On Yemen, After Saudi Arabia Ousted UN Envoy, Started and Stopped Bombing, Now US Looks to UN for Location of Talks: After A New "UN" Envoy Named?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- The day after Saudi Arabia said it was ending its campaign of airstrikes on Yemen, the US issued a statement starting:

"The United States welcomes the decision by the Government of Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to conclude Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen.  With this announcement, we look forward to a shift from military operations to the rapid, unconditional resumption of all-party negotiations that allow Yemen to resume an inclusive political transition process as envisioned in the GCC Initiative, the National Dialogue outcomes, and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.  We also welcome the United Nations continuing to play a vital role in facilitating the political talks and look forward to the United Nations announcing a location for the talks in the very near future."

   So, after Saudi Arabia was allowed to oust UN mediator Jamal Benomar for being insufficiently supportive of its airstrikes, the UN is being promoted, again, as an honest broker.  How so, when the UN is UNtransparently moving toward naming as a replacement mediator an individual who previously failed in Yemen, refusing to make public financial disclosure?

  How weak and untransparent is today's UN?  It it apparently considering appointing as replacement envoy to Yemen a partial individual whom one side has indicated it would not speak with.

 On April 15 Inner City Press reported that despite UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's claims to stand behind the UN's envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar, who refused to call Saudi airstrikes positive, Ban was planning to replace him.

  After that Inner City Press report, the UN Spokesman sent out this a canned statement that Benomar "expressed an interest in moving on" and would be replaced in due course. But by whom?

  On April 15, Inner City Press named the name which was floated by Saudi and UN sources, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and linked to its February 15, 2015 exclusive report on this individual's previous "incompetence" in Yemen, and side fishing business. There is yet more on both of these below.

 On April 17, Inner City Press asked Ban's Office of the Spokesperson WHY there is no public financial disclosure for Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and to confirm or deny he has links with businesses -- fishing - with Gulf funders. The response was, We will check and get back to you. Video here and embedded below. 

 By April 22 there had been no answer. Meanwhile Hassan Zayd of the Al Haq party wrote on Facebook that Ban should not appoint Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, mentioning corruption and, yes, Inner City Press' reporting, going back to Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed's stints in Libya and before that in Yemen.

 So at the April 20 noon briefing Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Dujarric for his response. He said whomever Ban appoints, all sides should speak with. But would they? And with Ban meeting six GCC ambassadors on April 20 at 4 pm, what outreach is there to the other side? It is UNclear. Video here.

  Inner City Press is informed that when the GCC ambassador came down from Ban's office, they spoke only in Arabic and not in much detail. Dujarric promised Inner City Press a read-out. Watch this site.

From the April 20, 2015 UN transcript:

Inner City Press: on Yemen, in terms of trying to find a replacement for Mr. [Jamal] Benomar that can actually speak with both sides, I wanted to ask you, on Friday, I'd asked the spokesperson here about whether Mr. [Ismail Ould] Cheikh Ahmed, why he has filed no financial disclosure online… public financial disclosure… and whether he has a business that's funded by gulf interests and was told we will check and get back to you.  So, I wanted to know, now that's Monday…

Spokesman Dujarric:  It is, indeed, Monday. That is a fact.  When I have something to share with you, I will do so.

Inner City Press:  And I wanted to ask whether you're aware of Mr. Hassan Zaid of the Al-Haq party, which has been on and off affiliated with the Houthis has said online that Mr. Cheikh Ahmed is unacceptable and is viewed as being Saudi selected and will not be received by… I just wonder…

Spokesman:  I…

Inner City Press:  Are you going to consult with the Houthi side with someone…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  We are… by answering your question, I am not confirming or denying the person you mentioned as an envoy.  What is clear is that any envoy especially in dealing with very difficult political negotiations in what is an active conflict zone needs to be received by all the parties. And we expect that when our envoy is named that he or she will be received and engaged with… with all the parties.

Inner City Press:  But I noticed that the Secretary-General was scheduled today at 4 p.m. to meet with the GCC ambassadors. I just wonder, what outreach are you doing to quote the other side that's in Yemen…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think… contacts are being held at various levels.  The meeting with the GCC ambassadors was at their request so we will have to see what message they come with and we will try to get you a readout. 

 We'll see.

  On April 17,  Inner City Press also asked if Ban was considering any female candidates and if Ban thought Saudi Arabia would or should have to accept one, if selected. We'll see.

  On April 16, Inner City Press exclusively reported another candidate: Martin Kobler of Germany, currently the head of MONUSCO in the DR Congo. Kobler ran for head of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs, but that post "belongs" to the UK, in the person of Stephen O'Brien. Inner City Press' exclusive were credited in the Telegraph and Channel 4. (At least Andrew Lansley was avoided, as Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed should be here.)

 Kobler speaks Arabic; as Inner City Press has exclusively reported, some six years ago he was in line to become UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East until a Permanent Five member blocked him (more on that soon), given the job to Robert Serry. Now Kobler is ready. But is Saudi Arabia?

 Another name floated by UN sources (also reported exclusively by Inner City Press) is Lisa Buttenheim, currently at the UN mission in Cyprus. Like Kobler, she has more diplomatic experience than Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

  She is a woman. For the UN, that should be a plus, given what Ban Ki-moon has said. But as a well placed sources put it to Inner City Press, if Ban gave in to Saudi Arabia and got Benomar out, will he stand up to an edict NOT to name a woman? Watch this site.

  Before all this, on February 6, 2015, Inner City Press exclusively reported:

"UNSMIL's former deputy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania has been moved to head UNMEER, the UN's Ebola mission. Sources in Yemen say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was the UN's “designated security official” when a UNICEF staffer was taken hostage while traveling to the Sana'a airport without the required (and needed) security detail. Some say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was distracted, in Yemen and later in Libya, by side business interests. 

 Now on April 17 we can report: in Yemen UN personnel where to have escort to the airport, and armored vehicles. But designated official Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed allowed the guards he hired to do nothing, and left the armored vehicles in customs. The staffer was kidnapped by a criminal group affiliated with Al Qaeda and was traumatized.

"But a check of Ban Ki-moon's Public Disclosure website, where his officials are supposed to make rudimentary disclosure of the finances and outside business interests, does not even list Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (while numerous other Deputy SRSGs are listed). His is not in the most recent database, for 2013 - and may escape any disclosure by become an Under Secretary General with a mere nine month stint at UNMEER. Then what? We'll stay on this."

 So, no matter how much of a sycophant for the Saudi-led coalition he is, how can he get this post? How can the "P4" support this? 

  For now, Inner City Press asked this additional question: in  Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed's business(es), are there any Gulf investors? 

For now, here's what Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric at the UN's April 16, 2015 noon briefing:

Inner City Press: On Yemen, I’m, I would assume you have seen this report that the Saudi airstrikes killed 31 people in a dairy factory in Hudaydah. They make it pretty clear it may have been an errant missile, but it killed 31 civilians.  And I’m wondering, what’s the, is there any comment from the Secretariat on that?

Spokesman Dujarric:  Obviously, as we said here, that it is incumbent for all the parties in this conflict to fully respect international law which clearly includes the non-targeting of civilian infrastructure or civilian infrastructure, schools, facilities, civilian infrastructure in general.  We have no way of knowing what exactly was the intended target.  What we do know is that in many instances, since the fighting has started, civilians are the ones who are suffering, and I think that’s why the Secretary-General wants to see a halt to the violence, restart of the political process, and most urgently, the free flow of humanitarian aid going in.  I think we’re seeing the food situation getting dire and dire every day.  As our colleagues at the World Food Programme said, you know, when you’re a country that imports 90 per cent of its food is already vulnerable at any time and a time of conflict, that just increases that vulnerability very much so.

Inner City Press:  And also on Yemen, I’m sure you’ve seen the reports — I don’t know if the UN is the source of them — floating Mr. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as a possible replacement.  What I want to ask, I know you’re not going to say yes or no, but given he was so recently appointed to UNMEER, can you say that whoever’s working on Ebola will probably stay in that job?  Or—

Spokesman:  I think, you know, whenever there’s a senior vacancy at the United Nations, a lot of things float, a lot of names float around.  When we’re ready to announce, we will announce.  Obviously, the Ebola file is one of, it’s very important to the Secretary-General and to the United Nations, but when we’re ready to announce somebody, we will

Watch this site.

   

With US Coy on Egypt Aid, At UN Egypt Meeting US Absence Blamed on Shutdown

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- Amid the murk of how much aid to Egypt the Obama administration might cut, and why, Inner City Press noted that at the UN on Tuesday the US did NOT attend an Egypt-sponsored event about a Nuclear Free Middle East. 

  And that this was blamed, from the floor, on the US government "shutdown." Click here for Inner City Press story of Tuesday afternoon.

  This of course even then seemed dubious. The US State Department is continuing to function; the decision not to attend or speak at the Nuclear Free Middle East event, held in a too-small room and not televised by the UN, had explanations entirely beyond the shutdown.

  But in the Nuclear Free Middle East meeting, Egypt played to the standing room only gallery, saying a meeting by itself means nothing without results, saying it has in the past been at the table but still been on the menu, chiding Israel for not attending or at least not speaking.

  Egypt at this meeting did NOT criticize the US. Rather, from the floor a Frankfurt-based NGO offered excuses for the US' invisibility, blaming it on the government shutdown.

  As to WHY the Egypt sponsored "open" meeting at the UN on Tuesday was not televised like other meeting at the UN, the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info repeatedly asked the UN.

    Past 9 pm, UN official Stephane Dujarric replied to FUNCA that "regarding, the Egypt sponsored meeting on the nuclear free-zone. I am not aware of any request by the organizers to have the meeting webcast or televised."

  This immediately raises questions: if a request to televise an open meeting at the UN is required, who requested televising Ban Ki-moon in a "closed" September meeting denouncing Syria's Assad? Click here.

   On Tuesday, Iran took shots at Israel, just as earlier in the day Israel wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon protesting Iran being rapporteur of the Disarmament Committee of the UN General Assembly of UNGA

On that, this was what the White House sent out at 8:42 pm:

Dear journalist colleagues: Many of you have been asking about news reports on U.S. assistance to Egypt. Below is a comment you may use on the record, attributable to NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden:

The reports that we are halting all military assistance to Egypt are false. We will announce the future of our assistance relationship with Egypt in the coming days, but as the President made clear at UNGA, that assistance relationship will continue.

What else did Obama "make clear at UNGA"? Watch this site.

   

On Slow UN Response in S. Sudan, US Rice Slow to Criticize, Vietor UNclear, Reforms Uncertain

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 17, updated below -- The day after UN Under Secretary General Susana Malcorra acknowledged to Inner City Press that the UNMISS mission in South Sudan had been unable to transport to Jonglei state "lethal assets to dissuade" the ongoing bloodshed there, Inner City Press asked US Ambassador Susan Rice what she thought of the Russian helicopters not flying, and the UN's actions.

Rice answered more cagily than usual, directing Inner City Press to ask the Russian Mission and DPKO [UN Peacekeeping] about the reasons for not flying, thanking Russian for its previous service in North Sudan, and saying that the Security Council is working to ensure UNMISS has the air assets it needs. But how?

Inner City Press understands that in exchange for filling in for the Russian helicopters, the Bangladeshi unit in the DR Congo wants to have at least a one year contract, rather than the much shorter period the UN has put on the table.

The Ethiopian helicopters at UNISFA in Abyei wanted to be based in Juba, not in the more primitive conditions in, for example, Wau.

Rice and the US Mission were appropriately quick to criticize UN peacekeepers in the DR Congo who failed to recognize or respond to mass rape in Walikale. Here, perhaps because as the Russians complain the US blocked a Security Council statement in November 2011 about attacks in South Sudan on Russian pilots, Rice has not unleashed the type of criticism used in the DR Congo.

Another explanation is that since the incident does not reflect well on US ally South Sudan, the less said the better.

The entire helicopter incident, first reported by Inner City Press, has brought up the need for reforms, starting with arrangements for "inter-mission cooperation" that can be put into place while a bloodbath like in Jonglei is actually taking place, and not after.

The Security Council members want the power to control the size of each Mission; the troop and equipment contributing countries want to know where they will serve, and under what terms.

But how can the UN and the Security Council's mission pretend to be ready to protect civilians if they allow helicopter contracts to lapse, go weeks with no helicopter coverage, and then are still unable to mobilize even nearby helicopter assets, being paid by the UN, to come and transport "lethal assets to dissuade" attacks on civilians? Watch this site.

Footnote: Inner City Press three times asked the US Mission to the UN's spokesmen for Rice's or the Mission's comments on the UN's response in Jonglei, without response. Nor was the spokesman going to permit it at Tuesday's stakeout on Sudan. Rice to her credit pointed and took the question.

Update: Seven hours after Ambassador Rice's stakeout, the administration sent this out:

Statement from NSC Spokesman Tommy Vietor on Violence in South Sudan

...We also note the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) with respect to conflict prevention and civilian protection, and call upon the South Sudanese government and the UN to continue working closely together on this vitally important mission. We further call upon the UN to provide any additional support that is needed by UNMISS to carry out its responsibilities in South Sudan.

So the UN is reminded it's supposed to protect civilians? And the UN is supposed to provide helicopters, belatedly? We'll have more on this.

From Haiti, U.S. Describes Work with UN Hardly Present, the Politics of Aid

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/haiti1quake011610.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- While UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly said that all aid to Haiti should be coordinated through the UN, this is not happening, according to two U.S. officials' description on Saturday morning of American activities.

On a press conference call from Haiti, U.S. Senior Regional Adviser Tim Callaghan described American search and rescue teams from Fairfax, Virginia coordinating with the government of Haiti and "the consulate."

These teams, he said, have rescued 15 people: seven Americans and eight Haitians. It was notable that this U.S. report included no other "internationals," on whom the UN has focused, as least in its own reporting.

A reporter from Brazil asked why the U.S. is controlling the airport when "the UN should control on the grounds." Responses by Callaghan and U.S. National Security Council chief of staff Dennis McDonough sought to assure the Brazilian media that President Barack Obama spoke with President Lula. The UN peacekeeping mission MINUSTAH was mentioned only in terms of the Brazilian role in and leadership of its military component.

In the health sector, the U.S. is giving "what we call WHO medical kits" to the Pan American Health Organization. In the water and sanitation cluster, which the UN's John Holmes acknowledged on Friday to Inner City Press is usually coordinated by UNICEF except they lack presence in Haiti, the U.S. is giving water bladders to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a water purification system to an Argentinian hospital.

A reporter from Argentina asked about an Argentine Hercules aircraft, full of medical supplies, which could not land in Port au Prince and is now waiting in the Dominican Republic.

The American briefers said they would look into it. They confirmed to CNN that a medical donation from Israel "has arrived" but had no information on offers, including of oil, from Venezuela. Call it the politics of aid.

An American radio reporter demanded to know if Secretary of State Clinton's visit today was blocking other aid getting in. McDonough quickly "disabused" the reporter of the idea, saying that the flights used will also bring aid, and take evacuees out.

Is that the case, one UN correspondent wanted to know, with the plane to be used on Sunday by what's now know as the Ban-tourage, the UN's Ban Ki-moon and entourage, including the documentarians from the UN and Ban's native South Korea? Again, the politics of aid. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/haiti1quake011610.html