Amid UNGA Spat With India, Pakistan Cites Kashmir With Photo Seemingly From Gaza

By Matthew Russell Lee, photos India, Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS, September 24 – After India's foreign minister Sushma Swaraj in her UN General Assembly speech said while her country exports IT, Pakistan exports terrorists, Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi asked for the right of reply at the end of Saturday's UNGA session. She morphed India as the biggest democracy into the biggest hypocrisy - and raised up a photograph showing the impact of the use of pellet guns. But it appears the photo used was not from Kashmir, but from Gaza. What next? 

The day before on Friday, Inner City Press had asked the Commissioner General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Pierre Krähenbühl, about UNRWA's policies on social media. Inner City Press asked about another UN agency, UNHCR, being less than transparent after a staffer called for “harder repression” of Anglophones in Cameroon; another example was UNRWA illustrating the situation in Palestine with a photo from... Syria. So these things happen, but UNRWA is under different pressures to issue corrections, including by funders. What will Pakistan do? Will we find out by the Daily Dawn? We aim to have more on this - and on UN Spokespeople being less responsive than government's Ambassadors, because the UN or at least its Spokesman is apparently under no pressure or metric to be responsive. After UN Secretary General met with Yousef Al Othaimeen, the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the UN issues a read-out that "they discussed a number of issues of mutual concern, including counterterrorism, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan, as well as resolving the plight of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar." Inner City Press tweeted photohere. Then the UN "re-issued" the read-out, dropping Somalia and the plight of the Rohinga, and adding the Middle East peace process: "The Secretaries-General discussed a number of issues in OIC’s area of responsibility, including counterterrorism, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, the Middle East Process and Myanmar. The Secretaries-General agreed to strengthen cooperation between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations." So who complained? Myanmar about the "plight of the Rohingya"? The OIC about no MEPP? Who said, drop Somalia? We aim to have more on this. On September 22, Guteres met with Cameroon's 30-plus year President Paul Biya, he met Saturday morning with DR Congo holdover Joseph Kabila, now with white in his beard, and the prime minister of Togo, where protesters against the father and son in power for 50 years are being shot and killed. Inner City Press covered the meetings, or photo ops, here. There was also Sri Lanka (Sirisena without accountability) and Libya's Serraj. While no read-outs have issued yet, the Cameroon read-out refers only to the political situation in the country - that would be, the killing and jailing of Anglophones. This is today's UN. 

Peacekeeping Debate Misses Rapes, After Party Fetes Censorship Group UNCA

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 21 -- Monday while France bombed Timbuktu in northern Mali the UN Security Council held a six hour "debate on multi-dimensional peacekeeping."

 Many of the controversial issues in peacekeeping did not come up, at least not directly. Russia did complain about its helicopter being shot down last month in South Sudan and four of its citizens killed. The UN has been slow with this and other investigations.

 An even more delayed "investigation" (or cover-up) by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has been of 126 rapes in Minova by the Congolese Army, DPKO's partners.

  Three times on camera DPKO chief Herve Ladsous has refused to answer Press questions about the rapes and the non-application to date of the UN's Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

See November 27, 2012 (video), on December 7 & on December 18 (video).

  Monday Ladsous sat in the Council without speaking until France, the tenth speaker, finished. Then Ladsous immediately left. He is the fourth Frenchman in a row to sit atop DPKO.

  Things heated up at the end, with South Sudan using its speech to raise aerial bombardment by Sudan. The speakers' list included Sudan, but in the end they did not speak. 

  After the "debate" was over, Inner City Press went to the North Lawn building and asked a Sudanese representative there about the lack of reply. There perhaps will be one.

  India and Pakistan traded short rights of reply about Kashmir; at the very end, Benin came in and spoke. And then it was over. But the controversies and failings under Herve Ladsous have yet to be addressed.

Footnotes: But two hours after the debate in a reception in the Delegates' Entrance for Pakistan's peacekeepers, Ladsous was praised by... the new president of the UN Correspondents Association, an organization whichdemanded and pursued action against the publication of a story truthfully recounting how Ladsous was foisted on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by France.

  Ban himself feted UNCA, while his Department of Public Information has yet to publicly answer the NY Civil Liberties Union's July 5, 2012 public request to know when journalists would be informed of stealth complaints such as those made by UNCA on June 20, 2012, and by UNCA First Vice President Louis Charbonneau of Reuters earlier that year. 

  A group that's for censorship being celebrated in this way at the UN? It's very telling. And there's more to tell: a story of Upstairs, Downstairs.

 Upstairs in the floor of cubicles occupied by correspondents, fliers summarizing the issues raised by the new Free UN Correspondents Association to the Department of Public Information had been torn down. They were replaced, right next to the new UNCA President's CBS office, with counterfeit fliers. Downstairs in the Delegates' Entrance, this was celebrated.

  That the more substantive story of Pakistan's activities in peacekeeping were polluted by unnecessary deference to an organization that does not represent all journalists at the UN is a shame. The references to the decaying UNCA at the Pakistan event with Ban Ki-moon were so over the top that several listeners were quite sure how they were procured. Watch this site.

In UN's Colonial Dance, from Malvinas to Kashmir, 70 to Speak on W. Sahara

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- When the UN's Decolonialization Committee started up on Monday afternoon, most of the speakers were from Latin America. 

  Pakistan appeared as the last listed speaker, raising Kashmir much to the consternation of India, which said it shouldn't be in this Committee and "rejected the remarks distinguished delegate" of Pakistan -- actually, its Deputy Permanent Representative, who made a point of citing Security Council resolutions.

   While many speeches were the same as last year, as more than one old UN hand pointed out to Inner City Press, the way Kashmir was raised, and defended, in the Decolonialization Committee was something new this year. It came up as well in the General Debate and replies, along with China versus Japan on islands, which was not cited Monday.

The Latins were all about Malvinas, and Puerto Rico too, with Belize on behalf of CARICOM also raising the Turks and Caicos. 

  The UK in its right to reply said there had been no indigenous people on the Falkland Islands, and there is a "revised electoral ordinance" in Turks and Caicos.

   Mentioned by all the Latins, as well as China and Pakistan, was Western Sahara. Morocco had its Permanent Representative, his Deputy and other staffers in the room. But they did not invoke the right to reply. The representative of the POLISARIO Front told Inner City Press he will probably speak Wednesday.

   There are 70 listed speakers on Western Sahara; Gabon as Fourth Committee chair said they will have four minutes each. As one told Inner City Press, it's a long way to travel for this.

  But this is the ritual of the UN, long travel to New York to deliver a speech that in most instance no one listens to. 

 In a Pakistan irony, only Saturday night the Association of Indians in America says it awarded its Silver Diwali Bright Light Award with the inscribed names of Pakistan's Abdullah Hussain Haroon, along with a report he "is soon leaving his post." 

  Inner City Press has seen Ambassador Khan, said to be coming in from Beijing as Haroon's replacement, at the UN last week. But we note the explanation that he is here as part of the UNGA delegation. Watch this site.

On W. Sahara, EU Finally Speaks, Morocco Dodges Resources, of Kashmir, UK

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 10 -- After a series of ritualized speeches on the topic of Western Sahara, long promised by the UN a referendum on independence which has never taken place, a vague resolution was adopted on Monday, Columbus Day in the US, without a vote.

One surprise was that the European Union, which did not speak in UN General Assembly committee last week due to a fight about how to identify itself -- as EU, EU and its member states, or member states of the EU -- did make a statement about Western Sahara.

Another surprise, at least to some, was the countries like Democratic Republic of the Congo broke from the African Union position that Western Sahara should get its referendum. It was later explained that some Francophone members of the AU -- "under pressure from France," a long time AU insider told Inner City Press -- have shifted over to French favorite Morocco.

These countries, it was further explained, will go along and vote for Morocco over AU nominated Mauritania for a seat on the UN Security Council for 2012-13.

While Moroccan Permanent Representative Loulichki strutted around the Decolonization Committee meeting room Monday with an entourage of testimony - carriers, Mauritania has been seen, "two diplomats with one cell phone," one observer put it, putting in calls to remind other countries of the AU recommendation.

During the final pause in the Committee's proceedings for the day, occasioned by a broken voting machine, Inner City Press asked Mauritania's Permanent Representative if it's true Francophone African countries are going with Morocco.

"Not all of them," he said hopefully, also asking Inner City Press if it had any polling data. The vote, of course, is anonymous and blind. Money talks.

South Africa's Deputy Permanent Representative Doctor Mashabane devote much of this speech to a call on member states to not engage in illegal exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara.

It was on this topic that Inner City Press last week approached a senior member of the Moroccan delegation to the UN, seek a response to the New York Bar Association's scathing report on Morocco's sell-off of contested resources. Despite insults, no actual response has been been received.

Also a big part of the Decolonization Committee's proceedings were critiques of the UK, mostly on the Malvinas Islands (which the UK calls Falklands), but also Turks and Caicos, Monserrat and Gibraltar. After the Western Sahara vote, the UK rose to make its points - then was chided for claiming as "Right of Reply" what was really an "Explanation of Position." Oh.

India and Pakistan traded barbs about Kashmir, perhaps a preview of skirmishes in the Security Council in 2012, when Pakistan is seeking a seat opposed, late in the process, by Kyrgyzstan. Watch this site.

Footnote: In fact the voting never took place on Monday, due to the broken voting machine. (UN sources told Inner City Press that the voting system and the display.) The vote was rescheduled for Tuesday, when the Committee will also discuss... the peaceful uses of outer space. Only at the UN.

As Indian Troops Use Blue Helmets, UN Belatedly Protests, But Only in Kashmir?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2kashmir081110.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- As India bragged that its soldiers use blue UN helmets and shields “all over the country” and not only in Kashmir, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky about this misuse of UN equipment, and whether it will be returned. Video here, from Minute 19:25.

Nesirky pulled out a prepared response, saying that UNMOGIP immediately contacted those using the UN helmets in Kashmir, and now understands that directions have been issued so that they not be used there anymore.

Inner City Press asked, But what about elsewhere in India?

Nesirky read the same comment again. It is unclear if it applies to all of India, or just Kashmir.

From the UN's August 11 transcript:

Inner City Press: There are quotes both by the Indian military and then by an unnamed UN military observer group about the use, by Indian troops, of UN blue helmets and shields while they’re essentially performing Indian military functions and quelling protesters, leading some to ask whether the UN is, in fact, firing into, doing charges against crowds. So I wanted to know, the person who is quoted from the UN said he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, so I’m asking you, can the UN confirm that there’s a concern by that mission of the use of UN equipment, visible equipment, by the Indian troops?

Spokesperson: I am authorized to speak. Following the use of UN-marked blue helmets by Indian Rapid Action Force personnel in Srinagar, the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) immediately brought the issue to the attention of the Indian Army authorities. We understand that directions have since been issued by the Indian authorities to prevent its recurrence. UN-marked items can only be used by personnel serving in United Nations operations during their service under the blue flag and can not be used for other purposes, including by national armies in the conduct of their operations.

Inner City Press: So that’s… because there’s also, I’m sure you’ve seen the quote by the Spokesman for the paramilitary force, Mr. Tripathi, saying these are used elsewhere in India, by Indian troops. Is this a comprehensive…?

Spokesperson: UN-marked items can only be used by personnel serving in United Nations operations; that’s what I just said, Matthew, during their service under the blue flag and cannot be used for other purposes, including by national armies in the conduct of their operations.

Inner City Press: Do they now return them to the UN?

Spokesperson: We understand that directions have since been issued by the Indian authorities to prevent its recurrence.

We'll see. Do other troop contributing countries take and later use and misuse the UN blue helmets? What about the removal of peacekeepers' weapons from the countries at war where they are stationed? We'll have more on this - watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2kashmir081110.html

UN's Kashmir Email was Drafted by DPA from its "Morning Prayers," Watered Down by Nambiar, Blamed on Haq

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 5 -- When the UN made a statement on Kashmir, then stepped away from it and blamed it on an Associate Spokesman, there was more than met the eye. Inner City Press has inquired and finds the following: the initial response on the violence in Kashmir was produced by the UN Department of Political Affairs, in what is called it “morning prayers” meeting, chaired by DPA chief Lynn Pascoe.

Then, even before the statement was released, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, a former Indian diplomat and intelligence operative, edited the statement, “watering it down” as one senior UN official puts it.

After UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq emailed the statement to four journalists and it was published, the Indian Mission to the UN protested. They came to meet with the UN, Mr. Nambiar, for more than two hours. Apparently, Nambiar did not fully disclose his initial role in editing the statement.

Next, the UN Spokesman Martin Nesirky stepped away from the statement, emphasizing that Ban Ki-moon never said it, and it was mere “guidance from the Secretariat,” and claiming that it had been misinterpreted. How?

On August 4, Inner City Press asked Nesirky to think it through: if he could walk away from this statement attributable to the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General, how can any of his future statements be taken seriously? I have said all I am going to say, Nesirky replied. Okay...

Footnote: attendees that DPA's "morning prayers" quote Pascoe, for example that "Hillary Clinton is going to Colombia, what does she think she can accomplish?" While some attendees conclude from this that Pascoe is aligned with US Republicans who appointed him, others say it establishes his "street cred" as an internaional civil servants. But is this what HRC and Obama want? Watch this site.

From the UN's August 3 noon briefing transcript:

Inner City Press: a controversy has arisen around a statement that Farhan Haq had put out, talking about Indian-occupied Kashmir and calling for restraint. And, basically, it says that the Indian Foreign Ministry or Ministry of External Affairs has taken issues with it, that your Office has clarified that the Secretary-General never made those comments. Have you seen that story, and what can you do to clarify the seeming discrepancy between the Indian Foreign Ministry and your Office?

Spokesperson Nesirky: The Spokesperson’s Office released to the media guidance which was prepared by the UN Secretariat, and that seems to have been taken out of context. This was not a statement of the Secretary-General.

Question: What was taken out of context? This was a formal statement.

Spokesperson: Let me repeat what I just said: the Spokesperson’s Office released to the media guidance which was prepared by the UN Secretariat, and it seems to have been taken out of context. This was not a statement of the Secretary-General. That’s what I have; I don’t have anything to add.

Question: But the statement said the Secretary-General calls for restraint, and is there concern about it?

Spokesperson: As I said, I don’t have anything to add to what I’ve just said.

From the UN's August 4 noon briefing transcript:

Inner City Press: Some think that the way that it was answered yesterday — it’s hard for them to take; what weight should statements by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General be given if they’re later characterized as mere guidance and the Secretary-General didn’t mean them. For your own purposes, how do we — is this a one-off, or does this somehow change; you get a statement today about Tanzania — is that a statement of the Secretary-General, or is it mere guidance, and from who — who gave the guidance on Kashmir?

Spokesperson Nesirky: You know very well what it said [on Tanzania]: it said “a statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General”, and that clearly is a statement. But I don’t have anything beyond what I’ve already said on this topic. Okay?

No, not okay.

On Climate Change Finance, UN Dodges Air and Sea Tax, Ban Differs With Envoy, Rudd in Wings?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ban1agccf071310.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 -- The two co-chairs of the UN's High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, the prime ministers of Ethiopia and Norway, Tuesday vaguely summarized their Group's ideas to the press. To Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg, Inner City Press asked if taxes on aviation and shipping are being discussed.

Stoltenberg replied that “We have not agreed, there is not conclusions yet, this is not the time for presenting any conclusion. But there are many different possible sources. And of course, some of the possible sources are related to international aviation, international shipping. whether that is going to be included in the final report or not, it is too early to say... that is all I can say today.”

Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon about the comment by his new envoy on the issue, that a comprehensive agreement may not be reached in her lifetime. A subtext are rumblings in the U.S. State Department that they would have liked to put now deposed Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd in the post, or that the UN now create a new climate change envoy position for Rudd.

Ban smiled and answered, as transcribed by the UN:

I speak on my behalf. I do not normally speak for a person whom I have nominated. I have not read exactly what she said, but I think that she might have been trying to explain that the process would be quite a difficult one. But just the reason that it is a difficult one does not give us any reason to be disappointed or deterred. We have a strong commitment to reach a globally binding agreement as soon as possible and I am sure that we can achieve that goal. As I said, the more we delay, the cost of inaction will be far, far greater than the cost of action today.

That is what I have been repeatedly saying and emphasizing. Therefore this High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing is a very good start and a very good initiative to make the comprehensive process of negotiation move. This is a very important element, aspect of complementing, reinforcing the negotiation process. And you have our commitment. You see the commitment of these distinguished Prime Ministers and world leaders.

The last question allowed was directed to Mr. Ban, and concerned “occupied Kashmir.” Ban declined to answer it. Inner City Press would have wanted to ask Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi for this view of the bombings in Kampala. But he was gone.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1agccf071310.html

At UN, Silence on Uighurs, OIC "Keen" on China, Quiet on UNESCO Election

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/oic1uighurs092609.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 -- As the UN General Assembly debate winds down, amid talk of repressed demonstrations this year in Iran and Honduras and elsewhere, almost nothing has been said about the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in western China.

Inner City Press on September 28 asked Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, for the OIC's action and views on what Ihsanoglu in his response diplomatically called the "July events." Video here, from Minute 40:18.

While expressing "concern and sadness," and saying that it is OIC's mandate to protect Muslim minorities, Ihsanoglu went out of his way to praise China's "very good record with the Muslim world." He said OIC is "keen to preserve good relations." It is this keenness, for many countries springing from economic interests, that has led to the striking absence of commentary about one of the summer's main international news stories, that of the Uighurs.

The keenness is not, according, returned. Unlike Russia, China has not even sought Observer status at the OIC, despite its Muslim population.

Ihsanoglu said that a delegation from the OIC was allowed to go to "Urumqi, only Urumqi, not Kashgar." Even with only this visit, he said the OIC has done more than any other group. He said other human rights watchdogs were silent, "I still don't understand." He answered Inner City Press, "Maybe you can help me to understand that." The answer is in Ihsanoglu's own phrase, being "keen to preserve good relations" with China.

Inner City Press also asked for OIC's view of the Egyptian minister candidate's loss for the top post at UNESCO, a question Ihsanoglu declined to answer before turning to another questioner. Inner City Press has also wanted to ask him about the killing of Boko Haram's leader in Nigeria, the fighting in Yemen, and calls for OIC action on Kashmir, regarding which a closed door meeting was held later on Monday in the UN's basement. Even Gaddafi in his speech mentioned Kashmir, making all the more notable the silence on the Uighurs.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/oic1uighurs092609.html

As UN Permits Kashmir in the Kivus, Congolese Critical of UN Peacekeeper Favoritism

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/drc1ruined061409.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 14 -- If you listen to the UN in New York, they'll tell you they're doing the best they can in the Congo. But in speaking with Congolese, whether in Kinshasa, Goma or New York, you get a different story.

Last week, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesperson Michele Montas about reports that the UN's Pakishretani peacekeepers in South Kivu are refusing to cross even an inch over the administrative border into North Kivu to protect civilians from the attacks of FDLR militias, because the UN has put an Indian battalion in charge of the province. It's a little Kashmir in the Kivus, and the UN has apparently done nothing to solve this entirely foreseeable and not new problem.

Ms. Montas said she hadn't heard the report, despite them being on Reuters and elsewhere. She said, "I will check for you what happened there. I was not aware that there was a conflict." An answer was promised, but not received. And so on June 14 Inner City Press asked a panel of Congolese women what they thought of the UN's performance in their country.

Jeanne Kasongo of the Shalupe Foundation, speaking in French, said that the UN peacekeepers do nothing when "the enemy attacks our people." There was an incident last year in which the commander of the Indian battalion in North Kivu openly praised CNDP militia leader and indicted war criminal Laurent Nkunda. The UN would probably have denied the incident, except it was captured on tape.

Ms. Kasongo went on to say that many believe that UN is only there to assume corridors ("couloirs") for the exploitation of the Congo's natural resources. All you have to do to take our coltan, she said, is rape a woman and give her son a gun to go and get it.

Gorethy Nabushosi said that a major effect of UN presence is to drive up housing prices, as the UN overpays, doesn't negotiate, destroys the market. They drive around in their big cars and do nothing, she said, most Congolese wish they would leave.

The panel was set up by Friends of the Congo and followed a performance of the play "Ruined" by Lynn Nottage, set in Bunia, which won this year's Pulitzer Prize.

Marie-Claire Faray, when Inner City Press asked what the UN Security Council should be doing, scoffed that France supported Operation Turquoise which brought the Rwandan genocidaires into the Congo.

She added that the U.S. supports the neighboring governments in Rwanda and Uganda, both of which have sponsored militias in the Congo. How can the Security Council, she asked, solved the problems of the Congo when it had caused so many of them?

There are questions we will pursue.

From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: In the Congo, there are these reports of civilians unprotected in the southern part of North Kivu, apparently because the Pakistani contingent refuses to cross the line from North to South Kivu due to some India-Pakistan issues within the Mission. Can the UN confirm that, and what’s being done to offer protection to people in this part of the Kivus?

Spokesperson Michele Montas: Okay, I will check for you what happened there. I was not aware that there was a conflict. But I can tell you one thing: that whatever the conflict, it will be resolved because it is the priority of the Mission to provide protection to the civilian population.

But see above. And watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/drc1ruined061409.html

Questions About Jamaat ud Dawa and UN's Pakistan Aid in Mumbai's Wake

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1jamaat120808.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 8 -- As arrests for the Mumbai massacre are being made at the Jamaat ud Dawa camp in Kashmir, questions have resurfaced about the UN's engagement with Jamaat ud Dawa following the October 2005 Pakistan earthquake. On October 6, 2006 Inner City Press asked then-UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric to address reports that the UN worked with both Jamaat ud Dawa and the Al Rashid Trust, on the UN's sanctions list. Mr. Dujarric said that the UN's focus is on working with and through group who can get aid to those who need it. Video here, from Minute 13:50.

Inner City Press pursued the issue and published a report including a quote that UN "aid they got from international agencies - have really boosted their position locally. One Jamaat leader told us that people were now trusting them with their children - they hadn't before the earthquake - and they had actively recruited hundreds of children left orphaned."

Days later on October 10, Inner City Press asked the UN's top humanitarian Jan Egeland about the reports. Egeland, who still works part-time with the UN, answered that "I'm sure we did cover people of many different beliefs and many different political orientations. We do not ask hungry people if they do have this or that political belief... But if you work in Kashmir, there will be people given aid who would belong to organizations which have fundamentalist beliefs." Video here, from Minute 46.

As Inner City Press reported at the time, after the October 10, 2006 press briefing, supplemental answers were provided by one of Mr. Egeland's spokespeople, Kristen Knutson. Asked how, in the future, OCHA will try to ensure that it does not increase the influence of groups like the Al Rashid Trust by providing aid to camps they establish, Ms. Knutson insisted that "determining who can set up a camp is entirely up to governments of member states. And once a camp is open, OCHA and the UN will provide aid to the people in that camp."

So now, what has been the UN's engagement with Jamaat ud Dawa? The UN's New York headquarters was closed for a holiday on Monday. The issue will continue to be pursued.

News analysis: Giving aid is good, but so is having standards, or at least being transparent about the lack of standards.

Footnote: to show that the issue cuts in many different ways, while Egeland said that the UN tries not to work with organization's whose principles vary from those of the UN, last week Inner City Press asked current UN spokesperson Michele Montas again about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's agreement with NATO, which was kept confidential and not pre-shown even to member states. While the UN is for the abolition of war, NATO is a military alignment that, among other things, does not oppose the use of nuclear weapons. So what are the UN's standards for engagements with groups? As we said, it cuts both ways.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1jamaat120808.html