotism & Threats of Firing, Mobility Memo Unveiled

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 -- Noticing as many in the UN have a decidedly anti-labor trend in Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's administration, Inner City Press on March 17 asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky, as an example, about threats being made against the elevator operators, to be replaced with non-union contractors.

Nesirky said he would look into it, then in the hallway outside the briefing room berated Inner City Press that “you asked a question about elevators when the rest of the world is wondering about nuclear meltdown and wondering what's happening in Cote d'Ivoire to tens of thousands of people.”

Now that the UN in Cote d'Ivoire has shooting missiles from attack helicopters contracted from Ukraine, we have these UN labor updates:

The elevator operators began circulating a flier trying to save their jobs, asking people to call the person at Facilities Management who seemed to be making the decision. That person, named on the attached flier, then reportedly threatened that any elevator operator or other worker caught circulating the flier would be fired.

The UN TV and other audio engineers in the UN continue to face a reduction in wages and benefits, combined with what many call inappropriate pressure to re-apply for their own jobs, in a unit said to be run by the wife of the official who has been in charge of the unit and outside contractor for some time. (Nepotism seems to many to be a trend in Ban's UN, see here.)

The moves are not limited to elevator operators and sound engineers. In a confidential memo from Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar to his chief of management Angela Kane and head of the UN Office of Human Resource Management Catherine Pollard, it is suggested that “40 percent of total recruitment in every Department every year be set aside for applicants external to the Department.”

The memo, which Inner City Press is putting online here, also muses “from 30,000 feet” as one staff member to whom Inner City Press showed the memo put it, about lateral moves and changes in geographic location.

Inner City Press first wrote about these policy changes, for which senior officials were summoned to Ban's third floor of the North Lawn building, and which some of those named have said they will not implement, announce or be responsible for until Ban himself returns to New York and associates himself with, on March 17, before Nesirky's above quoted outburst.

Because since then Nesirky has not provided any substantive answers to questions Inner City Press has asked about the elevator operators or audio engineers -- or irregularities found by the UN's own Office of Internal Oversight Services in its delayed UNOJA technology project -- Inner City Press asked Ms. Kane herself of April 4 about the memo.

We think about a lot of things, Ms. Kane said. But when you write about them it makes trouble.

Well, yes. That is a purpose of journalism. These things should be known and debated by the people impacted by them. Even when OIOS found multiple irregularities in hiring and contracting in UNOJA, there has been no accountability.

Rather than any action on the high level individual named as responsible for the irregularities -- doctoring resumes to hire his friends, for example -- a lower level employee has been scapegoated. We willl have more on this.

So while Ban Ki-moon maneuvers, as with attack helicopters, to get a second terms as UN Secretary General, workers are threatened with firing for distributing fliers, lower level workers are scapegoated, and Press questions are either ignored or attacked or discouraged in the hallways.

So it is, at least for now, in Ban Ki-moon's UN. Watch this site.

From the UN's noon briefing transcript of March 17:

Inner City Press: this maybe seems under your radar, but there are the elevator operators here in the UN are saying… many of them are saying that they are going to be removed from their jobs or replaced at much lower wages on 28 March. Although this is maybe a certain outside contract, it sure is similar to the issues that arose in the cafeteria and now with UNTV and Radio. And I wonder, is the UN… supposedly, actually, Joan McDonald, who I believe has now left that position in [Facilities Management Services], is he aware of this, what’s the UN position on long-time workers in the UN having their wages either much reduced or being taken out of their jobs this month?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I think you’ve actually hinted at part of the answer in your question, and that is that where external contractors are involved, the United Nations does not have any say on those contractual obligations between an employee and the external contractor. If I have anything further from our colleagues who deal with that relationship with the external contractor then I’d let you know.

But Nesirky never did provide any information. Rather, worker who distributed fliers about the situation were threatened with firing. After complaints including from outside the UN, the elevator operations have been given a one month reprieve. And now what? Watch this site.

On Duekoue Massacre in Cote d'Ivoire, As Ouattara's Bamba Says Caritas is Pro-Gbagbo, UN Is Compromised

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 -- As forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara moved south in Cote d'Ivoire late last month, Inner City Press on March 28 asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about their victims in Duekoue, whether the UN was asking for restraint.

Nesirkry answered that "the mission reports fresh fighting in Duékoué today, where the FRCI [Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire] forces continue to push east." Meanwhile, UN envoy Choi Young-jin was on TV saying that this advance represented Ivorians taken their destiny into their own hands.

After the pro-Ouattara RFCI took Duekoue, there came reports of hundreds of civilians slaughtered. Caritas put the death toll at 1000, and the Red Cross at 800. The UN, which did little as the pro-Ouattara forces moved in, had a lower figure: 330.

On April 4, Inner City Press asked both top UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy and Ouattara's Ambassador to the UN Yousoufou Bamba about the killings at Duekoue and who will be held accountable.

Le Roy recited the varying death numbers, leaving out Caritas' and adding Ouattara's: 158. He said he spoke with Bamba, who said a prosecutor is being sent to Duekoue.

But Ouattara, like Gbagbo, had asked for the International Criminal Court and its prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to take up the case of Cote d'Ivoire. Inner City Press on Monday asked Bamba if Ouattara wants the ICC and Ocampo to investigate Duekoue. Bamba answered about an “international investigation.”

Inner City Press asked Bamba about the killings and the numbers. Bamba immediately attacked Caritas, calling it “close to Gbagbo.”

Afterward, an NGO representative to the side of the Security Council stakeout suggested this was an ugly comment. It is, in fact, reminiscent of Sudan Omar al Bashir, or Libya's Gaddafi.

Bamba also chided the International Committee for the Red Cross for not identifying the victims. But their bodies were loaded onto trucks: it was not possible.

But it is inconvenient for the UN, and for France with its Force Licorne engaged in shooting at Gbagbo's palace to deal with mass killing by Ouattara. This is a test for the UN and certain members, particularly Permanent, of the UN Security Council. Watch this site.

From the UN's March 28, 2011 transcript:

Inner City Press: claims by the pro-Ouattara forces that they have taken the town of Duékoué and Guiglo, and so I just wonder, what’s… first of all, can you confirm this change of control of these towns, and two, what’s UNOCI… I guess it’s similar to the Libya question, is UNOCI calling for the, quote, rebel forces to not be, quote, taking towns or is this something that, in the UN view, is okay, not to be reported here?

Spokesperson: Well, the mission reports fresh fighting in Duékoué today, where the FRCI [Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire] forces continue to push east. I understand from the mission that local people have gathered at the mission premises there, seeking protection. That’s what I have for you on that.

At UN, Al Khatib Confirms He's Still a Jordan Senator, Contract Still in Flux, Crackdowns Minimized as "Accidents"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 -- The UN's Special Envoy to Libya Abdul Ilah Al-Khatib confirmed to Inner City Press on Monday that he is still a paid Senator in Jordan. Meanwhile he ostensibly serves only the UN.

Al Khatib took questions from the press after briefing the Security Council about Libya. Inner City Press asked him if he is still a Senator from Jordan, paid by Jordan, and how that is consistent with his UN role.

I am not a UN staff, he replied. The details of my contract are still being worked out.

After the on-camera stakeout, he told Inner City Press he wish he had been contacted before the first story in this series.

But Inner City Press has repeatedly asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky and Farhan Haq to explain al Khatib's arrangement with the UN, in light of an Office of Legal Affairs memo calling his double service impermissible under UN rules and Charter.

Inner City Press also asked Khatib for his views on the treatment of protesters in Jordan. He said that “other than one or two accidents,” Jordan has allowed protests to take place. But if that changes?

Numerous UN sources have told Inner City Press of deep disquiet, even quite close to Ban Ki-moon, with Khatib's double service, and the selection of a sitting Senator from a country facing protests to represent the UN in Libya.

Some Council members have expressed, not for attribution, dissatisfaction with Khatib. That may explain the UN's move to its British former envoy to Nepal Ian Martin to work on a mission to Libya.

It is now understood that the nomination of Ian Martin came not from the UK Mission but from within the UN Secretariat itself. Duly noted.

At UN on Western Sahara, Morocco Pushes To Drop Human Rights Mechanism from Draft, Q of French Standards

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 -- In the run up to the UN Security Council's regular fight on Western Sahara this month, Morocco has been lobbying to change Paragraph 119 of the UN's report, about establishing a human right mechanism within the UN Mission MINURSO, Inner City Press has learned.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has suggested “the establishment of an effective international mechanism for regular independent, impartial and sustained human rights monitoring and reporting... through a component within MINURSO,” according to a draft obtained by Inner City Press.

But Morocco, according to sources, obtained a leak of the draft from the UN and is pressuring to change the paragraph to delete any reference to a new mechanism, and to instead “welcome the commitment of Morocco to allow unimpeded access to Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council.”

Morocco continues to have the unquestioning support of France. Some Polisario supporters call it a contradiction, that France would be bombing Libya in the name of human rights while blocking the establishment of a mere human rights reporting mechanism for Western Sahara. But, these people say, many of France's policies are more explicable in terms of colonial relations than principle.

Meanwhile, when new Security Council member South Africa invited all 15 Council members to a session on Western Sahara at its mission last month, Morocco lobbied many countries not to attend. Attendees included Nigeria, the US, Russia and the UK. France was notably not present. Watch this site.

On Libya, UN Brings In Brit Ian Martin, Mulls Mission as d'Escoto with Niece

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- The UN's planning on Libya now involving bringing back its British former envoy to Nepal Ian Martin on the political side, and continency planning for possible UN peacekeeping mission, multiple source have told Inner City Press.

On April 1 outside the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked chief UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy to confirm that his department is engaged in planning for a possible Libya mission. We are always planning, Le Roy cryptically said.

Later, UN source told Inner City Press that, at the urging of the UK which has offered asylum to Gaddafi defectors and is bombing the country, the UN is bringing Ian Martin back, on Libya.

While Inner City Press has positively assessed Martin's work in Nepal, particularly compared with his successor there, the UN sources say that for a “Brit, at the demand of the UK, to be assigned by the UN to Libya while the RAF is bombing” is unwise, and a new low for the UN. We'll see.

Meanwhile Gaddafi's request to be represented at the UN by former Nicaraguan foreign minister -- and UN President of the General Assembly -- Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann has taken a new turn.

Contrary to other media reports, Nicaraguan sources tell Inner City Press, d'Escoto Brockmann has not left New York. The request is in to the UN to credential him as a Nicaraguan Deputy Permanent Representative -- and also to get credentials for his niece Sophia Clark.

Inner City Press previously exposed and tangled with Brockmann about his hiring of his nephew Michael Clark, who is now working for UNCTAD in New York. Now neice Sophia Clark is back in the mix, for Nicaragua and prospectively Libya. If all goes well, there will be a press conference by d'Escoto Brockmann on April 5. Watch this site.

Footnote: the degree to which Ban Ki-moon's UN is in chaos is reflected by the Saudis' shoot down, just reported exclusively by Inner City Press, of the proposal to send ASG Fernandex-Taranco to Bahrain, click here for that story.

UN Plan To Send Envoy Taranco to Bahrain Shot Down by Saudis, Sources Say

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposed sending his Middle East coordinator Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to Bahrain, he was told not -- not by Bahrain but by Saudi Arabia, Inner City Press has learned from well placed sources.

After Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain as support against the largely Shi'a protests, the UN issued a cryptic statement in which Ban Ki-moon “noted” their entry. Ban's spokesmen refused repeated requests to elaborate on the statement.

Inner City Press has asked if the UN acknowledges that Bahrain's used of non-national Sunni forces as security -- from Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere -- might constitute a use of mercenaries, Ban's spokesmen have refused to answer.

Now, when Ban's Secretariat told Bahrain they would be sending Tarranco, his Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, it was not Bahrain which said no. Rather, Bahrain told Saudi Arabia, which put on the kibosh.

Saudi Arabia give money and even planes to the UN, and for Ban Ki-moon to fly on. And so unlike Libya and even now Yemen, this is one crackdown on which the UN is doing absolutely nothing. Watch this site.

At UN, Georgia Accuses Russia of Blocking Funding & Arming Libya, Russia Scoffs

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 1 -- When Grigol Vashadze, Georgia's foreign minister, scheduled a press conference at the UN on April 1, few knew what it would be about. Inner City Press went, to ask about a little reported controversy about how to fund the UN's participation in Geneva about Abkhazia. In fact, there were no other media questions asked.

Inner City Press asked about refugee evictions in Tbilisi -- Vashadze said these had been misrepresented -- and about Georgia's loss to Russia in the International Court of Justice the day before. Vashadze said that the ICJ had just not wanted to get involved. He also said that Russia had given weapons to Gaddafi in Libya, leading to the deaths of civilians.

Inner City Press ran back to the Security Council, where Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin was still meeting with the incoming President of the Council, Colombia's Nestor Osorio. When Churkin came out, Inner City Press asked him about funding the Geneva process, and filmed the Q&A for possible upload to YouTube. (This will happen later: Churkin made some on-camera jokes about Georgia).

Churkin said that Russia favors it being in the regular UN budget, not a trust fund as proposed by Georgia. (Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq for the Secretariat's thinking, but as on March 4 from Ban's lead spokesman Martin Nesirky, got no substantive answer, only dodges.)

Inner City Press suggested to Churkin that he watch Vashadze's press conference on the UN webcast.

Churkin did in fact watch it -- he came back to the Security Council at 5 pm for the emergency consultations on the attack on the UN compound in Mazar i Sharif and called over all of the reporters waiting. He said that Russia is not blocking the continued funding of the Geneva process, and spoke about the ICJ win.

Asked about Vashadze's statements about Russia arming Gaddafi, he scoffed and walked into the Council.

Moments later, the Georgians sent Inner City Press a press release about the ICJ ruling. A UN official stopped and told Inner City Press, of the Geneva Abkhazia funding issue, “It's a big thing. It's a small thing but it's a big thing.” And so it goes at the UN.

Amid Yemen Crackdown, IMF Meets With Central Bank, Denies DSK Nepotism

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- The IMF, which called the outlook for Libya's economy “favorable” as recently as February 15 of this year, is still having “technical meetings” with the government of Yemen even as protesters are gunned down, IMF spokesperson Caroline Atkinson told Inner City Press on Thursday.

Inner City Press submitted two questions to the IMF bi-weekly briefing on March 31, including

“On Yemen, please describe IMF's engagement with current gov't after Ghazi Shbeikat's talks earlier this month, and any impact its killing of protesters has had.”

Ms. Atkinson translated this to “I have a question online about Yemen: Please describe the IMF’s engagement with the current government after talks earlier this month and any impact the violence has had.”

The violence -- that is, the killing of protesters -- has been so bad even Yemen's Permanent Representative to the UN Abduallah Alsaidi, former head of the Group of 77 and China, has quit. Here was Ms. Atkinson's (first) answer:

“Of course, in Yemen, Syria, and other cases we deplore any violence and we hope for peaceful resolution of political issues–We have a program actually outstanding with Yemen and there have been contacts at a technical level with the central bank monitoring developments. We have had contacts at a technical level with a number of central banks in the region.”

Reporters who cover the IMF but are not present in its briefing room are not allowed follow up questions.

But in this case, those in the room followed up:

QUESTION: I’d like to follow up on Yemen. Is that program still in place or has it been suspended in any way?

MS. ATKINSON: Well, we do not suspend programs –-

QUESTION: Well, no, sometimes you do when it comes to political issues -– Ukraine, for example.

MS. ATKINSON: Well, perhaps it is just semantics. Our programs remain in place until they expire. Quite often in different occasions countries may not draw under the programs for different reasons including that we may not have reached agreement on economic policies or on policies that we believe will be sufficient to justify the financing. In the case of Yemen the Board approved a three year arrangement last July under the extended credit facility. There has not been any disbursement since then to Yemen.

There are a number of objectives of the program: supporting strong growth; diversifying the revenue base because there is an important need for expenditures especially for the poor and the vulnerable; and reprioritizing the expenditures to support capital investment as well as social spending. We have been in discussions about that for a number of months.

We'll see. Inner City Press had submitted a second question, as it did without any answer from the IMF two weeks ago:

“Please state whether Dominique Strauss Kahn has any relatives working in the World Bank or other UN affiliated organizations, and if so why this does not run afoul of anti nepotism rules and principles?”

Two weeks ago, the IMF simply pretended this question had not been submitted. This time, while Ms. Atkinson did not read it out, her deputy William Murray later sent this answer:

“Matthew, He has no relatives on the staff of the IMF. Given the premise of your question, let me note that the Bank and UN are wholly separate institutions from the IMF, with no fiscal or managerial connections. At the IMF we certainly have nepotism rules, and they have not been violated in any way.”

While Inner City Press thanked Murray for the answer, follow up questions are predicted. Watch this site.

At UN in April, As Colombia Pitches Haiti Some Say Not Ready for Prime Time

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- As Colombia takes over the UN Security Council for April, there are more questions than on-the-record answers. Colombia's thematic debate, as Inner City Press reported a month ago, will be about Haiti, and take place on April 6.

President Santos will come to New York, along with Bill Clinton. It is understood that the GRULAC Latin Group has told Ban Ki-moon that he cannot name Frenchman Bernard Kouchner to succeed Guatemalan Mulet as UN envoy in Haiti.

But Colombia's relations with the rest of GRULAC, especially the ALBA or White Group, is less clear. Whereas Lebanon was the conduit for Arab League views on the Council's Libya resolutions, GRULAC members tell Inner City Press that Colombia is too standoffish, and its Permanent Representive, former coffee executive Nestor Osorio “out of his depth.”

The other high points for April, according to non-Colombian sources who've seen the program of work, including an April 8 briefing on Darfur, Sudan, and the “horizon” briefing by the Department of Political Affairs on April 11.

Michelle Bachelet of UN Women will speak on April 12 -- one hopes at the stakeout -- and Margot Wallstrom on sexual violence on April 14.

Small arms will be discussed on April 25, and the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will accompany Council members on a retreat on April 28-29.

On the horizon are two or three trips: at the end of May, France's month, to the African Union, and maybe a junket to China. Russia's proposal for a Middle East trip does not appear to have moved forward, due to US opposition.

Various Council members and other member states have wondered if Colombia will be independent in its month. We will keep an open mind as long as we can. Watch this site.

With UN Rehab Over Budget, Press Gets a Tour, Qs of Loading Dock & Cameras

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- The UN's Capital Master Plan renovation is at least $80 million over budget, even after the controversial infusion of $100 million in Tax Equalization Funds which were due back to US taxpayers. So what better time for CMP chief Michael Adlerstein to make nice with the press?

Thursday Adlerstein allowed UN correspondents to take a tour of the mostly empty UN Secretariat Building, from the views out over Queens and Long Island from the 36th floor to the data center and electrical switches in the second sub-basement.

Along the way he delivered a stream of patter, some of it true, some not. He pointed to the wrong section of the old Security Council as the location of the Horseshoe Table.

He made claims about the planned new loading dock to the north of the UN complex and security for the Library Building that time, we predict, will show to be false. But in hardhat and orange construction vest, he did his best to charm the press, not unlike Robert Moses.

There were interesting tid-bits: the concrete used to build the Secretariat was better quality than the Conference Building. Con Edison keeps the key to its vaults on the UN compound; the UN does not have them.

Later on Thursday, Inner City Press was invited to a party for a staff member back down in 3B, the third sub basement. There, complaints were made about the security cameras being installed throughout the renovated space. What do that want to do, the question was, keeps tabs on their own staff?

This same eye in the sky approach was taking to the Press area on the second floor of the library, until Inner City Press exposed it. Adlerstein's tour on Thursday was sanitized, as one might be in Myanmar or today's Tripoli. Watch this site.

Footnote: the main fight back by UN correspondents is about the future space in the Secretariat Building. How large will it be, and will it have walls like the press corps used to have, or be a whistleblower free zone like the current configuration? Adlerstein tried to dodge the question. But on that and financing, there is nowhere to hide. Watch this site.

UN Security Blocks Room Where Libya Talk by d'Escoto Was Planned, Video

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- UN security guards blocked press access to the media briefing room on Thursday morning, when a session on Libya by Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann had been scheduled to occur. Inner City Press video at http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgV_Dc1oo2w

The UN has already unceremoniously dropped d'Escoto Brockmann's press conference from its Media Alert on the evening of March 30, after US Permanent Representative Susan Rice complained that since d'Escoto Brockmann is on a tourist visa in the US, he cannot speak for Libya - and should not be holding a press conference inside the UN.

At a reception at the Chinese mission on Wednesday night and since, Inner City Press has been told that the when the UN Secretariat received the complaint, rather than point out that other press conferences have been held by non diplomats they moved to cancel Brockmann's “show.”

Inner City Press and some other media have complained. Now the word is that d'Escoto Brockmann's press conference has been re-scheduled for Friday at 10 am. Not only is that April 1st -- that is, April Fool's Day -- but to some it does not remove the taint of the UN canceling the press conference, then sending armed guards to block media from entering the briefing room. Watch this site.

As US Blocks d'Escoto on Libya, Grumblings About Free Speech & Precedent at Chinese Reception

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- Barely an hour after Susan Rice of the US said Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann would find his tourist visa under review if he purported to represent Libya or any foreign government at the UN, Wednesday's Chinese End of Security Council Presidency reception seven block south of the UN was abuzz about the standoff.

Several Permanent Representatives expressed shock to Inner City Press that d'Escoto Brockmann's press conference scheduled for March 31 at 10 am had so quickly been canceled or “postponed.”

Inner City Press was told that the when the UN Secretariat received the complaint, rather than point out that other press conferences have been held by non diplomats they moved to cancel Brockmann's “show.”

“Ban Ki-moon has gone too far,” a Latin American diplomat told Inner City Press. “Maybe the UN should be moved to Brazil.”

Another Deputy Permanent Representative, this time of a country on the Security Council, told Inner City Press about a Council credentials rule that if a citizen of one country seeks to represent another, he or she needs letters from both countries.

The example given, repeatedly now, is of an Irish national who was an expert working for Austria when it was on the Council. He could not get a letter from Ireland and so was not allowed in the Council, at least not for consultations.

But d'Escoto Brockmann could easily get a letter from Nicaragua, and he has a letter from Musa Koussa when he was Gaddafi's foreign minister, before his reported defection.

Another Permanent Representative pointed out to Inner City Press that the Musa Koussa letter is undated, and said the US and UN will use that.

The result is that the US, by invoking immigration rules, “mocking” as one Latin diplomat put it to Inner City Press its duties under its Host Country Agreement with the US, is blocking the UN press corps from hearing a perspective that the US doesn't like.

Outside the earshot of the Chinese hosts of Wednesday's reception, some mused back to the case of Tiananmen Square activist Shen Tong, whom China and then Boutros Ghali blocked from entering the UN to hold a press conference.

Then, UN correspondents protested and went (just) outside the UN's gates on First Avenue to hear the canceled briefing. And at that time, notably, the US is said to have sided with the right of the UN press corps to invite and hear from whomever they wanted, inside the UN. Watch this site.

Footnote: because so many attendees commented on it, so will we: the food at China's reception was amazing, from roast duck to fish spiced with chiles. Afterward DVDs were given out about minorities in China.

Several Council observers praised China's diplomacy as President for March, for example circulating two letters from Libya without obsessing about where they'd come in from. Now Colombia takes over for April; they are already preparing an end of April reception, Colombian music at a museum. But we'll have more soon on their program of work. Watch this site.

At UN After 15-0 Vote on Cote d'Ivoire, Complaints About UNOCI's Impartiality from India, Brazil, But No Ceasefire

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- After the UN Security Council voted 15-0 on a modified version of a Cote d'Ivoire resolution introduced by France and Nigeria on March 25, Inner City Press posed questions about the resolution and military advances by forces supporting Alassane Ouattara to the Ambassadors of France, Nigeria and Ouattara, Yousoufou “Joseph” Bamba. (Click here for YouTube video of March 25 Q&A with Bamba).

On March 29 outside the US Misison to the UN, Inner City Press asked Bamba when he thought it would be over. “This weekend,” Bamba said smiling. “We'll have coffee.”

On March 30, Inner City Press asked Bamba at the Security Council stakeout on UN TV what the Ouattara forces who do about the call for a ceasefire by Laurent Gbagbo.

Bamba said that Ouattara is the president of the country. Some at the stakeout muttered, so is Gaddafi. But it was lost in the rush to get US Ambassador Susan Rice to the stakeout microphone.

Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud if France thought the Ouattara forces should pause in their advances.

Araud said, “Ouattara is the president of Cote d’Ivoire and the legitimate forces of the legitimate president are under his authority.” The same skeptics wondered as a matter of consistency if France would apply this same answer to President Omar al Bashir in Sudan, or the new “president” of Myanmar.

Here is the Q&A as transcribed by the French Mission to the UN, with Inner City Press asking about

Inner City Press: What seems to be a criticism from India and Brazil, that ONUCI should be impartial. There are reports by the UN about firing at the UN helicopters by the forces of Ouattara and his invisible commandos. Are you calling for any restraint on that side?

Amb. Araud: Of course. We are calling to stop all violence against the ONUCI, all violence against the civilian population. I think the Indian and the Brazilian concerns are pretty legitimate. You have a civil war, you have violence growing, you have the prospect of maybe fighting in Abidjan. The Indians, especially because they are a major troop contributor, and Brazilians simply don’t want the ONUCI to become part of this fighting, part of the civil war. And again, about violence against civilians, we are addressing the same message to both sides.

Inner City Press: Do you think the Ouattara forces should stop their advances or you’re sort of cheering them on?

Amb. Araud: I think President Ouattara is the president of Côte d’Ivoire and the legitimate forces of the legitimate president are under his authority.

That Bamba would answer this way is understandable. It is perhaps more noteworthy from former colonial power France. But should the UN to speaking as its envoy Choi Young-jin does, most recently to Al Jazeera, that by these military advances by Ouattara's forces Ivorians are seizing their destiny, without foreign military intervention as in Libya?

India and Brazil, among others, urged UNOCI to be impartial. Later at the Chinese End of Presidency reception, a diplomat from a Council member with a population over one billion told Inner City Press it is a “terrible resolution,” and scoffed that the UN Secretariat briefings are “just based on Western media reports.”

Then why not vote “no,” or at least abstain?

Nigeria's Permanent Representative explained some of the changes to the initial draft, including the downward modification of a referral of the case of Cote d'Ivoire to the International Criminal to a passing mention of the possibility, through another mechanism, of the ICC. Also, she said, UNOCI is not called on to seize heavy weapons.

Inner City Press is informed that the previous force commander of UNOCI, or perhaps the entire Bangladeshi battalion, was skeptical of the more aggressive or “pro Ouattara” stance that some were demanding. The new force commander, from Togo, is said not to have those qualms.

Because India has complained about the rush to vote on the resolution, without sufficiently consulting Troop Contributing Countries, Inner City Press asked major TCC Nigeria about this criticism. Sometimes you have to move fast, the Nigerian Ambassador said.

Inner City Press asked, Will ECOWAS ask for a Security Council authorization to use force in Cote d'Ivoire? Nigeria's Ambassador replied that ECOWAS has not asked for that.

Somewhere a skeptic muttered, “not yet.” Watch this site.

Footnote: at the March 30 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press started asking Ban Ki-moon's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq if he understood the lack of impartiality complaints of "some people"--

Haq cut in and asked Inner City Press, "By 'some people' you mean yourself?

No -- the criticism exists not only in Cote d'Ivoire (Inner City Press said at the briefing, "quite a few people in the Ivory Coast think that the UN is.... reporting only on one side") but even inside the Security Council, albeit in diplomat form, most publicly March 30 by India and Brazil.

So what is the UN's response? Watch this site.