On Syria, Duel for “Impartial” Report, UN Rarely Does Them, Houla, Sri Lanka, Eritrea

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNdisclosed Location, March 20 -- Does the UN have a track record of objective and impartial investigations and reports? The question was raised by at least four speakers Wednesday at the UN Security Council stakeout.

  Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari in the morning said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had been asked to send a specialized, independent and neutral technical mission to look into the use of chemical weapons, he said by the opposition.

  After a Security Council session on the Central African Republic, which few covered, March's Council president Vitaly Churkin of Russia came out and described France counter-asking in consultations for an investigation of “rumors” of chemical weapons use by the government.

  He said this might just be a way to slow things down, or to widen the scope as was done in Iraq where, he noted, nothing was found.

  France's Permanent Representative Gerard Araud had been waiting to the side of the stakeout. When he came to the microphone -- the same microphone that his countryman Herve Ladsous had seized to avoid Inner City Press'questions about the 126 rapes in Minova by his partners in the Congolese Army -- Araud said, “Now you will hear the side of truth.”

  Araud spoke in French, leaving UK Deputy Permanent Representative Philip Parham to deliver the message in English.

  But when are the UN's reports impartial? What ever happened to the report into the disputes massacre in Houla in Syria? 

  Why didn't Ban Ki-moon stand behind his own report on killings in Sri Lanka -- then went and accepted and praised a “whitewash” report handed to him by Japan's Permanent Representative Nishida, without making the report public?

   UN reports are changed, like a recent one on Eritrea; UN reports get redacted, like the Petrie Report on Sri Lanka. So what kind of report can be expected about chemical weapons in Syria? We can only imagine. Watch this site.

To "Dismantle" Syria Mission, Ladsous Had Planes Waiting in Beirut, -Sources

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 26 -- Even before UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous sent half of the UN's Syria observers home this week amid anonymous quotes to Agence France Presse that, "they will not come back," he had prepared a total pullout and dismantling, sources told Inner City Press late Thursday.

   Well placed sources in the Security Council and Secretariat described UN Peacekeeping mission planes being moved to Beirut to wait to remove all of the observers. 

  When on July 20 the Security Council unanimously extended the UNSMIS observers' mission for thirty days, this planned total pullout was no longer possible.

  But mere days later, Ladsous directed half of the observers to leave the county. While Ladsous and his spokesman are, as they put it, "on the record" that they will not answer any Inner City Press questions, other pro-DPKO sources argue that even if strange, Ladsous was entitled, in the name of Ban Ki-moon, to order this reduction.

  But again, compare it to when UNMIS in Sudan expired: the UN took weeks and months to pull out, even while the Sudanese government wanted them all to leave. Here, the Syrian government has not asked UNSMIS to leave.

  Ladsous' rush to get out of Syria and "not come back" is a political one, consonant with France's and some others' position on the July 20 resolution but not its letter and spirit.

  As one Security Council member put it to Inner City Press, "that is not for Ladsous to decide, whether they will come back. There is a report to be written -- by the way, where has Ladsous put the UNSMIS report on Houla? And then it's up to the Security Council to consider it."

  Inner City Press at the UN noon briefing on Wednesday asked for more information about Ladsous sending the observers home, and even on how the announcement was distributed. "By DPKO," said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey.

  But since DPKO pointedly did not send the transcript of Ladsous' and Babacar Gaye's to all UN correspondents who actively report on Syria, Inner City Press asked Del Buey why his Office routinely re-sent out the announcements of Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan and his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi, but does not do so with the more "selective" DPKO of Herve Ladsous?

  What do Ban Ki-moon, his deputy and chief of staff think of and do about Ladsous, his acts and stonewalling? Watch this site.

Stalled on Syria, UNSC Member Tells ICP "Less Than 2 Dozen" Killed at Tremseh, Why Houla Report Delayed?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 13, updated -- During the Syria resolution meeting of UN Security Council member "experts" on the morning of Friday the 13th, the buzz among higher level diplomats was how many in reality were killed in Tremseh?

  A non-Western, non-Permanent Five member of the Security Council told Inner City Press that his country's intelligence service put the number killed at "less than two dozen." He hastened to say this is still "bad," and criticized the Assad government for using heavy weapons.

  But the disparity in casualty figures -- 200 to "less than two dozen" -- highlights the differences in the Security Council. It was Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari who said, on UN TV, that he and "many Syrians" do not believe Al Jazeera. He has added, Saudi-funded Al Arabiya. But who do you believe?

  More troubling, the UNSMIS report on the Houla massacre appears to have been buried, at least to some Council members. Inner City Press has asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesmen about it a number of times, and each time they have said that Ban distributed it to the UN's human rights experts to look at before giving to the Security Council. How long can this take?

  Some Security Council member accuse the French chief of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous of "sitting on" the Houla report. Ladsous does not speak to the Press -- or media, other than in the most controlled settings -- so his role and even side of the story cannot yet be told. 

Update: as the experts level meeting broke up at noon on Friday, experts told Inner City Press that the previously scheduled (all 15) Perm Reps meeting for the afternoon has been changed to "Permanent Five only." Watch this site.

On Syria, UN's "Ladsous Sits on Houla Report," SC Members Complaint

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 -- The UN told Inner City Press on June 21 that its report on the killing at Houla in Syria had been given to the Secretariat and would soon pass to the Security Council.

  But more than a week later, on June 29 several Council members complained to Inner City Press that the report was being withheld. "Ladsous has had it for three days," a Security Council member told Inner City Press on the night of June 29, referring to the chief of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous. "He's sitting on it - why? Does it not sufficiently blame the government?"

  It certainly seems strange.

 (In new-found fairness to Ladsous, it may be that Ban Ki-moon is really the party to be blamed.)

And so, while in Geneva the "final declaration" of Joint Special Envoy Kofi was moved back from 7 am New York time to 8 am and still hadn't happened 20 minutes after that, Inner City Press asked Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi:

what is your understanding of why the UNSMIS report on the Houla killings has still not be given to the Security Council members? Has the JSE seen it? If so, what does he think of it?

can you provide a comment on why the JSE's final declaration didn't happen at 7 am NY time, nor at the new time on UN TV schedule, 8 am? When do you think it will happen?

Can you comment on several Security Council members yesterday telling Inner City Press they've been informed UNSMIS will be converted to a political mission and General Mood will leave? July 20 or July 23?

   Back on June 16, Fawzi rather than answer Inner City Press' questions about its exclusive on Ladsous' notice to the Security Council that UNSMIS has limited its mobile operations on 6 pm on June 15 said, you've already asked the UN in New York. This time, we haven't. Watch this site.

UN's Mood Says Lead-Up to Houla Unclear, UK Admits, Germany Says No, Russia on 3rd Force

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 -- After the UN Security Council issued its Press Statement on the killings in Houla, Syria, late Sunday afternoon, Inner City Press put questions about it to the Ambassadors of the UK, Syria, Germany, Russia and France - for the latter two, the Deputies.

  First, a BRICS representative told Inner City Press that General Robert Mood has said that the circumstances leading to the killings in Houla were unclear or murky, and had mentioned killings by close-range shooting and "extreme physical abuse" - a shorthand for beheading.

  Even before the statement was read out by the Azerbaijani presidency of the Council for May, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told Inner City Press exclusively that his government viewed Houla as analogous to "Algeria in the 1990s" -- brutal beheadings meant spark a civil war.

  Ja'afari also said a goal of those behind the beheadings included increasing the size of the UNSMIS mission, militarizing them and internationalizing investigations and accountability, mentioning "Ocampo" of the International Criminal Court (soon to be replaced by Ms. Bensouda).

  When the formal stakeouts started, Inner City Press asked French Deputy Permanent Representative Martin Briens to respond to the analogy to Algeria in the 1990s. 

  He said no further comment is necessary, it is the responsibility of the government to protect civilians. But it's said Houla was not in government control.

  Inner City Press asked German Permanent Representative Peter Wittig to confirm that Mood said that the circumstances leading to the killings in Houla were unclear. Wittig replied that in its view things were not murky.

  But UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant, when Inner City Press asked him the same question about Mood's statement that the lead-up was unclear, to his credit acknowledged that was said. 

  He went on to say that in a sense it didn't matter, Syria should not have used tanks, these should have already been back in the barracks.

Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Pankin said that Russia called for the briefing. Inner City Press asked him about the analogy to Algeria in the 1990s. 

  He replied that there is the presence of a third force, or external forces, who want to bring about military intervention or victory. He said that an investigation is much needed. But who will do a credible investigation?

  As the last speaker, Syrian Permanent Representative Ja'afari called the statements of Wittig and Lyall Grant a "tsunami of lies," which different from what General Mood had said. "What about Ban Ki-moon," Inner City Press asked: was he and his letter more akin to Mood or to the German and UK Ambassadors' presentation? He replied, closer to the UK and Germany, of course. Of course!

  Finally, Inner City Press asked Ja'afari if this might lead to an increase in the size of UNSMIS. Yes, Ja'afari said. So, in a cynical view: a jobs program? The investigation is important.

Footnote: During the afternoon's closed consultations, representatives of several countries not (yet) on the Security Council came to monitor proceedings. Inner City Press tweeted that Sudan and Norway were there, then that Liechtenstein and Finland had been first. 

  At the end, Australia let it be known that they had been present too, and give a written statement by Foreign Minister Bob Carr. Duly noted. But where was Luxembourg, which is running against Finland and Australia in October for two seats on the Security Council in 2013-14? Watch this site.

Absent from Press Q&A on Syria, UNCA Officials Conceal Complaint Information, Kafka-esque

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 -- Amid a series of press stakeouts on Syria on Sunday at the UN, in the parallel world of the UN Correspondents Association's top officials, the "urgent" move to expel Inner City Press persisted without disclosure.

  This is a case of big wire services seeking to use a supposed journalistic organization to expel a smaller media they have used.

  UNCA President Giampaulo Pioli, who on May 25 issued a notice of a May 29 session to appoint a "Board of Examination" to try to expel Inner City Press, did not come to the UN to cover the Security Council session on the killings in Houla.

  His Vice President Lou Charbonneau of Reuters, who on May 21 was bylined on a Reuters story stealing without credit an Inner City Press exclusive of March 28 that US official Jeffrey Feltman would come to work for the UN, did come to the UN and even sat at the multiple stakeouts. 

  But he did not ask any questions, preferring to use the information gleaned by the questions of others.

   Foreign Policy's The Cable, for example, credited Inner City Press, but Reuters did not. At the stakeout on Sunday, a Russian UN correspondent thanked Inner City Press for another exclusive report which he said he'd used and credited.

  Charbonneau has said that he has a POLICY of not crediting Inner City Press exclusives, a statement that Reuters has yet to respond to.

  For the record, Inner City Press asked questions of and got answers from the UN Ambassadors of the UK, Syria, Germany, Russia and France -- whose Mission's tool Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse was seen near the stakeout, but who asked no on the record questions.

  Nor did Pioli respond to Inner City Press' sixth request that he provide the names of the five UNCA Executive Committee members he said had in writing requested the Board of Examination to try to expel Inner City Press.

  Since under UNCA's rules this Board must be "impartial," it seems clear that none of the five complainants, nor in context any correspondent which has used an Inner City Press exclusive without credit, can be on the Board of Examination.

  It is also clear that Inner City Press, as defendant, must have a role in selecting the Board, including making nominations and striking nominees if necessary for cause.

None of this is possible without known who are the complainants, and the supposed victims. But despite Inner City Press explaining just this in its request to Pioli, no names have been provided.

   Presumably Charbonneau, who also filed a stealth complaint with the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit which controls media access to the UN, is one of the five complainants. Why not just give the names, then? Under his behind the scenes control of the UNCA Executive Committee, UNCA has become positively Kafka-esque. Watch this site.

At UN, Ban's Al Qaeda in Syria Quote Was Not Planned, Houla Fallout, Ban's Gaffes Covered Up, Witchhunt Against Watchdogs

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 -- Amid the focus on and use the Syria issue of statements by the UN and its Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, mostly unreported is just how slap-dash and un-thought out many of Ban's statements are.

  Ban's famous or infamous May recent statement that "a few days ago there was a huge, serious, massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be al Qaeda behind it" was made in response to a student's question at a Model UN event in the General Assembly Hall.

  But in the same session, as Inner City Press reported, Ban also referred to the Syrian city of Hamas as "Hamas," a glitch which the UN edited out of its transcript of Ban's remarks without even noting it was brackets. See Inner City Press' May 17 story, here.

  Subsequent reporting by Inner City Press had found that people close to Ban were embarrassed by these and other Ban's statements, and that the "Al Qaeda" reference was not in any prepared speech, remarks or talking points. "He just said it," a source close to Ban told Inner City Press.

  And now that Ban gaffe is impacting and delaying Security Council response to, for example, the deaths on Houla.

  But most of the wire services covering the UN do not report on Ban's many glitches. They seem to want to take him seriously, because it makes their jobs seem more serious. They also do not cover Ban speeches like that at his May 24 "Town Hall" event with staff.

  Staff expressed outrage to Inner City Press that, for example, Ban's first answer was about AIDS to a question about the UN not recognized the domestic partnerships of homosexual staff members if their home countries do not.

  Others were offended when Ban's response to being questioned about his lack of follow up with the government of Afghanistan to the killing of UN Security Officer Louis Maxwell by Afghan National forces was to say he has asked "Hollywood" to make a movie about Maxwell.

Inner City Press reported on this, then at the May 25 UN noon briefing put a series of questions to Ban's lead spokesman Martin Nesirky, about Ban's answers on Maxwell (and Hollywood), gay rights (and AIDS), on and, perhaps relatedly, about media rights.

  Nesirky responded on each that "I am not going to go into the details of what was discussed at a staff meeting" and "there are complications, because of national legislation in some cases.."

  Then Inner City Press asked about " a complaint was filed with the Media and Accreditation… Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU) by" Louis Charbonneau, the UN bureau chief of Reuters which used without any credit Inner City Press' exclusive story that US official Jeffrey Feltman will come work by Ban. (Foreign Policy's The Cable did credit Inner City Press, here.)

  Nesirky said of Charbonneau's complaint to MALU that "correspondence between individuals is between individuals, first thing."

  Inner City Press asked as a matter of due press "whether journalists at the UN have a right to see whatever files or complaints are maintained about them."

  Nesirky said, "I think what we have here is something that I am fully aware involves you, and I think that it would be better to be discussed offline, not on camera in the briefing."

  Inner City Press followed up "to know what the procedures are, because I have very little confidence in the off-camera due process."

  Nesirky ended the questioning and the briefing by saying"we’ll deal with it separately. Thanks very much, and have a good weekend." 

  Then he went just outside the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium and conferred to Charbonneau, who used to be his colleague at Reuters. Four hours later Inner City Pressreceived written notice of May 29 session seeking to name a "board of examination" to expel it.

In this case, the Emperor has no clothes -- and those including in the media who insist that he does will apparently do anything to keep the nakedness under wraps. Watch this site.