Myanmar Exchange Rate Is "Difficult," UN's Holmes Will Review in Yangon, Council July 24

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un10myanmar071608.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 -- In Myanmar in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the UN system had "serious losses of 20%" exchanging currency with the military government, as well as making inflated purchases from state-owned petroleum enterprises, record seen by Inner City Press show. A week after asking head UN humanitarian John Holmes to describe how currency is converted in Myanmar, on Wednesday he said he will be in Yangon next week and will check on the issue.

Holmes re-launched a Consolidated Appeal for funding on Wednesday, alongside Rudy Von Bernuth of the International Save the Children Alliance, who said that Save the Children following Nargis has received $29 million from the UN for its Myanmar work. Afterwards, Inner City Press asked Von Bernuth how and at what rate Save the Children exchanges money in Myanmar. "You have to ask our London office," he answered. We have, but the answer is strange, from International Save the Children Alliance just after a statement at the UN about receiving $29 million from the UN.

Another humanitarian who passed through the UN on Wednesday was Eric Laroche, now at the World Health Organization, previously humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, and further back with UNICEF in Myanmar. While he has committed now to explain how WHO exchanges money in Myanmar, when Inner City Press asked if he thinks it legitimate to accept a low exchange rate from a government in order to have access, he stayed silent for a full eight seconds before saying, "It's a very difficult question, and a more difficult answer. It has to do with principles." Video here, from Minute 51:46. He said that when he was in the country with UNICEF, auditors were told about the exchange rate arrangements with the government.

Pending Sir John Holmes' report-back from Myanmar, it can also be reported that internal UN documents show that much of the rice purchases by the UN after the cyclone was bought from Myanmar itself. Later a shift was made to imports, attributable to "government image and not availability" of rice, according to the records.

Footnote: This month's Vietnamese president of the Security Council stated on Wednesday that an agreement has been reached for the Council to have a briefing on Myanmar before the end of the month. Inner City Press is told it will be on July 24...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un10myanmar071608.html

As UN's CAR Alarmist Toby Lanzer Praises Central African Republic Army's Limitation to Looting, UN's Taking Sides with Power Is Questioned

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/car3alarm022808.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- "They are still looting," the UN's Toby Lanzer said Thursday of government soldiers in the Central African Republic, "but at least they are not still burning villages. That is an improvement, we need to engage."

Of an appeal for $92 million for the CAR, so far 10% has been raised. Lanzer is traveling to Ottawa, he has been in Europe. As part of his pitch, he is singing the praises of the government. Back in November he told Associated Press that the Central African Republic "is less corrupt, it has a less repressive regime, and it has just as many if not more natural resources than many, many countries in Africa that are so-called aid darlings." Frustration at the lack of funding for and focus on CAR is understandable. But does the best or only way to try to counter-act that have to involve sweeping government looting under the rug?

Lanzer has praised the Bozize government for inviting in the International Criminal Court, although the ICC's inquiry is focused on a prior period -- on Bozize's enemies, essentially. Meanwhile, would the Bozize government seek to enforce the ICC arrest warrants against the Lord's Resistance Army, reportedly in CAR? Inner City Press asked about this on Thursday, and Lanzer said that the LRA might only be "close" to the CAR, and about ICC matters, he suggested that the CAR government be asked. Video here from Minute 12:49. But the question was about Lanzer's, and the UN's, statements about the CAR government. If Lanzer doesn't know their positions on the ICC, why has he praised them?

Asked by AP who is committing the rapes in the country, Lanzer said overwhelming the rebels. Inner City Press asked if he was saying that government forces are not involved. "I didn't say that," he pointed out. "I said it was overwhelmingly the rebels." If you say so.

Lanzer's job as humanitarian coordinator is to raise money for the CAR. He has apparently decided that to accomplish this, it makes most sense to present the existing Bozize government as being an improvement. Sure, its presidential guards kill and rape in the country's northwest zone. But they do it less that before. Perhaps Lanzer's strategy of encouragement and engagement is working. But who will be the judge?

Lanzer appears in the vein of the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche. In early 2007 Laroche came to UN headquarters and advocating siding with the Ethiopian-installed Transitional Federal Government. He told the press, "If I'm wrong, you can judge me later." After the TFG shelled civilian neighborhoods in Mogadishu and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, Laroche finally admitted that it was a mistake. What Lanzer said Thursday, leaving the briefing room, was directed at Inner City Press. "I look forward to reading how you put all that together, " he said. And here it is, a CAR alarm sounding in the night.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/car3alarm022808.html