Egypt Says al-Sisi Spoke Today with Romano Prodi as "UN Envoy" - But Prodi Was Out of that Post by May 1

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 -- Today the Egyptian government's information service reported that "President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has received a phone call from Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Sahel region Romano Prodi. They discussed the latest regional developments, specially the situation in Libya and the Horn of African, said Presidency Spokesman Ihab Badawy."

   But there's a problem -- Prodi was replaced as UN envoy on the Sahel back on May 1, by Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, who briefed the UN Security Council in that capacity on June 19.

  So in what capacity did Prodi call Sisi? Inner City Press is inquiring - watch this site.

  Also, how or why did the Kuwait News Service, among others, "report" on July 16, 2014 that Prodi is the UN's enovy on the Sahel?

  Back on June 26, 2013, Inner City Press reported how it took Romano Prodi more than eight months to complete the Sahel report he presented to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. 

   During that time, Inner City Press received complaints from within the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions that Prodi was charging $1200 for travel between Bologna and Rome. 

   Diplomats complained about his ideas for a fund, and about the UNOWA operations in Dakar, Senegal.

After Prodi's low key presentation and consultations, June's Security Council president Mark Lyall Grant came to the stakeout, saying among other things that Morocco will prepare a Presidential Statement on the topic.

Inner City Press asked why the report took so long, if Prodi will has a role, and what the role of UNOWA would be in the strategy.

Lyall Grant replied, as transcribed by the UK Mission to the UN:

Lyall Grant: It was explained that there have been very close cooperation between UNDP and DPA in producing this report that, Mr Prodi himself said that, his job was to inject some new thinking, present the report, ensure that implementation began, but then fade away. He was not looking to sustain his role in the longer term. His role was not completed yet, but once the train, I think the expression he used was, once the train had left the station on implementation then he was not looking to do his role, continue his role, and that the next stage would be taken forward by perhaps operating out of the UNOWA office in Dakar. Now there was a recognition that the mandate of UNOWA of course goes much wider than the Sahel countries, but that UNOWA mandate was also on the Security Council’s agenda later this year and there might be some adjustment of that to take account of this fact.

  The “train leaving the station” image brought to mind Prodi's travel and cost: seems he doesn't take the train. Another Council member told Inner City Press it was that Prodi said he wanted to see the train start moving. Would that be the gravy train? Watch this site.

  

At UN, West Africa Envoy Said Djinnit Brags About Guinea, Dodges Press on Mali: Fakeout at the Stakeout

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 10 -- On West Africa, UN envoy Said Djinnit gave a surprisingly upbeat (some said, self-serving) briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday morning. The UN said, by e-mail then at the noon briefing, that Djinnit would take press questions at 12:30.

The noon briefing ended at 12:22, and Inner City Press and two other members of the Free UN Coalition for Access went immediately to the Council stakeout, ready to question Djinnit. But even after Council members streamed out of the chamber, he did not appear.

Trying to ensure that questions could be asked,@FUNCA_info asked both the UN Spokesperson's office and the Department of Political Affairs, which oversees Djinnit's Dakar-based operation, where Djinnit might be. Neither answered, but another staff member told Inner City Press Djinnit claimed he had come to the stakeout, “you guys weren't there,” so he left.

  If he went, it was before 12:30. Click here to view the day's noon briefing (the announcement that Djinnit would appear at approximately 12:30 is at Minute 2:40), and note that it began at noon and was 22 minutes long. The new Press Briefing Room is right next to the Security Council and stakeout: no eight minutes there.

  One wag mused, given Djinnit's excuse, what should we think of his report and statement to the Council?

Djinnit found a way to brag about now only Guinea but Guinea Bissau. The real question is, with three UN envoys in the mix - Djinnit, Bert Koenders of MINUSMA andRomano Prodi of, well, Bologna -- how could it be that it was Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso who mediated and made the deal about Kidal?

And -- this is a question -- has that deal now been broken? MINUSMA engaged with attacker outside Kidal. Is MINUSMA covered by the International Criminal Court? Click here for that. These are questions Djinnit should have taken and answered, and should still answer. Watch this site.

   

On Belated Sahel Plan, Is Prodi's UN Gravy Train Leaving the Station?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 -- It took Romano Prodi more than eight months to complete the Sahel report he presented to the UN Security Council on Wednesday. 

   During that time, Inner City Press received complaints from within the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions that Prodi was charging $1200 for travel between Bologna and Rome. 

   Diplomats complained about his ideas for a fund, and about the UNOWA operations in Dakar, Senegal.

After Prodi's low key presentation and consultations, June's Security Council president Mark Lyall Grant came to the stakeout, saying among other things that Morocco will prepare a Presidential Statement on the topic.

Inner City Press asked why the report took so long, if Prodi will has a role, and what the role of UNOWA would be in the strategy.

Lyall Grant replied, as transcribed by the UK Mission to the UN:

Lyall Grant: It was explained that there have been very close cooperation between UNDP and DPA in producing this report that, Mr Prodi himself said that, his job was to inject some new thinking, present the report, ensure that implementation began, but then fade away. He was not looking to sustain his role in the longer term. His role was not completed yet, but once the train, I think the expression he used was, once the train had left the station on implementation then he was not looking to do his role, continue his role, and that the next stage would be taken forward by perhaps operating out of the UNOWA office in Dakar. Now there was a recognition that the mandate of UNOWA of course goes much wider than the Sahel countries, but that UNOWA mandate was also on the Security Council’s agenda later this year and there might be some adjustment of that to take account of this fact.

  The “train leaving the station” image brought to mind Prodi's travel and cost: seems he doesn't take the train. Another Council member told Inner City Press it was that Prodi said he wanted to see the train start moving. Would that be the gravy train? Watch this site.

  

Exclusive: Ban Ki-moon's UN Tries to Remove Staff Union's Negotiated Rights, Ends Meeting, No Confidence Redux

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 -- Labor relations in the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have hit a new low, with his negotiators abruptly terminating a Staff Management Committee session in Mexico City, accused of trying to eliminate Staff Union negotiating rights.

  This follows the New York Staff Union's resolution of "no confidence" in Ban Ki-moon, and a May Day march in front of UN headquarters, protesting their treatment under Ban.Video here.

  Inner City Press has exclusively covered each of these, and each time when questioned Ban's Office of the Spokesperson has indicated that the rift would be solved. But if anything, things have gotten worse.

  The no-confidence resolution was the result of an amendment from the floor by a sub-set of the Union rooted in the Publishing Section, targeted for 99 job cuts. (There are other cuts, still unexplained, set for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations despite it stated build-up for Mali.)

  Now the official president of the union, who at least initially opposed the no-confidence resolution, has sent the e-mail below. Where is this headed? And where is Ban Ki-moon? (The answer is, traveling again, while the UN further decays).

From: NY Staff Union president Barbara Tavora-Jainchill
Date: 06/16/2013 03:12PM
Subject: Management terminates negotiations with staff unions - We are on our own

Dear Colleagues, It is with great disappointment that we inform you that the annual negotiations between the UN’s staff unions and global management, held this year in Mexico City, were terminated early by management Friday evening as unions vigorously defended you from attempts to remove negotiating rights.

The abrupt ending of the Staff Management Committee (SMC II) on its third of seven days means that key issues relating to the Secretary-General’s reform agenda are now left unresolved. These include mobility, introducing more transparent guidelines for downsizing, reviewing the situation of field staff, fixing the internal justice system, travel standards and a hiring freeze to protect General Service staff already on board.

We were surprised management should choose to terminate the meeting so early. Management had introduced a proposal after the document submission deadline to remove unions’ right to negotiate; a right unions had won after four years of dedicated campaigning. Staff unions wanted adequate time to get to the bottom of management’s proposal in order to make sure that a proper negotiating framework would continue to be in place. Management wanted to cut short this agenda item and move onto other issues, proposing to come back to it time-permitting. Staff put two options forward to overcome the disagreement including deferring the issue of negotiating rights to the following session. Management rejected them both and then insisted on the early termination of the meeting.

We continue to believe that a constructive dialogue between staff and management, as set out in the current framework (ST/SGB/2011/6), makes the United Nations strong especially when significant reforms are being proposed that impact staff welfare. We therefore urge management to return to the table and call for SMC to be resumed. Until that meeting is concluded, it goes without saying that none of the Secretary-General’s proposals on the agenda should be implemented.

We believe the early walk out by management demonstrates a lack of flexibility required for a negotiation and an irresponsible use of resources, both of the organization and of those unions that paid to send delegates to the meeting.

   And amid this, as Inner City Press has also exclusively reported, the UN has been paying $1200 for Romano Prodi to travel from Bologna to Rome - as Ban's envoy on the Sahel, no less. Watch this site.

Exclusive: UN Overpays Prodi Rome Travel, Seeks to Cut 59 Publishing Jobs: Counter-Proposal Here

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, May 30 -- The UN says it is tightening its belt. But if so, it is very selective.

  Inner City Press has previously questioned why the UN's envoy on the Sahel, Romano Prodi, gets to work from Italy. Wednesday UN budget sources approached Inner City Press to complain it is worse than this.

  Prodi is not in fact based in Rome, they told Inner City Press. He is in Bologna, and he charges the UN $1,200 for each trip to Rome, so far to the tune of $36,000.

  And the report on the Sahel strategy of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon which he was charged with preparing back in October 2012 has still not be presented to the Security Council. "It's a joke," one source told Inner City Press. "A bad joke."

  (Another source snarked that the vehicles to be bought for Herve Ladsous' Department of Peacekeeping Operations' new mission in Mali will in all probability come from French or Japanese manufacturers.)

  As Inner City Press asked and got confirmed, the UN's envoy to the Great Lakes Mary Robinson is being allowed to be based in Dublin. Are there any UN staff there? And what about the travel costs?

  Meanwhile at a lower level of the UN, staff in the Publishing Section were told that 59 "posts" -- that is, jobs -- would be eliminated. Management used the destruction of equipment in the third sub-basement to further their plan of eliminating the posts.

There was fight back, and now a counter-proposal has been sent to Ban Ki-moon; Inner City Press has exclusively obtained a copy and includes a section, below. 

 The same Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions which considers Prodi and Mary Robinson should consider these lower ranked staff member's proposal, with the same solicitude:

For a more economically efficient, flexible, and reliable printing operation, it is imperative to deploy four smaller capacity digital presses of overall capacity up to or about 90,000,000 page impressions... a total of twenty-four staff members in Trade and Craft staff category would be required for the operation of the print shop, in addition to fifteen General staff for distribution and fulfillment, and five General staff for the front office. The whole operation would be managed by a Professional staff at the P-3 level, supported by senior Trade and Craft at the TC-8 and TC-7 levels. The currents posts of the Chief (P-5) and Deputy Chief (P-4) of the Publishing Section would be abolished.

A total of twelve staff in the General staff category would be relocated to the Meetings Servicing Unit for Paper Smart meetings support. The remaining staff of the Publishing Section would be afforded real employment opportunities and appropriate training.

  So does this UN only care about the comfort of people like Prodi, charging big bucks to travel from Bologna to Rome? Or about these underground printing staff? Watch this site.