Saudi Arabia Set to Begged by Arab League & Kerry to Have its (UN Security Council) Seat & Eat it Too

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 2 -- Follow Saudi Arabia's announcement it would not take the UN Security Council seat it without competition won, the last two weekends have featured orchestrated moves by the Arab Group at the UN in New York to ask Saudi Arabia to reconsidered.

Two weeks ago, a press release to this effect was sent out, but several Arab Group members complained to Inner City Press that the statement had not properly been circulated or approved. This was cured last weekend, after an in-person meeting of the Arab Group ambassadors on October 25.

Now things are moving up a notch. The League of Arab States will meet at the ministerial level in Cairo on November 3, on paper about Syria and to meet Saudi-sponsored opposition figure Ahmed al Jarba -- but also, sources tell Inner City Press, to formally ask Saudi Arabia to reverse itself and take the Security Council seat.

  This is to be sealed with US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit after Cairo to Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh, where the sources predict to Inner City Press Kerry will "so supplicate" to the King that Saudi Arabia will claim victory and taken the position: have its seat and eat it too.

  Meanwhile Kerry's spokesperson is hyping other portions of his upcoming trip, on Saturday "welcoming" to Twitter Jordan's Nasser Judeh (who has long been on Twitter) and saying Kerry looks forward to meeting him his week. 

 What about the Saudi King? What's that Kerry visit about?

  The other stops on Kerry's trip, beyond Cairo, Riyadh and Amman, are Warsaw, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Abu Dhabi, Algiers, and Rabat.

In New York, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokespeople to name the last date on which Ban met with the Saudis, and now toconfirm or deny that Saudi Arabia declined a visit by UN (and Arab League) envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. 

 Ban's office will answer none of this; instead Ban offered the type of praise of Saudi Arabia that Kerry is expected to deliver -- or even top -- in Riyadh. Watch this site.

Longer form analysis here, on Beacon Reader (subscription) site.

   

As Brahimi Plays Nobel Lotto, Questions of Algeria Bombing, Annan Holdovers

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 17 -- With 78 year told Lakhdar Brahimi gearing up to replace Kofi Annan as Syria envoy or Representative on September 1, there are obvious questions about whether he will keep in place the team of "Seven Million Dollar Man" Annan.

  As Inner City Press exclusively reported, Annan brought on people associated with his Kofi Annan Foundation such as Alan Doss, who was then described by Annan spokesman Ahmad Fawzi as being in his "toolbox" of consultants, and Martin Griffiths, under whose leadership the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva suffered a financial scandal.

  As well placed UN sources pointed out to Inner City Press, Griffiths could not have been hired by the UN, but received a UN-funded six month contract for Kofi Annan's term. And now?

  Brahimi on Friday gave what was described as his first interview as Joint Special Representative (designate) to French state media France 24, seemingly not calculated to bridge the gap with Russia and China on a day that another French (largely) state media characterized the Western P3 members of the Security Council and at least three of our Arab invitees as "boycotting" Russia's hastily scheduled Action Group meeting at the UN.

  Another lens through which to view or review Lakhdar Brahimi was his 2008 mandate to investigate the killing of UN staff in Algiers.  On February 28, 2008 Brahimi told Inner City Press, "the UN doesn't have to be in every single place."

  Inner City Press had asked UN Development Program's Administrator Kemal Dervis about UNDP's Mark de Bernis' failure to get action on security threats that mounts throughout 2007. Dervis defended UNDP by saying that it asked Algeria for help in blocking off the street, but that there was no response. So Inner City Press asked Brahimi, former Algerian foreign minister, about this. "I have heard that," he said. "We will look into that... whether Algerians were over-confident, or UNDP."

  But the question was never answered. Now Brahimi plays Nobel Peace Prize lotto with Syria. Will there be more follow through this time? Timing is everything. Watch this site.

UN Refugee Agency Workers Impacted by Algiers Bombing Were Uninsured, Funds Diverted, Sources Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3unhcr040708.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 7 -- Of the seventeen UN victims of the bombing on December 11 of the UN premises in Algiers, four were UN system contractors for whom the UN had not bought any insurance, according to Inner City Press' sources and as partially confirmed by the UN's Deputy Communications Director. While payments are being made to victims, in the case of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, this is coming out of the operating budgets, insiders say -- that is, from funds meant to be helping the poor and refugees. Specifically, UNHCR sources describe internal documents in which $1.5 million is set aside for uninsured workers for UNHCR, and say that since this cannot be paid out of the administrative budget, it must come out of operations, funded intended for refugees.

Among the uninsured UNHCR victims according to colleagues were Mouloud Bouledroua, who was killed; Zaidi Hasina, broken foot and several injuries, Zeccar Yasine, broken feet and several injuries; Boutaiba Sofiane, several injuries; Zeccar Yasine, broken feet and several injuries, and Kamel Housnia, both legs amputated. How $1.5 million will be split between them is unclear. The UN's Deputy Communications Director Stephane Dujarric, in an April 7 e-mail to Inner City Press, put UNHCR's fatalities at two, and noted that one fatality each at the World Food Program and the International Labor Organization were outside of the coverage of the UN system's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy.

While the majority of those killed were Algeria, other UN system workers who got killed came from Senegal, the Philippines and Denmark; higher-level UN officials focused on this last Danish case, noting the tragedy that since he had only recently arrived in Algeria, he was not covered by insurance. But UNHCR, and it is believed WFP and ILO, routinely leave their national staff uninsured. No one Inner City Press spoke to in preparing this story suggested that the UN does not owe these people. Most, in fact, felt that the UN pays too little. Rather, many questioned UNHCR's use of uninsured contracts, the lack of accountability for the decisions make in the run-up to December 11, and the UN's lack of transparency.

Twelve days ago, Inner City Press asked the UN refugee agency UNHCR and the UN Development Program about the insurance coverage. UNHCR said answers would be provided March 27, but none arrived. On March 26, the UNDP's Christina Lonigro, to whom Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office referred Inner City Press, said she was getting right on the information request. On March 27, she said she was soon have answers from UNDP's Arab States bureau, except they were out at a meeting. She added, " if you are you insinuating that I am purposefully not answering your questions, I assure you that is not the case." A UN staffer in the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General supported the delay, arguing that the UN provides responses more quickly than Wal-Mart (whose employment practices UNHCR seems to be emulating, in the lack of insurance coverage).

On April 2, UNDP's Lonigro changed course and said "on your questions regarding compensation for the Algiers bombing, due to the ongoing processing of claims and the Brahimi investigation, I have no information to give you at this time." A spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon echoed that "UNDP is the lead" on this issue and that "claims are still being reviewed." Ultimately, and to his credit, Deputy Communications Director Stephane Dujarric agreed to provide a response, and Inner City Press agree to wait an additional five days to get it.

It was worth it. Mr. Dujarric confirmed that several UN agencies, including UNHCR, ILO and WFP, are outside of the UN's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. He told Inner City Press:
Thirteen out of the seventeen staff members or SSA contractors killed in Algiers are covered by the UN's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. Their claims are being processed by insurers. Disability claims will be identified on completion of medical process. The additional staff/SSA that belonged to non-participatory agencies is having their claims processed by their 'home' agencies. [UNHCR (2), ILO (1) and WFP (1)].

In addition, claims for payments for killed and injured staff/SSA contractors on official duty are being handled under the internal self-insured scheme called Appendix D of the Staff Rules which leads to payments for injured staff members or to recognized dependants in case of death... So far, 13 claims have been received by the UN. There is internal system in place for reviewing these claims by a board consisting of representatives of staff and management.

This Appendix D is derided as being out of date, specifying low set payments for example for the loss of a limb. Those confined to this internal UN justice system contrast their situation with that of "outsiders" who alleged negligence by the UN, for example in the aftermath of the flying glass at the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad in 2003. There is talk of large settlements to certain outsides, while some trapped in the UN system's justice system have cases pending in the UN Administrative Tribunal since 2003.

But even some long-time UN watchers expressed shocked when informed today that UNHCR, and perhaps WFP and ILO, are outside of the UN's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. One source indicated WFP had at least tried to get insurance for its contractors. But it would seem that the Executive Boards and governing bodies of each of these agencies -- and applicable national governments -- should demand answers from management, and make the answers public.

Many view the Lakhdar Brahimi inquiry -- Brahimi himself said not to call it an investigation -- as not conducive to finding the truth about and assigning some responsibility for, or even learning lessons from, the run-up to and aftermath of the December 11 Algiers bombings. Brahimi has said he will focus on why people target the UN; it is highly unlikely he will report on whether those impacted had insurance. Nor has the UN said if his report will be made public. The first UN report, by the Department of Safety and Security, is being withheld. One of its lines, though, is known: "care has been taken not to apportion blame or responsibility." And so it goes, for now, at the UN.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3unhcr040708.html

UN's Lakhdar Brahimi Shifts Focus Away from the Specifics of Algiers Bombing, His Report May Stay Secret, Dodge of Kemal Dervis Is Detailed

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un3algeria022808.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 -- "The UN doesn't have to be in every single place," Lakhdar Brahimi told Inner City Press on Thursday, responding to a question about the lack of safety in the UN's premises in Morocco and Yemen. Following a protest by the Algerian government to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's call for an investigation into the December 11 bombing of the UN in Algiers, Ban named former Algerian foreign minister Brahimi to head a panel, which now has "worldwide" focus.

"I am not Sherlock Holmes," Brahimi told reporters on Thursday. He said the terms of reference for the panel's work are those in Ban's February 5 press release. When Inner City Press asked if the panel's report will be made public, he said it would go to Mr. Ban, and that "there are few reports of the UN that remain secret." But it should not require a leak get this report on what went wrong in Algiers. Inner City Press asked another of the panel's members, Margareta Wahlstrom, about Brahimi's failure to committee to release the report. "I know what his choice would be," Ms. Wahlstrom said, "but he has to give it to the S-G."

When the UN Development Program's Administrator Kemal Dervis was asked by Inner City Press about what many describe that UNDP's Mark de Bernis' failure to get action on security threats that mounts throughout 2007, Dervis defended UNDP by saying that it asked Algeria for help in blocking off the street, but that there was no response. Thursday Inner City Press asked Brahimi about this. Video here, from Minute 12:45. "I have heard that," he said. "We will look into that... whether Algerians were over-confident, or UNDP."

In fact, the shift of the focus for the panel, from the specifics of what went wrong in Algeria to a more vague, worldwide study of why the UN is a target, is reminiscent in reverse of another Ban switch, about UNDP in North Korea. In January 2007, when reports emerged of UNDP irregularities with the Kim Jong Il government, Ban called for a worldwide audit of all UN funds and programs. After he was told this might dredge up more than he'd bargained for, he limited the scope to North Korea, and only UNDP.

In this case, where the requisite focus on Algeria might embarrass both UNDP and the government, the focus shifts wider, the lens is covered with grease. And where in all this are the families of the victims?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3algeria022808.html

UN Officials' "Compacts," Withheld from Public, Skirt Issues of Security and Procurement

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1compacts020408.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 4 -- On Monday Ban Ki-moon signed 28 agreements with his senior managers which will, his Under Secretary General for Management Alicia Barcena told reporters, commit these officials to measurable targets for their work in 2008. Ms. Barcena said the agreements were being placed on the UN's intra-net so that UN staff can see them. Since the UN is an international organization, Inner City Press asked Ms. Barcena why they shouldn't be in the internet, available to Member States and to the public at large. Staff first, Ms. Barcena said, adding that later, "nothing precludes them from being public."

Later on Monday, Inner City Press asked one of the officials, Carolyn McAskie, Assistance Secretary General for Peacebuilding Support, if she would object to her agreement being made public. "I see no reason why not," Ms. McAskie said. Click here to view. ASG McAskie's agreement, called a Compact, is representative of most of the other agreements Inner City Press has seen. (The Compact by Antonio Maria Costa in his capacity as head of the UN Office in Vienna was not, a spokesperson told Inner City Press, complete in time for Monday's launch, despite Ms. Barcena's statement that all 29 were ready.) In fact, most parts of the Compacts are identical boilerplate, committing to no more than 5% vacancies, and 100% compliance with the Performance Appraisal System. Among the mandate-specific commitments in Ms. McAskie's Compact is to have ready a strategy for Guinea-Bissau by mid-2008.

A notable Compact is that of UN Security chief David Veness, which mentions reducing vehicle accidents -- perhaps in light of the serious accident at Headquarters in 2007, which sources tell Inner City Press resulted from a lack of training provided by the Security Department -- but says little about the elephant in the room, the deadly bombing of UN premises in Algiers in December 2007. Sources tell Inner City Press that the UN and UN Development Program facilities in Rabat, Morocco and in Sana'a, Yemen are even less secure that Algiers was, and that in Sana'a, no barricades have been built under the Algiers-like theory that it might anger the local government. But you won't find this in Mr. Veness' Compact for 2008.

Rather, under Drugs and Crimes, you'll find reference to a "Turkmen Border Initiative." Under Children and Armed Conflict, there's the very specific output of a legal brief for the trial of Thomas Lubanga in 2008. Peacekeeping's Jean-Marie Guehenno promises vaguely to comply with Security Council mandates, while using his Compact to complain that the UN's rules for procurement are no good, a post-facto justification for having worked around the rules to issue a $250 million no-bid contract to Lockheed Martin for the Darfur Mission.

Humanitarian chief John Holmes commits himself to passing, or seeing passed, two General Assembly of ECOSOC resolutions concerning climate change. The nearly defunct Office of the Special Advisor on Africa mandate says repeatedly, support OSAA as appropriate. Investigator Inga-Britt Ahlenius commits to very little, saving meeting regularly with the Secretary General.

It is said that the Deputy Secretary General personally reviewed these Compacts; while only Ms. Barcena briefed on the process, the DSG should still be heard from on. Ms. Barcena's Compact commits her, among other things, to coordinating the UN's Funds and Program, something that appears to be a problem, not only in light of UNDP's Kosovo-like unilateral declaration of independence from the whistleblower protection scheme of the UN Ethics Office, but most recently in light of UNICEF's failure to implement the most basic of safeguards in offering up the UN's North Lawn to "celebrate" the opening of a Gucci store on Fifth Avenue. This was criticized Monday by Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambair, who was visible during the signing ceremony, which was broadcast on UN Television. These Compact are presented as a big deal for the UN. Then why not make them public?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1compacts020408.html

UNDP Admits Improper Housing Subsidy of Eveline Herfkens, Contracting with Corimec, Vendor Barred for Bribery

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un18dervis011608.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- The poverty czar of the UN Development Program, Eveline Herfkens, never sought or received permission to take $7000 a month in rent from the Dutch government, UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis admitted on Wednesday. Inner City Press asked what Dervis plans to do about the $280,000 Ms. Herfkens improperly accepted. Dervis did not spell out any action, saying that Ms. Herfkens "is now in Maryland," and while wanting to continue working on the Millennium Development Goals, is not interested in a salary. For the record, she was getting paid $225,000 a year to work, part-time, from her new home in Maryland. The housing subsidy was "definitely against the rules," he said, adding that others, too, have attempted to take housing subsidies from governments, both in the UN Secretariat and at Dervis' former employer, the World Bank. As to the UN, he said that "exceptions, actually quite a few" had been made, and are now being reviewed by the UN's Department of Management. Video here, from Minute 22:27. Inner City Press previously covered the Department of Management's answers on this issue, and will now revive that inquiry.

Dervis left until the end of his press conference any comment on the documentary proof that UNDP continued issuing contracts to a vendor, Corimec, which was barred from business with the UN Secretariat due to bribery. This had the effect of precluding any follow-up to what Dervis said on the topic. "It was a judgment call," Dervis said. "My judgment call would probably have been different," he said, adding that he could see both side. Apparently the pro-bribery side is that Corimec had already sold UNDP one batch of tents, and that second batch could, if one squinted enough, be viewed as all part of one project, hence one procurement, pre-dating Corimec being barred from business due to bribery. This is an argument that violators of sanctions regimes all around the world may want to adopt, now that UNDP's Dervis has.

Dervis had much to say attempting to deflect blame about the Algiers bombing on December 11, saying that Algeria was asked to help block off the street but did not respond, and that it was the Department of Safety and Security which is responsible for raising the threat levels in the field. In fact, UNDP's Marc de Bernis had the authority to raise the level from one to at least three, and did not, despite requests. Dervis also mentioned, but did not provide the names of, six countries in which UN employees are told to work for home. Apparently the U.S., or at least the state of Maryland, is one -- just ask Eveline Herfkens. She's been working from home for two years, only she's been getting paid $225,000 a year. We'll have more on these stories. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un18dervis011608.html

UN's Review of Algiers Bombing is Slow and Thus Far Secret, As Questions Multiply

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1algiers011408.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 14 -- A month after the bombing of UN premises in Algiers, the head of the UN's own Department of Safety and Security David Veness delivered a report to Ban Ki-moon, the UN's Secretary-General. Secret is the operative word: on Monday at the UN, Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban, "at what point do you think some of these reports would be made public, where you feel comfortable with the public, or at least the staff, seeing what the findings are?" Ban replied, "I think it is not appropriate at this time to make any interim report public. When there is a time, then we will let you know about our findings and recommendations."

Following the August 19, 2003 bombing of the UN's Iraq headquarters in the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, similar interim and internal reports were begun. A month after that bombing, then-Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Finland's former president Martti Ahtisaari to chair an "Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of UN Personnel in Iraq." Ahtisaari quickly appointed three others to assist him, traveled to Baghdad, Amman and Geneva, and delivered a report on October 20, 2003, which was made public two days later. The report, among other things, criticized the UN for ignoring signs of a worsening security situation in Baghdad.

What has been learned, in the four years since? Many UN insiders question why a month has been wasted on an internal review which one knew needed to be superseded by an outside investigation. These insiders are troubled that there is not even a commitment that the outside review will be made public. At Monday's UN noon briefing, most questions revolved about the withheld internal report, and warnings the UN may or may not have received. Beyond the UN's Senegalese security coordinator in Algiers, Inner City Press is told by knowledgeable sources that a staffer of the UN's Department of Field Support, previously Department of Peacekeeping Operations, on information and belief from within the MINURSO mission in Western Sahara, also conveyed relevant information.

At Monday's briefing, a correspondent who Kofi Annan called a cheeky schoolboy questioned persistently about Ban's statement that no warning had been received. Inner City Press read into the record what Mr. Ban had said, that "the United Nations has never received any advanced warnings from whatsoever sources on this issue," and then asked:

"I wanted to make sure, number one, that that definitely includes, for example, the UN Development Program. Because it said that the coordinator for security in Algeria was this guy Mark de Bernis of UNDP. When he said this, did he mean the United Nations, the entire system?"

The spokesperson said yes, the entire system and that she didn't know if Mr. Veness spoke to de Bernis. Last Wednesday, Inner City Press asked UNDP's Office of Communications to "describe the role in security in Algeria of UNDP's Marc de Stanne de Bernis, including confirming or denying that he ever received requests to raise the threat level, or phase, in Algeria." The request was reiterated to UNDP on Monday, but still without response. Back on January 8, Inner City Press had asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson, "Was Mr. de Bernis himself actually in charge of raising the level or did he have to run it by somebody above himself?" The spokesperson then said, "All this will be in the report that Mr. Veness will submit on the 11th. I am just asking you to wait until the 11th." But January 11th came and went with no information being released. On Tuesday, January 15, the spokesperson said that the new panel is expected to be named "early next week." Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1algiers011408.html