UN Claims 5 Rapists Out of Congo Army While Bosco Dines in Goma, Name and Shame Game

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un5bosco071009.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 10 -- While the UN Mission in the Congo continues collaborating with Congolese Army units accused for war crimes, on July 10 both MONUC chief Alan Doss and UN Security Council diplomats bragged about recent moves against impunity.

Testifying to the Council, Doss said that "We have pressed for the removal of notorious commanders within the FARDC, including those on the list you presented to the government during your visit to the DRC."

Inquiries from Inner City Press find that Doss' Deputy Ross Mountain first presented the list to the Congolese defense ministry more than a year ago, in March 2008. After nothing was done, when the Security Council Ambassadors visited Kinshasa in May 2009, they presented the list to President Kabila, who said, I'll do what I can.

The list of five includes: Brig.-Gen. Jerome Kakwavu Bukande, accused of the rape of a 14-year old girl in Ituri, but in March 2008 stationed in Kinshasa. Major Pitchner, accused of rape (no other details.). Lt-Col. Bebimobuli Engandela, a dissident Mai-Mai officer accused of several rapes between 2004 and 2006 and, in March 2008, being held in detention for insurrection.

Colonel Mosala, accused of rape of a 14-year old girl with violence in May 2005. Colonel Safari (sic) accused of the rape of a 28-year old woman in May 2006 and persuading three other soldiers to rape her too.

It is significant that the Congolese Army did nothing about these individuals from March 2008 forward. The UN, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, vehemently claim to take the issue seriously and to demand action by government's like Kabila's.

Now Doss on July 10 told the Council that "I am pleased to report that President Kabila had given instructions for their immediate removal from command position, while the Defense Minister has instructed the military prosecutor to initiate legal procedures against them."

Following the July 10 Security Council meeting, diplomats told Inner City Press that the above was referred to obliquely in the press statement that resulted from the meeting, "welcom[ing] recent steps taken by the Congolese authorities" but "undert[aking] to continue to monitor progress." Any monitoring should involve progress reports on the location and legal proceedings against the above-name five.

On July 10, Inner City Press asked Doss about former MONUC Major General Patrick Cammaert's statement June 24 to the Press that Jean-Bosco Ntaganda, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, is prancing around Goma, eating in the most expensive restaurant, and listed as deputy coordinator of Operation Kimia II, which NGOs say should be canceled due to failure to protect civilians.

Doss replied that while he eats at that restaurant, he has not seen Bosco. Regarding the FARDC notes about Bosco being a deputy coordinator in Kimia II, Doss said it was just a summary, but that he has obtained a written statement that Bosco is not involved. Video here, from Minute 33:19.

NGOs on the ground in the Kivus beg to differ. Some question whether the above-named five, even if now suspend, won't just be five more Boscos, dining lakeside in Goma and running free. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un5bosco071009.html

At UN, Turkey Admits No Move to Put Xinjiang on Agenda, Ergodan Quote "Not Based on Realities"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2xinjiang070909.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 9 -- The day after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by that "We will put the events happening in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region onto the agenda of the United Nations' Security Council," Inner City Press asked the charge d'affaires of the Turkish Mission to the United Nations Fazli Corman about the quote and if Turkey had in fact made any moves to that effect. "We didn't make any moves on that," Ambassador Corman said. "That reports were not actually based on the realities."

Inner City Press asked if Prime Minister Erdogan had been misquoted. Yes, Ambassador Corman indicated.

This would not be the first time that a member of the UN Security Council said one thing in its country for popular consummation, but never acted on its within the UN in New York. But the Uighurs are a high profile political issue in Turkey, because they are not only Muslims but Turkic.

On July 8, Inner City Press asked two senior diplomats with China's mission to the UN about Prime Minister Erdogan's quote, and wrote about it. The first expressed surprise. It was noted that only on June 25 Turkish President Abdullah Gul met with Hu Jintao in Beijing. The second, higher placed, came to tell Inner City Press that his mission had "demarched" the Turkish Mission to the UN and that nothing would be raised. Other Security Council members, polled by Inner City Press on July 9 on the margins of a Council meeting about Somalia, expressed doubts that Turkey would even raise the issue.

In the hallway after the Council's Somalia meeting was over, Inner City Press approached Ambassador Corman as he finished speaking with U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff and, after some questions about the North Korea sanctions committee that Turkey chairs, asked about Prime Minister Erdogan's quote.

As noted, Ambassador Corman replied that the "reports were not actually based on the realities." One might interpret this to mean, not based on the political and economic realities.

While China has a veto on any substantive decisions by the Council, as to the U.S., France, UK and Russia, there are no veto rights on procedural votes, such as whether to put a situation or conflict onto the Council's agenda. This is why, for example, Myanmar is on the agenda, despite opposition from China and Russia among others. Outgoing UK Permanent Representative John Sawers told the Press that Sri Lanka could have been put on the agenda of the Council earlier this year, the votes were there, but that the unity of the Council was deemed more important.

In this case, some doubt if it is a desire for Council unity that explains the silence in the Council, even of Turkey despite its Prime Minister's quoted comments. China's economic importance, these critics say, give it in effect a double veto, or two forms of veto. While the immediately conflict in Xinjiang may be calming down, the underlying issues remain. But despite what Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan was quoted as saying -- that Turkey would put the issue on the Security Council's agenda -- is remains doubtful this will happen.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2xinjiang070909.html

As Sri Lanka Taxes and Cuts NGOs, Parades the Detained Doctors, UN Has Nothing to Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip6may2srilanka070909.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 9 -- As the Rajapaksa administration orders the Red Cross and other international non-governmental organizations to close offices and scale down their operations in eastern and northern Sri Lanka, the UN and its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs so far have said nothing.

Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas on July 9 about the Red Cross, for example, being forced to close its operations in Trincomalee and Batticaloa where it has 150 staff members. When Sudan threw out some 200 staff from Darfur, the UN criticized it immediately and loudly. Here, the UN said nothing and, when asked, Ms. Montas said "we are trying to get more information." Video here, from Minute 15:18.

On July 8, the Sri Lankan Army put on display the doctors, imprisoned for seven weeks, who had remained in the northern conflict zone offering treatment and casualty figures. Again, the UN had nothing to say. Ban Ki-moon and his top humanitarian aide John Holmes had both in the past spoken about the doctors and their treatment. But confronted with the grotesque display of imprisoned and presumptively threatened humanitarians being forced to make pro-government statement the UN -- a club of governments -- had nothing to say.

Inner City Press on July 9 asked Ban's spokesperson about the doctors. She said, there were their statements earlier and then their statements when they got "out of jail... I can't say what is true." Amnesty International and others have said that statements after detention like this are not credible. But the UN apparently no longer cares what the doctors say.

Inner City Press asked if Ban is requesting that they not be put on trial. Ms. Montas said "he didn't mention trial because there was no question of trial...As far as I know they've been released."

The UN is trying and largely succeeding, for now, in putting into the past its shameful inaction during the carnage in Sri Lanka.
In recent days the UN has promised but not delivered answers on a series of troubling developments in Sri Lanka.

Inner City Press asked about reports of government soldiers firing their weapons in the UN-funded internment camps in Vavuniya. We don't know about that, Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas said, we just don't have access. Inner City Press asked why the UN provides funds if it cannot verify and answer for its use. Ms. Montas said she would look into how it works. But after that, no information or answers were provided.

Nor did the UN's Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have anything to say when asked about the Sri Lankan government taxing NGOs, which is otherwise only done in Burma. Now, no comment on the government's order to the Red Cross and others to scale back their operations. Even in following up on the Joint Statement Ban issued with Mahinda Rajapaksa, the UN has no follow through. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip6may2srilanka070909.html

On W. Africa Drugs, UN Makes Excuses for Guinea's Conte and CNDD Coup Leaders, No Shame

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undrug1guinea070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- As the UN system brags about its work against illicit drug trafficking in West Africa, questions have arisen about the UN's engagement with the past and present regimes in Guinea. When previous president-until-death Lansana Conte died in December 2008, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a laudatory statement about Conte's rule.

Soon thereafter, it emerged that Conte's family used diplomatic privileges to traffic massive quantities of drugs. On July 8, Inner City Press asked Ban's Special Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit and UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa about their dealings with Conte and the CNDD military coup leaders who have succeeded him, in light of Ban's statements against Honduras' coup leaders. Video here, from Minute 53:03.

Mr. Djinnit at first said he didn't understand the question, and then emphasized that he dealt more with Guinea's prime minister than with Mr. Conte, who he said was sick. Djinnit confirmed that he engages with the coup leader CNDD president, who Djinnit says is "committed to deal" with drugs, although he said the UN "has concerns about how it is being done." Video here, from Minute 54:08.

Mr. Costa recounted telling Lansana Conte about the drug trafficking of Conte's son, and then getting a call three hours later from Guinea's prime minister, who said that Conte himself had called to become better informed. Like Djinnit, Costa essentially excused Conte for allow the country's presidency to be used for drug trafficking by saying Conte was ill, and couldn't control his son. The disparity of the UN's statements about "coup leaders" in Honduras and its "flexible" approach to Guinea could not be more stark.

Inner City Press also Djinnit, Costa or their two panel members Andrew Hughes, UN Police Adviser, Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO); and Harper Boucher, INTERPOL Special Representative to the UN, to comment on the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendation that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, so praised by the UN, be removed from public life for 30 years for supporting war lord Charles Taylor.

The only response, such as it was, from from Mr. Hughes, who said he was not the right one to answer. Afterwards, Inner City Press asked INTERPOL's Mr. Boucher about the freeing of former Kosovar prime minister Ceku from an Interpol warrant for war crimes by the flashing of a UN document. Boucher said he wasn't that familiar with the case, but that it might be "political" You don't say...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undrug1guinea070809.html

Amid Liberian Calls to Bar Johnson Sirleaf, UN Says Nothing Except TRC Not At Risk

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/trc1sirleaf070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- The UN system has praised both the Liberia truth and reconciliation commission and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Now the commission has recommended that Johnson Sirleaf be barred from public office for thirty years, in part because she supported indicted war criminal Charles Taylor, including financially.

Inner City Press on July 7 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson Michele Montas if Mr. Ban or the UN Mission in Liberia have any response to the recommendation, given both the UN's central role in Liberia and Sierra Leone and previous statements about Ms. Johnson Sirleaf. It is up to the Liberians," Ms. Montas said, "not for the UN to decide." Video here, from Minute 16:56.

From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission has recommended that President [Ellen] Johnson-Sirleaf be barred from public office for 30 years for having supported Charles Taylor, including economically. Does the… given the central role in Liberia and Sierra Leone, what does the UN think of this recommendation?

Spokesperson Montas: This is a report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, and the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has received the draft of the Commission’s report. It will be up to the Liberians to determine how they want to take forward the reconciliation process. It is not for the UN to decide; it is for the Liberians to decide.

Inner City Press: What about the issue… because I have seen a lot of UN statements very laudatory of President Johnson-Sirleaf. She has acknowledged apparently giving $10,000 to Charles Taylor rebels at the time. Does that change the UN’s opinion at all?

Spokesperson Montas: I will not comment on this.

But the UN, particularly the UN Development Program, has supported Johnson Sirleaf including in her campaigns. Given reports that she gave $10,000 to Taylor's forces, which recruited child soldiers and cut off limps, shouldn't the UN have something to say now?

Inner City Press asked UN envoy to West African Said Djinnet, was briefing the Security Council on Tuesday morning, what he thought of the recommendation. Mr. Djinit declined to comment, noting that there is a UN Mission in Liberia, UNMIL. Inner City Press then asked Djinnit directly about what Inner City Press has quoted an African Ambassador as saying, that the UN offered Djinnit as a possible replacement for Rodolphe Adada in Darfur. Djinnit laughed and pointed at his ear.

On July 8, Inner City Press asked Ms Montas if the UN will be responding to the call by the Liberian Human Rights Campaign that UNMIL provided protection to the members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Ms. Montas wasn't sure; later in the day, UN Police Advisor Andrew Hughes answered Inner City Press by saying he wasn't the right person to ask. Said Djinnit thanked Inner City Press for not asking in public about the possible Darfur post. (Separately, a concerned diplomat told Inner City Press that "the West" likes Djinnet.) And then the following arrived:

Subj: Liberia and TRC Commissioners
From: unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 7/8/2009 3:27:25 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

Regarding your question at today's Noon Briefing regarding Liberia and the TRC Commissioners: UNMIL already supports the Liberia National Police, (LNP) in the police's primary responsibility for ensuring day-to-day civil security in Liberia.Currently, there is no credible evidence of threats to any member(s) of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). If any such threat was made, UNMIL, in support of the LNP, would be available to assist in the protection of TRC Commissioners. To date, no requests for additional security support have been made by the TRC Commissioners.

But still not comment by the UN about the recommendation of the TRC Commissioners. Some rule of law...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/trc1sirleaf070809.html

As Group of Friends on Myanmar Meets at the UN, UK Perm Rep Sawers Doesn't Friend Them Despite UK Push for Trip

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/bangam1myanmar070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- In the run up to the trip to Myanmar by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons that the UK had urged Ban to go to Burma. The trip took place; General Than Shwe rejected Ban's request to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi; nearly everyone called the endeavor a failure.

With Ban still out of New York, at the G-8 meetings in Italy, Gambari descended to the UN basement on July 8 to brief the 14 countries on Ban's Group of Friends on Myanmar. Notably, UK Permanent Representative John Sawers was not present, unlike his counterparts from Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, among others. Some some suspected Facebook fallout -- and joked of Sawers not "friending" the Group -- others questioned the UK being so loud before the trip, and so quiet afterwards, at least in public.

Gambari, normally affable, rushed into the meeting room. UN staff have confirmed to Inner City Press that Than Shwe in a fit of pique made Gambari travel to the country's jungle capital by road, rather than by air. Reportedly, surrounded by the Ban-selected scribes on this most recent trip, Gambari wished for the presence of other reporters, to witness the indignities and discomforts that he has been going through.

There was also the report -- an exclusive by Inner City Press -- that Gambari's name was offered by Ban as a possible replacement for Rodolphe Adada in Darfur, but that some Western powers rejected it. A subsequent candidate Said Djinnit earlier on June 8 thanked Inner City Press for not asking publicly about the Darfur post, at least not during his press conference on West Africa (Inner City Press' report on West Africa is forthcoming.)

Indonesia's Ambassador strode in jaunty as ever; Japan's Takasu with a staffer. China's also jaunty Deputy had Xinjiang on his mind, saying that despite Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's statement that Turkey will put Xinjiang on the Security Council's agenda (see Inner City Press story here), the Turkish Mission to the UN has received no instructions to this effect. Other Ambassador's marveled at the recent and dirty campaign to re-nominate Mr. Supachai as secretary general of UNCTAD.

Diplomat's minds seemed everywhere except on Myanmar. But since the UK asked for the trip, some felt Sawers should have been present. He spoke of the issue earlier in the day, but only to select reporters, and only off the record. Whether this approach is the best for Burma is in question. Watch this space.

Update of 4:07 p.m. -- to be fair, Sawers' affable deputy was present. Whether he will speak on the record after the meeting, given the UK's role, remains to be seen.

Update of 4:31 p.m. -- while the Friends on Myanmar continue meeting, the head of a Security Council mission spoke to Inner City Press about the Turkish Prime Minister - China imbloglio: "that's why we have a free Press," he said.... But on Myanmar, there are no other reporters outside the Friends' basement meeting.

Update of 5:15 p.m. -- And when the meeting broke up, like clock work at precisely five o'clock, Gambari declines to speak with the Press, saying to wait for Ban to return to New York. Inner City Press said, or asked, "Ban will speak to the Security Council?" "Or to this group," Gambari answered. That would be to further downgrade the Myanmar issue.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/bangam1myanmar070809.html

Turkey's Erdogan Says Will Put Xinjiang on UN Council Agenda, Didn't on Sri Lanka, China's Reaction

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1xinjiang070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8, updated -- While the 150 deaths in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region are covered, with China's consent if not control, in media worldwide, very little is being said at the UN, particularly in its Security Council. Following a July 6 meeting on North Korea, the issue did not arise. Nor July 7 as the Council met about West Africa.

But on July 8, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Istanbul,"We will put the events happening in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region onto the agenda of the United Nations' Security Council."

In May and June 2009, Inner City Press asked Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and now-retired UN Ambassador Ilkin about putting the issue of over 10,000 dead civilians in Sri Lanka on the Council's agenda. Both demurred.

Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu on May 11 told Inner City Press that the UN should “cooperate with the government of Sri Lanka because we have to cooperate in all efforts against terrorism.”

On June 2, Ambassador Ilkin told Inner City Press emphatically that Sri Lanka is not on the Council's agenda. Video here, Minute 22.

Now, because of the involvement of Muslims in Xinjiang, Turkey's prime minister wants it on the Council's agenda. What standard is Turkey applying?

Inner City Press asked a senior Chinese diplomat at the UN about Erdogan's statement. It is an internal matter, the Chinese diplomat said. After Inner City Press' follow-up, he conceded that Chinese authorities should have handled the beating of Uighur factory workers in South China better: they "didn't do enough to disclose what they knew."

But he insisted, Muslims have rights, but not to kill. He likened it to African American in the United States, saying they have grievances but cannot break the law to express them and "burn down public buildings and kill innocent passersby."

Regarding the Turkish prime minister's vow to the GCC to put the issue on the Council's agenda, the Chinese diplomat smiled. He said, "So be it." Watch this site.

Update of 5:30 p.m., July 8 -- the Chinese Mission to the UN, working quickly, "demarched" the Turkish mission and reportedly the actual Turkish plan or desire to try to put Xinjiang on the Security Council agenda is no more. This is how it works. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1xinjiang070809.html

As UK's Malloch Brown Again Seeks Cash, Sri Lanka and IMF Loan Questions, UN Scandals

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ukmmb1srilanka070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- The United Kingdom, whose power is so magnified by its permanent seat on the UN Security Council that like France it is one of the UN's major defenders, finds its interface with the Organization in some disarray.

Beyond the so-called "Facebook-gate" surrounding UK Permanent Representative Sir John Sawers, fairly or not, now the UK's Minister for the UN Lord Mark Malloch Brown has announced he will step down by the end of July "for family reasons."

This comes a fortnight after Malloch Brown told Inner City Press that "As far as I'm concerned, the IMF loan [to Sri Lanka] is not going anywhere." Given the personal qualifier, one wonders about the UK's engagement with the Rajapaksa administration going forward, particularly given lack of UK statements on the ongoing internment in northern Sri Lanka including by ostensible envoy Des Browne (who was seen July 7 during Prime Minister's Questions raising not Sri Lanka but a proposed business closing in his Kilmamock district).

This new transition recalls Malloch Brown's flirtation with the private sector, specifically the empire of his long-time friend George Soros, just after he left the UN with Kofi Annan at the end of 2006. While working for the UN in New York, the Malloch Browns lived on a Soros-owned estate in suburban Westchester.

When questioned about the potential conflict of interest, given for example the intertwining of the UN Development Program which MMB had headed with Soros' Open Society Institute, MMB said he was paying $10,000 a month. He declined to provide documentation.

Subsequently, after Inner City Press exposed MMB's decision while at UNDP to spend over $500,000 on a purportedly independent scholarly book praising UNDP and himself, Malloch Brown lost his cool and dropped the "J word" -- jerk -- for which then UN spokesman Stephane Dujuarric apologized days later.

The book, "UNDP: A Better Way?" by Craig N. Murphy, thanks as the first acknowledgement "Mark Malloch Brown, who hired me to write this history. He offered the unbeatable combination of... a good salary and travel budget." MMB like Murphy continues to search for that.

Before Malloch Brown's second hand apology, a new rationale was found: Malloch Brown was defending his friend Brian Gleeson, embroiled then in a separate UNDP scandal. Now Gleeson is being recycled as the Australian government's Coordinator General for "Remote Indigenous Services." Another of MMB's UNDP (and by his own account Soros) compadres, Kalman Mizsei, has resurfaced as EU envoy in Moldova.

Where will Malloch Brown recycle himself now? His sudden resignation was not raised by the opposition during the July 8 Prime Minister's Questions, fielded by House of Commons Leader Harriet Harman given Gordon Brown's commitments at the G-8 meetings in Italy -- at which as exclusively reported by Inner City Press he UN World Food Program is flying in school children from Ghana for a "simulated feeding program" display for G-8 leaders' spouses. Which spouses will attend? What does Malloch Brown think of this UN World Food Program initiative? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ukmmb1srilanka070809.html

Siemens AG Banned Only 6 Months by UN, 2 Years by World Bank, UN Pays For Non-Existent Garden

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1siemens070709.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 7 -- As German conglomerate Siemens AG, fresh from guilty pleas under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, faces a two year suspension as a vendor by the World Bank, the United Nations has imposed only a six month ban.

On July 7, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Michele Montas, who has previously defended the UN's failure to ban the Indian Enron Satyam, to explain the different penalties imposed by the UN and the World Bank. "Each body has its own decision making process," Ms. Montas answered. Video here, from Minute 18:25.

Inner City Press then asked if it would be fair to conclude that the UN or at least its Department of Management which oversees procurement takes anti-corruption even less seriously than the World Bank, based on its ban being one-quarter of the World Bank's, based on the same facts. "It's not a question of which organization is more stringent than the other," Ms. Montas argued. But isn't it?

Previously, even though the World Bank had barred Satyam from contracting, the UN continued to do business with it. After this was raised by the Press, the UN said it was winding down contracting with Satyam. No updates have been given.
In June there was no press conference by the chief of the Department of Management, Angela Kane, who has complained that UN responses are not published. For this story, Inner City Press waited hours after asking the question at the UN's noon briefing. The Siemens question is one which should be answered.

At a smaller level, Inner City Press has been informed that while the UN's North Lawn is now covered by the temporary building which will house the General Assembly and Secretary General's Office during the five years of the Capital Master Plan, payments continue to be made on a multi-year contract for gardening of the North Korea. This was reported to Inner City Press by a whistleblower, and then confirmed by a UN procurement official. But what is being done?

The Department of Management, which oversees both procurement and the Capital Master Plan, is continuing despite criticism even in the U.S. Congress with a plan to change reporters' current working conditions, with closed door offices to meet and speak with sources including whistleblowers, to an "open office" plan in which there will be no doors, no walls to the ceiling, no privacy. A whistleblower free zone appears to be what the UN Department of Management has in mind. Watch this site.

From the UN's July 7, 2009 transcript:

Inner City Press: about Siemens, this German conglomerate has been barred by the World Bank from doing business with it for two years for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. So now the UN is only barring them for only six months, and I am wondering if the Department of Management or Procurement or the Senior Review Panel -– what’s the difference in terms of the acts? Why would the UN… [interrupted]?

Spokesperson Montas: Each body has its own decision making process, you know. Here, it is for six months and for longer over there. You know, it’s a matter of the individual administrations to decide.

Inner City Press: is it fair to say that from this one could say the World Bank is more serious about anti-corruption than the UN? [interrupted]?

Spokesperson Montas: That has nothing to do with this. This is just an administrative matter. They have been banned for six months. So it’s not a question of which organization is more stringent than the other. I don’t think this is the issue. I think the issue is that each one of these organizations has taken measures about Siemens. Thank you all so very much.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1siemens070709.html

For G-8 Spouses, WFP Flies in Ghanaian Children for "Simulated Feeding," $500,000 Cost and Ms. Sheeran Disputed, re N. Korea

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/wfp1g8display070709.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 7 -- During the upcoming G-8 meeting in Italy, the UN World Food Program is flying school children from Ghana to Rome for a "simulated food distribution" display for the spouses of G-8 representatives. WFP has ordered staff not involved in the display to not come to work that day. They will, however, received "special leave with full pay."

Inner City Press wrote about this last week, quoting an internal WFP e-mail. On July 7, Inner City Press called in to what was described as a WFP press briefing about the G-8 and asked for response to criticism of the event as insensitive to beneficiaries of UN aid and for the cost, as well as about limitations WFP accepts from the government of North Korea.

The WFP officials on the conference call -- who will remain unnamed at their request -- at first did not answer the question, and then stated that the event would cost only a fraction of the figure Inner City Press used its its July 2 story, $500,000.

Inner City Press asked to be given on the record WFP's figure, including staff time, accommodation and air fare -- and carbon offsetting of the jet travel, if any. Four hours later, after close of business in Rome, a WFP spokesman said that an answer might be forthcoming. In the interim, WFP had scrubbed up and approved a quote from the "background" briefing for a less critical wire service piece.

And so, beyond the WFP e-mail below describing the event, here is the basis for Inner City Press' estimate of cost:

According to the WFP website, 'WFP employed 10,200 people in 2008 (91 percent of staff serve in the field.)' That means about 1000 work at WFP Headquarters in Rome. Even accounting for a satellite building that will stay in operation -- though who knows how many staff will show up or be able to get near it -- we estimate that 800 staff go home and that the average grade is the mid range of a P4 (grades are higher at WFP headquarters than in the field). The direct cost for such a post is about $100,000 but one must add to that pension, staff assessment and a large "post adjustment" because the dollar is weak against the Euro. Therefore a more realistic annual cost for a mid range P4 is perhaps $150,000-160,000.

The work year has 260 days, so a single day of labor lost costs the organization $576. Multiplied by 800, one gets about $467,000 -- plus related security costs, the cost of flying in the Ghanaian children to eat corn-soy blend in view of the G-8 spouses, the construction of a fake schoolhouse by WFP's pool, etc. In addition there is the Italian government paying rent on a building that is not being used to manage food aid but as a set for this theater. The last public figure on the website for the building costs was about $45 million per annum with a daily cost of roughly $123,000. So $467,000 plus $123,000 yields about $590,000.

Immediately after a senior WFP official on Tuesday's conference call said that costs were only "a fraction" of $500,000, Inner City Press formally asked for WFP's estimate of costs, and for confirmation that a WFP staffer was expelled from North Korea.

At deadline nine hours later, the following arrived:

Hi Matthew, On the question regarding the planned event at WFP headquarters on Friday 10 July, I refer you to the response given during the teleconference earlier today. On the question of DPRK, I have the following response:

A senior WFP official said one WFP staff member in DPRK has had to leave the country because his visa was not renewed by the authorities. A number of other WFP staff members have been reassigned, or rotated to new duty stations because WFP's operations have contracted and the number of people required to support WFP's activities have gone down.

"While WFP continues to operate under the new conditions imposed by the DPRK authorities, it has not formally accepted them, and WFP is continuing to push for a return to the original terms of agreement negotiated with the government at the launch of the current emergency operation," the official added.

We continue to wait for WFP's cost estimate. Inner City Press immediately followed up on the above, asking for the costs, if the WFP staff member who had to leave DPRK was from South Korea, and another question.

The initial questions were sent to WFP chief Josette Sheeran's e-mail address. Ms. Sheeran, on whom Inner City Press has previously reported, including where possible praising her work, has taken to hiring yet more former colleagues from the Washington Times, most recently Elizabeth "Lisa" Bryant.

Within the UN system community in Rome, many believe that Ms. Sheeran engaged in a quid pro quo with FAO chief Jacques Diouf, hiring a relative of his for an information technology post in exchange for FAO hiring the husband of her personal assistant, Tanujah Rastogi. They snark that since Ms. Sheeran Shiner bragged that while editing the Washington Times she ran story after story about the Clintons and Whitewater, the Obama Administration with Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State might want to see a change at the top of WFP. Through in the snafu of the $500,000 simulated feeding program and.... well, watch this site.

Rome colleagues:

As you know, Italy will be hosting the G8 Summit next week and leaders from more than two dozen countries will be in L’Aquila. We are honored that the Italian government has asked WFP to host an official program at our headquarters on Friday, 10 July, as part of the spouse program.
This visit is a profound testament to the increasing visibility of WFP's work -- and an opportunity to help the world better understand the important work we do. On our premises, we are arranging a simulated food distribution and a symbolic African schoolhouse, where a small group of Ghanaian schoolchildren will help celebrate our work. (You may have noticed the large exhibit being erected this morning behind the pool.)

Due to the security precautions mandated by the Italian government and the visiting delegations, only those employees involved in the event or deemed necessary for critical operations by their managers will be permitted on the main building premises during the morning of July 10. Among other things, parking will be severely limited at our main building and automobile access limited in Parco de Medici in general.
But we encourage you to take advantage of this special exhibit and bring your families, including your children, on the afternoon of 10 July – anytime after 2:00 – so they can get a taste of our field work and meet the schoolchildren. If you cannot bring your family on 10 July, note that the tent and displays will remain up on Monday, 13 July, so we invite you to bring family members to see the display then.

Though this is a special event, we realize it might cause some inconvenience. We hope you can appreciate what an historic opportunity this is for some of the world’s most influential people to understand what we do and to see the impact of their donations.

Here are some guidelines for the day: If you work in the main building, please do not come to the office Friday morning, 10 July. The St. Martin’s building will remain open. As much as possible, please work from home... We expect the main building to re-open for business as usual at 2:00, so if it's feasible for you to return, please do so. If returning to the office in the afternoon is not feasible for you -- we recognize that some of the Parco de Medici transit options do not run in the afternoon, for instance – you are authorized special leave with full pay. Thank you,
Steve Taravella
Chief of Internal Communications, World Food Programme
Via C.G. Viola 68,Rome, Italy 00148

Footnote: one WFP staffer, anonymous from fear of retaliation, asked if Josette Sheeran would similarly "parade around Food Stamp recipient in the United States," and went on to suggest that if the G-8 spouses wanted to see "needy Africans" while in Italy, they could check out the camps on Lampedusa...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/wfp1g8display070709.html

As Security Council Meets on N. Korea, Malay Bank, Ban and Kang Nam 1 in UN Penumbra

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1may6dprk070609.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 6, updated -- As the UN Security Council mechanically convened days after North Korea fired seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, the mystery grew around the Kang Nam 1 ship with its reputed cargo of weapons for Myanmar, and the unnamed Malaysian bank reportedly pegged to process Burmese payments.

The place of a middleman between the regimes in North Korea and Myanmar is called by some the vortex of evil. Others apparently call it good business.

Reports -- and photos -- emerged Monday of tunnels in Myanmar designed by North Korean advisers. DVB reports that

"five Burmese companies – Htoo Trading, Kambawza, Asia World, Aden and Shwe Thanlwin – are known however to have provided machinery for the digging of the tunnels... A secret visit by General Thura Shwe Mann, the Burmese regime’s third-in-command, along with 18 other high ranking military officials to North Korea in November 2008, is another indicator of how the two countries have been cooperating. During the visit, Shwe Mann and North Korean Army Chief General Kim Gyok-sik signed an Memorandum of Understanding on further cooperation plans. The Burmese delegation also visited an underground military hardware factory near Pyongyang."

But it is Pyongyang's threats to Japan and Seoul which trigger UN action. Myanmar gets a free pass.

In front of the Security Council late Monday afternoon, Japanese media converged as they did after the last launch by Pyongyang. South Korea's Ambassador came and said they expect the Council to react. Inner City Press asked a Council diplomat when Ban Ki-moon's envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari is slated to brief the so-called Group of Friends on Myanmar.

This is what Ban said when empty handed he left Myanmar: that Gambari would return to New York and brief the Friends while he traveled on to Geneva -- click here for Inner City Press' UNCTAD story -- Ireland and then the G-8 meeting in Italy.

The diplomat said Ban would have been expected to do the briefing himself, but perhaps with so little accomplished, Gambari would have to do.

A strange theory justifying Ban's apparently fruitless trip to Myanmar began to circulate in the UN on Monday: that it was due to Ban's presence that the Kang Nam 1 did not dock in Myanmar. Since Ban has already claimed on the Charlie Rose television program that he saved 500,000 people in Myanmar, taking credit for the Kang Nam 1's return to North Korea may not be far off.

While the Malaysian bank at issue has so far gone unnamed, one wonders if the UN committee set to finger companies for sanctions this coming Friday might not name the Malay bank. Watch this space.

Update of 5:40 p.m. -- the Council has "suspended" its consultations on North Korea until 6 p.m..

Update of 6:06 p.m. -- a Council diplomat tells the Press that whatever will happen today will happen soon. The crowd of mostly Japanese media expresses a collective desire to leave.

Update of 7:05 p.m. -- First, the Chinese delegation strode out, telling the Press, the President will have a statement for you. Then the U.S. squad, with Susan Rice, Alejandro Wolff and at least two bodyguards, came out, the bodyguards between Ms. Rice and the press. Finally the Ugandan Ambassador, Council president for July, emerged and read out what he called an "oral statement," that the Council condemns the missiles, finding them a violation of resolutions. He was followed by Japan's Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who called the "oral statement" -- less even than a formal Press Statement, which in turn is less than a Presidential Statement which is less than a resolution -- "clear and strong."

Inner City Press asked Amb. Takasu to comment on the Kang Nam ship. Takasu said that Japan had spoken with other neighboring countries about their duty to search such North Korea ships if they came to port. Inner City Press asked, did Japan speak to Myanmar, and what does Japan think of Ban Ki-moon's recent two day trip to Myanmar: success or failure?

Takasu said Japan spoke "bilaterally" to countries in Asia "but not necessarily to Myanmar." He said it was too early to judge Ban's trip, she spoke with Ban and Gambari "during" the trip and would be briefed upon Ban's return to New York. He called the current outcome of the Kang Nam trip a demonstration of the value of UN resolutions. But the Ugandan Ambassador told Inner City Press that the Kang Nam didn't even come up during the consultations, and another Council diplomat confirmed this. Go figure. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1may6dprk070609.html