At UN, Kutesa Tells Inner City Press He Was #Uganda FM Whole Year, Of Troops in South Sudan, ENHAS

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 14 -- When Inner City Press put two South Sudan question to outgoing UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, it prefaced the first by saying it learned halfway through his PGA term that Kutesa was still Uganda's foreign minister. Not halfway through, Kutesa says, "I am still the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda." Video here.

 So Inner City Press asked Kutesa of his country - the country of which he is still foreign minister - and its role(s) in South Sudan. Will Ugandan troops leave South Sudan? Does Entebbe Handling Services, ENHAS, in which he has or had a financial stake, run the airport in Juba?

  Kutesa said he transferred his shares in ENHAS and that he didn't know if it operates in South Sudan. Each should be easy to check - though the UN has refused to say with whom it deals in the Juba airport, which closes on weekends, see below.

  On Ugandan troops in South Sudan, Kutesa said Uganda is not supporting Salva Kiir "as such," citing operations with the US to pursue the Lord's Resistance Army.  The questioning moved on, but these, previously asked,  remain UNanswered:

  The UN is often a patronage mill, which undermines not only its credibility but also its attempted political work.

  The most recent example is what multiple sources exclusively tell Inner City Press is the attempt by outgoing UN General Assembly President Sam Kutesa to place his chief of staff, Arthur Kafeero, in a high UN Department of Political Affairs Africa post vacated by another's retirement.

   Sources initially told Inner City Press that Kutesa was lobbying Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Susana Malcorra to get Kafero the job.  Now, other sources say that Malcorra has put pressure on DPA chief Jeffrey Feltman to, in fact, employ Kafeero.

  Kafeero is a perfectly nice guy, but this is not the way things are supposed to work in the UN. Nor is having a relative working in the PGA's office, but that's another story for another time. Inner City Press has been closely covering Burundi, including as Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni was named as mediator for the term limits dispute there. This has, in an understatement, not been going well.

  So why at this time in particular would the UN be considering placing the nominee of Sam Kutesa, still operating as the foreign minister of Uganda, in this high UN DPA post on Africa? Watch this site.

  Inner City Press posed questions to Kutesa back in June 2014 when he got the post, video here.

   More than one source noted to Inner City Press that Malcorra is said to be angling to succeed Ban, if the post slips from the grasp of the Eastern European group.  Would this move help or harm those chances?

Malcorra is also in the midst of the still unresolved scandal of the cover up of alleged child rapes in the Central African Republic by the French Sangaris peacekeepers, on which Department of Peacekeeping Operations chief Herve Ladsous, even less qualified than Kafero, is said in UN Dispute Tribunal rulings to have pressured to get the whistleblower fired.

 It is in this climate of retaliation at the UN that Inner City Press publishes this story -- unlike the insider UN Correspondents Association, part of the problem at the UN and to which Ban's spokesperson's office limited information about Ban's Washington questionless photo-op this week, the new Free UN Coalition for Accessaims for transparency.

  Inner City Press and FUNCA previously asked for disclosure of which of PGA Kutesa's staffers were being paid by the UN, and which seconded by member states. The list has yet to be provided, while some say a relative is paid by Uganda - so disclosure might have helped.

  The incoming PGA, Inner City Press is exclusively told, is mulling as spokesperson either a national of his own Denmark, or from Iceland. The criterion should be transparency. He is also said to be mulling a (deputy) chief of staff from Africa. We'll have more on this.
   

After Sam Kutesa Becomes President of UN General Assembly, Inner City Press Asks Him of Uganda's Anti-Gay Law, Schumer, South Sudan

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 11 -- After Uganda's foreign minister Sam Kutesa became the next UN General Assembly President on June 11, Inner City Press asked him about both New York Senators' protests to his candidacy based on Uganda's anti-gay law.

   Kutesa said that opposition to him is based on "mis-understanding;" he said his position is that homosexuality is a private matter, or is okay if kept private. 

     Inner City Press asked Kutesa if he would meet with Schumer. Kutesa said he would be happy to, "I have a lot of respect for him;" he said the statements attributed to Schumer, "if they are correct, it was because he was not very informed."

  Afterward two African Permanent Representatives asked Inner City Press if these questions will go on all year. One noted that the US did not speak in the meeting - and nor did the Latin American and Caribbean group GRULAC, reflecting they could not or did not agree on a statement.


  Inner City Press also asked Kutesa about South Sudan; he said he supports "the peace initiative spearheaded by our leaders in IGAD in Ethiopia and Kenya."  He said that he had just issued a statement on his ownership interest in Entebbe Handling Services - on which UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric never before the meeting corrected his statement in the noon briefing two days before.

  Dujarric was asked of accusations that Kutesa was chair and still part owner of Entebbe Handling Services (ENHAS) and if ENHAS does business with the UN.

  Dujarric said, “I do not think they have any contracts with MONUSCO The President of the General Assembly is not a staff member of the UN. And again, we’re checking on the veracity of the reports that have been floating around, Matthew.”

  Since then, Dujarric has not provided any information or updated the transcript. But even the most cursory search find many ENHAS contracts with missions of UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, including MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

From the “2013- 2014 Acquisition Plan - UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO),” there's “ENHAS Airfield services in Entebbe, $1,860,000” - click here to view.

See also, “2013 PO Awards for Field Missions - Others” listing “Entebbe Handling Services Ltd ( ENHAS ) Training, other $50,847, 13SOA-130654, 13RFP-130022” and “Entebbe Handling Services Ltd ( ENHAS ) Training, other $147,279, 14SOA-140105, 14RFP-140003.” Click here.

  So why would Dujarric deny it? Then not either look into it or provide a correction? 

  Similarly, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Dujarric about how Ban's supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy applies to the mere two convictions for 130 rapes in Minova by the DRC Army. MONUSCO's Martin Kobler said the policy is clear, but his boss Herve Ladsous refuses to answer the Press questions. 

  Ladsous has also refused to explain why he is procuring drones to be based in northern Mali, before any approval for this. And Dujarric provides no answers.

  Last week Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq answered Inner City Press that Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir was killed. But it was an assassination attempt - he was not killed. Haq simply doctored the transcript to make it appear he hadn't said “killed,” but never told the Press the transcript was changed.

   This was, media could report what the UN Office of the Spokesperson said - then have it not line up with that was said, or in the case of ENHAS, what the public record shows. This is unacceptable, and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will pursuing this. Watch this site.

   

Before UNGA Vote, UN Spokesman Dujarric Said ENHAS Has No Contracts With MONUSCO, But Record Differs, Here: Follow the Money

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 11 -- Well before today's UN General Assembly session to name the next UNGA President, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric was asked of accusations that the candidate was chair and still part owner of Entebbe Handling Services (ENHAS) and if ENHAS does business with the UN.

  Dujarric said, “I do not think they have any contracts with MONUSCO The President of the General Assembly is not a staff member of the UN. And again, we’re checking on the veracity of the reports that have been floating around, Matthew.”

  Since then, Dujarric has not provided any information or updated the transcript. But even the most cursory search find many ENHAS contracts with missions of UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, including MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

From the “2013- 2014 Acquisition Plan - UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO),” there's “ENHAS Airfield services in Entebbe, $1,860,000” - click here to view.

See also, “2013 PO Awards for Field Missions - Others” listing “Entebbe Handling Services Ltd ( ENHAS ) Training, other $50,847, 13SOA-130654, 13RFP-130022” and “Entebbe Handling Services Ltd ( ENHAS ) Training, other $147,279, 14SOA-140105, 14RFP-140003.” Click here.

  So why would Dujarric deny it? Then not either look into it or provide a correction? 

  Similarly, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Dujarric about how Ban's supposed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy applies to the mere two convictions for 130 rapes in Minova by the DRC Army. MONUSCO's Martin Kobler said the policy is clear, but his boss Herve Ladsous refuses to answer the Press questions. 

  Ladsous has also refused to explain why he is procuring drones to be based in northern Mali, before any approval for this. And Dujarric provides no answers.

  Last week Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq answered Inner City Press that Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir was killed. But it was an assassination attempt - he was not killed. Haq simply doctored the transcript to make it appear he hadn't said “killed,” but never told the Press the transcript was changed.

   This was, media could report what the UN Office of the Spokesperson said - then have it not line up with that was said, or in the case of ENHAS, what the public record shows. This is unacceptable, and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will pursuing this. Watch this site.