On Syria, UN's Valerie Amos Says Met Jarba's SNC, Won't Answer on Contacts with Al Nusra or ISIS, Trust Fund on Pledges?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 25 -- On Syria, whom does the UN speak with and why will the UN list some but not all of the groups?

After UN Humanitarian chief Valerie Amos briefed the UN Security Council Friday morning, she told the Press she met with the Syrian National Coalition (which is headed by Ahmad al Jarba) in New York.

Inner City Press asked Amos if the UN has any contacts with Jabhat al Nusra or ISIS in Syria, since they control territory which the UN is supposed to be trying to access with aid.Video here, Minute 4.

Amos replied, I am not going to comment on specific contacts.

Inner City Press reminded her she had just named the SNC, the Syrian National Coalition.

Amos noted that she'd met the SNC "in New York" but would not list contacts in Syria. Why not?

This approach, naming the SNC as a legitimate contact, is in line with the attempt of France (which sponsored a Jarba event inside the UN in September) and others to name the Saudi-sponsored Jarba as the sole or most legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

(Likewise the UN let is UN Censorship Alliance hold a faux "UN briefing" by Jarba in the large UN room given to UNCA, then wouldn't expain the basis when asked by theFree UN Coalition for Access.)

  Inner City Press went to Friday's UN Noon Briefing and asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky if the UN has any contacts with ISIS or Al Nusra, and what the UN's policy is on naming the groups it speaks with.

Nesirky said since Valerie Amos wouldn't answer or be drawn in, he wouldn't either. But shouldn't the UN have a policy? If you name one group, you should name others. Or name no groups. But be consist.

Inner City Press also asked in person a question it posed to Nesirky and his acting deputy by e-mail two days before, "about the UN's Syria chemical weapons Trust Fund. Just now at the US State Department briefing deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said the US has given 'nearly' $6 million to 'UN and OCPW.' So what is the status of the UN Trust Fund? How and when (and where) will disclosure be made?"

Nesirky said he had looked into it. (Why no answer was e-mailed or at least read-out at the briefing is not clear.) He said the UN has received a PLEDGE from the US for $2 million, as well as vehicles (valued by the US as $1.55 million).

So when was the US going to answer? When is it going to report, and where? Watch this site.

   

On Child Soldiers, UN Doesn't But May Soon List the Al Nusra Front in Syria, DRC UNclear

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 22 -- In Syria, the UN has listed as child soldier recruiters the government and the Free Syrian Army, but not the Al Nusra Front. Inner City Press on Monday asked the UN's envoy on the topic Leila Zerrougui if Nusra is viewed as part of the FSA, or if the list is lagging behind.

  The latter, she said: the list was only through the end of 2012, when she said Nabhat Al Nusra was only becoming known. "The role of al Nusra was coming at the end of 2012," she said. Now they could be listed.

  Inner City Press asked asked her about any demobilizations of child soldiers. She distinguished between those children who join "voluntarily," with involvement of their family, from those who do not.

  "Demobilization means children are outside their family," she said. "We have to convince the commanders that they won't have an interest, if they want to have a future, to use children."

"Recruiting children is a war crimes," she concluded.

  But what then of the Congolese Army units listed, even in the new Group of Experts report the full text of which Inner City Press exclusively put online in June, as recruiting children? 

  Inner City Press read two of them out: FARDC’s 1032nd Battalion and 812th Regiment, right from Paragraphs 149 and 150 of the GoE report. What will Zerrougui and her Office do?

 It is not even clear that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous has suspended support to these units, much less ensured any prosecution for war crimes.

As pointed out with regard to the 391st Battalion, which moved from rape, still with UN support, to desecration of bodies, Ladsous's DPKO has made a mockery of Ban Ki-moon's supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy. Watch this site.

   

On Syria in Geneva, Pinheiro Report Has No Qatar or Del Ponte, Ladsous' Clouseau-Like Probe of Qatar Role in Golan Kidnappings?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 4 -- As the Syria report of the UN Commission of Inquiry was released and debated in Geneva Tuesday morning, the report was as noteworthy for what was not in it as for what was.

  When panelist Carla Del Ponte said publicly there were "serious suspicions" of chemical weapons use by the rebels, CoI chairperson Paulo Pinheiri quickly put out a press release undercutting it. 

  And lo and behold, his report says in Paragraph 138 that while "it is possible that anti-Government armed groups may access and use chemical weapons... there is no compelling evidence that these groups possess such weapons or their requisite delivery systems."

So there are "strong suspicions" (Del Ponte) but according to Pinheiro's final report, no "compelling evidence"? How to square these two?

On June 3 Inner City Press exclusively reported that despite a statement by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson that video said to indicate rebel use of chemical weapons at Khan Al-Asal was being processed by the UN's Angela Kane for submission to Ban's prober Ake Sellstrom, this has not taken place. Then again, Pinheiro wouldn't even consider the footage.

  Likewise, while the Pinheiro report recites the repeated kidnapping of UN peacekeepers in the Golan in Paragraph 72, it does not even mention the allegation of involvement from Doha, Qatar. During the debate, it was (mis?) stated that Ban's head of Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous is investigating Qatar's role.

  Ironically, Qatar in its speech denounced the abduction of people. Really?

  Pinheiro did speaks against the transfer of weapons in to Syria. At the UN in New York on June 3, the UK's Alistair Burt told Inner City Press his country wants the flexibility to do just that. 

While Botswana said talks could lead to an "amicable" resolution, it's hard to imagine any denouement that would be "amicable."

US Ambassador Eileen Donahoe praised the opposition's "awareness campaigns" -- apparently PSAs by the FSA, Public Service Announcements by the Free Syrian Army. But what about the Al Nusra Front? Watch this site.

On Syria, Reuters Channels UK View, Saudi Arabia & Qatar Airbrushed Out, Pending Access

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 1 -- When a grandstanding UN Security press statement goes down, how does it get reported?

  If the draft was by the UK, and the report is by Reuters, it's a decidely one-sided affair. 

  On Saturday evening, after the UK tweeted the existence of its doomed proposal, Reuters dutifully not only blamed Russia for its blockage, but allowed an unnamed "Council diplomat" to "note that Russia continues to sell weapons to Assad's government."

  Fine. But where is the mention of Qatar and Saudi Arabia providing weapons to rebels which include the Al Nusra Front? Not in Reuters' story.

  Meanwhile on CNN's Amanpour, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin said that the weapons now authorized by the European Union would surely end up in the hands of the strongest of the rebels, that is the Al Nusra Front.

  He said Iran should participate in Geneva II, if and when it happens.

  For the record, and on the record (unlike the Reuters UN bureau's descent into anonymous social media trolling), Inner City Press can respect the UK Mission trying to use Twitter to advocate. It's their job, to push positions.

  But isn't Reuters supposed to be objective journalism, and not just an adjunct of UK foreign policy? Why not mention the other issues? 

  We have more, much more, to say about this worst of Reuters bureaux. But we've been asked to hold fire, on the issue of media workspace and access, until the impending reduction in access that existed in the past is confirmed. Which could be soon. Watch this site.

UN's Syria Panel Chair Pinheiro Has No Info on Al-Nusra, Won't Say Funders Responsible

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- Human rights abused in and by Syria are denounced daily in the UN and elsewhere.

  But even the UN Security Council earlier this month condemned suicide bombings in Aleppo claimed by the anti-government Al-Nusra Front.

So one would expect the UN panel chaired by Paulo Pinheiro to have information and a position on Al-Nusra, and perhaps even its funders.

Inner City Press on October 16 asked Pinheiro about Al-Nusra, and Ansar al-Islam: is his panel collecting information on these groups? Does the "Responsibility" described in his panel's report extend to the funders of such groups? Video here, from Minute 28:22.

Pinheiro said no, "we don't have the specifics... we don't have the answer." On responsibility, he said it would be "very irresponsible" to answer that question. His fellow panelists Karen AbuZayd, formerly the head of UNRWA, did not choose to answer. Video here, from Minute 30.

Here's hoping that the two newly appointed panelists, Vitit Muntarbhorn and Carla del Ponte, can do a more serious job on this side of the panel's responsibility.

Footnote: At the end of the press conference, Pinheiro was asked if he had mentioned the International Criminal Court to the Security Council in last Friday's Arria formula meeting which Inner City Press covered in real-time. Pinheiro answered that it would have been rude.

But Permanent Representative Cabral of Portugal, which requested the meeting, afterward told Inner City Press that the ICC was raised by the panelists, with the admonition that of course a referral is up to the Security Council. Watch this site.