Exclusive: In Sudan, UN Gave Its Staff's US Dollars to Bank of Khartoum, UN Falsely Blamed It on US Sanctions

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Must Credit

UNITED NATIONS, December 27, more here – With the UN belatedly moving to stand up to pressure from the Sudanese government of Omar al Bashir, who has ordered UN officials Yvonne Helle and Ali Al-Za'tari to leave the country, Inner City Press has learned of a particularly shameful way in which the UN and Al-Za'tari tried to placate the Sudanese government, to the extend of giving it the U.S. dollars of UN national staff in Sudan.

   Last week Inner City Press exclusively reported on the UN Federal Credit Union abruptly telling UN national staff in Sudan that their accounts were being frozen and the dollars in them transferred to the Bank of Khartoum. Inner City Press has asked the UN, including UNDP, OCHA andUNFPA, to explain this. 

   Today Inner City Press exclusively publishes a complaint filed with Ali Al-Za'tari about the change, here. Inner City Press notes that the decision to give the UN national staff's dollars to the Bank of Khartoum flies in the face, in fact, of the sanctions.  The complaint to Al-Za'tari states that 

“UNFCU closed checking and savings accounts of national staff without prior notification and consultation and unilaterally transferred all funds of staff members' accounts to local saving accounts to be paid in SDG by Bank of Khartoum... Based on the long years of established provision of the UNFCU service, majority of national staff have made long term financial arrangements taking into account UNFCU deposits facilities which provided solutions to many of their problems such as medical treatments and education to them and their families.”

  UNFCU's President and CEO William Predmore told national staff in Sudan that that “as you may be aware, UNFCU is subject to U.S. Regulations (including those promulgated by the Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC)). In order to ensure compliance with those regulations, checking account services and debit card services were terminated for local staff.”

   (Many were stranded with AMT cards that didn't work, while their dollars were transferred to the Bank of Khartoum.)

  Contrary to what UNFCU's Predmore told staff in writing, the US OFAC has told UN staff that sanctions law and regulation does NOT require what the UN has done, citing 31 CFR 538.531.

  Tellingly, Predmore's letter to staff also says that the switch was made pursuant to UNDP's rules. What rules?

  Now the UN Security Council is set to meet on December 30 about Sudan's order to Ali Al-Za'tari and Yvonne Helle to leave; the Council will say they are in support of UN staff. What will they do about UN staff members' dollars having been given to the Sudanese authorities?

  In essence, UNDP and its Resident Coordinator Ali Al-Za'tari gave Khartoum the U.S. dollars of UN national staff, without notice. Even that wasn't enough to keep him in the country. But it is reminiscent of another UN scam Inner City Press exclusive uncovered, the overpayment of Myanmar by inflated foreign exchange rate in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

  That was covered and credited – will this be? Or does thescam here extend to covering up the complicity of UN officials like not only Herve Ladsous but even, yes, Ali Al-Za'tari, who remained silent when UNFPA's country director was thrown out of Sudan in April, and as Inner City Press asked the UN on December 24, gave in quickly to the ouster of Yvonne Helle? Watch this site.

   

UN Official, "Elated" by Rapes, Says Corruption Watching is Up to Haiti's Preval

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ban1bury022410.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 24, updated -- "Three rapes? That almost elates me," the UN's second in command in Haiti Tony Banbury told the Press on Wednesday. "There are rapes in New York, in any refugee camp in the world." Video here, from Minute 34:17.

Some were surprised at this UN official's statement. While he may say that the quote -- caught on film -- is out of context, Inner City Press would counter that the quote was created by, and reflects, the context.

Banbury's presentation, billed as a description of the situation in Haiti, was in fact a defense of the UN's performance. Banbury said the earthquake in Haiti was harder to deal with than the tsunami or Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, in which he was involved.

Inner City Press asked Banbury how the UN, which has made appeals for over $1 billion, will ensure that rubble removal contractors are transparently selected based on merit, and that the landowning elite in Haiti doesn't gain super-profits from the move to acquire land for new housing.

Banbury said that both of these are up to the sovereign Haitian government. He derided procurement rules as causing delay. But US-based companies like Ashbritt, under fire for post-Hurricane Katrina profiteering, have already held private meetings with President Rene Preval.

To be fair, Inner City Press reiterated the question: was Banbury saying the UN would do nothing to try to ensure that money donated to help poor Haitians wasn't grabbed by profiteers? Yes, Banbury said, we have an interest in that, and the UN will pursue it "on a political level... with the World Bank." But by leading with the UN's deference to sovereign Haitian decisions, a message is sent.

In fact, Banbury's involvement in the UN's and World Food Program's response to Cyclone Nargis involved knowing, but keeping quiet, about currency exchange losses of up to 25% to the Than Shwe military government of Myanmar.

What correspondents were and are looking for is facts, not UN spin. And if one is the UN's spinmeister, it might be better not to say, "Three rapes? That almost elates me." What happens next? Watch this site.

Update: two days after Banbury's comments and the article above, and one day after the UN was asked about the comments, and promised an update, the following came in:

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 2:40 PM, UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply wrote:

At the noon press briefing on February 24, Assistant Secretary-General Banbury was asked about a report by Human Rights Watch on security and protection conditions in IDP camps in Haiti, including a report that there had been three cases of women being raped.

ASG Banbury adds the following comment: “My remarks make clear my strong commitment to human rights protection issues, and my conviction that three rapes is "far too many". I said that reports of only three rapes "almost elates me" because of deep concern--by myself and human rights protection experts--that the large numbers of people who are living in cramped and onerous conditions in displaced persons camps could lead to serious protection issues, especially with regard to sexual violence against women and children. If the total number of rape cases is indeed three, while "far too many", it would show that efforts by the UN and our partners to enhance protection measures for women and children in the camps were working to a large extent, and our worst fears were not materializing. This would be a source of encouragement. I have dedicated many years to protecting the human rights of vulnerable populations, and my career to public service. Far from belittling the crime of rape, my clear intention was to convey a sense of UN commitment and concern about human rights protection.”

Media outlets which heard but never wrote about Banbury's comment about being "almost elated" at three rapes were quickly to publish his subsequent statement.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1bury022410.html

In Sri Lanka, Civilians Deaths Counted at 1898 by Locals, UN Refuse to Estimate As It Did in Afghanistan, Gaza and Elsewhere

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban7srilanka021809.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 18 -- As the UN belatedly dispatches its top humanitarian official John Holmes to discuss the conflict in Sri Lanka, it still refuses to call for a cease fire or even to estimate the number of civilian casualties to date. "The UN does not have a mandate to go and count bodies," its Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe told Inner City Press on Wednesday, when asked about a UN report of 2,118 civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2008. In the absence of a UN estimate of civilians killed so far in 2009 in Sri Lanka, we note local sources' count of 1898. A senior UN official told Inner City Press that because Sri Lanka's government so carefully monitors anything about its offensive against Tamil Tiger-held areas, including going "absolutely nuts at the International Red Cross" for their projections, the UN is reluctant to issue any estimate about Sri Lanka -- or, apparently, a cease fire call.

Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson Michele Montas for the UN's estimate, and whether it was higher or lower than in the Gaza conflict earlier this year. Ms. Montas said she would look into it, and subsequently added to the transcript of the briefing was the line, "The Spokesperson later clarified that the United Nations does not generally issue casualty figures. When the recent United Nations flash appeal for Gaza was launched, for example, it attributed its casualty figures to the Palestinian Ministry of Health."

At the UN's February 18 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas' Deputy Marie Okabe for the source of the UN's recent report of 2,118 civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2008. Ms. Okabe said the UN has to rely on "local authorities." Inner City Press noted the UN's dispute with the authorities of Myanmar about how many people died in the wake of Cyclone Nargis last year. Ms. Okabe replied that local authorities include "hospitals, NGOs, people on the ground." But why then no estimate at all about Sri Lanka? Ms. Okabe said she had "nothing to add to what Michele [Montas] told you yesterday." Video here, from Minute 11:19.

Since there is nothing to add, we can only cite the addition attached here, which tabulates over 5000 injured, and 1898 killed, since January 1. It lists dates and place-names since January 26. If government or UN figures emerge we will report them.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban7srilanka021809.html

In Myanmar Cyclone's Wake, Lack of Disaster Risk Reduction Follow-up after Tsunami Is Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ocha1myanmar050608.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- With the death toll in Myanmar continuing to rise, five days after Cyclone Nargis, among the lost is what follow-up there was to the June 2007 "Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction," which was chaired by John Holmes of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At the time, much was said about setting up systems of early warning. On Tuesday at UN Headquarters Inner City Press asked OCHA's New York director Rashid Khalikov what follow-up there had been to the UN's Disaster Risk Reduction announcements, which extend at least back to the so-called Hyogo Framework for Action adopted in January 2005 at the the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Kobe, Japan.

"I'm not sure I'm the person to articulate an answer for you," he said. "After the tsunami there were various ideas... I cannot give you information on any progress achieved." Video here, from Minute 44:22. He referred to the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction -- but it was his OCHA boss John Holmes who chaired the July 2007 meeting on the the topic.

In fact, OCHA's Holmes gave a briefing in the same room in October 2007 about Disaster Risk Reduction. Ironically or by coincidence, Inner City Press on that day Inner City Press had asked Holmes about humanitarian access to Myanmar, on which Holmes gave a rosy answer. Video here, from Minute 37:27. Amazingly, even on Tuesday Mr. Khalikov said there was nothing out of the norm in not yet having visas for access to Myanmar, five days after the cyclone. He blamed the delay on Monday having been a holiday in Bangkok. But did OCHA even call the Myanmar authorities to ask them to open the embassy for visa review? Put otherwise, who's taken the C out of OCHA? If this is a test, maybe that's where the C has gone. What are they coordinating? UNICEF, for example, put out its own press release about its accomplishments in Myanmar. One from WFP is sure to follow, and UNHCR after that.

Many at Tuesday's press conference wondered at how little information was provided, including on such basis issues as what UN aid has gotten into the country. A flash appeal is due Friday, we'll continue to follow this aspect of the story.

Footnote: in both the October 2007 and May 2008 press conferences linked-to above, the spokesman for the General Assembly was left to be the last speaker, to a nearly empty room. Both times he wryly thanked those reporters who remained, the second time suggesting they might be members of the "Friends of the General Assembly." Actually, it was the General Assembly which called for the Disaster Risk Reduction strategy. So where is their follow up?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ocha1myanmar050608.html