In Iraq, UN UNaware of Airdrop to ISIL, Of Airstrikes & Open Dam, Barrel Bomb Double Standards?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- When UN official Kevin Kennedy called into the UN noon briefing from Erbil on October 7, he mentioned bringing aid into Iraq's Anbar Province, under control of the Islamic State and not the government.

So Inner City Press asked Kennedy, until recently the head of the UN Department of Safety and Security, if the UN could confirm human rights groups' reports on the use of barrel bombs in Anbar.

Kennedy replied, “I don't know about the military issues, I'm not in charge of that.” We'll take him at face value. But note that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in its reports on Syria does report on barrel bombs. What's the difference?

Inner City Press asked Kennedy about Islamic State's use of water as a weapon, specifically its threat to dams. Kenney said “water is a concern, a dam just south of this region [Erbil] opened and began to flood this morning, We begin working on today.”

On a second round, Inner City Press asked Kennedy since there are aid workers in the field in Iraq if the US and others give the UN notification of their airstrikes. Kennedy replied obliquely that the UN tried to keep aid workers safe by “any means we can.” So is that a yes?

Finally, Inner City Press asked Kennedy about the report by NBC News that the Iraqi Air Force dropped supplies to ISIL. Kennedy said he hadn't seen it. Well, here it is. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Ameerah Haq to Leave, Holl Lute & Pollard in Hunt, Sources tell ICP, Ladsous Redux

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- The head of the UN Department of Field Service Ameerah Haq will leave this Peacekeeping job in October, Inner City Press is exclusively informed by well-placed sources.

  Among the candidates to take over the position, ostensibly co-equal with Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, include American Jane Holl Lute and the current head of the UN Office of Human Resources Management, Catherine Pollard.

  Given that the top contributors of peacekeeping troops to the UN are from South Asia -- India, Pakistan, Nepal and Ameerah Haq's native Bangladesh -- it would look strange to have DFS headed by an American while DPKO remains owned by France. Several UN sources muses this would be a perfect time for Ladsous to leave. "Better him than Haq," as one source put it.

  But the alternate theory has Secretary General Ban Ki-moon throwing geographical and ideological balance to the wind in UN Peacekeeping. In this theory, the US would have to give up the Department of Safety & Security -- "he's only an Acting USG," the proponent pointed out -- so as to not have too too many American Under Secretaries General. 

  The shame would be, Kevin Kennedy is one of the better and more accessible USGs, by contrast to Ladsous whorefuses Press questions about rapes and UN Peacekeeping from the Congo to Mali, and about the Hutu FDLR, click here for last week's video.

  It was back in October 2013 that Inner City Press reported that Ladsous was trying to get Haq out, to assert more control. On October 7, 2013 Inner City Press reported, "While an earlier Ban Ki-moon reform involved splitting Peacekeeping into two separate components, DPKO and DFS, now Ladsous wants to dominate both of them, by pushing Haq out of DFS and installing a person of his own choosing. More on that in a future story." This, is that story. And there will be more. Watch this site.

   

Exclusive: Intruder Enters UN Through Unguarded East River Post, To Ban Ki-moon's Office, Budget Cuts Blamed

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Must-Credit

UNITED NATIONS, August 27 -- There was a break-in at the UN on Monday afternoon, Inner City Press has learned, while global news media focused on Syria chemical weapons and possible missile strikes. 

  The intruder came in through the door or Security post next to the satellite dish facing the East River, proceeded up toward the top of the UN where Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's office is.

   When the intruder was finally apprehended, he was taken into custody by the 17th Precinct of the New York Police Department. As it turns out, he had been with his father working an electrical job on 21st Street. 

  But as more than one UN Security officer told Inner City Press, it could have been someone else, it could have been much worst.

   Budget cuts are blamed, as they are for delay in responding to an electrical fire in the UN basement. The post by the satellite dish, which used to have an officer there, has been without guard for some time. Tuesday, Inner City Press went an observed, the post was filled again. But for how long?

  The fire, in the third sub-basement where there used to be a UN Security operational post, was belatedly noticed by cleaning staff. The UN spent $2 billion on its renovation, while cutting actual people working. 

  The same holds true for its audio-visual work: an expensive and so-far unsuccessful upgrade in hardware, while spending less on people, as questioned by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. We'll have more on this: watch this site.

  In January 2012 Inner City Press exclusively reported the finding (and initial covering up) of cocaine in the UN's mail room. After that exclusive, and Inner City Press asking at the day's UN noon briefing, then DSS chief Greg Starr held a stakeout. Several wire services wrote stories giving no credit, saying this was fine since based on UN response to the Press' exclusive. 

 Now the DSS acting chief is Kevin Kennedy, who said on August 23 that he was heading to Somalia. How will the UN and its Alliance react? We'll see.

UN Security Chief Links New DRC Brigade With Risks, Syria Rebels' NGO Threat UNanswered

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 23 -- Amid threats by Syria rebels to international aid groups in Jarabulus and with theUN preparing to "go to war" in Eastern Congo, Inner City Press on Friday asked UN Security chief Kevin Kennedy what his Department of Safety and Security is going on these and other issues. Video here and embedded below.

  Although the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' spokesperson Amanda Pitt told Inner City Press that "on northern Syria, UNDSS would be the UN department to comment on security issues," Kennedy did not offer specifics about the threats by the ISIS rebels, acknowledged by the US State Department.

  Kennedy did say that the UN offers security recommendations to NGOs, as "implementing partners" of the UN, through a program grandly called "Saving Lives Together." 

  A UN veteran, Kennedy said this work has long been going on without the catchy name. NGOs, however, do not have to take the recommendations of the UN's designated security official in the 117 countries DSS operates in.

  (As if to prove that, when Inner City Press asked Kennedy about MSF's recent decision to leave Somalia and if the UN had recommended it, the answer along with praise of MSF was essentially, no.)

  On Eastern Congo, Inner City Press asked if the new UN Intervention Brigade with its mandate of neutralizing armed rebel groups changes the way UN Security prepares. Kennedy likened the new posture to the Katanga war in what become Zaire "in 1960, 61 and 62... it's deju vu all over again, a more robust mandate."

  Kennedy said he supports it, if it helps the UN fulfill its mandate. But some wonder, what is the UN's mandate: to support a particular government? Even if it means continuing to work with Army units like the 391st Battalion, implicated in mass rapes like in Minova in November 2012, and corpse desecration since?

  Kennedy's DSS colleague added that "the change of posture will influence decisions of parties to the conflict of using violence against the UN, we acknowledge it may change." He added, "it's only one component.. it changes the variables, we react to it." Video here and below.

  Overall, Kennedy illustrated the shift in UN Security by contrasting the pull out of UN staff from all of Afghanistan in 1998 after the US missile strike on a training camp in Eastern Afghanistan to the current posture of attempting to stay, even if in smaller numbers.

  Afterward by the 27th floor elevators, still with the smell of smoke from a fire last night in the UN's third sub-basement, Inner City Press asked Kennedy more about Somalia and about Louis Maxwell, the UN Security officer murdered after defending a UN guest house in Kabul, for which there has been no accountability.

Kennedy's answer was more heartening than in Inner City Press' previous stories on the topic, consonant with a recent answer from Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson. We hope to have more on this. Watch this site.

Footnote: Kennedy's briefing was set up by the Department of Public Information, as it has for example with Margaret Vogt, the former UN envoy to the Central African Republic. 

  To be fair, these briefings are a DPI improvement, even as working conditions and access at the Security Council andGeneral Assembly are declining, free speech and the right of association are under attack, and questions go answered. 

 The Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info will continue to press for increased access to the UN for the press and public. Watch this site.