At UN, Transformers 3 Is Filmed, Truth Transformed, Is Ban a Decepticon?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 13 -- Transformers 3 is filming in the UN today. The middle section of the General Assembly hall was full of extras, in suits and native dress, while a camera on a mechanical arm panned the crowd and then the three faux speakers on the rostrum. From the photo booth on the GA's third floor, Inner City Press heard stage directions, saw the vote tally board lit up.

After learning indirectly of the project, Inner City Press on November 9 asked the head of the UN's Department of Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka why nothing had been publicly said about the movie filming. Mr. Akasaka told Inner City Press he did not know about the filming.

There has been less and less transparency about how UN decisions are taken, during Ban Ki-moon's now four years as Secretary General. As Inner City Press has exclusively reported, an event in the Dag Hammarskjold Library auditorium was sponsored by the Trump Group.

Once exposed, the printed programs for the event were taken away and Inner City Press was told to “ask Kazakhstan” about the event.

When musician Taylor Swift bragged that she was launching her new album “at the UN” on October 25, Inner City Press asked who had approved it. “Ask Aramark,” the cafeteria contractor, Inner City Press was told.

Ultimately the event was canceled -- not because the UN had any standards, but because VH-1 didn't like the venue. A Central Park concert was held instead.

So who approved the Transformers use of the UN, and why not only was it not announced, but did Ban Ki-moon's head of Public Information claim not to know about it?

At UN on Nov 13, Transformers 3 filming, UN Decepticons not shown. (c) MRLee

When Ban's spokespeople have been asked to whom in the Chinese government Ban ostensibly raised human rights, and maybe even the name of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, the answer has been that some things are better left unsaid.

But why say you weren't aware of something you were? As one source asked, has Ban Ki-moon become a Decepticon?

In NY, Spanish Civil War Photos Scream of Propaganda, Echo Sudan & Sri Lanka

By Matthew Russell Lee, Review

NEW YORK, November 13 -- Even undoctored photographs can serve as propaganda. The Spanish Civil War photographs of Robert Capa, Chim (David “Seymour” Szymin) and Gerda Taro on display in Manhattan's International Center of Photograph through January 9 show heroic Republicans fighting Franco's fascists, shot for Leftist magazines in France, the UK and even Germany.

The captions make clear how the photos were intended. Chim shot a series about Republicans trying to save Spanish and Catholic art words from fascist attacks -- to counter the idea, the caption says, that the Republicans were anti-Catholic, barbarians who would destroy Spain's cultural patrimony.

Taro, in the battle of Brunete she would die in, took photos to show Republican victories “when written reports were discredited.” But did people, even then, believe their eyes?

Chim took a photograph of a woman breastfeeding her baby, looking up at the sky. Later a magazine called Madrid published it with airplanes arranged above, and it became known as a photo of a air raid. But it was not.

The French weekly Regards sent a letter of introduction for Capa, saying “you know our magazine, we will use this to serve the Spanish people.” One imagines applications today to the government of Sudan to cover the war in Darfur, or to Sri Lanka to cover the shattered Tamil areas. “Our photos can help you” -- but will they?

Chim's photo on Madrid -- but the planes weren't there. (c) MRLee

Capa documented French run camps for refugee Republicans on their way to Mexico. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers, like the internment camps for Tamils at Vavuniya in Sri Lanka. There, the government barred journalists for months, as it has now denied visas to media which showed pictures of the dead.

The exhibit is called “The Mexican Suitcase” -- in which the three photographers' 4500 negatives were found in 2007 -- and runs through January 9, the day scheduled for the South Sudan referendum. There are photos, too, from there. Plus ca change.

At UN, As Serbia Complains of Telecom Cut in Kosovo, Few Are Listening

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 12 -- While the UN's reports on Kosovo and the resulting public Security Council sessions, 18 speeches and out, have become routinized, there are still interesting factoids which emerge. In the meeting of November 12, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic complained that in late September

“armed teams of ethnic Albanians brought down Serbia Telecom's mobile and fixed telephony network in South Kosovo... immediately affect[ing] approximately 100,000 South Kosovo Serbs, disrupting their ability to communicate beyond their enclaves - a serious breach of contemporary humanitarian norms... with hospital officials in Gracanica ascribing several fatalities to the inability of patients to call for help.”

When the meeting was over, Inner City Press asked Jeremic to go to the stakeout area on camera and take questions on this and other matters. He declined, indicating that the session was routine.

When another journalist asked him to respond to the charge by US Deputy Permanent Representative Rosemany DiCarlo that Serbia is calling for boycotting elections in Kosovo, he quipped, how can one call for a boycott of a country which doesn't exist?

DiCarlo, on the other hand, said that 71 countries have now recognized Kosovo, and that its sovereignty and borders can no longer be questioned.

Kosovo's representative Vlora Citaku said these are no longer the subject of negotiation.

One wonders if South Sudan will go this way. Watch this site.

In Sudan, UN Blind, Deaf & Dumb on Fighting in Darfur, Relocation of UN Protected Refugees

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 12 -- In Darfur, the UN and its peacekeeping mission UNAMID appear to not watch to see or say anything. Amid reports of clashes between government forces and Arab militias near Kass in South Darfur, Inner City Press on November 11 asked UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to confirm the fighting.

“We don't have anything on that,” Haq said -- despite reports quoting UN officials about the fighting.

Likewise, Inner City Press asked Haq about the UN moving Darfur rebels from a camp near Sam in the Central African Republic to another near Bambari. “I cannot confirm that,” Haq said, adding that he would check with the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Four hours after the briefing, no information had been given.

What is the UN doing and what will it do to protect refugees in the CAR and Chad after its MINURCAT peacekeeping mission leaves? “Everything possible,” Haq said. And what will that be? Watch this site.

On W. Sahara, UN “Has No Firsthand Knowledge,” Used YouTube to Report

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 12 -- With the death count in the camps in Western Sahara unclear, and the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations scheduled to give a report to a closed door session of the UN Security Council on November 16, Inner City Press on November 12 asked UN acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq what the UN knows about the deaths, on a Spanish national and others, and the barring of foreign media.

Haq said the UN “has no first hand information,” and that this had been “made clear when we made the statement on Monday.” Video here, from Minute 28:41.

Inner City Press asked what the UN's MINURSO peacekeeping mission has been doing. In October, the UN and Security Council were told of the impending attacks on the camp by Moroccan forces. Did MINURSO do nothing, not only to prevent, but even to observe the carnage?

In fact, Inner City Press is told by sources in the UN Department of Political Affairs that on Monday, November 8 they were watching YouTube videos of events, just before that day's noon press briefing, in order to figure out what statement to issue.

Now, sources in Rabat, Morocco tell Inner City Press of a European Union diplomat there bragging about access to MINURSO's report to be delivered (or read from) on Tuesday, saying that it takes Morocco's side. Watch this site.

On Sri Lanka, UN Says Panel Might Consider New Photos, But No Comment

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 12 -- In the wake of more photographs depicting mass murders in the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009 emerging, Inner City Press on Friday asked UN acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if this is the type of evidence that can or will be considered by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's three person panel on accountability in Sri Lanka.

Haq said it is up to the panel to determine what is relevant and that these photos “could potentially fall into that.” Video here, from Minute 18:53.

But the UN and Ban's panel don't seem to want evidence. In response to Inner City Press' question about why the panel has yet to publish its quietly released solicitation of submissions -- first reported on by Inner City Press -- or to provide its cover letter as Inner City Press has twice requested, Haq said that the request has NOT been published on any UN web site, only sent to unnamed “interlocutors.”

Inner City Press asked why, if Ban's panel wanted to solicit submissions, it did not put the request at least on the UN's web site, which has so much other material. Haq could or would not explain it.

Nor has the UN said anything about Sri Lanka denying visas to media reporting the photographs.

On November 10, Inner City Press asked Haq about the Rajapaska government's new rules for non governmental organizations:

Inner City Press: there is an announcement today in Sri Lanka that the Government has issued a series of rules that will require all NGOs [non-governmental organizations] in the country to register with the Ministry of Defense run by the President’s brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Many of the NGOs are saying this is an attempt to make it more difficult to operate, and it’s a crackdown that John Holmes used to be looking into when he was the head of OCHA, but the shoe never dropped. This apparently is the shoe dropping. I am just wondering whether OCHA now, even in the absence of John Holmes, has any comment on this impact on NGOs in this country.

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: Well, certainly as you are aware, OCHA and the United Nations have repeatedly called for free access by humanitarian groups working in a number of countries, including in Sri Lanka, and they would continue to do so. But we’ll certainly check with OCHA whether they have any specific reaction to today’s announcement.

But in the two days after that, no comment at all by the UN. Watch this site.

For UN's Nov 16 Sudan Meeting UK Plays Hide the Ball With Invitations and Darfur, Hillary to Come?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 11, updated -- The UK called Sudan their priority when they took over the Presidency of the UN Security Council for November. But they haven't called Sudan -- that is, for the November 16 ministerial level meeting on Sudan, the UK has yet to announce the format or participants, nor to convey any invitation to Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti.

Inner City Press asked UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant about this just outside the Council on November 10. He acknowledged no invitation had been sent to Karti, saying the format had yet to be decided. He added that South Sudan's representative would already by in New York.

On November 11, other Council sources told Inner City Press that the UK as president is nearly entirely in charge of “it's” November 16 debate. So far they say it has been decided that Thabo Mbeki (by video link-up) and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will speak in the open meeting; the participation of Khartoum has not yet been decided. What is known is that the UK's William Hague will preside and, it is said, Hillary Clinton will be present.

Now that the US has "detached" Darfur from its terrorism sanctions on Sudan, to many there is an even greater risk that the November 16 meeting, and Security Council for the rest of the year, will turn an increasingly blind eye to Darfur. The UK's lack of transparency for the November 16 meeting, and so far this month, has done nothing to allieviate these concerns.

For the closed door consultations after the open session, it has yet to be finalized that Haile Menkerios of UNMIS and Ibrahim Gambari of UNAMID in Darfur will appear by video, along with Benjamin Mkapa.

The UK has told other members to expect a Presidential Statement, but early November 11 a non Permanent member complained to Inner City Press it had seen no draft.

The UK is excluding not only those media which most closely follow Sudan, but also the other Council members. We'll see.

Update: now a draft PRST has been circulated, to be negotiated at the expert level. Invitations to Sudan and South Sudan still unclear. Watch this site.

Sudan Death Sentences Met with UN Silence, LRA in Darfur Called Unconfirmed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 11 -- With authorities in Sudan condemning to death some 20 alleged rebels, Inner City Press on Thursday asked UN acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq if the peacekeeping mission in Darfur or its chief Ibrahim Gambari had anything to say about the death sentences, which the Liberation and Justice Movement rebels says violates their ceasefire agreement with Khartoum. Video here at 8:18.

“There is no comment from Mr. Gambari or UNAMID,” Haq answered. On whether the death sentences will undermine LJM's negotiations in Doha with the government of Omar al Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide, Haq said of mediator Djibril Bassole that if there's a problem, “he'll inform... the public about any particular obstacle.”

But Bassole rarely reports to the public on the Doha process, which does not include JEM or the movement of Abdul Wahid Nur or now the Movement of Nomads.

Meanwhile Inner City Press asked Haq if UNAMID will do anything about the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader Joseph Kony, also indicted by the ICC, who are now reported to be in Darfur. “Those reports have not been confirmed,” Haq said. He'd begun by saying, “If you need to have the last question” -- before responding with a pre-prepared statement. Video here at 19:39.

Nor would Haq confirm reports that the UN-supported African Union peacekeepers in Somalia have blocked Somali parliamentarians from meeting. Haq said to ask the African Union, despite the UN's own envoy Augustine Mahiga. Video here, from Minute 17:29.

The Somalia work of either the UN or European Union was supposed to be boosted on November 1 by the inclusion of longtime UN official Charles Petrie. But tens days past that deadline, Petrie is still quoted about his last UN assignment, Burundi, condemning violence. We'll check on Petrie's location, Haq said. Video here, from Minute 14:25.

But there are simple questions pending in his office for more than a week now, including one about Genocide Prevention reiterated this week. Watch this site.

Footnote: The Security Council on Thursday moved its Western Sahara briefing up from November 23 to November 16 after their Sudan debate. France has said next week was too busy. Watch this site.

At UN, Good Office on Myanmar Unit Works Instead on Island, Tonga, Sources Say, Nambiar Did Not Visit Burma

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 10, updated -- Before and now after Myanmar's November 7 election, the UN's Good Office on Myanmar unit under Vijay Nambiar has remained full of propaganda but increasingly empty of staff.

Three days after the election, widely viewed as fraudulent, Inner City Press asked the UN's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about criticism of Nambiar's work, and to confirm or deny the transfer of Good Office on Myanmar staff time to other UN Department of Public Affairs (DPA) projects in Asia oversee by Tamrat Samuel.

Haq said he would “not confirm” the transfer of staff time, but read out a prepared statement about and perhaps by Nambiar, referring on Myanmar to the “next phase of its transition” and saying the leaders “in the past year failed to respond to [UN] efforts to be engaged.” Video here, from Minute 8:50.

The fact remains that Nambiar has not been to Myanmar, despite heading the Good Office on Myanmar unit.

Perhaps because the unit has done so little, despite its establishment as a stand alone unit by the General Assembly, Inner City Press is told that staff and staff time of the Good Office on Myanmar unit have been transferred for example to work concerning an upcoming election on a small island, sources say.

The island work of the UN Department of Political Affairs is hardly transparent: while Tonga has not made any formal requests for UN help -- directing those instead to such countries as New Zealand -- apparently fungible UN DPA staff are analyzing the likelihood of violence as 147 candidates vie for 17 seats in Parliament, to be followed by the election or selection behind closed doors of a Prime Minister. If there is a tie, there will be the toss of a coin.

That would be more fair than Myanmar's election, in which for example the NLD party of Aung San Suu Kyi did not participate.

ASSK is slated for belated release on November 13 -- if it happens, little thanks are expressed to the UN's Good Office on Myanmar unit, with its eyes on a far away coin toss.

The Good Offices on Myanmar unit is being reviewed in the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, as a special political mission. ACABQ officials have been told about the diversion of the units resources to other uses, and have been directed to the UN's "Teachers' Building" swing space and the office of Tamrat Samuel. Now, this Tonga work bears looking into. Watch this site.

On Sudan, Susan Rice Defends Decoupling Darfur from Terror Sanctions, Karti Not Invited

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 10 -- With killing in Darfur escalating and internally displaced people arrested and harassed for providing testimony, United States Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice was asked Wednesday by the Press why the US has told Sudan that if it allows the referendum in South Sudan and “addresses” Abyei, the Obama administration will move to take Sudan off the state sponsors of terrorism list.

This was called “decoupling from Darfur” by an Obama administration official who asked to not be named; human rights advocates have called it “de-emphasizing” or even selling out Darfur.

When Ambassador Rice came to speak about blocking Iran from the board of UN Women at the stakeout in front of the UN Security Council, which will host a November 16 ministerial level meeting on Sudan, mostly on the South Sudan referendum, Inner City Press twice asked that she take a Sudan question. To her credit she did, offering an explanation -- unconvincing to some -- of the administration's thinking. Video here.

In essence Ambassador Rice argued that since there are other US sanctions regimes on Sudan, taking the country off the state sponsor of terrorism list in exchange for allowing the South Sudan referendum should not be read as de-emphasizing Darfur. Said otherwise, the US is offering a “carrot” for something other than Darfur.

Inevitably, Sudanese diplomats see in this a de-emphasize of scrutiny on Darfur. Something that they went -- off of the terrorism sanctions list -- could be obtained regardless of escalation of killing and harassment in Darfur. Some might even call this, intentionally or not, a green light.

Regarding the November 16 meeting, a Sudanese diplomat complained to Inner City Press on Wednesday that while “it is a ministerial meeting and the Council is supposed to send formal invitations to the Minister of Foreign Affairs” Ali Karti, no invitation has been sent.

This seemed strange, since other Council sources have already described to Inner City Press statements in an open session of the Council by Thabo Mbeki and diplomats from both Khartoum and South Sudan, following by closed door briefings from the envoys on South Sudan and Darfur, Haile Menkerios and Ibrahim Gambari respectively.

Inner City Press asked this month's Council president, Mark Lyall Grant of the UK, about the Sudanese complaint that Ali Karti had yet to be invited. Lyall Grant acknowledged this is the case, saying that the format has yet to be decided. But why the talk already about the attendance of South Sudan? Lyall Grant said that he understands they (South Sudan) will already be in New York that day, November 16. But will Ali Karti?

At the November 10 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked acting deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq to confirm a report by Radio Dabanga, the closure of whose Khartoum office has been denounced, that UN Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos “apologized” to IDPs in Darfur for the UN's failure to protect them, including after some spoke to the Council and Ms. Rice on October 8.

Haq pointed to canned (and confusing) statements issued by Amos' office, while indicating she may speak to the press upon her return to New York. Video here.

Here is the US Mission to the UN's transcript of Inner City Press' question and Susan Rice's answer:

Inner City Press: I wanted to know about the decoupling Darfur from the state sponsorship of terrorism, with a State department official quoted, unnamed saying that the Obama administration would move to take Sudan off the state sponsored terrorism list if the referenda go forward, but that Darfur is being decoupled... I just wanted to understand, how is one to read that in terms of the importance of humanitarian and the escalating violence in Darfur?

AMBASSADOR RICE: Well first of all the United States, as you've heard me express on many occasions, and so have my colleagues and counterparts in Washington, is very much focused on the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Darfur. We're very concerned about it. We're focused on it. There are a number, frankly a large number, of sanctions in U.S. law that relate not only to the situation between the north and the south, but also to Darfur, and they will not be alleviated [unless and] until the situation in Darfur is adequately addressed consistent with U.S. law. What we have also said to the Government of Sudan is that were it to take the steps that it's committed to and allow the peaceful and on-time conduct of the referendum in the South, and resolve all of the outstanding issues that remain between the two sides, including Abyei and borders and security and citizenship, to name just a few, as well as respect the outcome of the referendum, then that could initiate a process of improved relations with the United States. We've communicated to them what that process might look like, and we think it's in the interest of the Government of Sudan and the people, all of the people of Sudan, to fulfill their commitment to implement the CPA and choose a peaceful resolution to this longstanding conflict. Thank you very much.

On this last, another Permanent Five member of the Council's Permanent Representative has said, on condition of anonymity, that it is increasingly unlikely that even the South Sudan referendum will be held on January 9, and that focus has turned to convincing the leaders in South Sudan not to hold their own referendum. Watch this site.

On Western Sahara, As UN Council Weighs Early Briefing on Morocco Violence, France Claims Not Political, Ross Without Agenda

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 10 -- As Morocco has attacked demonstrators' camps in Western Sahara, the Security Council has been silent. On November 9 in a closed door session, non Permanent Council member Mexico finally made a push for a briefing on the violence. (Click here for note by Inner City Press.)

This month's Council president, Mark Lyall Grant of the UK, was charged with asking UN envoy Christopher Ross if he would brief the Council now on the current violence, or wait until the previously scheduled November 23 session. This morning Lyall Grant is to report back to Council members, again in a closed session, on what Ross prefers.

Inner City Press asked a concerned Permanent Representative on the morning of November 10 when the Western Sahara briefing would be.

“Late this week or early next,” the Permanent Representative replied. But this was before Lyall Grant's slated report-back to the Council. Major Morocco supporter France may have something to say about the timing.

Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud when the briefing on Western Sahara and the violence would be. Araud said with the talks in Greentree ending, Ross was being asked if he wanted to come to the Council earlier than November 23.

Araud said that next week is busy for the Council, with a debate on Sudan on Tuesday, November 16, a day off for Eid on November 17, and a retreat with new Council members (including South Africa, which on Western Sahara stands on the opposite side from France). Araud called it a matter of “agenda, not politics.”

Afterward another Council source told Inner City Press that Lyall Grant will be calling Ross for the second time on this afternoon of November 10. The first time, he said skeptically, Ross “did not have his agenda” or schedule with him. Now Ross will be asked if he can come brief the Council on Friday November 12 or Tuesday November 16, after the Sudan debate. Watch this site.

UN G-20 Team Cuts Out UNDP & Jomo, Ban 2d Term in View, DC House Looming

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in South Korean for the G-20 meeting, UN sources in New York complained to Inner City Press about an “unprecedented level of micro-management” by Ban's office in the run up to the G-20.

South Korea having this G-20 is a laurel in the country's crown, as is Ban's position in the UN. But Ban wants to use this G-20 meeting, if possible, to get endorsements for a second term as Secretary General, publicly or privately. So nothing can go wrong.

For that reason, the sources tell Inner City Press, unlike before other G-20 meetings when a range of UN system officials have been involved, this time Ban's closest advisers seized control of preparations.

Excluded or elbowed out among others the sources tell Inner City Press were Norwegian Olav Kjorven, assistant secretary-general and director of policy at UNDP and Malaysia Jomo Kwame Sundaram, the assistant secretary general of DESA under Sha Zukang, the Under Secretary General who wined and dined with and gave an award to the Tiananmen Square general during Ban's recent trip to Shanghai.

This of course is bad form. But Ban is under pressure, especially after the controversy surrounding his craven suck-up to China during his four day visit, not once publicly mentioning the name of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Even the generally liberal and pro-UN New York Times ran an editorial questioning whether Ban should be supported for a second term.

Now, after the November 2 election, Ban and his advisers know they face a buzz saw in the Republican controlled House Foreign Relations committee, probably under UN knowledgeable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who may look into issues ranging from UN inaction in Darfur to Myanmar as well as UNRWA. Their tour guide to Washington Robert Orr, reportedly the crafter of the “US is a deadbeat” line, may lose his way in the new Committee. Will they hire a lobbyist? Watch this site.

At UN on Myanmar, Critique of Nambiar, Plea for Refugees in Thailand, Council Delay

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- In the months leading to Myanmar's military heavy election on November 7, the UN's supposed envoy to Myanmar Vijay Nambiar was not in the country once. This was noted on November 9 at the UN by Thaung Htun, who called on Nambiar to belatedly “go to the region” and try to gain entrance. “The UN need to reactivate its role,” Htun told Inner City Press.

With Htun was Gum San Nsang, representing the Kachin National Organization, who said darkly that the Kachin Independence Army will “no longer limit the war to the jungle.” A self described Burmese journalist asked him if that means “urban warfare,” but he would not elaborate.

Inner City Press asked about the plight of those who fled into Thailand to escape the fighting between the government and elements of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army under Commander Saw Lah Pwe.

The General Secretary of the Karen National Union Zipporah Sein said they are still in harm's way; the Burmese journalist opined that CNN's reporting that the people had returned to Myawaddy was incorrect. Khin Maung Nyein added that many people were taken back to the Burmese border, then told to turn back, leaving them in “no man's land.”

Earlier on November 9, in front of the Security Council Inner City Press learned that despite the fighting and refugee flow, the Council is unlikely to hold a meeting this week or perhaps even next.

The thinking of the Western countries on the Council is that they want to wait to see if Aung San Suu Kyi is in fact released. But what about the fighting and fleeing? We'll see.

Footnote: Also in front of the Security Council on November 9, Inner City Press learned that Mexico had raised in closed door consultations the escalating violence in Western Sahara. The Council's president for November, the UK's Mark Lyall Grant, has been charged with conferring with UN envoy Christopher Ross and others and coming up with a day for a briefing. Meanwhile there have been deaths. Watch this site.

In Darfur, UN Amos Not Meeting IDP Leaders Remains a Mystery, Politics Alleged

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- In Darfur at first when leaders of the Al Salam camp for internally displaced people wouldn't meet with Valerie Amos, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator, Ms. Amos was quoted “I hope that here is no fear.”

It seems clear the reference was to the arrest and harassment of IDPs at the nearby Abu Shouk camp after they met with the UN Security Council on October 8.

But when Inner City Press asked the UN to explain this concern about fear, and to describe the UN's follow up on the Abu Shouk harassment, the response was that

“Valerie Amos did speak to two women at the Al Salam camp. But two of her meetings with camp elders could not take place. This failure to meet reflects the divisions in political opinions among IDPs and their subsequent inability to come up with an agreed message for Amos.”

Since this blaming of splits in the IDPs, and letting the Sudanese government off the hook for its harassment is a noticeable strategy of UNAMID under Ibrahim Gambari, on November 9 Inner City Press asked UN acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the answer his office gave Inner City Press on November 8 was from UNAMID, or from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which Amos runs.

It came from Amos' office, Haq answered.

Several human rights activists whom Inner City Press spoke with later on November 9 said this bodes badly. “Has Amos become part of the cover up?” asked on of them, contrasting her unfavorably with her predecessor twice removed, Jan Egeland.

The more fundamental question is, why would IDPs need an “agreed message” to speak with the UN's HUMANITARIAN coordinator? Is Ms. Amos already perceived a political, rather than humanitarian, actor?

If the statement about a split in the IDPs did come from her, shouldn't this concern her? Watch this site.

On Congo Rapes, UN Stalled By Fear of Equipment Theft, Wallstrom's Not on Haiti

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- In the wake of the scandal of UN peacekeepers' inaction in Eastern Congo as hundreds of women were raped 20 kilometers from the base of the UN's MONUSCO mission, it was announced that communications for the villagers would be improved, so they could call for her.

On November 9 Inner City Press asked the UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallstrom for an update. Ms. Wallstrom said that MONUSCO has “bought the equipment” but is now trying to figure out “how to deploy it without exposing [the villagers] to more danger.”

The equipment, she said, is expensive, and rebels and presumably others may want to steal it. It seems this should have been thought out, and that some improvement should actually have been in place on the ground by now.

Ms. Wallstrom described some new “tricks,” as she called them, such as changing battalions in such a way that the troops that are being rotated out remain there for a while, to give the impression of double strength.

On the new round of rapes on the Congolese border with Angola, Wallstrom said an investigation is being conducted, that “MONUSCO has to decide where to have troops.”

She was asked about the UN disciplining its peacekeepers for sexual abuse or exploitation. She said it is up to the troop contributing countries and that “the UN's capacity to follow up is limited.”

But the UN chooses to not even report which countries discipline their repatriated peacekeepers, much less condition future service and payments on a country imposing discipline where necessary.

Inner City Press asked about rapes in the camps in Haiti and what the UN or Wallstrom's office is doing. She said that the number of rapes in Haiti was “high before” the earthquake, and that many of the IDP camps were “spontaneous” and so “unprotected.”

Wallstrom said that Haiti is not on her work list, she looked into whether it would be helpful, where her office can bring “added value” -- not Haiti, apparently. Nor did she even once mention Myanmar, where rape is without question used as a tool of war.

In the audience at the UN University event were at least two Swedes. One loudly congratulated Wallstrom; the other asked about her two year mandate. Wallstrom said pointedly that she would stay for the two years. Earlier during the election, there was talk of her decamping for a post if her party won. But it did not. And now she is in, soon to visit Bosnia and troop contributing countries. The issue is important, and so we wish her luck.

Footnote: in other rumors of revolving doors, now people are saying that the only recently installed head of UNESCO Irina Bokova is considering running for office back in Bulgaria. A high UN official told Inner City Press on November 9 that Bokova could probably not have run if she'd remained an ambassador, but by stepping out into the UN system, she could return. The UN is being used, she said.

In Ban's UN, Korean Press Wars & Bed Bugs in BBC & NHK, No Q&A With Ban in Seoul

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- The UN's relations with the Press range from bugs to snubs to turf wars. Since the middle of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's trip to China, the UN press corps has been full of questions why Ban didn't mention the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Major media outlets asked Ban's spokesman about the omission day after day.

When Ban returned, he did not hold any regular press conference. Rather he appeared one morning at 9 am to speak about climate change. When nevertheless a China and human rights question was asked -- albeit one that did not mention Liu Xiaobo -- Ban read from prepared notes that he had mentioned human rights three times in China.

In the days after that, still no press Q&A with Mr. Ban Ki-moon. Then after holding a press availability only for the Korean media he left for the G-20 meeting in his native South Korea. On November 9 his acting Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq announced that Ban would be holding a press conference -- in Seoul.

Amid the groans in the press area of UN headquarters, on the second floor of the Dag Hammarskjold Library, there was also on the night of November 8 a belated test for bed bugs. Inner City Press broke the bed bugs story, last year about the UN's “swing space” on 46th Street and last month in the basement of the Library and then elsewhere.

Tests were conducted on the Library's first floor and third floor -- where UN Under Secretary General for Management Angela Kane is based -- but not on the second, where the Press offices are. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky explained to Inner City Press that tests are based on requests. So a request was made.

On November 8, some 90% of the cubicles of UN-based media organizations including this one were subject to a canine test, “no cameras allowed.” On November 9 the results were released: two offices were infected, those of BBC and NHK Broadcasting. We'll leave readers to draw their own conclusions.

As in Seoul Ban Ki-moon prepared for the press conference he didn't hold in New York, on the same second floor of the Dag Hammarskjold Libary a turf war was breaking out. In what was previously in the Secretariat called the J or Japanese Room, the “K” or Korean wing is said to often sit empty.

At least one reporter for Japanese media moved in to fill the void, due to limited space for her media. A few verbal altercations ensued, until the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit was called in. MALU has a rule that media must be at the UN three days a week to have an office.

Of some of the Korean media it is alleged -- and even admitted -- that the three day test is not met. The perception among numerous correspondents is that the Korean media is protected, by Ban Ki-moon and his senior adviser Kim Won-soo. (In fact, a story is told of Mr. Kim proffering a deal to UN reporters, to get Korean outlets space.)

With Ban seemingly avoiding the UN press corps, any attempt to question the status or presence of Korean media organizations will inevitably be seen as more than bureaucratic. And so a fight impends.

Footnote: for those who question this piece's focus on Seoul then the Korean media, it is worth noting that this year's UN Day concerts was even more Korea heavy that previously reported. A Korean symphony played, sponsored by Korean Broadcasting, begun by a video touting the wonders of Korea. Afterward, Inner City Press got a text message that Ban surfaced at a reception at the Korean Mission just across from the UN. Amid the bed bugs and unanswered questions, there is more and more grumbling. Watch this site.

As Musharraf Campaign Stops on Park Ave at CFR, Coups, Cases & Debt Scoffed At, Osama Likened to Che Guevara

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- Pervez Musharraf is on a roll, or thinks he is. After launching his All Pakistan Muslim League in the UK, he has held roll out events in hotel ballrooms in Florida and New Jersey.

Tuesday morning found him at the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan, fielding questions about how and why he plans to reclaim power in Islamabad.

Musharraf sung his own praises, that after his 1999 “coming into power” -- as his CFR biography tactfully puts in it -- he grew the Pakistani economy until, he said, it had more promise that India's.

But after things were “stirred up against” him, foreign direct investment has dried up and 50% of factories have closed, in his telling.

Back in Pakistan other stories are told, of how Musharraf hurt the electrical power market, allowed for the first time the US to fly drones over the country, attacked the judicial system. (Click here for Inner City Press recent coverage of Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund, on power subsidies and textile taxes).

Musharraf claimed there are no court cases against him in Pakistan, and that if any began now it would be “political.” Meanwhile, in his New Jersey appearance where he took no questions from the media, he accused Nawaz Sharif of stealing $1 billion and hiding it in London.

At CFR questions were taken, chosen by NPR's Deborah Amos from among “members,” as she put it. At least one member called on was a journalist, Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker. The last question was finally given to the back of the room, but to (at least) 32 year CIA veteran Jack Devine of the Arkin Group, who asked about Osama Bin Laden and Pakistan's seven tribal areas.

Musharraf compared Bin Laden to Che Guevara, saying the latter was able to evade capture too.

He said that the tribal areas were left undeveloped as a buffer between Russia and India, there there is “two to three percent literacy.” Bin Laden “is viewed as their guest,” Musharraf said, recounting how on one of his visits, he traveled virtually without security because he was protected as a guest of an elder.

According to The Nation, beyond possible court cases Musharraf has been told not to return to Pakistan due to a lack of “security arrangements.” This heralds back to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto when she returned. The UN's three person investigations panel's report left open many questions as to Musharraf, but no one raised it at the CFR event.

It was unclear if Musharraf viewed his appearance as part of his campaign, or more akin to a speaking tour. He said he's spoken in Hong Kong and is going to Nigeria, that his son in Palo Alto started his Facebook page on which he has 350,000 friends. But how many enemies? Watch this site.

On Darfur, UN Confirms Amos Meeting Canceled, Blames IDP Splits Not Sudan Arrests

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 8 -- With UN Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos in Darfur's Al Salam camp for internally displaced person, it was reported that camp leaders canceled a meeting with her out of fear. A month after the UN Security Council visited the Abu Shouk camp and spoke with IDPs, two were arrested and others harassed.

On November 8, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban's Peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy, or Darfur Mission chief Ibrahim Gambari, had in the month since gotten any closer to confirming or denying that those arrested met or planed the meeting with the Council on October 8. Video here.

Nesirky said he had no information on any confirmation, but that he would seek to clarify Amos' remark, quoted by Inner City Press, that “I hope that there is no fear” -- that is, of renewed harassment or arrest by Sudanese authorities.

Four hours later, the UN provided Inner City Press with an answer that confirms that Amos' meeting with sheikhs was canceled, but blames the IDPs themselves and not any fear of government harassment for the cancellation:

Subject: Your question on Valerie Amos in Sudan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Date: Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 4:48 PM

Valerie Amos did speak to two women at the Al Salam camp. But two of her meetings with camp elders could not take place. This failure to meet reflects the divisions in political opinions among IDPs and their subsequent inability to come up with an agreed message for Amos.

Contrast that UN answer -- it is not clear who wrote it -- with this article , by Radio Netherlands citing AFP, and ask which is more credible...

“Leaders at a refugee camp in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region refused on Sunday to meet visiting United Nations aid chief Valerie Amos, an AFP correspondent reported.... On Sunday at Camp al-Salam on the outskirts of El-Fasher, the capital of the western region of Darfur, elders scrapped a planned meeting with Amos without giving reasons for their decision.

“'I hope that there is no fear,' Amos told reporters after the camp leaders failed to show up for their meeting. 'My understanding is that there are a number of issues that the sheikhs would like to raise with me, and they have said that they would raise them with me the way they wish,' she added.”

The statement provided later to Inner City Press by the UN does not explain Amos saying “I hope that there is no fear.” Watch this site.

At UN, Censorship Alleged by Staff Union, Job Action Planned at ILO, Ban Flies Away

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 8 -- With UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lurching from one trip to another, with barely time to take a few questions from the Press much less the staff between trips to China and now South Korea, labor problems have cropped out throughout the UN system. “Industrial action” has been threatened; censorship is being alleged.

Back on October 25, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the UN Staff Union's charge that for the first time in years, Ban was refusing to transmit their report on staff relations to the General Assembly. Nesirky rather than explaining this break with precedent referred Inner City Press to a letter Ban's Deputy.

But since in the UN's budget committee, the Staff Union has reiterated its complaint, that Ban “has effectively censored the views of the staff.”

A major critique in the Staff Union report is about the UN's internal justice system. On that, Inner City Press asked Nesirky on November 4

Inner City Press: there was a presentation by the Appeals Tribunal of the various cases and they made some statements of the internal justice system of the UN. And Judge Mark Painter in his presentation made what people are seeing as a pretty strong critique of lack of resources. They said we need help having paperwork processed. If staffing doesn’t substantially improve, we will not be able to continue to progress in the future. Not to mention the issue of judicial independence. So, I am wondering what does the Secretariat think of this cry for help from its Appeals Tribunal and what is it going to do about it?

Spokesperson: Let me find out. Yeah.

Four days later, nothing. Meanwhile, at the International Labor Organization a “global job action” is brewing, to begin on November 10.

The ILO's Staff Union says the ILO has violated their free association rights, including “censoring the Union's communications” -- ironic, as the UN system moves to have a Special Rapporteur on freedom of association. Watch this site.

From the UN's October 25 transcript:

Inner City Press: this is something that has been sort of brewing, but it seems to have reached a head. If I am not wrong, for almost 20 years now, every year there has been a report to the General Assembly of the Staff Union, called, “Views of the staff of the United Nations Secretariat”, produced by the Staff Union here; and the Secretary-General’s Office is supposed to transmit it to the General Assembly. Apparently, there has been a decision, whether it is by Ms. [Catherine] Pollard, Ms. [Angela] Kane or the Secretariat generally, to this year refuse to transmit it and to seek in its place to transmit a much more positive report of the SMCC, Staff Management Coordinating Committee. So the Staff Union says it’s illegal and wrong and also violates… seems to be controlling what is basically criticism of the Secretariat’s performance. What’s the rationale for not putting it out?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, given your sources, Matthew, then I am sure you’ve also got a copy of the response to this from the Deputy Secretary-General, which is fairly explicit, fairly detailed and pushes back on all the points made by the Staff Union, and I don’t have anything to add to that.

Inner City Press: But still, why in the past… it’s been done in the past… I guess I am just wondering, it seems like…

Spokesperson: Matthew, I think you probably heard the last bit I said. I don’t have anything further to add to what the Deputy Secretary-General said in the response, which I am sure that you have also seen.

Inner City Press: They said that the Secretariat is now seeking…

Spokesperson: I am not sure that you quite heard what I said. Try a different question.

Inner City Press: Okay. It’s a different question on this, that the Secretariat now has an intention to ask Member States in General Assembly to change the provision that would require the submission of these reports. Is that something that the Secretariat currently intends to do?

Spokesperson: Again, the Deputy Secretary-General has spelled out quite clearly what the provisions are and what the Secretariat was prepared to do in accordance with the provisions that are there. Okay?

Not really okay. Watch this site.