UN in Murky Drone Procurement Throws Out Low Bidder, Dovgolopy Wants EU Sole Source for DRC Drones

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, March 22 -- In UN Procurement, the lowest bidder doesn't always win. For years the process has been untransparent, and now it is getting worse. Inner City Press is exclusively informed that in the bidding for the UN's Democratic Republic of the Congo UAS or Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones) program, the low bidder is being displaced by more favored companies, unilaterally, by UN Procurement chief Dmitry Dovgopoly.

The story, exclusive to Inner City Press, goes like this: out to bid is a $50 million contract to provide Unmanned Aerial Systems services to the UN's MONUSCO in the DRC for a term of five (3 + 1 + 1) years. The present company, Leonardo, has a contract which expires in November. PPI beat out Leonardo, CAE, Thales, Qintetiq, Airbus and Trans Capital.

But shortly after our award, UN Procurement chief Dmitry Dovgopoly refused to approve the agreed upon terms and demanded PPI perform a demonstration flight prior to contract signature. Inner City Press covered Dovgopoly and similar tricks back when he was at the “D-1” level, and received pushback and is currenty still restricted to minders in the UN for pursuing its anti-corruption coverage into the UN Press Briefing Room, its work space purportedly assigned to a no-show Eygptian state corresponent Sanaa Youssef who has not asked a question in ten years.

In this case, Dovgopoly is said to be lobbied by European interests, see the list of bidders above. As Inner City Press reported, the UN drone program was pushed by Herve Ladsous, the fourth of now five Frenchmen in a row to run UN Peacekeeping.

Dovgopoly's “ditch the winner” campaign has included two site inspections and the demand for a demonstration flight prior to deployment, none of which was performed with Leonardo or Thales. PPI tells Inner City Press it agreed to all demands and began manufacturing of aircraft with its contractors. Dovgopoly canceled the demonstration flight a month later. The manufacturing of aircraft has been suspended as a result.

Dovgopoly has reportedly since alleged that PPI misrepresented a relationship with one of its proposed vendors, which PPI denies. Dovgopoly has sent PPI notice rescinding the notice of consideration for award and requested from the UN's Christian Saunders, whom Inner City Press has also covered, permission to directly negotiate with competitors due to the urgent need to provide MONUSCO with airborne ISR capability as soon as possible. He has requested permission to inform vendors of the allocated budget, and allow vendors to revise their technical proposals to “accommodate the financial constraint.”

Inner City Press understands that the UN's Headquarters Committee on Contracts has ruled the losing competitors' bids no longer valid since the Request For Proposals was from October 2016. It seems Dovgopoly wishes to discloses how much money is available and allow vendors to inform the UN services they can perform and dictate the price. Paying more for less! But it has happened before, as Inner City Press. And now, under Antonio Guterres. We'll have more on this.

On Somalia As US Drone Strike Said To Kill 150, Inner City Press Asks, UN Silent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- Even where the today's UN has peacekeeping missions, it has become irrelevant. On March 8 Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here,UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: On Somalia, I'm sure you've seen the reports, the US said it conducted a major drone strike on, they said, Al Shabaab targets.  They say they killed 150 people.  It seems like the UN has a mission there. The Special Representative, does he have any comment on this?  What does he think of--

Spokesman:  I haven't seen… I don't they have confirmation of the attack, but we'll check with the Mission.

  Six hours later and counting, nothing.

When UK Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond came to the UN to chair a meeting on Somalia, then out to the stakeout to take questions, one assumed they would include Somalia.

 But no.

 Hammond's spokesman, standing up in not wearing a poppy, picked four questions: the first from the BBC, repeating David Cameron's comments about the European Union; the next about Iraq and Syria; the third about when British "holidaymakers" may return to Egypt, and the fourth about Vienna, Syria and ISIS. 

 Before the third and fourth, Inner City Press said, "Question on Somalia?" And as Hammond walked off, Inner City Press asked more loudly, "Somaliland?" Nothing.

 That was it. This on a day when the Security Council is to belatedly meet about Burundi, on which the UK has cited threats of genocide. After Hammond's non-Somalia questions and answers, the media stakeout was nearly empty when the UK Presidency adopted a Presidential Statement on DR Congo, without even reading it out. What does this say about the place of Africa?

  Back on June 3 when the UN's (now outgoing) envoy in Somalia Nicholas Kay took questions via Twitter, Inner City Press asked him what the UN is doing to preserve the ability to send remittances to Somalia, as well as questions about Burundian "peacekeepers" and Somaliland. 

 Kay answered the remittance question: "@innercitypress Raising our voice to sound alarm on impact if  Somali remittances stop. Urging search for solutions. #UNSomTwoYears."

  Inner City Press notes the cut-offs of remittances not only by Barclays Bank in the UK and Merchants Bank of California and new First American Bank in the US, but also Westpac, which is a member of the UN Global Compact. Should it be?

 On the Somaliland question, while Kay to his credit has answered informally, the request for an #OnTheRecord statement was not responded to at this time.  (Kay will be in New York next week, including at IPI.)

 A question that he did not respond to, but others did, was this: "What's the impact of situation in Burundi on continuation of country's 'peacekeepers' in AMISOM?"

  There are photographs of Burundian "peacekeepers" returned to shoot live fire at protesters, and another being referred for a D-1 post in Herve Ladsous's mission in Mali, MINUSMA. We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press received this communication / request, and published it here:

"I follow your investigative work and applaud the questions you pose to UN officials. I am writing to you because I would like you to follow-up with the UN, specifically UNSOM, on the press release that was issued by my family on the tragic and targeted killing of my uncle, MP Yusuf Dirir. Below you will find a copy of the same press release that was forwarded to Mr.Nicholas Kay. We have not received a response and as you can imagine, we are frustrated by UNSOM and the UN's silence on this issue."

  This didn't fit in a tweet, but it should be answered. Watch this site.

Back on May 9 when the UN's outgoing humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Philippe Lazzarini held a press conference at the UN in New York, Inner City Press asked him about the impact of money transfer and remittance being cut off, about the future of the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya -- and about Puntland and Somaliland, where people fleeing Yemen are landing. Video here.

  Lazzarini said that remittances have been cut from the UK, US, Australia and more recently Kenya; the latter country might reinstate some of the money transfer companies, he said. Returns to Somalia from Dadaab should be voluntary.  

  In response to Inner City Press' question about the involvement of some parts of the UN, and of the International Organization for Migration in screening refugees including for “counter-terrorism,” Lazzarini said that the government of Somalia is concerned about returnees who might have joined certain groups while in Yemen. Can you say, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula? There is more transparency needed, however, particularly from IOM.

  Lazzarini has previously answered Inner City Press about Somaliland's airspace. On May 8 when Inner City Press asked about the UN's dealings with Somaliland and Puntland, he said it is a big topic, but concretely the deadly attack on UNICEF in Puntland means one can no longer say Puntland more safe than, say, Mogadishu. But what about Somaliland? We will have more on this.

  Lazzarini is headed next to Lebanon; we'll continue to cover his and the UN's work there, and wish him luck.

UN's Disparate Treatment of National Staff, in Yemen and Haiti, Immunity and Use of Drones for "Spying" Arise at IPI

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 19 -- UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, while refusing to answer Press questions even about linking rapes to “R&R” has pushed forward with deploying drones. On October 19 at the International Peace Institute, Haidi Willmot on leave from UN Peacekeeping said that the drones will not spy on any member state.

   Only last week, South Sudan's representative Francis Deng complained in the UN Security Council about the UNMISS mission deploying drones without his government's permission. So Inner City Press ran across First Avenue to asked Ms. Willmot about it, and to ask UN Department of Safety and Security chief Andrew Drennan about the distinction he made in the UN's “duty of care” to international and national staff. Periscope video here.

   Willmot thanked Inner City Press for asking the hard questions -- clearly DPKO boss Ladsous does not agree, having said even at IPI that “I don't respond to you Mister,” whether about the rapes in Minova in the DR Congo, Thabit in Darfur or now in the Central African Republic -- then said one has to be realistic, the drones are not to collect information about member states. But is the consent of the states required or not?

  While Drennan had distinguished the UN's duty of care to national and international staff, when Inner City Press asked he recounted that in Yemen, national staff didn't so much want to be evacuated as to be more involved. Inner City Press heard from a number of UN national staff who DID want to be evacuated, and weren't. Similar disparities took place in Haiti after the earthquake, even in UN's counting of “its” casualties.

  Ian Martin, also on the panel, answered Inner City Press' question by recounting the dangers faced by UN national staff in Gaza. We hope to have more on this.

  Finally, the Indian Mission to the UN's Military Adviser Col. DG Misra mentioned the need for clarity about peacekeepers' immunity. Inner City Press asked him about the counter-veiling trend of the UN ostensible reducing its immunity for rapes, if not for bringing cholera to Haiti. Misra to his credit was quick to say, Zero Tolerance for Sexual Abuse, he meant the need to clarify peacekeepers' roles and legal status as they veer closer to being parties to a conflict.

  In Eastern Congo after the UN and its Force Intervention Brigade “neutralized” the M23 but then has not under Herve Ladsous followed through and similarly neutralized the Hutu FDLR militia, it gave raise both to “party to the conflict” problems and a distrust of Ladsous' use of drones.

 The issues that arose at IPI, and will be discussed again later this month, cannot be solved under DPKO's current “leadership.” And still no comment from UN Women on Ladsous' public, on-camera linking of rapes to “R&R.”We'll have more on this.
   

Small Islands in UNSC, Niue's Nameplate & Sharks in Palau, Inner City Press Asks of Drones, NZ's BBQ

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 30, updated -- When New Zealand ran for and won a UN Security Council seat, beating up Turkey, it made a big pitch to small island developing states or SIDS. On Thursday it paid them back, or followed through on a campaign promise, by holding a Security Council debate specifically about SIDS. Inner City Press followed it, straight through to the end.

  Before the meeting, Inner City Press asked New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully:

Inner City Press: I see here that your Concept Note for the debate talks about exploitation of natural resources and some states like Palau have announced sanctuaries, in one case for sharks, some people are talking about sanctuary against commercial fishing. What’s New Zealand’s position on that type of protection and also they’ve talked about using drones, what do you think is the role of technology in defending the security of these states?

FM McCully: It’s a theme I intend to pick up myself today, because it’s an important one if you look at the characteristics of the small island developing states you’ll see that they all are relatively small in terms of their land mass but they have EEZs that are significantly bigger than their land mass and for many of them, particularly in the Pacific, it happens to be the biggest economic asset they’ve got and yet other people come and routinely help themselves to that resource and in our part of the world, under reporting and illegal fishing are a huge part of the problem. That is literally stealing from some of the poorest people on the planet. S o a significant part of our development programme is designed that we attack that challenge at every level. Everything from improving monitoring, surveillance but also up-skilling local people so they can secure employment and become part of the value chain. In our region, the tuna resource is the biggest economic asset owned by Pacific countries. They get too small a share of value of that resource and I will saying so in the Council today.

  During the debate, several islands said there should be an ongoing Security Council seat for the group.  Tonga questioned whether the Security Council is fit for purpose anymore. The Premier of Niue spoke behind a sign with his own name, Toke Talagi, and not that of Niue. While he was speaking “under Rule 39,” so does the European Union -- which, just before 3:30 pm, had "European Union" on its name plate.

  Countries competing next time for the Western European and Other Group two seats -- Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands -- all sent officials higher than Permanent Representative. (For Netherlands, it was the Prime Minister of Aruba. Camillo Gonsalez of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines brought up the invasion of Grenada, and the current expulsions to Haiti from the Dominican Republic; he's previously said that the UN should pay compensation for bringing cholera to Haiti, to his credit.

 Late in the debate, Turkey which lost out to New Zealand and its small islands votes bragged about its work for the island states through the G20. There were no rights of reply -- past 6 pm, action shifted to the UN's North Lawn building, where what had been planned as an end of presidency barbeque was moved indoors by rain.

 There were steel drums and reggae, Murray McCully and a who's who of the UN (some double-timing with Morocco's National Day at the Waldorf Astoria). The planned "wrap up" session got canceled, but New Zealand will keep working, for example on Troop Contributing Country issues. We'll have more on this.
   

In Bangui, UN Didn't Report French Rapes to Central African Republic Authorities, Cover Up

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- French soldiers in the Central African Republic sexually abused children, and after more than nine months, no action has been taken. 

  On April 30 prosecutors in CAR's capital Bangui said they were never told about the allegations or report by the UN. What is the UN's function, when the rape of CAR children is reported only to France, and not to CAR? 

  Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about the process, how long the UN would wait -- without answer. Haq spoke positively of French president Francois Hollande now saying "no mercy" to the perpetrators. After nine months?

  Now it emerges that troops for example from Equatorial Guinea are also named in the UN report. Was Equatorial Guinea also told by the UN (and not CAR)?  This is a cover-up, in more ways than one.

  Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row in charge of UN Peacekeeping, has made an announcement from Bangui: that he will deploy drones there. 

But who will get the information, and what will be covered up, like the rapes?

The UN's own in-house organ UN News Center, not mentioning the rapes of course, quotes Ladsous that "the arrival of attack helicopters and drones would help." 

 The story is more complex. Inner City Press has asked the UN questions, below.

  Yesterday's Guardian report focused on a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights staffer Anders Kompass -- who some media insist on identifying as an "aid worker" -- saying he is being retaliated against for sharing this information with the French.

  As Inner City Pres previously reported, there is more to this story and to Kompass, in the public record. Kompass shared information with Morocco, to undermine human rights reporting in Western Sahara. Inner City Pressreported on Kompass and this in December; the leaked documents are online.  

 What is the relationship between the two stories, beyond the UN's near total lack of transparency and standards? 

  On April 29, the UN came out with a statement that Kompass was suspended with pay for leaking a report to French authorities with the name of victims and witnesses. Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq these questions, here

Inner City Press: since this report was given in mid-2014, one, can the U.N. say whether any of the alleged perpetrators have been disciplined?  It's almost a year at this point.  So you're saying they're looking into it now.  I'm staring now at an e-mail of Rupert Colville of that office who is asking about Anders Compass in December in connection with the leaking of information to Morocco about Western Sahara, which was revealed in these Moroccan leaked cables.  And I wanted to know, when was he suspended?  And what's the relationship of these two? At the time, Mr. Colville said there was an OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] investigation of the leaking regarding Western Sahara.  So the question is: are there two investigations?  Is there one investigation?  And can you tell us on what date Mr. Compass was suspended?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Some of these details will, of course, have to wait.  The actual investigation that the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights is doing into this.  So I would wait for that to be completed.  I am aware of a separate issue involving the Office for the… for Internal Oversight Services.  But that's… that is, I believe, on a different matter.  But I'll have… but, of course, right now, I need for those particular things to be finished so I can comment on them.  Otherwise, I don't have the details of either of those investigations while they're underway.  So I'd expect your patience while we go through that. Regarding the case of Mr. Compass and his… Compass and his start date, like I said, he's been placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the results of the investigation.  Regarding what you said about the French and any follow-up action, I think that's a question to ask the French authorities.  Like I said, we have been made aware by the French that they are conducting their own investigation into this.

Inner City Press: But since the current UN mission works with the French authorities in a cooperative context and you have this human rights due diligence policy, doesn't the UN have some duty to know what the French authorities have done?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, regarding human rights due diligence, it's our human rights people who have investigating this.  And we're following up on that. So we’re…

Question:  I know.

Deputy Spokesman:  These are not UN forces.  These are forces under the control of…

Question:  The policy covers UN working with outside forces that may have committed human rights violations.  And the question is, what has the UN done to make sure that these rapes and abuses didn't take place--

Deputy Spokesman:  I just read out a statement stating what we have done.

Question:  Are you still working with the same forces that are accused of the rapes?

Deputy Spokesman:  And as far as that goes, like I said, you would be well advised to ask the French how they're following up, but they are also conducting their own investigation, and that… like I said, the substance of this is very serious, and we do expect that there would be follow-up on that.  

 But has there been? The head of UN Peacekeeping, former French diplomat Herve Ladous, has invoked the UN's stated human rights due diligence policy to not work with the Congolese Army in combating the Hutu FDLR rebel. But apparently no invocation, or even inquiry under, the UN's human rights due diligence policy as to the army of his native France. This is outrageous.

Here's their statement:

The United Nations, through its Office of Human Rights in Bangui, conducted a human rights investigation in late spring of 2014, following serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by French military personnel, prior to the establishment of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Central African Republic.

The resulting report was provided to an external party in mid-July 2014 in unedited form, which included the identities of victims, witnesses and investigators.  The unedited version was, by a staff member’s own admission, provided unofficially by that staff member to the French authorities in late July, prior to even providing it to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) senior management.  This constitutes a serious breach of protocol, which, as is well known to all OHCHR officials, requires redaction of any information that could endanger victims, witnesses and investigators.

There is also an internal investigation into the handling of this matter by OHCHR, including the manner in which the confidential preliminary findings were initially communicated to external actors, and whether the names of victims, witnesses and investigators were conveyed as part of that document.  One staff member has been placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the results of the investigation.

Our preliminary assessment is that such conduct does not constitute whistleblowing.

We'll have more on this - and on the behavior in CAR of MINUSCA, run by Frenchman Herve Ladsous.

 Inner City Press back on November 21, 2014, asked the New York spokesman for High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid for

"an update on action on the leaked cables, related to Western Sahara, involving current OHCHR official Anders Kompass and one, previously head of OHCHR's office in NY, who's just left. What steps has OHCHR taken on the cables / issues?"

  Now three weeks later there has been no answer. from the OHCHR spokesperson in New York. But we now publish this response from OHCHR Geneva spokesperson Rupert Colville to similar questions:

From: Rupert Colville [at] ohchr.org
Date: Friday 12 December 2014
Subj: Investigation leaked cables Western Sahara and OHCHR

The investigation is being carried out, at our request, by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) in New York, which is an operationally independent office that assists the Secretary-General in fulfilling his internal oversight responsibilities. While the investigation is under way, there is nothing else I can say on the matter.

  Colville was asked, among other things, “Is Anders Kompass still in active duty during this investigation? Who is leading this investigation?”

  The UN system often uses the pendency of an investigation as a way to wait for the “problem” to go away. As the publication Tel Quel, here, has noted, many in the media are not covering the leaks.

  Relatedly, the leaks are now being covered up or censored. Two recent uploads, about Morocco and the African Group at the UN, were put on “ filefactory.com” -- then taken down after, the site says, a complaint under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

  This is a new trend -- attempt to use copyright law to take down leaked documents. Reuters, for example, filed a “for the record” complaint with the UN trying to get Inner City Press thrown out - then, when the “for the record” complaint was leaked and published, conned Google into blocking it from Search, calling it copyrighted. Click here for that.

So that media uses or abuses copyright to censor its own “for the record” complaint filed with the UN, and does not cover these new leaks about Western Sahara, Morocco, and the UN. This is a new trend. Watch this site.

  In the above, the referenced former head of OHCHR's New York office is Senegal's Bacre Waly Ndiaye, noted Tijania Sufi. The cables reveal a deep scandal in the UN system. Now OHCHR in Geneva is saying it will not comment until an investigation, Inner City Press understands by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, is complete. But there is no indication that will be publish. This is one of the ways the UN covers up.

 There other ways, beyond Western Sahara. On rapes in DR Congo by Army units the UN support, Ladsous refused to answer Press questions for months.  Video here of then and now spokesman pulling microphone away from Inner City Press. These practices are being opposed by the newFree UN Coalition for Access.

 Now on UN Peacekeeping's November 9 press release covering up mass rape in Thabit in Darfur, Ladsous has not answered any questions; UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on November 21 told Inner City Press the UN won't comment on leaks. The Western Sahara leaks are so extensive that despite a seeming media blackout byWestern wire services, they will not go away. 

While Ladsous is not the only UN official exposed by the cables, his extraordinary campaign of refusing Press questions, to the point of physically blocking Press filming (Vine here), as well as a DPKO to OHCHR connection, make him key to the case. As to MINURSO, Ladsous is blamed for the non-deployment of Bolduc. 

  Back on November 14 Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about Bolduc and an investigation of leaks in Geneva of which sources tell it.Video here.

  On November 5, Inner City Press reported on leaked cables showing among other things the UN's Ladsous undermining MINURSO on the issue of human rights, and improper service of Morocco by Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights staffers Anders Kompass and Bacre Waly Ndiaye.

    Since then, along with anonymous death threats, Inner City Press has received additional information including of a UN Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation of Anders Kompers and Bacre Waly Ndiaye.

  On November 14, Inner City Press asked the UN's Haq, per UN transcript:

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  You had a question on Western Sahara?

Inner City Press: It's a two-pronged question.  What Stéphane [Dujarric] said earlier in the week about Kim Bolduc, the new SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary-General].  I wanted to just kind of confirm it.  In reading it, does that mean that she has never has been allowed in?  And, if so, where has she been since August?  What is the plan to resolve that?  And I also wanted to ask you about regarding the cables that I base the initial question on.  Can you confirm that OIOS [Office for Internal Oversight Services] is conducting an investigation at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on at least two staff members who apparently leaked this information to the Moroccan Government?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  On that, I cannot confirm that.  As you know, the OIOS conducts its work independently.  At some point, once they have completed their work, they apprise us [inaudible].  But I wouldn't be aware of any work that is ongoing.  Beyond that, regarding Kim Bolduc, as you know, both Christopher Ross and Kim Bolduc briefed the Security Council on 27 October.  And at that point, the Security Council reiterated its desire, first of all, to see Ambassador Ross's facilitation resume and reiterated its desire to see Kim Bolduc be able to take up her duties at the helm of MINURSO [United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara] as soon as possible.  And we look forward to the resumption of Mr. Ross's visit to the region and also to the deployment of Kim Bolduc.

Inner City Press:  But is she currently, I mean, she is the SRSG?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  She is the SRSG, but she has not been able to function with her MINURSO duties in-country.

  In-country, eh? We'll have more on this. And on this: Inner City Press is informed that while Ladsous claims to have performed as required in connection with the appointment of Bolduc, even on this he is accused of failing to do his duty, as on many other parts of his job.Video compilation here; recent Vine here.

   Document leaks from inside the UN have identified improper service of Morocco, on the question of Western Sahara, by a staffer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Anders Kompass.

  Inner City Press has waited to report on them; the spokesperson for the High Commissioner has today said his office is aware the leaked cables, which contain the perspective of certain diplomats, and that the situation is being investigated to clarify the facts.”

  Whatever the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, now under Jordan's Prince Zeid, does about the content of the leaks, more will be required in the UN Secretariat in New York -- particularly at the top of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which runs the MINURSO mission in Western Sahara.

  The cables show that Herve Ladsous, a long-time French diplomat now the boss of DPKO and thus of MINURSO, was flacking for Morocco on the supposed quality of its human rights mechanisms. This directly undercuts the MINURSO mission, for which Ladsous is supposed to be working.

   

UN's “Pro Drones” Report Spun to Reuters, No Jane Holl Lute UN Press Conference

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 23 -- When is a UN report particularly dubious? When its release is controlled by the UN Department it is supposed to be scrutinizing, and its closest sycophants are spoon-fed the report rather than holding an actual Press conference.

  So it was on February 23 with the UN's report on technology and UN Peacekeeping headed by Jane Holl Lute, which Inner City Press has already dubbed the “drone report.” When Inner City Press first reported on doubts about member states on the C-34 committee on peacekeepin about Herve Ladsous pushing through drones in former French colonies without approval, Ladsous stopped answering Press questions.

  Instead, Ladsous holds private briefings for Reuters, Agence France Presse and sometimes Voice of America, to spin his point of view. But when the UN paid Lute for a report on technology, it was supposed to be independent.
  Not. On February 23, after a closed door briefing, service Reuters reported that "Doctor Lute told reporters” how good drones are, adding that Russia is opposed because it could lose money. (The opposition of Rwanda, defrauded by Ladsous on the FDLR, was not explained, but who's counting?)

  Notably, Reuters never reported on OIOS finding that posts were put up for sale in Ladsous' mission in Haiti and DRC, where he used drones against M23, but not the FDLR. This is a scam, all around.  But why hasn't Jane Holl Lute, the “zero tolerance” American, held a real Press conference? Watch this site.

 After the UN claimed to be jointly fighting the FDLR rebels with the Congolese Army FARDC, then to be supporting the FARDC to do so, on February 6 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric more questions, and he said "the military actual fighting has not, as far as we know, has not commenced." Video here. 

  This has been reiterated repeatedly by the UN: no action has been take by the FARDC against the FDLR. Nevertheless once again on February 23 Reuters made it appear that the Congolese Army under Joseph Kabila IS fighting the FDLR, with no mention of UN Peacekeeping chief Ladsous' history and seeming double game. With two editors, Reuters"reports" that

"President Joseph Kabila said last week that the operation had started without MONUSCO. A government spokesman said Congo "renounces, in the most official manner, the support of MONUSCO to track the FDLR. We are going to track them alone."

  So, did the operations start? On February 23, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric:

Inner City Press: On DRC.  The Radio Okapi which I understand is a UN-supported media in the Congo has reported abuses about the FDLR in and around Lubero.  Since I would assume that means that MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] is aware of them and it’s been said that they have a protection of civilians mandate totally outside of the neutralization of the FDLR, has MONUSCO done anything about these UN essentially reported —

Spokesman Dujarric:  Valid question.  I have not gotten an update from MONUSCO today, but we will try to extract one.

 Five hours later, nothing. On February 18, Inner City Press asked Dujarric the question of why Herve Ladsous' MONUSCO has not itself taken action on the FDLR:

Inner City Press: A spokesman for the Congolese Government, Lambert Mende, has said that MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] is free to do its own operation against FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda].  He says that the Government has nothing against that.  And I know that it's come up that, somehow, the UN, because of its stated human rights concerns is not going to work with the Government to go after the FDLR.  But, if the Government there is essentially giving its consent, what am I missing?  Why isn't the UN doing what was said it would do following 2 January?

Spokesman:  I would… I would check with the Mission itself.  I have nothing to say from here.

  The UN - and Ladsous, given his history - SHOULD have something to say.

  * * *

  Reuters has again misrepresented the UN's and Herve Ladsous' (non) enforcement of the human rights due diligence policy. The anonymously trolling Reuters correspondent -- reviving that on January 26, after Reuters' Stephen J. Adler et al were told but did nothing -- "reports" that

"The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo threatened in 2013 to withdraw support for two Congolese battalions accused of involvement in the mass rape. The mission decided to keep working with the battalions after 12 senior officers, including the commanders and deputy commanders, were suspended and about a dozen soldiers were charged over the rapes in Minova."

  This is propaganda -- only two lower ranking soldiers were convicted. The Reuters implication is that Ladsous' DPKO is tough on human rights: false.

  On January 22  Ladsous made a speech about freedom of the press in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Thursday to the US Security Council, and made excuses for not acting to “neutralize” the Hutu FDLR rebels as the UN did the largely Tutsi M23. 

Then Ladsous came to the Security Council stakeout, ostensibly to take questions.

  Inner City Press asked, “On the neutralization of the FDLR, what is the hold up?”

  Ladsous said "I don't respond to your questions, Mister." Video hereand embedded below.

   Then Ladsous turned and gave the question to Reuters, the same trolling correspondent. When that back and forth was over, Inner City Press asked if any of the countries in the UN's Force Intervention Brigade are well than willing to attack the FDLR, as senior diplomats at the UN have told Inner City Press.

   Ladsous refused to answer this question, and gestured that Ban Ki-moon's envoy to the DRC Martin Kobler, standing behind Ladsous at the stakeout, shouldn't answer it either. Reuters took or was given another question, distancing the FDLR from genocide.

   Finally Inner City Press asked both men what if anything UN Peacekeeping has done as the Kabila government has frozen the accounts of the Panzi hospital for rape victims.  Ladsous waved this off -- for months he waved off Press questions about mass rape in Minova by his partners in the Congolese Army, video here -- and walked away with this spokesman. 

 (One can only imagine the advise this “communications professional” is giving Ladsous. Perhaps he can help Ladsous address his history with Hutu groups as evidence in this memo. These are Press questions.)

   

On Yemen, ICP Asks UN If US Has Consent for Drone Strikes After Hadi Resignation, UN Calls It "Details," Says Ban Ki-moon's Stance on Drones UNchanged

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 28 -- With Yemen's President Hadi and his Prime Minister having resigned, and the US continuing drone strikes in the country, the question arises if the US has consent.

 Inner City Press put the question to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on January 28, video here.

  Consent for the use of force in another country is hardly, in the work Dujarric used, a "detail." But perhaps the UN will have more to say.

 Here is what the International Monetary Fund told Inner City Press during it embargoed press briefing on January 22, after the Houthi rebels in Yemen have held the Presidential palace for day. Inner City Press asked about the impact on the IMF's program with Yemen.

  IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray said that recent events are "not positive from an economic standpoint," but that the IMF's first review of its program will not be until the Spring.

  Where will the Houthis be then? And Hadi? And Saleh?

   Inner City Press also submitted questions on Sri Lanka and on Ebola and debt relief. On the latter, Murray spoke of an exceptional assistance program as with Haiti, but wouldn't specify debt relief. We'll have more on this.

 On Yemen, Murray referred back to the January 21 report and briefing by Masood Ahmed -- to which Inner City Press also submitted the question. In that briefing, Ahmed said:

"we are worried about the continued difficulties in Yemen, really because Yemen is already a country with a fragile economic recovery, with a large number of people living in poverty, and with already trying to cope with different shocks that the economy has undergone, and so this makes the uncertainty, makes it both harder to deal with those shocks and also it affects confidence, so that some of the private sector activity is affected. 

"Of course we as an interactive institution don't have a view on the political developments in any country, but we can look at the economic consequences, which is what I was referring to. In terms of the implications for this on the price of oil, you know the price of oil, the markets build in both up side and down side risks into that price. So there's a risk of supply disruptions. That is one of the sources that can push up oil prices with the risk premium, not just from Yemen but also people have been concerned about supply disruptions in other oil producing countries, but there's also the risk that the world economy may turn out to be slower in terms of growth or there's a risk that in fact oil production may turn out to be higher in some countries than expected. If you remember, earlier on in 2014, people were expecting oil production in Libya to be relatively low for the year. As it happened, oil production actually increased at one point to 900, 1000 barrels a day and so that was unexpected. And some people say that was one of the reasons that was helping people to reestablish equilibrium in terms of their expectations. So I think that the market is always looking at both up side and down side risks and prices."

The IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department Regional Economic Outlook Update as released on January 21, says “Yemen is at high risk because its banks are highly exposed to government debt against the backdrop of a weak fiscal position and limited financing options.”

    Referring to the demands for fuel subsidy cuts, the IMF report says “Yemen “is planning to increase non-oil revenue collection, contain the government wage bill, and continue fuel subsidy reform.” Is that still the case? How could the IMF know?
 
  Looking wider, the IMF report says that “conflicts, terrorism, and related security disruptions continue to be a prevailing concern in the region. Although airstrikes have slowed the advance of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), conflicts in Iraq and Syria persist, creating significant economic and political spillovers for neighboring countries (especially Jordan and Lebanon). The security situations in Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, and Yemen also remain challenging. Conflicts cast a shadow over the economic outlook for the MENAP region, not only because they disrupt economic activity; they also reduce political space for the much-needed reforms and delay the return of confidence to the MENAP region.”   

 On January 19-20, the IMF's Olivier Blanchard answered Inner City Press' question about the impact of falling oil prices on Africa by saying "Nigeria will have to adjust. I do not know at this stage whether they can adjust on their own or they might need a program from the Fund. If they did any member is welcome to come at this stage I have no information about it.”

    A Yemen-like program?

   To the IMF's World Economic Outlook Update press conference, Inner City Press had submitted this question: “Please summarize what the decline in oil prices may mean for countries in Africa, and what the IMF is prepared to do about those countries negatively impacted.”

    As the second online question taken, this question was put to Blanchard, who responded:

“Most African countries are importers and so are helped. Some countries are not and the main example is Nigeria. Nigeria will have to adjust. I do not know at this stage whether they can adjust on their own or they might need a program from the Fund. If they did any member is welcome to come at this stage I have no information about it.”

  Earlier on January 19, the UN Security Council issued a Presidential Statement about, but not funding, the fight against Boko Haram. Security Council sources leaving the meeting told Inner City Press that for funding, those in the region -- i.e. Nigeria -- should be looked to first.

  But if Nigeria may even need to apply for an IMF program, is it reasonable for the powers in the UN and it Permanent Five members of the Security Council to expect it to be entire responsible for fighting Boko Haram?

  We'll have more on this.

Footnote: while Blanchard's "main example" was Nigeria, what about Angola? What about Equatorial Guinea? To the north, what about Libya? Questions, questions...