On Yemen, Doubt for Trip by UNSC As Italian Kidnapped by Saleh Supporters

By Matthew Russell Lee, Partial exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 -- Supporters of Yemen's Ali Saleh kidnapped an Italian security official on Sunday in Sa'ana. Beyond showing the continued influence of ostensibly deposed dictator Ali Saleh, the event casts light on an otherwise unreported UN Security Coucil meeting last Tuesday.

  Security Council sources exclusively told Inner City Press on July 24 that their "any other business" agenda item that day involved a possible upcoming trip not only to Afghanistan but also to Yemen.

  Some felt, they said, the time is right, particularly with the Council's positioning on Yemen being posited as a success of the Council, even as a possible model for Syria.

  How does the trip look now? And how does Yemen now appear, as a model for Syria?

 Italian foreign minister Giulio Terzi raised the kidnapping of the carabiniere to Yemen's Abu Bakr al Qirbi on Sunday night. The read-outs of the call by AGI and Yemeni state media said the two discussed security cooperation. 

  Back on July 17,  when the UN's envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar emerged from the Security Council to speak to the media early Tuesday afternoon, Inner City Press asked him three questions. 

  Benomar had referred to "those who undermine the government," so Inner City Press asked who these might be -- Ali Saleh, or for example the Yemeni Socialist Party, which has criticized President Hadi?

  Benomar said, "there is a lively debate in Yemen, all Yemeni constituencies are competing to participate in the national dialogue, this is very healthy." 

  He acknowledged that there are "spoilers lurking in background," but said that in the Security Council's closed door meeting he "didn't get into further details."

  So Inner City Press asked, what IS the role of Ali Saleh now in Yemen? Benomar said that "Mr Saleh is still the president of the GPC." Video here, from Minute 5:21.

  And now Saleh's supporters have kidnapped an Italian diplomat and put into doubt a UN Security Council trip. Watch this site.

Federal Reserve Pre-Approves Mergers, BB&T FOIA Release to Inner City Press Shows

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

SOUTH BRONX, July 29 -- This month the Federal Reserve Board quietly announced a willingness to pre-approve, or to indicate a willingness to approve, bank mergers proposals even before the public is made aware of them. 

  To some, this shows how little the regulator has learned from the financial meltdown.

  Inner City Press has also just learned, via a Freedom of Information Act request and appeal, that the Fed has even this year been entertaining bank merger proposals under code names such as "Project Palm," assigned to BB&T's proposal with BankAtlantic. 

   Click here for Governer Jerome Powell's response to Inner City Press' FOIA Appeal. Click here for some of the documents released.  

   The deal is still pending.

  When the Fed on July 11 announced the policy by a "Supervisory Letter," its press release provided a telephone number in Washington for media inquiries. Inner City Press called the number and asked among other things how it would impact review under the Community Reinvestment Act, which involves public notice and comment.

  Inner City Press will not here report the name of the person answering, because it was insisted that no name could be given.

  Rather Inner City Press was directed to the FOIA footnote of the Supervisory Letter, that some records about the pre-approvals will be available, after the fact, under FOIA.

  But while the Fed is pre-approving, the public will have no way to know what records to request. This can be called false transparency.

  Even on BB&T's "Project Palm," it is only now that the Fed releases records half-showing its response to Inner City Press' February 2012 comment on and against the proposal.

  The just-released records show that on February 7, Claudia A. VonPervieux of Fed staff was "working on a draft rejection letter for M.Lee" of Inner City Press when the Fed belatedly realized that the Press was right: public notice had disappeared such that one couldn't know what to comment on.

   And so a brief extension of the comment period was granted, but only for Inner City Press, which did not cure the problem of lack of notice to the public at large. See released e-mails, attached. And so it goes at the Fed.

   Inner City Press is working on another FOIA story with documents due this week from Washington. On both cases, judicial review of denial of access to information on appeal may well be warranted. Watch this site.

UN Iraq Envoy Now Acknowledges PMC Use, Ladsous Stonewall Contrasted

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 -- Among high UN officials and envoy, there are wide differences in openness to questions, commitment to veracity, and accountability. The UN can only improve if there is accountability for these very differences.

  On the positive side of the spectrum is Martin Kobler, head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. 

  Even before Kobler's July 19 appearance at the UN Security Council and stakeout, Inner City Press had favorably compared the way he decided on and described budget cuts in UNAMI with the Afghanistan mission's lack of transparency, such as moving of favored international staff to Kuwait as a cost-cut.

   But when Kobler on July 19 told Inner City Press that his mission does not use private military contractors other than for dogs, Inner City Press differed in writing, in that day's article and in follow up questions.

  Inner City Press noted for example the Hart Security contract, for $1.1 million, appears to have been signed in August 2011, for "Provision of Security Awareness Induction Training," for a cost of $3,500 per staff member. Here are some budget lines:

HART SECURITY LIMITED    CYP    Training, other    $437,444    11AMI-20387    UNAMI

HART SECURITY LIMITED    CYP    AMI/CON/2011/041   Provision of Security Awareness Induction Training Training(SAIT) for UNAMI    1-Aug-11    31-Jul-12    $1,143,682    UNAMI

  This last runs (at least) through July 31, 2012 - still in force. Inner City Press wrote: We hope to hear more on this.

  Then on Sunday July 29,we did. The following came in:

Subject: message from SRSG Martin Kobler, UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
Date: Sun, Jul 29, 2012 at 12:44 PM
From: Anne Czichos [at] un.org
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Dear Mr. Lee,

Thank you very much for your interest in the work of the United Nations in Iraq.

As a follow-up to the media stakeout after the Security Council session on Thursday, 19 July, I would like to apologize for not fully answering your question regarding UNAMI's use of private security companies.

I would like to add that UNAMI is spending approximately USD 1.73 million in 2012 on static security provided by private security companies in Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait. The contract for the SAIT training, which is conducted by a private security company, is for up to USD 1,182,771.50 in 2012.

Sincerely,

Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq

 This commendable approach stands in stark contrast to a few other envoy, but most notably to Department of Peacekeeping Operations chief Herve Ladsous, who not only doesn't provide accurate answers -- he provides no answers at all.

 On May 29 and again since, Ladsous had openly said he will not take or answer any Inner City Press questions, for the same type of close and critical coverage that Kobler responded to with an update.

 One would think it obvious, that publicly-paid UN officials would acknowledge a duty to even handedly answer questions, and to provide updates when necessary. But Ladsous and some of the envoys he has "reached" take an opposite approach.

  The UN can only improve it is admits when it is wrong. Under Ladsous' approach, not only will the UN not improve: it is in precipitous decline. Should the Department of Political Affairs, which is over UNAMI, begin to oversee the other peacekeeping operations, so that Ladsous' approach does not spread? Watch this site.

Arms Trade Treaty Dies, "Branch Sawed Off in DC in Election Year"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 27 -- The Arms Trade Treaty died Friday at the UN; a group of 90 some nations expressed disappointment at non-agreement on what they called a text with the "overwhelming support of the international community."

  The West African states in ECOWAS didn't join in this statement due to its use of the word "overwhelming." They did not support even the rejected text, because it gave in too much to the United States in not fully covering ammunition.

  The US had asked for more time, but to be fair, so did other countries. Still, a well-placed negotiator told Inner City Press that "the US team here in New York were working toward signing on, but they were on a branch that got sawed off in Washington."

  The largest question asked: who decided to have this negotiation take place during a US election year?

  As the final speeches were being given, the Press was barred from the room. 

  What began with a lot of energy -- well, with a fight about seating Palestine -- ended behind closed doors, only to be referred to the UN General Assembly's First Committee in October. There is could die again, or go outside the UN "like Ottawa," one source said, predicting the US would not sign on there either. 

 "They won't sign on anywhere," he said. And so it goes at the UN.

Update: and after the failure of the ATT, and hasty interviews in the hall, back in the Conference Room they turned off the lights at six pm, with the room still half full. 

"They could take it to Ottawa," a delegate who'd opposed the ATT told Inner City Press.

In Cote d'Ivoire, 2 Days After UN Promises Probe, Koenders In Denial

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 27 -- The UN on July 25 told the Press it would fully investigate how seven Ivorian in the Niambly refugee camp were killed on July 20 while ostensibly under UN protection.

  But two days later, UN envoy Bert Koenders "dismissed allegations that peacekeepers failed in their mandate to protect civilians." Who did he speak to?

  Inner City Press first asked "for UN / DPKO position on how that camp near Duekoue in Cote d'Ivoire could be burned down and people killed while ostensibly under ONUCI protection. What did ONUCI do and what is it doing now? Is Mr. Koenders still in New York?"

  In the interim, Inner City Press spoke with Ivorian sources who said they'd like to close the camp. Will the UN collaborate in that?

After the canned announcement of an investigation, Inner City Press on July 25 asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman

Inner City Press: there’s quotes from named individuals, not off the record, on the record. For example, camp president Jean Taha says that he was beaten directly in front of the peacekeepers. 'At the moment, the white people just stopped. I tried to go to the whites, to UNOCI, and they chased themselves… they chase you away themselves. I don’t know why,' he said, holding his hand. The other guy said that UNOCI pushed them off the truck to them being beaten. So what I want to know is, what’s going to be the response by UNOCI and Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) to these named individuals claiming that they were essentially thrown to the mob by the United Nations peacekeepers?

Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey: Well, we’ve seen the reports, Matthew, and we have to investigate. UNOCI is carrying out an investigation of what happened, and when we have a response, we will be able to give it to you.

Inner City Press: Is it fair to ask, are these two named individuals going to be spoken to, since they’ve given their names?

Deputy Spokesperson: I don’t… I don’t know how UNOCI is going to carry out its investigation, but I imagine it is going to speak with all people who were witnesses to whatever happened there. They will try to get all the information possible and report to the Secretary-General as to what happened.

  So how is it possible that two days later Ban's envoy Koenders can "dismiss allegations that peacekeepers failed in their mandate to protect civilians"?  

  Koenders on July 27 said that 22 U.N. security forces "were inside and outside the camp when it was attacked, while no Ivorian security forces were present. But he said the U.N. forces 'decided not to fire at a large group of people that were attacking the camp' in order to avoid 'a massacre.'"

  The allegations are not just that ONUCI did not fire their guns, but that they pushed people off trucks and back into the crowd to be beaten. Who did Koenders speak to? 

  Or is this kind of spin part of his job, under UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous who himself refuses to take questions from Inner City Press?

   And what's happened to the promised investigation of UN peacekeepers killing one or more civilians in the Congo while firing missiles at (or near) the M23 mutineers? 

What happened to the UNSMIS report on Houla? Where is the UN's response to claims that it introduced cholera to Haiti? This is Ladsous' and ultimately Ban's UN. Watch this site.

On Syria, Saudi Resolution Cites Chemical Weapons, ICP Obtains Draft, Puts Online Here

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, July 27 -- An hour after Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative Abdallah al-Mouallimi told Inner City Press that the Syria resolution he is drafting will be presented to the General Assembly "next week, Monday," Inner City Press obtained the draft, and is now putting it online here.

  The draft resolution, of course, deplored and denounced, and mentions chemical weapons:

"7. Demands that the Syrian authorities strictly observe their obligations under international law with respect to chemical and biological weapons, including the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925"

  This 1925 signing was cited by Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin this week on the Charlie Rose show. TheSaudi draft goes on and

"further demands that the Syrian authorities refrain from using, transferring, producing, developing or otherwise acquiring any chemical or biological weapons or any related material, and that the Syrian authorities meet their obligation to account for and secure all chemical and biological weapons and any related material."

Again, the General Assembly cannot impose sanctions or authorize any use of force. Its credential committee can withdraw accreditation, as it did for diplomats representing Gaddafi's Libya and the Cote d'Ivoire of Laurent Gbagbo.

In Syria, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is already dismantling the observer mission which the Security Council extended for a month back on July 20.

Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose former Permanent Representative is now President of the General Assembly, are widely reported to be arming the rebels in Syria. They stand accused, too, of involvement with the extremist who are destroying mausoleums in Timbuktu in northern Mali. Whatever the legality, they now have another GA resolution.

Saudi's Ambassador also spoke on July 25 at the UN stakeout about Palestine. Inner City Press asked him about the effectiveness of the Quartet and whether it should continue. He stopped and said, on camera, it should continue, but take up its responsibilities. Watch this site.

As IMF Briefs on Spain, Former Chief Rato Pushed Bankia to Bailout, Safeguards?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 27 -- When the International Monetary Fund's mission chief for Spain James Daniel held an embargoed (until now) press call Friday morning, he was asked about the flame out of Bankia, which was chaired by former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato.

  While not followed up on the call, Rato's and now the IMF's role raise questions about the need for safeguards given the revolving door through which former IMF officials pass. Can former IMF-ers benefit from bail outs or "programs" of the the IMF?

 The story of Bankia and its IPO is an ugly and extensive one. The global co-ordinators on the deal were Deutsche Bank -- which, as Inner City Press has noted, has a former official now on the Federal Reserve Board -- J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and UBS. 

  The retail underwriters on the retail tranche were Bankinter, Sabadell and Barclays, now of LIBOR fame.

L'affaire DSK garnered worldwide media coverage. But what of financial scandals involving former IMF officials? Watch this site.

On Syria, Mood Has Changed, UN Front-Runner, Rwanda Like Exit?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 27 -- Norwegian General Robert Mood, after having declined to renew his contract to head the observer mission in Syria which is being dismantled by UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, made this observation, dateline Oslo:

"In my opinion it is only a matter of time before a regime that is using such heavy military power and disproportional violence against the civilian population is going to fall."

   While prefaced with "in my opinion," the verdict within an hour was getting big play in Western media, akin to an endorsement late in a political campaign.

   But one wonders: did the UN say this about, for example,Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa government's use of even heavier military power killing 40,000 civilians, nearly all of them Tamils, in northern Sri Lanka in May 2009?

   The answer is, No. And the reasons, we posit, is because the UN did not think the government would fall. The UN in this view is like a casual sports fan coming to loudly root for the team it thinks is about to win.

   And in the nitty-gritty decision making of Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping, the goal seems to be not doing what is possible to protect civilians but rather to get out of the way, or look the other way, and let this overthrow take place.

   Even as the UN Security Council debated two competing draft resolutions to extended the mission in Syria UNSMIS, the UN under Ladsous had three planes deployed in Beirut, ready to pull all UN observers out.

  Some ask: how is this different from the UN's pull out from Rwanda, which the UN has had to live down and apologize for since 1994?

  As Inner City Press has noted before, Ladsous in 1994 was France's Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, supporting the murderous Hutu government in the Security Council. Noting this historical fact and others has led Ladsous to refuse all questions from Inner City Press.

  And coming full circle, in his analogy how does Mood, the Oslo Oracle, compare with General Romeo Dallaire? We will continue on this. Watch this site.

France's "Light" UNSC August Sets Syria August 16, Late on Sudans & Somalia

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 26 -- When France on July 25 prepared its "Program of Work" for its August UN Security Council presidency, it set in an otherwise empty week an August 16 consultation to consider whether to extended the UN Mission in Syria beyond the 30 days France agreed to on July 20.

Inner City Press has obtained the French Mission's July 25 program of work and puts it online here, summarizes it below.

The July 20 resolution requires a 15 day report, and says the mission can be extended. France set a meeting for this three days before the August 19 expiration, in a week with no other meetings. Some may leave town, others may not come. And if France has its way, the mission will fully be dismantled.

This is consistent with the action of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to control UN Peacekeeping, who was ready on July 20 to pull the whole mission out until the resolution was passed, and has still sent half of the peacekeepers home.

There is also an UNSMIS (Syria) meeting listed on August 2. Perhaps after that Ladsous will try to send the rest of the observers home.

In fact, well placed sources in the Secretariat tell Inner City Press it is Ladsous' goal to reduce the number to twenty-some, from the UN Department of Safety and Security and not Troop Contributing Countries. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office has announced that it will neither confirm or deny things that (whistleblowing) UN staff tell Inner City Press.

France's focus it is said is on Mali, with briefings and consultations on August 8 followed by lunch with Ban Ki-moon.

Sudan and South Sudan will come up on August 9, a full week after the August 2 deadline for negotiations. Likewise, Somalia will be discussed on August 22, two days AFTER the deadline for the TFG.

  Other meetings ranging from Lebanon on August 23 and 30, through a Kosovo "debate" on August 21 and Central Asia on August 7. There is a "DPA briefing" that day.

  France's month is "very light," as one attendee of the July 25 Political Coordinators dinner hosted by France told Inner City Press. These are usually lunches, but because of Ramadan this was held in the evening. 

  The torch of being the "dean" of P5 Political Coordinators was passed from seasoned China to US team player Bill Grant.

Previously Inner City Press covered its passage from Russia's Vladimir Safronkov to the UK, then out of the hands of the UK's David Quarrey, who reappeared at the Syria meetings in Geneva, leading UK efforts on the Middle East. 

  France's Political Coordinator Emmanuel Bonne returned to Paris. But the beat goes on, even in France's "light" August. Watch this site.

On Guinea Bissau, Bamba Offers to Travel to Lisbon, Mali in the Wings

By Matthew Russell Lee, Partial exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, July 26, updated -- As if Guinea Bissau didn't have enough problems, now the dispute between ECOWAS and the Lusophone grouping CPLP about how to approach the country has grown more stark.

  Carlos Gomes Jr. and Raimundo Pereira were ousted in the coup. Now the CPLP won't recognize the post-coup government without them, while ECOWAS will.

  Inner City Press asked ECOWAS' speaker, Ivorian Ambassador Bamba, about the disagreement. "You have to be realistic," he told Inner City Press exclusively, "you must have interlocutors."

  Given what happened in Cote d'Ivoire last year, Inner City Press asked Bamba is such "being realistic" wouldn't have meant not using the UN and French Force Licorne for Alassane Ouattara but rather leaving Laurent Gbagbo in power, since unlike the Guinea Bissau coup leaders he at least received nearly 50% of the vote.

  Bamba pointed out that he ended his address inside the Council chamber with an offer to go negotiated with CPLP in Lisbon. This was not in his prepared text - "I added it," Bamba told Inner City Press.

  Initially, only questionable UN envoy Joseph Mutaboba, who allowed an alleged drug kingpin to set up shop in the UN compound in Bissau, Brazil's Permanent Representative Viotti for the Peacebuilding configuration, Mozambique for CPLP and Bamba were to speak.

 But at the end of the open session, Portuguese Permanent Representative Cabral asked for the floor, to dispute Bamba's implication that Gomes' party is in the government and that things are safe or better in Bissau.

 After Cabral's intervention, a non-Western Security Council member came out and told Inner City Press, "who is Portugal to be nosing around in Guinea Bissau, the colonist coming back as a friend? I might want to reform the Vatican, but does that mean I have a right to? This is the biggest hoax, post 1945, the colonists become the friend."

  In the background is ECOWAS' proposal about Mali, and how to deal with the coup leaders there. With former colonial power France taking over the Council presidency in August, can we expect a Licorne-like force? 

  On Guinea-Bissau, at least two delegations told Inner City Press it's time for the African Union to step in with some leadership. 

Update: and when consultations ended, SRSG Mutaboba escaped through the Chamber and GA lobby, no stakeout. Usually talkative Nestor Osorio, July's Council president, declined a stakeout, saying a statement is being negotiated between Portugal and Togo, that is, CPLP and ECOWAS. Waiting for the African Union? Watch this site.