UN in Congo Accused of Whoring and Working with War Criminals, Doss Blames Victim's Family, Cites Due Process

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/drc2doss101609.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- The UN's Mission in the Congo, MONUC, faces accusations from its host and a rapporteur. The UN's expert on summary executions Philip Alston in a October 15 report detailed, among other things, that a unit of the Congolese army in Shalio killed 50 refugees and raped 40 women.

Inner City Press on October 16 asked MONUC chief Alan Doss about the unit and its commander, Colonel Zimulinda, who is still serving with the Congolese Army with which MONUC works. Doss replied that there is an investigation, as he did about charges about his own scandals, click here for Inner City Press' other story on this today.

The Congolese Ambassador Ileka Atoki told the Security Council that on July 31 - August 1, UN blue helmets under Doss' command engaged in "sexual deviance," turning a spot near Congo's N'djili International Airport into a "baisodrome."

This was chastely translated as brothel, but the connotation is larger. He asked the Council and Inner City Press asked UN Spokesperson Michele Montas, what about the UN's vaunted 2005 "zero tolerance" policy on sexual abuse and exploitation​?

While on his own scandals Doss simply refused to comment, on this he blamed the victim, or the victim's family, saying that her brother asked for money. In the United States, a civil suit or request for a settlement does not prove that the underlying wrong did not occur, not does it absolve the UN under its own rules and proclamations. We will await the UN Secretariat's response, which was requested.

Doss said in the Council and to the Press that in the right circumstance his MONUC would withdraw support from Congolese Army units engaged in abuse. But he has never done so. Alston's report contains other abusive FARDC commanders' names: Sultani Makenga, Bernard Byamungu and Salumu Mulenda . What if anything will Doss do? Watch this site.

Admittedly, MONUC's job is not easy. But of late even some of Doss' supporters have begun to voice more loudly that he may not be the right official for the job.

Now Doss' deputy Ross Mountain is leaving, as talks about the future of MONUC have begun, in Washington. Perhaps a fresh beginning in both posts would work best.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/drc2doss101609.html

UN's Congo Chief Doss Won't Explain Nepotism E-mail, Dodges Cook as Engineer Question

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/doss5boot101609.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- The UN's envoy to the Congo Alan Doss declined comment Friday on his leaked e-mail asking that the UN Development Program show him "leeway" and give a job to his daughter, and on allegations by UN staff in the Congo that he brought his cook from his previous assignment in Liberia to Kinshasa as a UN engineer.

The nepotism scandal broken in July, when Inner City Press obtained and published the e-mail which openly asked that the UN's rules be bent or broken to hire Doss' daugther Rebecca. Click here for that.

Friday in front of the Security Council, after relegating questions about his own conduct to the tail end of a stakeout question and answer session with the Press -- we follow his logic and will report on the Lord's Resistance Army and Kivus elsewhere -- Doss claimed that the e-mail line was taken out of context. But Inner City Press published the entire email.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, those his deputy spokesperson, said he was concerned and expected to receive a report, when he returned to New York. That was two months ago. Now Doss says he won't comment until the report, half down by UNDP itself, is finished. Thus it is at the UN, several observers have opined, there is no accountability, internal investigations are just a way to bury problems.

Similarly, when Inner City Press asked Doss about the letter by the head of the MONUC national staff union in the Congo to Ban Ki-moon about problems at MONUC, including his being barred from MONUC premises and threats against his life, all Doss responded was, that too is under investigation. There is a pattern here.

Doss' answer on the allegation, by UN staff in the Congo, that he brought his cook from Liberia to the Congo was that he didn't bring anyone from Liberia "under false pretenses." But what does this mean? That he told someone, even sotto voce, that this was a cook?

Inner City Press asked the UN to confirm or deny this more than two weeks ago. A spokesperson for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations told Inner City Press she sought a response from Doss' MONUC office, repeatedly, but couldn't get one. Friday at the stakeout Doss asserted that MONUC had in fact answered: he did not bring anyone under false pretenses. What does that mean? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/doss5boot101609.html

At UN, Serbia on Churches Paved Over, Kosovo Calls World Court Merely Advisory

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/icj1kosovo101509.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 15 -- Even in the run up to the International Court of Justice's proceeding on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, at the UN Security Council the issue has lost its juice. As the Council on Thursday debated whether or not to let Kosovo speak, the stakeout outside was as empty as for Nepal. When the principals emerged, only the Kosovar spoke. Lamberto Zannier, who cashes checks at the UN's envoy to Kosovo, did not speak to the Press.

Vuk Jeremic, when he emerged, walked slowly by the stakeout. There was no other reporter waiting other than Inner City Press. Further up the hall he graciously stopped and answered three questions. Inner City Press asked, what can the ICJ case actually change, on the ground?

Jeremic said it's the biggest ICJ case in history, with 31 countries participating including each of the Council's Permanent Five member. What about cultural damage? Jeremic spoke of a church demolished, paved over and turned into a park. It must be reversed, he said.

Zannier in his testimony complained that until the eve of his flight to the Council in New York, the Kosovo authorities refused to meet with him. Jeremic afterwards told Inner City Press the meeting only took place between the Kosovars were embarrassed. But what is the future of UNMIK?

Inner City Press asked Kosovo's representative if he wants the UN to leave. He spoke highly of the EU and EULEX. And that may say it all.

Footnote: that Kosovo even spoke, inside the chamber, may create a precedent. Others wondered by South Ossetia and Abkhazia can't do it. The answer is the power of the U.S. as host country. They have to let in representatives of any member state. But on the cusp states like Kosovo and Abkhazia, they are not required and can choose. Some power.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icj1kosovo101509.html

UN Assembly President Treki Hires Daughter and Cousin, For Family Values

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/untreki1office101409.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 14 -- While the occupant of the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly changes each year, the same cannot be said for practices like nepotism and lack of transparency. Under the previous President, Nicaragua's Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, Inner City Press found and reported the hiring of two of his relatives, nephew Michael Clark and niece Sofia Clark, in the Office.

Now, new President Ali Treki of Libya lists on the web site of his Cabinet a relative named Ali Mohamed Treki. When Inner City Press asked the Office's spokesman and chief of staff for the precise familial relation, the talk got vague and went off the record.

Then Inner City Press discovered that Ali Treki's daughter Amal Ali Treki is working in the Office, and got this confirmed by Treki's thus far fair spokesman Jean-Victor Nkolo. Several other questions remain outstanding; the responses will be reported upon receipt.

The post of President of the General Assembly is the highest, at least technically, in the UN system. But it is run like a family business.

Inner City Press has also asked by whom and how much President Treki gets paid. This seems like a basic and fair question, but it has yet to be answered. It has been implied that Inner City Press should assume that Treki is paid by his government, Libya, but it has also been argued that he is and will be independent from Libya and its leader, Colonel Gaddafi. Which is it?

Two presidencies ago, Srgjan Kerim left unanswered who paid him -- a private company called WAZ Media -- and how much (reputed at $400,000). Inner City Press was asked, how many should Treki be paid, without being told by whom.

Treki has been embroiled in controversies, some by choice and some by happenstance. He did not write Gaddafi's disjointed General Debate speech: perhaps no one did. And continued reporting by Inner City Press about the Assembly's overruling of Treki's decision to give the floor to Madagascar's coup leader find that Treki was misled, to some degree, by those who called the question and the vote.

But Treki's decision on September 18 to answer a stray question about gay rights by calling homosexuality "not acceptable," not only by him but by "two billion Muslims and... Buddists and Jews," was his own choice. Inner City Press reported the comments, then asked Treki about the resulting condemnation by Congressman Barney Frank and counterparts of his in the UK and Australia. Treki stood by his comments, which Inner City Press understand that many of his own staff counseled him against.

To his credit, Treki has attracted some savvy UN staffers, using the professional level UN-paid posts available to him. His chief of staff Jamal Benomar, an expert on the rule of law, has his work cut out for him. His economic adviser Yasser Elnaggar has been around the UN block. Some say that Treki's daughter is among his best staff members. That's what every small businessman says...

Footnote: Inner City Press held publication of this article for several days seeking additional answers and comments from PGA Treki's office. If and when these are received, they will be published in future articles on Dr. Treki, his Office and the General Assembly.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untreki1office101409.html

At UN, Study of Organ Harvest in "Asian Country," China Not Named, Encouraged

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1organs101309.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- The UN launched a report on the trafficking of organs on Tuesday, but declined to name the countries which most allow for this grisly trade. At a press conference about the report, by the UN and Council of Europe, Inner City Press asked the authors about this line from page 59 of the report:

"There is a well known example of an Asian country where organs from executed prisoners have allegedly been used for the majority of the transplants performed in the country."

Inner City Press asked, "Is this China? And if so, why did you decided not to name names?" Video here, from Minute 27:56.

For the panel, the answer came from co-author Arthur Caplan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at U Penn. He nodded when the name China was mentioned, then said, "we could only rely on the media." He said "situations are changing... attempts at change in China and other countries are underway and we want to encourage that."

But isn't refusing to name the country engaged in organ harvesting after executions going a bit far, in terms of encouraging better behavior? Maybe the reticence to name names only encourages the abuse.

Inner City Press asked the authors to distinguish the sale of organs, which they oppose, with the sale of eggs and surrogate motherhood. Video here, from Minute 30:01.

Caplan and UN representative Rachel Mayanja both said that better definitions are needed. Mayanja, the Special Adviser to Ban Ki-moon on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, had earlier said that she hadn't been sure, in co-sponsoring the study, if women are disproportionately impacted by organ trafficking. Eggs sales and surrogate motherhood, they obviously are. Should we exchange another study? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1organs101309.html

UNDP Reports on Clark's Kiwi Concerns, Doss Probe In Limbo, Ryan on Sri Lanka

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/undp2hclark101509.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 15 -- The no longer so new Administrator of the UN Development Program, Helen Clark of New Zealand, has still not done a UN press conference. On Thursday one of her duputies, Jordan Ryan of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, was announced as the guest at the noon briefing, with no topic listed. [Inner City Press previously covered Ryan's work in Vietnam, click here.]

Once Ryan arrived on Thursday, the scope of the briefing was limited to UNDP's work in Tonga and Samoa. Inner City Press asked if this had anything to do with the interest of Helen Clark's native New Zealand in these two. Why not a briefing on the Philippines and Indonesia? Mr. Ryan did not directly answer. He described three big waves.

Since UNDP never comes to the UN briefing room anymore, Inner City Press asked Mr. Ryan a few outstanding UNDP questions. Is it true that UNDP was the agency charged with relocating the World Food Program in Islamabad to a common premises in the diplomatic zone, before the recent bombing? When will UNDP's internal investigation of Alan Doss' written request that he be shown "leeway" -- that rules be broken -- and a UNDP job given to his daughter? Ryan said there is an investigation. But it's been months.

As the moderator tried to cut off questions, Inner City Press returned Tonga and Samoa -- how much notice was given? half an hour -- then Guinea and Sri Lanka. Ryan, who has visited Sri Lanka, talked about building housing. Inner City Press asked about the view of some Tamils that the rehousing may involve changing the ethnic make up in Northern Sri Lanka. Video here.

Ryan said that not what he saw during his visit, but acknowledged that in some cases in Sri Lanka, people are moved to places other than where they came from. This could be done in the name of safety. But it could having intentions and / or effects.

Afterwards, several other UN correspondents marveled that Helen Clark, the UN system's third highest officials, has yet to come do a press conference at the UN. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp2hclark101509.html

New on UN Council, Nigeria and Brazil Not Keen to Use It, Lebanon Won't Recuse

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ungasc1elections101509.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 15 -- In five uncontested elections, the UN General Assembly put five countries on the Security Council for the next two years: Nigeria, Lebanon, Brazil, Bosnia and Gabon. Inner City Press asked the Foreign Minister of Nigeria Chief Ojo Maduekwe if his country would use the seat to address problems like the killing and raping of protesters of the coup leader in Guinea Conakry.

He responded indirectly, speaking of an ECOWAS meeting being convened in Nigeria. Video here. So, Nigeria would not use the Security Council.

Inner City Press asked the Ambassador of Brazil Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti if she would like to use the Council on the problems on Honduras, if they remain in January. She referred to regional solutions. Video here. So, like Nigeria, would not use the Council. Gabon did not even come to the stake out.

Lebanon is a country that is on the agenda of the Council. But its Ambassador Nawaf Salam refuse to answer any questions on Thursday, saying there would be two years to do so.

Inner City Press asked Sudan's Ambassador, representing the Arab Group, if Lebanon would recuse itself from votes and consultations on UNIFIL and Resolution 1701. No, he responded, adding that the Permanent Five are involved in nearly every agenda item, and yet they still vote.

After the stakeout was taken down, Inner City Press ran to the noon briefing and asked the General Assembly spokesman what rules or precedents apply to member states on the Council being on the agenda, and voting on their items. The election is over, he replied, your question may be moot. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ungasc1elections101509.html

As All-UN Panel Praises Corruption Unit, Inaction on Child Porn and Waste, Questions Not Answered

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/oios1birthday101509.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 15, updated -- The UN's investigative body, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, had a standing room only 15th birthday party in a small room in the UN's basement on Thursday morning. OIOS chief Inga Britt Ahlenius, who has not held a press conference in more than a year, sat near Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, separated only by the New York representative of UN University, which sponsored and some say mishandled the event, with a UN-only panel in an overly small room.

In the audience were, among others, a bow tied representative of the U.S. Mission to the UN -- which under the new administration has removed copies of OIOS audits from its website -- a representative of the UN Staff Union, and the Capital Master Plan's Michael Adlerstein. The CMP is under fire, including by Mexico and the Rio Group, for budget chicanery. Adlerstein's name still surfaces in litigation about his past job in New Jersey.

Ban began by claiming that the Ethics Office is offering whistleblower protection. But the first high profile applicant for protection, the UN Development Program's security chief in North Korea who uncovered irregularities there, was deemed outside of the Office's protection. UNDP refused even to comply with the Ethics Office's finding it denied due process and should pay back wages. Since then, other whistleblowers have been rebuffed. So what whistleblower protection?

Ms. Ahelnius then talked up the so called transparency resolution 59/272. But her reports are generally withheld, and she refuses to answer questions from the press. Meanwhile, as simply a few examples, findings of procurement irregularities at the UN in Timor Leste and the UN's IT unit, of child pornography users in DESA and in the Department of Safety and Security, go unacted on.

Inner City Press has asked Ban's Spokesperson about these OIOS findings, and others in Myanmar and about $252 million unaudited at the UN's refugee ageny UNHCR, without any answer. So, what transparency? What oversight?

A simple sample case, in which Ban's envoy to the Congo Alan Doss was found to have in writing asked UNDP to show him "leeway" -- break to rules -- to give his daughter a job, which occurred in June 2009, is still as of October 14 "under OIOS investigation," despite Ban supposedly having expected a report on August 18. So what work is OIOS doing?

At the entrance to the event, to which Inner City Press had RSVP-ed and to which it arrived on time, a UNU representative said sorry, the room is full. Can the Press be present if and when questions are taken? He shrugged, and suggested Inner City Press go and sit in a translation booth. Once there, listening to Ms. Ahlenius and seeing inside the UN's own "state media," another UN official came in and said, you cannot stay, people are complaining. And there, on a panel ostensibly about fighting corruption, is transparency at the UN.

Update of 1 p.m. -- near the end of the event, a UNU staffer came through the cramped hallway outside the empty translation booths, where Inner City Press and others were standing trying to hear. Inner City Press asked how, having RSVP-ed, it was supposed to participate. The staffer said to go back to the front door, past a table of cookies and fruit, and try to get in. It was still standing room only, but at least entrance wasn't blocked.

The short question and answer session, which was cut off well before the listed noon ending time, involved a speech by a representative of the Joint Inspection Unit and of European OLAF, and questions from staff members in DESA, Office of Administrative Justice and and intern from Peacekeeping. This last asked what it being doing to protect peacekeepers in Somalia. Ms. Malcorra replied that it is a African Union mission, but that the Security Council is discussing it.

The intern was not convinced and went away muttering that it is a hybrid mission, and the 11 Burundian peacekeepers have recently been killed. While he may have been thinking of UNAMID in Darur as the hybrid mission, the lack of transparency about what the UN is and is not paying for in Somalia is a topic to which we will return.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Ahlenius and Ms. Kane about transparency, using two examples: $7 million overpaid in Timor Leste, and the DESA staff member who pleaded guilty to possession child pornography. Ms. Kane said that she cannot comment -- or apparently act -- because of due process. But the OIOS' own report recites that the staff member pleaded guilty. That is, his guilt is not in doubt.

Since there was no response to this at the UN event, at the day's noon briefing Inner City Press asked Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq about the case, or more generally the import of a guilty plea to the UN, whether there was any thought that this plea in Canada was coerced or involuntary. Haq would not comment; Inner City Press asked for a briefing by Ahlenius -- it's been more than a year -- and Kane on this topic. Haq said he would ask.

Inner City Press asked the OLAF representative about this agency's investigation, on behalf of the UN, into the missing hard drive of previous PTF chief Robert Appleton. No answer was given.

Asked twice about transparency, Ms. Ahlenius dodged the questions. The second time, Inner City Press asked point blank what harm if any came from the U.S. Mission in the past publishing investigative reports with the names redacted. Ahlenius merely repeated that the reports are given to member states. Afterwards another attendees said, "She didn't answer, that's disappointing." No she did not, and yes it is disappointed. To be continued.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/oios1birthday101509.html

On Blood Chocolate, Nestle and Child Trackiffing, Does UN Act in Cote d'Ivoire or through its Global Compact?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unblood1nestle101409.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 14 -- As Halloween approaches in the United States, when tons of chocolates will be bought and handed out as treats, at the UN an organization Stop the Traffik held a briefing and was asked about child labor in cocoa production in Cote d'Ivoire. The group's web site asks, "Nestle, What Are You Doing?"

Inner City Press asked, since Nestle is a member of the UN Global Compact, about human rights and fair labor, what is the UN doing? And since the UN has 7000 peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire, what has it done on the child labor and trafficking issue? Video here, from Minute 24:33.

Steve Chalke, the founder of Stop the Traffik and "UN.GIFT's Special Advisor on Community Action against Human Trafficking" at first answered that Nestle is not the problem, the industry is the problem. But them he went on to praise Cadbury and Mars, at least in the UK and Australia, for making commitments which Nestle has yet to make.

Simone Monasebian, Chief of New York Office of UN Office on Drugs and Crime, did not answer about the UN Global Compact or about UN Peacekeeping in Cote d'Ivoire. (The UN's envoy there, Choi Young-jin, reads his mandate so narrowly that on October 13 he declined to comment not only the the Trafigura toxic waste scandal, but also the timing of elections). Rather, Ms. Monasebian said that UNODC gets only 10 percent of its funds from the UN's regular budget. The rest, she said, is voluntary and earmarked. If Member States gave money for this issue, UNODC would do more.

She mentioned that the last President of the General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann named two facilitators to being informal consultations toward a global plan of action on the topic, and that some say current PGA Ali Treki has named a third facilitator.

Inner City Press asked PGA Treki's spokesman about this at the noon briefing, he said he hadn't heard, to ask the Third Committee. But people say that the Ambassador of Tunisia has been named. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unblood1nestle101409.html

At UN, As Ban Shakes Shashi's Hand, Shake Up Rumors Swirl

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ban1shashi101409.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 14 -- Three years ago, Ban Ki-moon and Shashi Tharoor were competing for who would follow Kofi Annan as UN Secretary General. After Ban prevailed -- one voter has written, because he didn't wake up saying he is"God's gift to humanity"-- Tharoor went into private business, then ran for office in India. He won, and was named Minister of State for External Affairs. Wednesday he came to the UN and shook hands with Ban Ki-moon.

Inner City Press and a handful of other correspondents were shepherded up to the 38th floor to wait for the photo opportunity. You are not to ask questions, Inner City Press was told. This is only for photo agencies. Inner City Press pointed out that in the world of new digital media, the line between print and photo has blurred. There were no space constraints: upstairs were only UN Photo, UN TV and a single Indian photographer.

A Ban staffer from India came in first, jovial, and asked that his photo with Shashi be taken as they were classmates at Tufts University. He was immersed today, he said, in Somalia, in restoring order. Other Ban advisers milled about in the hall, but Inner City Press was told it could not start video filming yet.

Also present was the Chief of Office of the UN Department of Public Information, which Shashi used to head. In fact, Shashi reportedly brought into the UN the individual now the special assistant to the DPI chief that followed, Kiyo Akasaka: Jaya Diyal. Her father, in turn, is described by one insider as the "Indian Volcker," who help tamp out an early inquiry into the Oil for Food scandal. And so it goes.

Suddenly Ban Ki-moon entered from a side door. "It's the Secretary General himself," Shashi said. They shook hands, the Ban staffer and Shashi classmate confined to the sidelines. The two men stood in front of the UN logo and the flashbulbs flashed. They made small talk.

"Good to see you," said Ban.

"Very gracious of you to send me those congratulations," Shashi replied.

"You were elected then appointed," Mr. Ban recited. Inner City Press was tapped on the shoulder: it was time to go.

At least permission was granted to go up. Recently when Sri Lanka's Prime Minister visited Ban, Inner City Press which arrived early was told it was too late. Too much coverage, apparently. Before its series about the Island of Blood, Inner City Press was let up to cover Ban's meeting with presidential brother Basil Rajapaksa.

Wednesday one wondered at the topics of the meeting. India is said to be interested in taking over UN Peacekeeping. Other say that as party to a UN recognized conflict -- Kashmir -- such a post would not be possible. But that it only an unwritten rule.

Visible in the run up to the photo op was current USG and chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. It remains rumored he may be sent out to the field, and another Indian USG sought for headquarters. Why not Peacekeeping? France only has the post, insiders say, because it traded its vote for Kofi Annan to the USG position. This is not even an unwritten precedent. Let the shake up begin, some say.

First things first: in a dinner with South Korean legislators, Ban reportedly said he has no interest in the politics of Seoul, and does not want to be included in the polls. This was reported in the Korean press; Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson to confirm it, for a read out of the meeting. None has yet been given. Likewise, no answer as been given about what Ban will do on the nepotism case of his Congo envoy Alan Doss, who comes to town this week. In the absence of simple answers, rumors swirl through the now near empty building.

Some say the speechwriting and communications director jobs may be split in two. Candidates for be the next Spokesperson are being interviewed, "very hush hush," a denizen of the 38th floor tells Inner City Press. Requests have been made for a briefing, never given, by the USG for the Department of General Assembly and Conference Services. USG for the Department of Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe, subject to much recent scrutiny, was more than polite by the stakeout. So was Mr. Nambiar's deputy, up on the 38th floor. But some say the knives are out. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1shashi101409.html

With UN Sending Cammaert to Sri Lanka on IDPs, Kohona Combats Salt and Probes

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/untrip9may3srilanka101409.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 14 -- The UN will send Canadian Major General Patrick Cammaert to Sri Lanka from November 8 to 13, and "internally displaced children will be one of the issues raised," UN children and armed conflict official Radhika Coomaraswamy told the Press on Wednesday.

Inner City Press had asked Ms. Coomaraswamy about her reported meeting with Sri Lanka's Prime Minister during the UN General Debate in late September. Video here, from Minute 42:26.

Ms. Coomaraswamy replied that she "met the Prime Minister more socially," but had officially met with the Foreign Minister and Secretary Minister of Defense (apparently referring to presidential brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa). She said that the rights of IDP children were one of the issue raised.

Inner City Press asked if she thought that the condition of IDP children in the Menik Farm camps in Vanni and elsewhere complied with the "Rights and guarantees for internally displaced children" which is Annex I to her Office's report to the UN General Assembly.

Ms. Coomaraswamy replied that on "freedom of movement" and other issues, she believes the camps are "in violation of principles." She called Sri Lanka's response "draconic" or draconian.

Inner City Press has previously interviewed Cammaert, who used to serve a UN military commander in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He told Inner City Press it was an outrage that the UN stands by while indicted war criminal Jean Bosco Ntaganda walks freely around Goma in North Kivu, and has a role with the Congolese Army which the UN assists. What outrages while Cammaert witness, and have the courage to speak about, in Sri Lanka and after he comes back?

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN Palitha Kohona was to be found down in the basement of the UN, where Sri Lanka was sponsoring a lunch time session on desalinization. Kohona appeared recently on BBC's Hard Talk program, and said that no investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka is needed, because people just want to move forward.

Which, some noted, is among the defenses being offered in the Security Council today, and in Geneva tomorrow, by Israel, for its acts in Gaza earlier this year. Click here for that story.

Footnote: more seriously, there is a boat en route to Australia, now in Indonesian waters, full of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka. The way the ship and refugees are being treated does not seem to comply with international law. And where is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip9may3srilanka101409.html

In UN Sanctions Branch, Of Sex and Waste and Fiefdoms, Pascoe's Transfer Re-Examined

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/undpa2filenote101309.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- The UN's Sanctions Branch is run in such a way that when one of its Democratic Republic of the Congo experts began spending its money on prostitutes while in the DRC, he was allowed to continue by converting the working woman into his girlfriend, responsive UN sources tell Inner City Press.

The team on Sudan sanctions was stacked with non Arabic speakers, friends and acquaintances of the UN official who recruited them, costing tens of thousands of dollars in extra translation fees.

The Sanctions Branch is a part of the UN Department of Political Affairs, currently embroiled in controversy. Last week Inner City Press obtained and published a sharply worded "note to file" by DPA chief B. Lynn Pascoe reprimanding two long time staffers, Horst Heitmann and Aleksandar Martinovic, who oversees the Sanctions Branch. Since then additional whistleblowers have stepped forward, and the picture has become more complete.

It is, as is so often the case at the UN, a story about family connections, nationality and fiefdoms. To fill an opening at the P-5 level in the Sanctions Branch Mr. Martinovic, a Peruvian who came into the UN along with Javier Perez de Cuellar, favored one James E. Suttlin, whose father James S. Sutterlin wrote a central bank about Perez de Cuellar.

Lynn Pascoe's supporters recount that the Sanctions Branch under Martinovic faced complaints of sexism and "lack of gender balance."

With two long serving women leaving the sanctions branch, the hiring of Sutterlin was not positively viewed. Nor was the fact that until one of the women left, the Sanctions Branch lacked staff meetings and coordination. "Just one on one, divide and conquer" is how one insider described it to Inner City Press. And so Pascoe intervened, circumventing an already ongoing recruitment process to laterally send in someone in his office.

Martinovic and Horst Heittman protested, suddenly declaring that the position wasn't needed. The Pascoe supporters point out that while Heittman now contests USG Pascoe's lateral transfer, he himself favor a lateral move of his fellow German Gregor Boventer into the Charter Research Branch, with little background in the subject.

National fealty and power politics seem to have determined much of the make up of DPA and its Security Council Affairs Division.

It is said that when Heittman came in at D-1, then German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger pleaded his case to then DPA chief Kieran Prendergast. Now with another Germany Ambassador on his way, this level of support is not known.

Heittman is said to have offered German help to Kofi Annan's last DPA chief Ibrahim Gambari, to try to keep this post under Ban Ki-moon. This didn't work, and now Lynn Pascoe is said to not let Gambari work on any African issues.

It is like archeology, and if what Inner City Press reported in its last article, that the Obama administration wants peacekeeping and would give DPA to the French, a new round of musical chair might soon begin. But we like to get as close to the truth as we can for each round, hence this follow up report. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undpa2filenote101309.html

UN Says Ivorian Voter Registration "Is Over" Despite Dispute, Afghan Lessons Unlearned

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/cote2choi101309.html

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- In the wake of the UN's contested role in the fraud ridden election in Afghanistan, the Security Council on Tuesday met about the elections slated for November 29 in Cote d'Ivoire, where the UN has some 7000 troops. While Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has dodged elections for some time, now he has been quoted that they're on.

Inner City Press asked the UN's top envoy to Cote d'Ivoire, Choi Young-Jin, about local reports that the registrations from some 213 registration stations have not been processed, eliminating eight percent of eligible voters.

"I think the processing is complete and credible," Choi Young-Jin ruled. "It's over." Video here, from Minute 4:32. He has used that word, "credible," before. But for example the Ivorian newspaper l'Expression

"blames what it called 'the scandal surrounding the voter registration' on the bodies that conducted the operation, namely, the National Statistics Institute and SAGEM (a French company), saying that they have botched up the work. The paper further revealed that the data which had been collected in some 213 registration centers were not processed, representing 8 percent of the total data that were not taken into account on the provisional voters' lists."

Even beyond this eight percent, Mr. Choi acknowledges that 40% of the registrations have not been verified against historical records. He said he has a solution in mind, but wouldn't share it with the Press, but rather return to Cote d'Ivoire and play his "cards urgently and intelligently." He mentioned using mobile phone records.

Inner City Press asked him if he could distinguish the UN's role in Afghanistan, where envoy Kai Eide is being called biases for incumbent Hamid Karzai. Mr. Choi answered, "I need my colleague in Afghanistan to answer you question." That would be... Kai Eide.

One wag asked, but where is Mr. Choi's Peter Galbraith?

When the Security Council President for the month, Vietnam's Ambassador Le Luong Mihn, came to the stakeout, Inner City Press asked him if there was any thinking to ensure that the UN's situation in the election in Afghanistan is not repeated in Cote d'Ivoire. "Today was on Cote d'Ivoire," he said. Video here, from Minute 2:53.

Inner City Press tried again, asking if there was any analogy. "We did not discuss Afghanistan today," he insisted. But maybe they should have.

Footnote: Inner City Press also asked Mr. Choi if he or the UN had played any role in the settlement between Cote d'Ivoire and Trafigura about the toxic waste dumping. No, Mr. Choi said, that is a bilateral problem between Cote d'Ivoire and the company. A narrow mandate: but could it still blow up, a la Afghanistan? Mr. Choi said keep up the momentum. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/cote2choi101309.html