On Ebola, IMF Announces $100M Now, $160M Soon; Answers to Inner City Press on Mongolia & Ghana Next

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 5 -- The IMF's biweekly embargoed briefing began Thursday with drama and a guest: Christine Lagarde on Ebola, in English and French, taking two questions then out.

The IMF said, "subject to Board approval of requests from the individual countries, it is expected that the CCR trust would provide grants-for-debt relief of close to $100 million for the three countries affected by Ebola in West Africa –Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. These funds would come in addition to the $130 million of assistance provided in September 2014 and to
a second round of new concessional loans amounting to about $160 million to be considered soon by the Executive Board."

 Lagarde said that one country, which she left unnamed, has made a commitment that they will be announcing. She cited non-Paris club members, naming only Russia as a creditor of Guinea. She said there'll be more at the G20 in Istanbul. 

  After that, there were seven questions to Lagarde's spokesperson Gerry Rice about Greece -- he declined to comment on the ECB further squeezing Greece -- then two on Ukraine, where the IMF is said to be in line for only $6 billion of the $15 billion now requested. US John Kerry is in Kiev today, including on IMF.

  Inner City Press, before and during the briefing, submitted three questions:

In Ghana, President Mahama on Feb 3 said, “Ghana is committed to securing an IMF programme and we are confident that we will reach agreement with the IMF by the end of this quarter.” What is the process / status at the IMF?

On Mongolia, what is the process forward on their request for an IMF stand-by arrangement? When will a visit to the country take place?

In Sri Lanka on bank consolidation, new Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran has said “I have also asked the IMF to send some technical experts to look at these issues from an international perspective and they have agreed to do so.” Can you confirm that? Would it be in connection with IMF visit at the end of February?

 The first two were answered, and will be reported in separate stories. On Sri Lanka, which was not answered during the IMF briefing, the new government is cutting off payments to Lagarde's predecessor Dominique Strauss Kahn, who once out through the revolving door (of a Manhattan hotel) sold his services to the Rajapaksas. Any comment, or future safeguards, on that? 

On Sri Lanka after the briefing and expiration of the embargo there was this answer by Gerry Rice of the IMF: "“We have been discussing with the authorities a multi-faceted technical assistance mission on financial sector issues. Looking at financial system stability and supervision in the context of the ongoing consolidation process is one element. We are currently putting together a team to send to Colombo, but will discuss with the CBSL specific needs in the next week so that we can select the best experts and structure the mission. It will likely take place after the staff visit in February, as this is a separate, technical assistance exercise.”

  On Ebola back on November 13 Inner City Press asked about Ebola, including World Bank estimates of budget shortfalls in Liberia.

 Inner City Press on November 13 asked, "On Ebola, what is the IMF's response to the US call for debt forgiveness for three countries? The World Bank has indicated that Liberia's revised 2014-15 budget has an unmet financing gap of more than half of the budget deficit projected at over $300 million. What can or will the IMF do about this?"

  IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray replied that given the flare up of Ebola cases in unexpected areas. "The IMF staff's previously projections were assuming the epidemic would be brought under control in the first quarter of 2015. However it now appears that it could be well into the second half of 2015 before the Ebola epidemic is brought under control in these three countries."

   Three hours later at the end of a UN General Assembly session on Ebola, Inner City Press asked a panel of UNGA President Sam Kutesa and UN Ebola envoys Anthony Banbury and David Navarro about the IMF's new projection: is it consonant with the UN's?

  It was Tony Banbury who answered, saying that the UN is aiming at 70% safe burials for example by December 1 and to turn the Ebola epidemic around.

  Is that the same thing as getting the epidemic "under control," the definition under which the IMF now projects the second half of 2015?  The work goes on. Watch this site.

  The day before at the UN on November 12 when the UN Security Council met, Liberia's Ambassador Marjon Kamara spoke not of the IMF but of the World Bank, saying "the World Bank recently gave a gloomy depiction of the economic effects of the disease on the three most affected countries - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone."

     Per Thoresson, Deputy Ambassador of Sweden which chairs the UN Peacebuilding configuration on Liberia, specified that “according to the World Bank, the two-year regional financial impact could reach $32.6 billion by the end of 2015. The World Bank also indicated that Liberia's revised 2014-15 budget has an unmet financing gap of more than half of the budget deficit projected at over $300 million.”

  So where's the money going to come from? Back on October 30, Inner City Press asked the International Monetary Fund about its stated $130 million commitment to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

   Inner City Press asked IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice for an update at the IMF's embargoed briefing on October 30.

  Rice said the outlook has worsened, with region-wide fall offs in travel and tourism. As to the three countries most impacted, there are "large financing needs likely for 2015."

  At the Annual Meetings earlier this month, the IMF met with the three countries' authorities, Rice said. "2015 is going to be a challenging year." If the outbreak spreads, it would have larger spillovers. The IMF, Rice said, is ready. We'll see.

  In the UN Security Council on November 12, the head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous recited that Justice Minister Christiana Tah resigned and five soldiers have been demoted for disciplinary offenses while enforcing a quarantine of an Ebola-affected community in Monrovia.

  Under Ladsous, it must be noted, UN Peackeeping has covered up attacks on civilians in Darfur and the Central African Republic. Ladsous himself refused repeatedly to answer Press questions about rapes by his partners in the DR Congo Army. Video compilation here. Most recently, Ladsous tried to block the Press' camera, Vine here. Thus is the UN UNdercut.

  Also during the October 30 embargoed IMF briefing,Inner City Press submitted this question: "On Ghana, does the IMF have any comment on the October 28 launch of the “Civil Society Organization Platform on the IMF Bailout to Ghana”? Will the IMF meet with the group?")

 On Ebola back on August 28 Rice told Inner City Press that the IMF was working on the ebola crisis with the government of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.  Later came the $130 million commitment.

  While most questions on August 28 concerned IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde being under investigation -- she will brief the IMF Board “very soon,” Rice said, calling it “highly unlikely” it would be on August 29 along with the Board's meeting on Ukraine -- Inner City Press also asked about Yemen, Ghana, Pakistan -- and ebola, IMF transcript here:

“Has the IMF produced any estimates of the impact of the ebola crisis? Any IMF responses to it?”

  Rice read out the question, then said that ebola's "acute impacts" are “macro-economic” and social, hitting three “already fragile” countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). He said "growth is likely to slow sharply in all three cases" and significant financial needs will rise: "increased poverty and food insecurity" and impacts on employment in the key agricultural sector.

  Rice concluded, "We are actively working with all three countries to prepare... additional financing that may be required."

Watch this site. 
   

After Syria Coalition Again Cites Robert Ford on Obama, Istanbul Confab

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 29, more here -- Two weeks ago Ahmad Jarba's Syrian Coalition criticized US President Obama. Coalition spokesman Louay Safi said he "regretted" Obama telling CBS  "he dismissed the idea that supplying US arms to moderate Syrian rebels would have toppled President Assad, calling it a 'fantasy.'"

  Now two weeks later, after the Obama administration on June 26 announced it is asking Congress for $500 million for the vetted opposition -- read, Jarba's Syrian Coalition and the Free Syrian Army, still said by the UN to recruit and use child soldiers -- Safi has again blamed Obama, saying:

"'the connection between the Assad regime and ISIS has never been so intimately interwound as it is today with the progress being made by regime forces near Aleppo and that of ISIS in Deir Ezzor. These advancement have not been interrupted by a single clash between regime forces and ISIS, which proves the existence of full coordination between them.' Safi attributes the setbacks suffered by Syrian rebels to the reluctance of the friends of Syria group to provide the rebels with the advanced weapons that can tip the balance on the ground. This reluctance contrasts with the unlimited support the Assad regime receives from his Russian and Iranian allies, who have been conspiring on the Syrian people and their revolution for dignity and freedom. The resignations of some members of the FSA's Supreme Military Council were prompted by the lack of military support, which in turn led to a lack of a unified leadership capable countering regime forces and the Iranian militias." Furthermore, Safi agrees with the former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who blames the rise of extremist groups in Syria on the Obama administration’s hesitation to support the moderate opposition forces. The military situation is very critical, as regime forces are about to laid [sic] siege on Aleppo."

   Even by this logic, is ISIS or the Islamic State's advance in Iraq directly due to "full coordination" with Maliki? The Syria Coalition is set to meet in Istanbul, amid jockeying by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Back on June 22 Jarba's Safi said: "Had the Obama administration heeded the advice of the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his special envoy to Syria we would not have had the current situation in Syria or in the region as a whole.” 

  Is Robert Ford running for office?

  On the Iraq - Syria border, the day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speechified on June 20 at the Asia Society that "Syria’s neighbors should enforce a firm prohibition on the use of their land borders and airspace for arms flows and smuggling into Syria," ISIS took over a major crossing at Qaim, 200 miles west of Baghdad.

  At the UN's noon briefing on June 20, after Ban's speech, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: I didn’t see it in his speech, but it seems like at least a large part of the Iraqi border may be controlled by ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham) or ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).  So, in terms of realism, does this mean now absent Government control, it’s just an open flow of weapons? Is there an acknowledgement by the UN that nothing can be done in terms of weapons?

Spokesman Dujarric:  Well, I think, you know, Member States, groups that have an influence all have a responsibility to stop the flow of arms.

 Surely ISIS is listening to Ban. The Syrian Coalition of Ahmad Jarba, meanwhile, praised the speech and called for "serious" weapons. Inner City Press asked Dujarric:

Inner City Press: the Syrian Coalition of Ahmed al-Jarba has put out a statement praising the speech and saying that:  “There should be serious weapons and training for moderate opposition forces.”  And I wanted to know, just to be clear, the Secretary-General is not in favour of that, thinks this is a bad call?

Spokesman:  I think the Secretary-General could not have been clearer when he’s speaking about an arms embargo and speaking for the halt of flow of arms into Syria.

 But how clear has Ban Ki-moon been, when he met with Jarba?

  Now it turns out that near the Asia Society Team Ban got served with legal papers about having brought cholera to Haiti. Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq told some media -- refusing to answer the Press -- that Ban himself didn't get the papers. We'll have more on this -- and on the UN's pre-spinning of Ban's speech, reviewed here.

   How can Ban's UN be taken seriously on Syria or anything else while dodging service of legal papers for cholera in Haiti, and refusing to answer about it?

On the humanitarian front, Ban “appealed for an end to the sieges” and for “immediate unfettered humanitarian access across internal front lines and across borders.”

  Later on June 20, Dujarric's and Haq's office murkily released a UN report which tracks Ban's speech, which theUN's go-to wire service then said it had "obtained."

  A draft resolution on cross-border aid is still being negotiated in the Security Council. But on June 19, Australian ambassador Gary Quinlan told the Press there would be no vote last week. When there is, will that be news? Watch this site.

   

"Atrocities" Against Somaliland Condemned in Istanbul II Communique with Somalia, But Where's UN, FUNCA Member Asks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- Diplomacy between Somaliland and Somalia continues, resulting now in an "Istanbul Communique" on "Dialogue Process Design." Inner City Press has put it online, here.

 It was signed on January 18 by Abdikarin Hussein Guled for the Federal Government of Somalia and by former UN official Mohamed Behi Yonis, as foreign minister of Somaliland. 

  It concludes, "We share the pain inflicted upon the Somali people by the military regime in Somalia before the year 1991. We condemn all the atrocities committed by that regime throughout all Somali people particularly the people in Somaliland."

   Free UN Coalition for Access member Mohamoud Walaaleye from Hargeisa -- where readers may remember he previously protested the imprisonment of other journalists from Hubaal newspaper -- tells Inner City Press this acknowledgment is a first, and bodes well. (Click here for Inner City Press' coverage of the previous round in Turkey in July 2013.)

  But still: where is the UN in all this?

  We continue to ask, as we did in October 2013: what is the UN's role in and position on the proposed transfer of the airspace over Somaliland to the government in Mogadishu? Inner City Press has put this question to UN envoy Nicholas Kay, who points to another meeting in Turkey on November 8.

  On October 30, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson about the airspace, and also about press freedom (and safety) in Mogadishu. Video here, from Minute 10:37, UN transcript below.

  Eliasson acknowledged, "Somalialand as you know has aspiration for independence. I know there are contacts, Turkey plays an important role. The situation, economic, is good. We [the UN] are on side of efforts of president to create one Somalia, we hope he is successful."

  On the specifics of the airpace, Eliasson said "I have need to come back to you, I have not informed myself on that." It is understandable -- Eliasson has also been made the point-man on among other "files" that of Sri Lanka and now apparently Haiti. We'll await his response.

  On press freedom, Inner City Press asked about the shut down of Radio Shabelle, forcing media to register, and the death of TV Universal journalist Mohamed Mohamud Tima'adde.

  Eliasson replied, "your profession is uncertain, a dangerous job." On the eviction of Radio Shabelle he said, "we are looking into the situation, we haven't all the facts yet, we will follow this case. "Again, we'll wait to hear more. Watch this site.

From the UN's transcript of DSG:

Inner City Press: You mentioned Somaliland, Puntland and Jubaland. There seems to be with Somaliland, there’s an issue where the airspace was managed by them for years, but now the UN has somehow gotten involved and is trying to transfer the airspaces above Somaliland to the TFG [Transitional Federal Government]. Some have said that aid flights will be cancelled. Somaliland has protested it. So I wonder, you sort of presented it as bringing the country back together, but there’s a desire for self-determination in Somaliland, and I wonder what you make of it and also on press freedom in Somalia. While you were there, Radio Shabelle closed down and people were evicted. Media have to now register. A journalist died in the hospital after being attacked. What is your sense of where the Government’s own position on press freedom is in Somalia?

DSG Eliasson: Well, Somaliland has, as you know, aspirations for independence and this is, of course, disputed by the Government in Mogadishu. I know there are contacts between Mogadishu and Hargeisa. Turkey plays an important role in providing a venue for discussion of that relationship. The situation in terms of economic and social progress is very good, is improvingly good. And the United Nations has agencies on the ground working with the authorities in Hargeisa. We are not, of course, in any way part of the discussion about the status between Somalia and Somaliland. We are on the side of the efforts of the President to create one Somalia and we hope very much that he will be successful in this regard. But the issue of the airspace, I need to come back to, I have not informed myself about that. On press freedom: yes, it was an incident. By the way, there was also a journalist killed over the weekend I was there. I think he was the sixth journalist this year. And last year, 18 journalists were killed. So, your profession is a pretty uncertain profession with horrible dimensions, as I understand - very dangerous job in Somalia. And what happened, evidently, was an eviction of the facilities of Shabelle – I heard about that. And we are looking into the situation. And while we haven’t all the facts yet, but I can only underline that we very strongly have made the case of freedom of the press with the authorities in Mogadishu and that we will follow this case also in the future.

Note: not as intentionally chopped up with "uh's" as UN does noon briefing -- same speaking style. We'll have more on this, as well as of course Somalia, Somaliland, Sri Lanka... and Haiti. Watch this site.