Inner City Press: Global Inner Cities Report

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January 30, 2012

In Addis, Ban Spins "Negligence" in S. Sudan As UN Stonewalls, Migiro Out

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 29 -- After charges of UN negligence in not ensuring that its Mission in South Sudan had military helicopters from mid November until the bloodshed in Pibor in Jonglei State, Ban Ki-moon on Sunday again put his spin on the issue.

He told the AU Summit in Addis Ababa

"South Sudan is twice the size of Germany, with less than 100 kilometers of paved roads. Our peacekeepers are doing all they can — with what they have. Despite severe logistical constraints, particularly air transport, the mission succeeded in saving many lives during the recent crisis in Jonglei. Yet clearly: without air assets such as helicopters, we cannot do all that we must do to protect people. Today, I appeal once again to you and to all Member States."

Meanwhile Ban's spokesman in New York Martin Nesirky after twice refusing to say when Ban knew that UNMISS had no military helicopters and when what Ban's called his "begging" belatedly began on Friday referred Inner City Press on this to UN Peacekeeping, "DPKO and DFS" which he said would provide "the details."

And so Inner City Press wrote to chiefs Herve Ladsous and Susana Malcorra and agency spokespeople, asking

1) when was the UN told that the Russian helicopters would not fly in South Sudan?

2) if different, when was Ban Ki-moon told that the Russian helicopters would not fly in South Sudan?

3) when did Ban Ki-moon start "begging," in his words, for helicopters, before the events in Pibor?

4) what does the UN say was the impact on its ability to protect civilians in Pibor of not having military helicopters?

Separately, in her January 23 video briefing, SRSG Hilde Johnson said after being told that Russian helicopters wouldn't fly, she was "subsequently" told that they would. I asked what date, she said she didn't have it with her but it would be provided. It hasn't been; I've asked about it at the UN noon briefing: can that date now be provided?

But rather than answer these questions, including for information that was already promised to the UN, DPKO's Kieran Dwyer provided more spin, entirely dodging the questions on which Ban's spokesman had publicly referring Inner City Press. Dwyer wrote:

Susana Malcorra has forwarded your email to me (copy below). I have spoken with her; she was on her way to the airport for official travel when she received it. I believe that her briefing to you on the topic of the helicopters earlier in January covered most of these issues.

Not only wass there still no date provided -- it's that after Malcorra in a "briefing" that she asked be mostly off the record, Ban gave a speech entirely passing the buck, and the UN has since refused to provide the basis of what Ban is saying: what did Ban know, and when did he know it?

Significantly, the UN didn't even mention its failure to get military helicopters to Pibor until it was exposed, by Inner City Press, in a January 11 story. Then, rather than make disclosure and say how this would be avoided in the future, the spinning and stonewalling began, and has spread.

So less than an hour after DPKO's Dwyer's response, Inner City Press asked him, Ladsous, Malcorra and Johnson again:

This is not responsive to the questions asked, nor does it provide the information that Hilde Johnson said at the end of her January 23 video briefing would be provided.

-- WHEN did Ban Ki-moon start "begging," in his words, for helicopters, before the events in Pibor?

-- when was Ban Ki-moon told that the Russian helicopters would not fly in South Sudan?

In the more than 36 hours and counting since these reiterated questions were sent to DPKO, Ladsous, Malcorra and Johnson, not one of the questions has been answered.

Meanwhile Ban to the AU in Addis said, "our peacekeepers are doing all they can... Today, I appeal once again to you and to all Member States."

Ban also said "I have made Africa a priority from day one" - less than a week after he belated confirmed that he is dropping Asha-Rose Migiro of Tanzania as his Deputy Secretary General, as Inner City Press first reported, likely for the aforementioned Susana Malcorra of Argentine.

Nor despite repeated public requests from the African Group has Ban appoined, as required, a full time Special Adviser on Africa.

But the claims in Addis, amid continued refusal to take and answer the simple questions about presumptive negligence in South Sudan, is becoming outrageous, and will continue to be pursued. Watch this site.

January 23, 2012

UN's Ban Knew Had No Copters in South Sudan for 6 Weeks, Now Passes the Buck

By Matthew Russell Lee, Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- When the bloodbath in Pibor in South Sudan began, local people blamed the UN for not arriving fast enough, and not acting to try to stop the attackers.

On January 18, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, "at the critical moment, I was reduced to begging for replacements from neighboring countries and missions. With limited resources, we tried our best."

Is this a rare candid statement, or a passing of the buck?

After asking questions and writing about the UN's slow response in Pibor as early as January 2, Inner City Press on January 11 reported that the UN had known since mid November that the Russian helicopters would not fly anymore in South Sudan.

Immediately UN officials pushed back, saying that it is customary for helicopters to fly for the UN even after the UN has, as here, allowed the Letter of Assist to expire. But the UN had been told that the Russian helicopters would not fly.

Inner City Press repeated asked Ban's Office of the Spokesperson about this; lead spokesman Martin Nesirky claimed that the UN would not be discussing its negotiations about helicopters.

The representative of another large troop contributing country told Inner City Press that under Ban, and his Department of Field Support, paperwork has gotten "sloppy," and the Secretariat has tried to play one member state off against another. "They are just using the UN as a platform, a launching pad," the representative told Inner City Press.

As Inner City Press quoted in its January 11 story, "Maybe when asked to come and help civilians, [the Russians] should have," one Security Council member told Inner City Press. "But they weren't required to and it's [the UN's] fault that they didn't have an agreement with the Russians. Now they're trying to blame it on them." Click here for Ban's January 18 "Responsibility to Protect" speech.

In a January 16 interview with Inner City Press, DFS Under Secretary General Susana Malcorra said on the record that she and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had contacted the Russians over Christmas about the issue.

Malcorra described belated moves to get Bangladeshi helicopters from the UN Mission in the Congo, and Ethiopian helicopters from Abyei in north Sudan. As Inner City Press put it to her, this seems akin to a City fire commissioner, knowing for six weeks that the city does not have fire truck protection, belatedly casting all blame elsewhere when the fire occurs, and he belatedly contracts for other trucks. Click here for the interview.

It remains unanswered: if the UN could get alternate helicopters now, after the bloodbath, why wasn't this possible before, in order to stop the bloodshed?

Inner City Press has asked. Rather than answer, the Secretariat has written, and Ban delivered, a speech entirely passing the buck. This is why this UN does not improve. Watch this site.

In S. Sudan, Still No UN Count, "Not Smooth" But When Did Ban Take Action?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 -- With bloodshed continuing in South Sudan's Jonglei State, Inner City Press on Friday asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky what Ban meant when he said that while "we saw it coming weeks before... At the critical moment, I was reduced to begging."

Specifically, Inner City Press asked if Ban had started this "begging" in mid November, when the Russians informed the UN they would not fly their helicopters in South Sudan any more, or only at Christmas, when after five weeks without UN military helicopter coverage, the bloodshed started in Pibor? Video here, from Minute 7:17.

Nesirky didn't directly answer, rather than that it was "not just the Secretary General working the phone." This leads to the question: while Ban in his January 18 speech appears to shift all the blame elsewhere, did he get involved early enough in the critical lack of helicopters to protect civilians in one of the UN's high profile missions?

Nesirky said, "no one is saying this went as smoothly as we had wanted," and noted that Ban's envoy Hilde Johnson will appear next week by video link and Inner City Press may want to ask her. Fine -- but what about being able to ask Ban Ki-moon about it during his January 25 Q&A?

Nesirky also said that Johnson's deputy Lise Grande conducted a video briefing after visiting Pibor. She did -- but she didn't mention that the UN had not had military helicopters, and had not brought "lethal assets to dissuade" attacks. The UN only began to speak about that after the Press was informed about the lack, by a member state, and reported it.

Despite South Sudan elected officials providing numbers, high in Pibor and 80 in Duk County, Nesirky did not answer Inner City Press' question if the UN has its own number(s) in Duk, and if it yet has a casually figure in Pibor.

The UN goes on issuing casualty figures in places it has little presence on the ground, while not doing so in South Sudan where it has a large peacekeeping mission. There are many outstanding questions, that not only Hilde Johnson but Ban Ki-moon should answer. Watch this site.

January 16, 2012

As UN Downgrades Pibor Dead to 15, It Stonewalls On Russian Copter Contract Lapse

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 13 -- After the UN was unable to send helicopters from Juba in South Sudan as 6000 fighters descended on Pibor, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the press that "dozens" had been killed there.

After the Commissioner of Pibor County put the number of dead civilians at over 3000, the UN said that it would not make its own count of the dead, but rather focus on its belated humanitarian response.

On January 13, two days after Inner City Press exposed the reason for the UN's slow response -- that since mid November when the Russian helicopter pilots previously under UN contract in North Sudan told the UN Department of Field Support that they would not fly -- Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesman Eduardo Del Buey told Inner City Press that now the UN says that it found only fifteen bodies in and around Pibor town, and no witnesses to more.

"The UN's cover up is complete," a whistleblowing UN official nearly immediately told Inner City Press. "For now."

On January 12, after Inner City Press published its first story on what more than one Security Council members called DFS' and the UNMISS mission's "negligence" in continuing to reply on the Russian helicopter they had been told would not fly, Inner City Press asked Ban's main spokesman Martin Nesirky to explain how these UN actions were reasonable.

From the UN's January 12, 2012 transcript:

Inner City Press: I have some follow-up because it is a pretty serious matter, and there are…

Spokesperson: I agree, it is a very serious matter.

Inner City Press: So just the letters of assist; I wanted to say what the Russians say and I want to get your response to it, because otherwise I just have what they say. They say when they agreed to provide the helicopters they’ve never, we’re going to have machine guns on them, and, therefore, that it is not just a matter of a letter of assist not being signed, that there is a substantive change in what they were being asked to do and they made it clear to DFS that until this was approved in Moscow, they would not fly.

And therefore, according to them, DFS knew for since 1 December or at least the 15th until this incident took place in January that they had no helicopters and that’s what, I just, I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but helicopters may fly in other instances after a signature, but in this case they were told it is too big a change, we won’t fly. And I wanted to know, what did DFS do when they knew that they had no helicopters?

Spokesperson: Well, Matthew, couple of things: one is that, while negotiations are going on, as I have just said, we don’t comment on negotiations between Member States and the Secretariat. I would simply say that there is more to this, and I think that you will be able to learn more about that.

Inner City Press understood this last comment, that "there is more to this, and I think that you will be able to learn more about that," to mean that either the Department of Field Support or UNMISS, whose chief Inner City Press has in the past e-mailed only to be referred back to Ladsous' office in New York, would be providing the UN's explanation for it mis-reliance on the Russian helicopters from mid-November until the deaths, at least some of them seemingly preventable, in Pibor.

But a full 24 hours went by with no word from DFS or UNMISS. So at Friday's noon briefing, with Nesirky traveling with Ban in Lebanon, Inner City Press asked Deputy Eduardo Del Buey when the projected explanation would arrive.

Del Buey focused on another part of what Nesirky said, that the UN doesn't comment on ongoing negotiations with member states. Inner City Press began to ask a factual question about the UN's belated bringing in of Bangladeshi helicopters from MONUSCO in the DR Congo, but Del Buey ignored the question, trying to solicit other questions from other correspondents.

When Inner City Press followed up, Del Buey asked, "Did you speak with DPKO?" Inner City Press has nearly given up trying to get DPKO chief Herve Ladsous to do what his predecessors did: answer questions from the media at least on the way in and out of Security Council meeting such as the one he attended on January 12.

But Ms. Malcorra had said she would talk - and has yet to. Del Buey would not say when, but when Pressed about the UN's own count of the dead in Pibor can out with the "fifteen bodies" number, contradicting not only the Commission of Pibor County's 3000 figure, but Associated Press' figure of "hundreds if not thousands."

And soon after Del Buey ended the wan briefing, a whistleblowing UN official told Inner City Press, "The cover up is complete....for now." Watch this site.

Footnotes: in other questions Del Buey did not answer at Friday's noon briefing, when Inner City Press asked about religious officials in the DRC demanding that the electoral officials there admit their errors or resign, Del Buey said that Nesirky "has explained MONUSCO's position and it remains the same." And what is MONUSCO's position on the legislative elections and what it called "lessons learned, for the future"?

Inner City Press asked if Roed Larsen attended Ban's meetings in Lebanon and Del Buey wouldn't say. Inner City Press asked if Ban's five years in one position policy applies to the head of the Department of Management Angela Kane -- who Inner City Press has already reported may be headed to the Disarmament post in a form of musical chairs -- and Del Buey said "it applies," but declined to confirm anything else. Most troubling, however, was the UN's self serving minimization of the Pibor dead to fifteen. Watch this site.

At UN, Trip by Ban to Palestine & Lebanon Confirmed, Saleh Speaker, Who Pays Planes?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 6 -- Palestine will get a visit within the month from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Palestinian Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour confirmed to Inner City Press on Friday.

Mansour said, on camera, that initially Ban was going to visit after Lebanon, Jordan and the [United Arab] Emirates, but now it would be delayed under late January or early February, in connection with Ban's trip to the African Union summit in Ethiopia.

Earlier this week, when Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky was asked to merely confirm Ban's trip to Lebanon, Nesirky refused. Inner City Press asked him in the alternative to confirm the UN conference in Beirut, ostensibly on democracy, which Ban and others would attend, and to provide the speakers' list.

You can look for it yourself, Nesirky said. The list is still not on the UN's ESCWA web site, but Inner City Press is told that the speakers include, paradoxically, an adviser to Yemen strongman Ali Saleh. We'll have more on this, once the UN system is able to provide the speakers' list.

Inner City Press asked Nesirky last month to disclose going forward -- therefore on this trip -- which countries or persons pay for the travel and planes of Ban and his entourage.

This came after Inner City Press asked the President of the General Assembly about his travel with Ban, and he acknowledged that Qatar provided a plane in connection with their trip to Somalia.

Who will be paying on these forthcoming trips? It seems like basic transparency that a public figure should disclose who is paying for his travel. We'll see.

Footnotes: After Mansour's stakeout, Inner City Press asked him about its exclusive reporting earlier this week from sources inside the Department of Political Affairs and beyond that nominated to replace Lynn Pascoe as head of DPA is another American, higher profile: Alejandro Wolff. Click here for that exclusive must-credit story by Inner City Press.

Wolff's role as US Deputy Permanent Representative was recalled during the all day Security Council fight about the assault on the flotilla to Gaza. Watch this site.

Ethiopia's Incursion into Somalia Draws No UN Comment, Garowe Sideshow?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 31 -- Now that Ethiopia has driving further into central Somalia, taking over the town of Beledweyne, neither the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon or the Security Council have had anything to say.

Rather, Ban on December 30 offered fulsome praise to the so-called Garoowe Principles, which are subject to some detailed criticism by Somali patriots.

Back on November 25, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky about Ethiopia:

Inner City Press: given the past impact of Ethiopia entering Somalia, the reaction of the populace to it. Doesn’t the UN, with an envoy, have some view of whether this is a good thing or should it come to the Council? Is it a positive step for Somalia to have the military involvement of its close and contentious neighbor?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, it is not for me to say what should or should not be discussed by the Council; that’s for the Council to decide. As for the meeting that took place, the IGAD meeting that you are referring to, obviously we are aware of that and we are looking at that. I don’t have our readout of that yet.

Inner City Press: I just want to clarify. I am not asking you to say what they should discuss, I am saying, in upholding the UN Charter, should the entry militarily of one country into another… previous Secretary-Generals have spoken on that point, so I think it’s fair… I am just wondering if there is any statement by this Secretary-General on this incursion.

Spokesperson: Yes I do, I do, and I think as we have mentioned, with regard to Kenya, there was a clear understanding between the countries concerned.

But what about Ethiopia? There was never any response. When Ban traveled to Somalia, Inner City Press on December 8 asked if he would speak about Kenya bombing an IDP camp -- there was no answer -- and on December 9, about Somalis' protest to UN envoy Augustine Mahiga:

Inner City Press: Various Members of Parliament there say that they are petitioning Ban Ki-moon about problems they have had with Mr. Mahiga and UNPOS, saying that he has violated the Transitional Federal Charter by engaging selectively with parties, and that they don’t consider him an honest broker. I wanted to know whether the Secretary-General, in his visit, received such a petition and also when he met, whether or not he has, what he makes of this criticism by parliamentarians in Somalia?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I do not know whether such a petition was handed to the delegation or not. I am sure that we will be able to find that out. Mr. Mahiga obviously enjoys the full confidence of the Secretary-General in the work that he does in very difficult circumstances.

This was followed, on December 30, with Ban's unqualified praise of the so-called Garowe Principles:

"The Secretary-General commends the commitment by Somali political leaders, as outlined in the Garoowe Principles adopted on 23 December, to a clear process and timeline for the finalisation of the draft constitution, the reform of Parliament, and the conclusion of the transition."

Of these, others have noted that powers are being transferred to six persons called stakeholders– three in the TFC (President, Speaker, Prime Minister) and three others (the Presidents of Puntland, Galmudug and an alternating representative from Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama).

Decisions prepared by the UNPOS under the guidance of the UN Department for Political Affairs are or will be rubber stamped by the six persons. UNDPA is led by American Under-Secretary General B. Lynn Pascoe and, they say, Assistant Secretary General Taye-Brook Zerihou of Ethiopia.

And so what of this failure to speak of the incursions into Somalia? We'll have more on this in 2012.

Footnote: At year end in the US, a drive to deny funding to Al Shabab has resulted in curtailing wire transfers and remittances to Somalis, including via Sunrise Community Banks.

This collective punishment has some wondering: the Taliban now have a legal office in Doha in Qatar, which provided assistance to Ban's trip to Somalia. Why the different approach to Somalia? Watch this site.

December 26, 2011

UN Budget Adopted at Noon on Christmas Eve, R2P Fight, Distant Claims of Savings

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 24, updated -- After an all night UN Budget Committee negotiation in which the US pushed to cut funding including to the UN Mission in Ivory Coast and to give Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "flexibility" to cut more, Ban jogged up onto the General Assembly podium for the final votes.

Ban offered thanks to Tommo "Menthe" -- that's Monthe, the Permanent Representative of Cameroon -- and to UN staff, who have protested his management style, taking sides and failing to protect them, and have threatened to go on strike.

Ban put on an ear piece and heard Cuba, Venezuela and Iran rail against including Responsibility to Protect in his Office on the Prevention of Genocide. Ban gave no response, just as he has had no substantive comment on for example Sri Lanka's whitewash "Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission" report.

When the vote occurred, joining those opposing having R2P in the Genocide Office were Ethiopia and Brazil (see below) which has proposed the concept of Responsibility While Protecting. Abstaining was Qatar, of which the President of the General Assembly -- not present for this budget "Super Bowl" of the UNGA -- is a national.

While Ban waited backstage to miss it, the General Assembly voted on human rights in Myanmar. The 21 countries supporting Myanmar included Sudan, Belarus, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and Cambodia, whose Hun Sen has, analysts say, pushed Ban around on human rights and its UN-affiliated Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Apparently Ban came to say that this year's budget is smaller than that last. That'll also be a bragging point for the US Mission and its Ambassador on Management Joe Torsella. He was working it hard on Friday night, conferring with Susana Malcorra, viewed by many as Ban's new Deputy Secretary General, pacing around saying into his cell phone, it's more complicated than that.

But neither during the votes in the Fifth Committee at 8 am, nor in the General Assembly at noon on Christmas Eve when the voting was finally over, was Torsella present. And after it was over, one female representative pleaded to change her vote on R2P. The acting PGA dismissed her, and afterward an ALBA country predicted it was Brazil, while two others said no. We'll have more on this. (See below)

Update: two hours after the final vote was cast, the US Mission to the UN put out a statement by Joe Torsella, along with two Internet links, neither of which yet had the December 24 statement up. Here is Torsella's October 27 statement. Watch this site.

Update of December 26, 4 pm -- On the question of Brazil's R2P vote, which we have already flagged in the above, we have received and immediately publish this:

Subject: Brazil's vote on Plenary regarding Office Special Adviser on R2P: Clarification
From: Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, First Secretary (Fifth Committee)
Date: Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 3:24 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Dear Matthew: Regarding your article "UN Budget Adopted at Noon on Christmas Eve, R2P Fight, Distant Claims of Savings", I would like to clarify that Brazil's vote on the Plenary meeting concerning the budget of special political missions, including the Office of the Special Adviser for Responsibility to Protect, was recorded incorrectly. The Brazilian delegation is in favor of said resolution. The votes registered at the closure of the Fifth Committee session, a few hours earlier, reflect correctly Brazil's position on the matter: 1) we voted against the amendment proposed by Cuba and other delegations; 2) and in favor of the resolution once the amendments were rejected. We will request the Secretariat to rectify our Plenary meeting vote at the earliest opportunity.

Best regards,

First Secretary (Fifth Committee)
Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations

December 19, 2011

After Sri Lanka Whitewashes War Crimes, UN's Ban Welcomes It, Counts on Government

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- When Inner City Press asked the UN about the Sri Lankan government's Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission report, the response was that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would comment on it when it was released.

After it was released, with the claim that the government did not target civilians, Inner City Press at noon on December 16 asked Ban's Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq for comment. It took the UN nine hours to issue what many view as the quietest of diplomacy. First at noon there was this exchange:

Inner City Press: the Sri Lankan Government has now made public its Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission report. And it says that civilians were not targeted, which runs entirely contrary to the Panel of Experts report here at the UN. It was said that once it became public, the UN may have some response to it. Is the UN aware of the report, the commission’s report and do they think it is a credible report, and what is the next step for Ban Ki-moon’s stated interest in accountability for the force?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: Well, we are continuing with our efforts at accountability. As you know, his advisory panel did come out earlier this year with their report on Sri Lanka. And we hope and trust that Member States will now again look to the contents of that report and see what can be done to follow up on the work being done by the panel led by Marzuki Darusman. Beyond that, in terms of the work done by the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation [Commission], we will need to study the full content of what this report say and may respond in due course.

Inner City Press: I want to ask just sort of related to that; at least one Member State on the Human Rights Council in Geneva has told me that this report, whatever, however it is called, doesn’t even have a UN stamp on it. It sort of has been really… they found it kind of strange how it was filed by the Secretariat with the Human Rights Council. It may seem like a small thing, but to them they read into it, as did other Member States, is that the case, is it a UN report, is the UN stamp on it or is it just a piece of paper?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: It is a UN report; you can find it on the UN website. We presented it here at the United Nations, as you are well aware, and it’s a panel that is an advisory panel to the Secretary-General.

Inner City Press: Does the Secretary-General, and maybe you will either know what he thinks or you can ask him — does the Secretary-General think the Human Rights Council should take up that report of many civilian deaths prior to the universal periodic review for Sri Lanka which is, you know, long away?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: As you know, it is up to the members of the Human Rights Council what they take up. Certainly the Secretary-General does want the Member States to look at this report and take it seriously and address the contents and the recommendations of that report. But, how they go about that, as you know, these are bodies of Member States and we’ll await what kind of decisions they take.

After that exchange nine hours went by. Inner City Press reported stories on the International Criminal Court, Haiti and Ban's native South Korea. Then at 9 pm on Friday Ban's office issues this (non) statement:

Subject: Note to correspondents in response to questions on the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission for Sri Lanka
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply @un.org
Date: Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 8:56 PM
To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com

Note to correspondents in response to questions on the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission for Sri Lanka

The Secretary-General notes that the report of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was tabled in parliament today and welcomes that it has been made public.

The United Nations will be studying the report closely. The Secretary-General hopes that the Government of Sri Lanka will move forward with its commitment to address accountability concerns in good faith as an essential step towards reconciliation and lasting peace in the country.

So Ban, despite the obvious whitewash in the government's report, "welcomes that it has been made public," and counts on the government to "address accountability." This goes beyond "quiet diplomacy." Watch this site.

December 12, 2011

Amid Jau Dispute, Sudan Beats S. Sudan to Stakeout, UN's Ladsous No SOFA

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 8 -- After the representatives of Sudan and South Sudan traded divergent stories in prepared speeches inside the UN Security Council on Thursday, both emerged separately, eying the stakeout area and its UN Television camera.

At first, neither would speak on camera; one of them speaking to Inner City Press insisted that he not be recorded.

The questions in dispute ranged from whether the contested town of Jau is in Sudan or South Sudan, whether a separate human rights team should be let into the Abyei area, and whether Sudan's nominee to head the administration there is in fact a resident of Abyei.

Even among Security Council members, positions on where Jau is changed throughout the morning. US Ambassador Susan Rice on her way into the meeting told Inner City Press of Jau, "it look like it is in Sudan."

To her credit, she stopped on her way out of the meetings and told Inner City Press "I'd like to revise and extend my earlier remarks," saying "the bottom line is nobody knows" if Jau is in South Sudan or Sudan.

Another Council representative told Inner City Press, referring to UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous, "he's still going a survey, the guy doesn't even know where it is."

Despite a request to the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Ladsous do a stakeout and take questions, including about Jau and DPKO's failure to go to the site after days of deadly fighting, Ladsous once again did not do a stakeout.

Last time on Sudan -- when Ladsous refused to answer a question about the UN being challenged for DPKO allegedly bringing cholera to Haiti and then refusing to set up a standing claims commission as provided for in the Status of Forces Agreement -- Ladsous answered Inner City Press that a SOFA for Abyei would be in place very soon.

But the troop contribution country on Thursday told Inner City Press there is still in place no status of forces agreement, the lack that contributed to the deadly delay in medical evacuation of four peacekeepers. Ladsous should now answer: where is the SOFA he promised? Why has it not been finalized and signed?

There were other important issues that Ladsous should have addressed and had answers to but didn't. South Sudan's David Choat said that Sudan is refusing to let in human rights observers; Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said such observers should only come in as part of the civilian component of the UNISFA mission.

While Choat for some reason never did a stakeout, Sudan's Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman emerged after all Council members had left and strode to the UN TV camera. The cameraman had left, but was summoned back.

Inner City Press asked Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman why not allow humanitarian access to Jau. He said, "for our part, we would be happy to allow access to all those area, once we assure the safety and security of the personnel there." Video here, from Minute 5:50. So when will the UN go there?

On the question of the human rights observers, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman responded instead about how Sudan allows transit of South Sudan oil without charging a fee. He insisted that Sudan's candidate for the Abyei administration is a resident of the area.

He told Inner City Press that South Sudan has asked "Russian pilots" employed by the UN to move material to areas UNMISS should not go. He did not

Inner City Press asked, how that the Sudanese Defense Minister has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, how will he deal with the UN and its Peacekeeping missions, given the issues that arose when the UN Mission in Sudan twice used UN helicopters to fly ICC indictee Ahmed Haroun. Video here, from Minute 9:31.

Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said that the "ICC is not part of the UN system... it has to prove itself." Which seems to be the UN's or at least Ladsous' DPKO's, position too: asked twice by Inner City Press, the response was that nothing will change with how the UN deal with Sudan's defense minister since his indictment.

Before he left the stakeout, Inner City Press asked Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman for Sudan's position on the sanctions adopted earlier in the week against Eritrea. Video here, from Minute 11:14.

"Sudan was part of IGAD sub-regional organization, thank you very much, he answered and then left. IGAD pushed for the sanctions...

December 5, 2011

At UN on Ban's Shake Up, Short Lists Unclear, Applies to DSG & Nambiar?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 1 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon unveiled his management shakeup on Thursday, it was said that "the five year rule will be applied across the board."

But when Inner City Press asked if it applied to chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, who read out Ban's announcement, the question was not answered. Video here.

In fact, Nambiar refused to answer any questions. When he finished his reading, with its references to transparency, Inner City Press asked him if short lists of candidates will be made public. Nambiar replied that he had been told not to answer questions.

Ban's deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey minutes later declined to answer Inner City Press' question of whether the five year rule -- not staying in a senior post for more then five years, at least the same post -- applied to Ban's five year deputy secretary general, Asha Rose Migiro. Inner City Press is informed that Ms. Migiro has been lobbying for a second term. What will Ban do?

The night before Nambiar's unscheduled appearance to read a statement but take no questions, Inner City Press was informed by sources that the head of the Department of Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka would be leaving.

Since his is one of the few high posts for Japan in the UN system, and Japan recently lost the UN Controller spot, would a Japanese replacement at DPI be enough?

It has been suggested that Japan might want the Department of Management. But the post filled by Angela Kane was not on Nambiar's list (even as Inner City Press is told by sources that Kane is being encourage to apply for the empty Lebanon / Resolution 1701 spot, along with Ban ally Y.J. Choi and Spain's former foreign minister).

Also leaving, according to Wednesday's announcement, is the head of DGACM, the Egyptian Shaban Shaban, who lost a major UN internal justice case. The Chinese head of DESA is on the list, but seems to be given an extension for Rio + 20.

That the affable Lynn Pascoe is done at head of the Department of Political Affairs has been widely known; while the UK had an interest, it looks to stay in US hands.

To say that the Economic Commission on Europe is open is old news: chief Jan Kubis has already been reassigned to the UN Mission in Afghanistan. Maybe that's the model: just move people around.

Mr Duarte is ready to retire from Disarmament; the Special Adviser on Africa post, listed by Nambiar, has been sitting empty, or filled by a moonlighter who, Inner City Press is multiply informed, is slated to takeover the Economic Commission on Africa from Mr. Janneh -- who is set to meet with DSG Migiro at 3 pm on Thursday. To break the news, or to commiserate? Watch this site.

November 28, 2011

As Helen Clark "Opts Out" of UN Financial Disclosure, UNDP Brags About Its Own

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 23 -- Weeks after the absence of UN Development Program Administrator Helen Clark from the UN's Public Financial Disclosure web site was raised without answer by Inner City Press, UNDP on November 23 issued a press release about online financial disclosure:

New York, 23 November 2011— Members of the public can now access financial data on the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) development activities for the most recent fiscal period, thanks to a new open data portal... 'UNDP is committed to being transparent and to being accountable for all the contributions we receive,' UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said. 'Accountability ensures we can be more effective in our work.'

The questions about Ms. Clark's own financial disclosure, which even deputies of hers have made, cannot be unknown to UNDP. Back on November 8 at the UN's noon briefing Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: On public financial disclosure, what I wanted to ask you, I think earlier this year the Secretary-General said that 99 per cent of his officials had filed public financial disclosures in the system that he himself has filed in. And a more recent review shows that that’s not the case… Just as one example. Why is Helen Clark’s name not listed?

While the UN nine days later provided an answer about another official, nothing was provided about Ms. Clark.

And so on November 22 Inner City Press asked again:

Inner City Press: I still remain curious why Helen Clark’s name doesn’t appear on the list of high UN officials. And then I thought maybe the answer is that UNDP doesn’t file with the Secretariat, but has its own system. But then, I see Rebecca Grynspan, who is a UNDP official, with her filing on the Secretary-General’s public financial-disclosure page. I am asking, since the Secretary-General maintains this page and has made various representations about it, why isn’t this second or third highest official in the UN at least listed, even if she chooses not to disclose?

Spokesperson: I’d have to check; I don’t know the answer to that, Matthew. But, as you pointed out, there are many officials who are listed there.

Question: There seemed to be 23 that weren’t, and now Mr. Orr is listed, so now we are down to 22. But, it does seem, I mean, it seems, at least in this case, she is a pretty high officials and my colleague was just asking about her.

Spokesperson: Well, that’s fine, that’s fine. I’ll see what I can find out.

No answer was provided later that day, then the next morning came UNDP's press release about financial disclosure online, even quoting the elusive Helen Clark -- but no answer. As one observer put it, it looks like Clark has unilaterally "opted out" of Ban's already weak public financial disclosure program.

Clark has refused repeated requests to hold a Q&A press conference at UN headquarters. Watch this site.November 21, 2011

At UN, Yemen Nobel Winner Tells Press PGA To Help Freeze Saleh Assets

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 18 -- Yemeni Nobel Prize winner Tawakkul Karman came to the UN on November 18, met with the President of the General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and then described the meeting to Inner City Press. Video here, and embedded below.

Ms. Karman said the President of the General Assembly, formerly the Ambassador of Qatar to the UN, will "work with us to put pressure on the Saleh regime... He will help us find a way to freeze assets." This is at odds with, or more detailed than, the PGA's Office's read-out, below.

Earlier on Friday, Inner City Press had asked Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative Abdullah Y. Al-Mouallimi about the Saudi role in the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative on Yemen, that it provides immunity for Ali Saleh and his associates.

Al-Mouallimi said that "the GCC agreement was signed by the relevant parties in Yemen" and now ostensibly belongs to "the Yemeni people." UN Video here, from Minute 7:50.

Inner City Press asked Tawakkul Karman about this claim, that the GCC immunity deal "belong to the Yemeni people." Karman replied that "we are not talking about the GCC" anymore, but rather the Security Council's resolution which she said "removed" immunity, at least for "those who committed crimes." She said she was in New York calling for "implementation" of the resolution.

Tawakkul Karman by UN on Nov 18, 2011 (c) MRLee

On Friday before Karman's meeting with the President of the General Assembly, Yemenis demonstrated across the street from the UN, chanting "Saleh must go" and that both the UN and "Obama must decide, human rights or genocide."

Ms. Karman told Inner City Press, after the clip, that she met with US Ambassador Susan Rice. Close observers say that the US was behind the GCC initiative which offered immunity to Saleh. Watch this site.

This was the PGA's Office's read out:

STATEMENT ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
United Nations
New York
18 November, 2011

President of the General Assembly meets with 2011 Nobel Laureate, Ms. Tawakkol Karman

The President of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, today met with 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ms. Tawakkol Karman of Yemen.

The President of the General Assembly hailed Ms. Karman as a global symbol of women’s empowerment who has brought honour and pride to all women, especially in the Arab world. He congratulated her on the award of the Nobel Peace prize and highlighted the award committee’s acknowledgement of the importance of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

President Al-Nasser and Ms. Karman also exchanged views on the Arab awakening, developments in Yemen, as well as the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.

But see video...
November 14, 2011

As Sudan Claims Media Lies about Bombs, Ladsous Spins SOFA, Refuses Haiti Query

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 11 -- Sudan's and South Sudan's Ambassadors traded accusations Friday at the UN. South Sudan's representative David Choat spoke of the bombing of the Yide refugee camp in Unity State.

Sudan's Permanent Representative Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman denied the bombing. Inner City Press asked about reports by BBC and Reuters, of bomb craters in the camp and a white Antonov-like plane flying away.

Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman said these are "biased media." He counter-accused South Sudan of sending its "Battalion Number Four" to aid the SPLM-North in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.

He said the new UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous agrees that South Sudan is blocking access by the Miseriya herdsmen from the north. Video here.

Inner City Press asked Choat about this, and he said that Ladsous praised South Sudan president Salva Kiir for saying that such blocking will not be a problem.

When Inner City Press asked Choat about South Sudan's lock-up of journalist Ngor Garang for what he wrote about Salva Kiir's daughter marrying a foreigner, Choat said the case is being investigated. Video here. But investigated for what?

When US Ambassador Susan Rice came out, Inner City Press asked her about Khartoum's crackdown in Southern Kordofan, and the lack of humanitarian access. Rice expressed concern about access in both Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile State, and said she hoped those in the UN in charge of humanitarian affairs would take action. Video here, Q&A below, full transcript on US Mission website.

Speaking of UN officials were are supposed to take action, it was said that the new head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous would speak to the press on Thursday, but he did not.

By noon on Friday, after the two Sudans and US Ambassador Susan Rice had all spoken, Ladsous had still not taken questions. So Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky a simple question: why hasn't the UN put in place a Status of Forces Agreement for its mission in Abyei, the absence of which played a role in the death of peacekeepers who bled out from a landmine during a medevac delay?

You can go ask Mr. Ladsous, Nesirky said, if you put your skates on. But when Ladsous arrived to speak after 1 pm on Friday, the stakeout lights and camera were off. A question was asked, "Who is that guy?" One wag, not having seen Ladsous since he was handed the job months ago, wondered if he was a tourist asking to have his picture taken in front of the Council members' flags.

Finally it began, with Ladsous speaking softly about the "mutual" accusations of the two Sudans who he said had "consummated their divorce."

Inner City Press asked why there is no SOFA in place in Abyei; Ladsous said there is no problem, it is nearly done. Inner City Press asked whether under Ladsous' Department's SOFA in Haiti, a standing claims committee had been established, for the claims of those injured by cholera alleged introduced to Haiti by UN DPKO.

(Ladsous previously urged the departure from Haiti of elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide, click here for that coverage.)

On November 11 Ladsous refused to answer on Haiti, saying "that is a different issue, I am talking about Sudan." He left the stakeout. For video click here, from Minute 3:09.

This compares unfavorably to Ladsous' predecessor Alain Le Roy, who spoke to the Press and took question on topics ranging from Cote d'Ivoire to Lebanon to Congo and Haiti. But so it is going at the UN -- watch this site.

November 7, 2011

At UN, Ban Defends Chair of BofA, Mountaintop Removal, Orr Unaware

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 1 -- With Bank of America being protested not only for its bailout and corporate welfare but specifically as the largest funder of mountaintop removal coal mining, why did the UN make BofA chairman Charles "Chad" Holliday the co-chair of its "High Level Group on Sustainable Energy for All"?

Inner City Press asked the UN spokesman on October 13, after attending a protest of Bank of America on the topic in lower Manhattan, across Broadway from the Occupy Wall Street encampment on Liberty Street. Spokesman Martin Nesirky said he would check with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Hearing nothing back, when Ban held a press conference on November 1 about sustainable energy, Inner City Press sought to ask Ban the question directly. Nesirky did not allow the question from Inner City Press. But in the hallway outside, Inner City Press did ask Ban. As transcribed by the UN:

Inner City Press: [inaudible] Bank of America is considered number one taking off the tops of mountains to take out coal, and has been protested for that. So on October 13th I asked here, what do you think of taking off the top of mountains for coal, and why is the guy [Charles Holliday] co-Chairman of the Group [High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All]?

SG Ban Ki-moon: His record is quite clear, in the area of development, and particularly on energy issues. He is the Chairman of the World Council for Sustainable Development. He was CEO of Dupont where Dupont set an exemplary record in terms of energy. I have been, we have been working with him quite a long time. That is why he is nominated as Co-Chair of this group. I am sure that he will lead this sustainable energy group very well.

While to some being the CEO of Dupont is equally dubious, Ban Ki-moon did not answer on the question on mountaintop removal coal mining. Inner City Press went back into the briefing room and asked Assistant Secretary General Robert Orr what he and Ban thought of mountaintop removal mining.

Orr said that "Chad Holliday is a giant in business around the world." Calling mountaintop removal mining "a specific question" that Inner City Press should ask Bank of America about, Orr went on to say "I am not even aware of the issue you are raising." Video here, from Minute 18:40.

Not only did Inner City Press asked Ban's (and Orr's) spokesman about the practice on October 13 -- any cursory review of environmentalist literature identifies the issue. Inner City Press sought to ask a follow up, if there was any civil society or environmental activist input in the UN process, but spokesman Nesirky cut in.

Some wondered why Nesirky went to such lengths not to allow the question to be asked of Ban Ki-moon. Did he not want Ban mouthing these answers to appear on camera?

Soung-ah Choi of his (and / or Ban's) office tried to cut off the question even in the hall. First she claimed that Ban inside "answered all the questions." Then after the question was posed, and before Ban graciously if disappointingly answered, she said "we'll get back to you."

Beyond claiming to be unaware of basic environmental issues, the UN's Ban Ki-moon team claims to be paying attention to Occupy Wall Street. Its knee-jerk defense and praise of Bank of America and its involvement in mountaintop removal coal mining are telling and troubling. Watch this site.

October 31, 2011

For ICC, France Offered to Support Unqualified Judge Quid Pro Quo for Cathala

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 29 -- In the run up to the election of six International Criminal Court judges set for New York in December, France offered to support a candidate found to be unqualified if his country would support the French candidate Bruno Cathala, Inner City Press has learned.

There are 19 candidates for the six ICC judge seats. They were reviewed by the Independent Panel on International Criminal Court Judicial Elections and four -- from Tunisia, Cyprus, Costa Rica and Mexico -- were found to be "unqualified."

The Panel's members include not only South African justice and international prosecutor Richard Goldstone, and ICTY and US judge Patricia Wald but also former top UN lawyer Hans Corell.

Nevertheless, when one of the "unqualified" candidates met with France to try to make his case, he tells Inner City Press that he was surprised to be offered a deal: that if his country committed to vote for the French candidate, he could count on France's vote.

France styles itself a champion of international criminal justice and accountability. But just as it asserted itself to place atop UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, the chief of staff of foreign ministers Alain Juppe and Michele Aliot-Marie including when she flew on planes owned by cronies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, it is seeking to its candidate Bruno Cathala as a judge on the ICC. Will it work?

Beyond this quid pro pro, when Inner City Press previously asked Cathala when he was ICC Registrar about immunity given toLaurent Nkunda in the Kivus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he replied that the ICC was not part of the negotiation of that immunity which, he claimed, did not include war crimes or other ICC-relevant crimes.

Cathala quoted the ICC's deputy prosecutor (and now candidate to replace Moreno Ocampo) Fatou Bensouda that the ICC's phase of investigation in Ituri was over. But indicteee Ngudjolo's co-warlord Peter Karim was and is still in the Congolese Army, despite having kidnapped and killed UN peacekeepers.

Since Karim ultimately released some of the peacekeepers, it appears that he got some deal. So even beyond the quid pro quo, there are further questions to be asked. Inner City Press' series on the ICC and ICJ judicial elections and needed reforms will continue. Watch this site.

October 24, 2011

Yemeni Nobel Winner Visits UN with Press, Ban's Member State Requirement Bypassed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 22 -- When before the Yemen resolution vote in the UN Security Council Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman asked the Office of the Spokesperson of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to hold a press conference, she was told it could only be done if sponsored by a member state.

As Inner City Press previously reported, the head of that office Martin Nesirky has refused to disclose which member states sponsored press conference. Inner City Press was contacted and asked to sign Karman and those traveling with her into the UN as guests, so they could speak to the media.

And so at 3 pm on October 21 as the Yemen meeting began, Inner City Press waited for Karman in the General Assembly lobby. Video here.

The door to the audience section of the Security Council was locked, though the meeting was supposed to be open. After an inquiry it was unlocked.

When Ms. Karman and five others arrived, the meeting had yet to begin. UN Security kindly let Inner City Press sign in six people. Ms. Karman had her picture taken for this visitor's badge. Video here at Minute 3.

They proceeded then through the General Assembly basement and security check, neck-area hallway and to the area in front of the Council where Inner City Press usually works. Karman sat down with the journalists, many of whom took pictures with cell phones, and spoke to them through a translator.

After the resolution was voted on, and after some conference, Karman went to the UN TV stakeout and called the resolution week -- but that's another story, another video, here.

At UN, Top Peacekeeper Ladsous Dismisses Tunisia Scandal, Haiti & Rwanda Comments

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- Herve Ladsous is the fourth Frenchman in a row put atop the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, a Gallic functionary who was earlier this year chief of staff to disgraced French foreign minister Michele Aliot-Marie who flew during the Arab Spring on planes provided by allies of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali.

Six weeks ago, Ladsous was suddenly given the UN job upon the nomination of the French government of Nicolas Sarkozy, after the UN rejected Jerome Bonnafont who had started bragging to diplomats in India about getting the post.

Finally on October 13 Ladsous finally took questions from the press.

Inner City Press asked Ladsous about l'affaire Aliot-Marie and Ben Ali, as well as about comments he made in 2004 urging elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to leave Haiti, and in 1994 defending France's position on Rwanda, which was to support the killings led by Colonel Theoneste Bagosora. Video here, from Minute 21:52.

"I will not go into personal aspects," Ladsous replied, saying dismissively that Rwanda was 15 years ago -- of course, it remains a major scandal and trauma for UN Peacekeeping, pulling out as 800,000 people where killed -- and that, as with Haiti, he was only speaking for the French government, so he wouldn't respond.

Structurally similar, in Sudan Ahmed Haroun says that everything he did was for the government in Khartoum. That doesn't mean that Haroun isn't held responsible. Why would it be different for Ladsous? Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky cut off the follow up question. Video here, at Minute 25:09.

If even what Ladsous did earlier this year, presiding as chief of staff over flights in dictator's allies' planes, is somehow irrelevant, a "personal aspect," what ARE Ladsous' qualifications for the top UN Peacekeeping job, other than the endorsement of Nicolas Sarkozy?

France, of course, has its own national interest in sites of UN Peacekeeping, for example in Cote d'Ivore, which Ladsous used as his first example of UN Peacekeeping success. Despite knowing that the question was coming, Ladsous did not deign to respond to the critique that the job shouldn't only be given out based on nationality, and now four times in a row to the same nationality. This does not bode well.

Footnotes: Ladsous said to show him "indulgence" and not ask about details, at least yet. And so Inner City Press directed its question about UN Peacekeepers' inaction in Southern Kordofan to UN spokesman Nesirky, who said he was "just making the point" that this should have been asked to Ladsous instead of the background and qualification questions. Video here, from Minute 37:57.

There are other question, already: Ladsous is said to have told the Security Council that South Sudan forces are still in Abyei, but many think this was overplayed, that the South Sudan numbers are small and understandable. And why isn't DPKO flying in the Ethiopian deployment to Abyei? Ladsous continued to speak Thursday about flooded roads.

What of the discipline, if any, of Beninois peacekeepers repatriated from Cote d'Ivoire for buying sex for food from under-aged girls? How can an official who refused to address or explain his own actions implement a zero tolerance policy? We'll stay on this - watch this site.

At UN Palestine Application Stalled In Procedures, Strong 6, Shaky 3, Germany

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 7 -- When Palestine's application for UN membership was taken up Friday morning by the Security Council Committee on Admission of New Members, the press not only wasn't allowed in, it was told it could not wait outside the meeting room to ask questions.

Inner City Press has nevertheless gleaned what took place inside Conference Room 7. The "Strong Six" supporters of Palestine's application -- India, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, China and Lebanon -- urged that the process speed up, and opposed a series of procedural issues and questions raised by the European members.

The European members, the most questioning (or "obstructionist") of which sources say was Germany, asked Security Council Affairs a series of questions about deadlines, when the Committee must report to the full Council and to the General Assembly.

Since the applicable rules were written when the General Assembly met only infrequently, the process is out of date. In any event, the Council has dealt differently with various applications for membership. As one of the "Strong Six" put it to Inner City Press, the Europeans should be not allowed to hide behind procedure. But for now they try. Then there's the US veto threat.

Significantly, the sources tell Inner City Press, two of the "Shaking Three" -- in this case, Bosnia and Nigeria, as Council president for October -- did not make statements. The other of the "Shaky" trio, Gabon, made a statement that did not tip its hand.

As the proponents of Palestine's membership interpret it, the International Court of Justice in 1948 ruled that only the small list of criteria in the Charter, Article 41, should be looked at in connection with the application for membership. Therefore, they say, there is little reason to get bogged down in procedure.

Germany, which along with the United States voted "no" on Palestinian membership in UNESCO in the run up to the October 25 full membership vote, has said that it opposes Palestine seeking membership other UN bodies because their main application is in the Security Council.

But now, the sources say, Germany is trying to stall and block its consideration there. They speculate about historical motivations of German policy. But the stalling remains, behind closed doors.

For Palestine in UN SC Only 6 Votes, Sources Say, Mere Update in 2 Weeks

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 30 -- For Palestine on Friday in the UN Security Council's Committee on Admission of New Members there were only six of the fifteen members who wanted to push forward on Palestine's application for full UN membership.

With this surprisingly low vote count, the majority decided that the Committee will meet at a lower level, and merely "update" the Security Council in about two weeks.

There is, sources told Inner City Press, no assurance even of a formal or listed meeting about the update; it could be quietly done under "Other Matters."

A source in the meeting told Inner City Press that it was not only power, but numbers. Of the nine Council members which have recognized Palestine, three have been viewed as shaky: Nigeria, Gabon and Bosnia, due to the Republica Srbska portion of its government.

For the pro-Palestinian membership vote count to be only six at Friday's meeting, it means that all three broke the other way. Some insisted that they support Palestine "in principle" -- but as one of the stronger six supporters put it, it comes down to supporting a piece of paper, and for that there were only six.

Palestinian Observer Riyad Mansour came to the stakeout and made a statement in English, then as journalists tried to ask questions Mansour himself asked, "Arabic? Doesn't anyone read Arabic?" He then repeated the statement in Arabic and left without taking any questions.

While Gabon has not filed a "reservation" to the Group of 77's statement in support of Palestine, it may be a question of when, not if.

Non-Council member Barbados on Friday at noon confirmed Inner City Press' earlier exclusive story that Barbados is among the countries that has formally filed reservations to Paragraph 108 of the G-77 Statement, and named Antigua (and Barbuda) as another that has expressed reservations. We'll have more on this.

Some of those in the Council bringing about this special "legal" delay -- a review of the Charter by experts that one of the six strong supporters of Palestine called entirely unnecessary -- say the delay is for the Middle East Quartet process.

On Friday before Mansour spoke but did not take questions, Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky who reviews Quartet envoy Tony Blair's conflicts of interest, working for JP Morgan Chase and the Quartet. "Not the UN," Nesirky said, urging Inner City Press to ask Tony Blair or the other Quartet participants. Watch this site.

Libya TNC's Jibril Tells Inner City Press NATO Almost Done, Catching Gaddafi Is Key

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- When Mahmoud Jibril appeared for a UN press conference on Friday, it was the first since the Transitional National Council he heads was given Libya's seat at the UN. Inner City Press asked Jibril two questions, about NATO and the International Criminal Court.

Jibril had said that the south is liberated, Sirte will be in 48 hours and Bani Walid is under seige, "we are squeezing it." Inner City Press asked if that is true, when will NATO's protection of civilians mandate end?

"When the need [to protect civilians] is not there," Jibril answered, "I don't think there is a need for NATO... Once the whole Libyan territory is liberated." According to him, if Bani Walid falls after Sirte, that's it for NATO.

Inner City Press asked for Jibril's and the TNC's view on whether Gaddafi and the other ICC indictees should be sent to the Hague, if and when captured, or be tried in Libya. Jibril said, "the most important question is how to catch Gaddafi." After that, he said, it's up to "legal consultants" to consider "the supremacy of Libyan or international law" and "the national interest of the Libyan people." Video here, from Minute 18:04.

This deference to consultants differed from Jibril's answers to other questions, on which he said it will not be up to the TNC, but to "the Libyan people" -- which was also Ian Martin's response to Inner City Press about the ICC - click here and watch this site.

At UN on Libya, As Khatib Resigns, TNC Wins Credential, Dabbashi No Vote Hope Dashed, SADC Deferral Rejected

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- The UN was loudly abuzz with Libya on Friday morning, while more quietly former mediator Al Khatib submitted a letter of resignation, sources told Inner City Press.

The General Assembly met on giving Libya's seat to the Transitional National Council, over the objection of Venezuela and other members of the Grupo ALBA. As the meeting began, Inner City Press asked TNC representative Ibrahim Dabbashi about ALBA calling a vote. "I hope not," Dabbashi said, going into the GA.

Moment later, Cuba's Permanent Representative said that NATO violated Resolution 1973 and Cuba does not recognize the TNC, product of "foreign intervention." Bolivia echoed the sentiment, noting "racism" in developments under the TNC.

Nicaragua's representative said her country "threw off the yoke of Somoza," but here NATO violated Resolution 1973 pushing for regime change "in the guise of protecting civilians."

Angola then pointed out that the rules require that requests for credentials be made by heads of state, heads of government or foreign minister, and ask who had made the request here? The new President of the General Assembly, from Qatar, said there should be two speakers on each side of this and a vote.

The Egyptian Permanent Representative, the same one who represented Mubarak, spoke in favor of the TNC. Zambia seconded Angola's motion; Gabon went on the other side.

When the vote was called, Angola's motion to defer lost with 22 in favor (including not only the ALBAs but also Indonesia, Congo and others), 107 against, and 12 abstentions. St. Vincent and the Grenadine spoke afterward, saying it abstained and that it and its sub-region have not recognized the TNC.

Then the TNC was given the credential, with 114 in favor, 15 abstentions and 17 against including the DRC and Equatorial Guinea, whose golden glasses Permanent Representative spoke afterward.

The Security Council scheduled a 3 pm meeting to vote on creating the UN Support Mission to Libya, modifying the arms embargo - but keeping the no fly zone in place. South African Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu told Inner City Press there are still problems -- not enough to protect African migrants, for example. But other Ambassadors said it was all systems go.

And, Inner City Press learned, former mediator Al Khatib has submitted a letter of resignation, after being frozen out. We'll have more on this.

As Sudan Breaks Abyei Agreement, Susan Rice Says Obama Will Meet With Kiir, Focus Lost?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- When President Obama came to the UN a year ago, the meeting on Sudan was a focus. This year the stated focus is Libya, with elephant in the room in Palestine and a possible US veto of UN membership. But is Sudan in better shape?

Inner City Press on Friday asked Susan Rice if Obama "that things are better there than they were last year?" Rice expressed concern, then said Obama will meet with the president of South Sudan Salva Kiir. It's sure to be a feel-good moment, but what about Sudan proper?

Amid bombing in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile state, even the supposed good new in Abyei has fallen apart, with Khartoum negotiator Omar Suleiman saying that contrary to UN claims his country has not agreed to pull out of Abyei by September 30.

Inner City Press asked Rice and the UN about this. The UN provided Inner City Press with a copy of the agreement, here. Earlier on Friday, Sudan's Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the Sudanese Armed Forces will only leave once the UNIFSA mission is fully deployed, which the UN denied.

Rice when asked hearkened back to the underlying June 2011 agreement and advised Sudan to comply. But what's the leverage, especially if Obama's focus has moved on?

From the US Mission transcript:

Inner City Press: On Sudan, I wanted to ask you this. That beyond just the fighting and bombing in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, there was an agreement that was announced by the UN in Abyei that Khartoum and Juba would both pull out, even before the UNISFA mission was fully implemented. And now Khartoum has said that that's not true-they didn't agree to that, that the UN misspoke. I wanted to know what's your understanding of when they committed to pull out. And, two, what-in President Obama's bilateral, what's the place of Sudan. I mean last year it was quite high profile on his visit. Does it remain that? Does he think that things are better there than they were last year? And what's he going to be doing here while he's here on Sudan?

Ambassador Rice: Well, with respect to the redeployment of forces from the Abyei area, the two sides signed an agreement and made a commitment to withdraw those forces, in fact, earlier in the process than we are today, and certainly long before the full deployment of UNISFA.

So we think that redeployment is overdue and needs to be accomplished urgently. And any suggestion that that wasn't in fact the agreement is belied by the document that both parties signed. Obviously, the United States remains very interested in, very committed to peace and security in Sudan, both the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, and we're frankly quite concerned that many of the critical issues that need to be resolved between North and South remain unresolved. Many of the crucial aspects of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement remain unresolved and unimplemented and that, in and of itself, has the potential to be a spark that could ignite underlying tensions.

We're also very, very concerned by what is transpiring in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, where aerial bombardments, attacks on civilians and humanitarian crisis is continuing and intensifying. So that also is of concern, and, of course, we remain very much focused on what is transpiring in Darfur.

So there's no diminution in the U.S. government's focus on, or commitment to what transpires in Sudan. And as was mentioned today at the White House, President Obama will have the opportunity to meet briefly with President Salva Kiir of South Sudan during the United Nations General Assembly.

In Libya, UN Wants to Train Police, Confers with EU, Martin May Have 2 Rivals

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- UN adviser on "post conflict" Libya Ian Martin briefed the Security Council on Friday and then took questions from the Press.

Inner City Press asked Martin if he wants to become the Special Representative for Libya, if that requires the National Transitional Council's consent, and what has happened to UN mediator Al Khatib.

Of those three questions, Martin's only answer was that it is up the the Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. A well placed Council source told Inner City Press that while "the "Brit" Martin is the front runner, another UN official from the UK, Michael Williams, might also be considered, as well as Oscar Fernandez Taranco. Al Khatib, the source said, is entirely out of the picture.

Inner City Press asked Martin if the training of police he described would be done by member states, or regional groups, or UN staff themselves.

Martin said the UN is meeting with "actors" interested in training police in Libya. After the stakeout Inner City Press asked him if these actors included member states. Yes, Martin said, and the European Union. Inner City Press asked, "The Finns?" He said yes.

Martin and Lynn Pascoe briefed the Security Council on a three month mission plan by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon which the UN withheld for 14 hours after Inner City Press published it on Thursday night.

At Friday's noon briefing, another correspondent asked why the UN had not released, since it was already on InnerCityPress.com. The Deputy Spokesman said he didn't know; twenty minutes later, the UN belatedly put it online. Thus is transparency at the UN.

The next step will be circulation as early as Monday of a resolution being drafted by the UK, about the mission and about removing some sanctions. Libya Sanctions Committee chairman Cabral told Inner City Press that travel bans on individuals would remain, and that some institutions are not yet under the full control of the NTC. UK Permanent Representative Lyall Grant said it will be important in revising sanctions to make sure all money goes to the Libyan people.

A European spokesman afterward said that the mandate of NATO will not be impacted, it has no sunset. Watch this site.

For UN Peacekeeping Post, How Ladsous Replaced Bonnafont, Who Now Returns Favor Under Juppe, Alliot-Marie Role?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 10 -- The UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations remains at partially headless in the midst of mounting scandals of sexual abuse in Haiti, and inaction in Sudan.

After leading the top DPKO post empty for four weeks after the departure of Alain Le Roy, on September 2 the UN announced his replacement. It was not fellow Frenchman Jerome Bonnafont, who had bragged that he had the job to diplomats in India where he's been French Ambassador, and been congratulated by, among others, French politician Jean-Marie Bockel, click here for that.

Rather it was the French Foreign Ministry's chief of staff Herve Ladsous, who headed the staff not only Alain Juppe but also his predecessor Michele Alliot-Marie, who resigned after being exposed receiving gifts from now deposed Tunisia dictator Ben Ali.

Ladsous' role in that is not yet clear, even as his statements in 2004 pushing for the ouster of elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide come into focus in Haiti. Others of Ladsous statements are starting to be reviewed, as it appears the UN in their rush did not do. Meanwhile, tellingly, Bonnafont has been named to replace Ladsous as chief of staff to Alain Juppe.

Well placed UN sources have informed Inner City Press how Bonnafont was passed over at the last minute for Ladsous. These sources say that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon likes his cabinet members even lower key than he is, like his Deputy, and Lynn Pascoe in the Department of Political Affairs.

Bonnafont was viewed, ironically, as too energetic. His bragging about having the job, first reported by Inner City Press, was also not helpful.

So, the sources say, Ban told the French to propose another candidate. Miffed, Ladsous was proffered as "the one," and was quickly given the post, without word reaching many in the French foreign service outside of Paris.

Kofi Annan "gave" DPKO to France as part of being Secretary General. From Jean-Marie Guehenno the post went to Alain Le Roy and now to the third Frenchman in a row.

Owning UN Peacekeeping is useful to France: just this week in Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy bragged of his country's military action in Cote d'Ivoire as well as Libya. As reflected in documents exclusively obtained and published by Inner City Press, France has no problem using DPKO to advance its economic interests, click here for examples.

It is noticeable that even after Ladsous was named, after the post was empty for a month, Ladsous has still not reported to work. He continued as chief of staff to Alain Juppe.

And now Ladsous' replacement has been named. Who is it? Jerome Bonnafont, of course. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Watch this site.

As UN Hands Libya to Ian Martin, His Deputy'd be Finn Georg Charpentier, Who Hid Sudan Abuse, Sources Say

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 1 -- At the "Friends of Libya" meeting in Paris on Thursday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that his adviser on post conflict planning Ian Martin is headed to Tripoli.

Ban did not say for how long, but UN insiders who contacted Inner City Press complained this indicates not only that Martin has entirely eclipsed mediator Abdul Ilah Al Khatib, but is nailing down the UN Libya Special Representative or pro-consul role.

"Why someone from a NATO country?" one senior UN official asked Inner City Press. "Why the lack of Africans or Arabs on Martin's team?" UN sources told Inner City Press that in line to be the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, and Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya is a Finn, Georg Charpentier.

One of Charpentier's selling points to Ban, beyond his need for a job after the UN was essentially thrown out Norht Sudan, is that Finland is not a NATO member. For that reason, too, sources tell Inner City Press that Finland was approached to provide troops under Martin's UN plan for Libya, exclusively obtained and published by Inner City Press.

Inner City Press has previously covered and met Charpentier, most recently during a trip to Sudan during which Charpentier was downplaying the destruction of villages in Darfur. That he would now be sent to Libya may reflect his personal connections, but speaks badly of the Ban administration, even as to geographic balance.

From a previous report:

"The only reason Inner City Press learned of Charpentier's awareness of the destruction of villages in Jebel Marra was that he left a single copy a binder marked “Internal Use Only” on the Press bus in El Fasher on October 8, 2010. The internal document was from “September 27 - October 4 2010” and referred to “Sora” with an A, and spoke of “intense ground fighting and aerial attacks in Eastern Jebel Marra over the past week, with several villages heavily affected, including Sora, which was completely burned down.”

But in the Dubai airport on the way back to New York, Inner City Press managed to ask two Permanent Five members of the Security Council if Charpentier had mentiones this village destruction to them. One said plainly, 'no.'"

With the UN now essentially thrown out of Northern Sudan, it seems it views Libya as the new goldrush. (Sudan, meanwhile, recognized the TNC on August 24. Inner City Press asked a Sudanese diplomat about it on September 1 and he replied, Gaddafi always helped the Darfur rebels.)

As previously reported, because those Security Council members dubious of the current Libya goldrush have chosen to call for more UN involvement as a way to try to limit NATO's role, they are hard pressed to publicly criticize Martin's statement in his report to Ban that NATO will have a continuing role in Libya even after Gaddafi's fall.

Therefore for now the only check on le projet Martin is the National Transitional Council. Among their ranks are some UN experts, including tenth-hour defector Shalgam and the political coordinator during Gaddafi's Libya's recent time on the Security Council. Will they hold Martin in check? We'll see.

In Haiti, As Uruguay Repatriates 5 UN Peacekepers, New DPKO Chief Ladhous' Role During Aristide's Ouster Questioned

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- After video showing UN peacekeepers from Uruguay sexually abusing 18 year old Johnny Jean in Haiti surfaced, including unedited on a Uruguayan web site, that country's Minister of Defense Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro has announced five peacekeepers and their commander will be repatriated, sent back home.

This action by the troop contributing country itself came two weeks after the UN and its MINUSTAH mission told Inner City Press that an investigation had found no wrongdoing.

In fact, it is now reported that the UN "investigation" concluded despite the video footage that no violation occurred, only a joke (un broma) --

"Una investigación preliminar de las Naciones Unidas determinó que el video, pese a vulnerar varios reglamentos de la Misión de Estabilización para Haití de la ONU (Minustah), no registraba en realidad una violación sino una broma pesada llevada a cabo por los militares." (Translation of full article here.)

Even when it is the UN which sends its peacekeepers home, the UN does not follow up to see if any discipline is imposed or even a trial held.

Only last week when Inner City Press asked about 16 peacekeepers from Benin who were repatriated from Cote d'Ivoire after being show to have bought sex from underaged girls for food, new UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said that Benin has not told the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) what if anything has been done with the peacekeepers.

DPKO on September 2 got a new chief, French official Herve Ladsous. As regards Haiti, further review has revealed that Hadsous was France's charge d'affaires in the country, and defended the coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the extent of justifying the involvement of Dominique de Villepins' sister Veronique Albanel, which Aristide sought to sue in French court.

Since the African Union called Aristide's removal unconstitutional and UN Peacekeeping and DPKO work mostly in African, often with the AU, some now wonder about the wisdom of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon handing the top DPKO post to a French official linked among other things to the deposing of Aristide. Watch this site.

On Libya, Leaked UN Report Sees 200 Military Observers, NATO but Not AU Role Given by Ban Ki-moon: Exclusive

By Matthew Russell Lee, Must Credit ICP

UNITED NATIONS, August 26 -- Before rebel fighters entered Tripoli, and before UN Special Adviser Ian Martin traveled this week to Doha and Istanbul to belatedly meet with National Transitional Council officials, Martin on August 22 handed a detailed plan to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

After its requests to the UN to release the document, at least to member states, were denied, Inner City Press obtained a copy of the report and is putting it online today, here (10 page Martin report) and here (longer background report).

The UN Secretariat is proposing up to 200 Military Observers, to begin with a Multi-National Force led by two member states, up to 190 UN Police, and additional elections and other civil staff.

The report estimates that Gross Domestic Production could decline as much as 47%. It puts frozen Libyan assets at $150 billion, and recommends that many of the assets not be sold and quickly returned to Libya (Paragraph 136).

Martin's report offers some praise of the Qadhafi -- its spelling -- regime, for example in the fields of health and education (Paragraph 71). It speaks of "reforms" by Saif al-Islam, now indicted by the International Criminal Court, and former Prime Minister Ghanem.

It asserts that the (TNC) opposition engaged in some killings and property seizures, even constituting war crimes, and like Qadhafi used child soldiers (Paragraph 88). It several times expresses doubt about Qadhafi's "alleged" use of foriegn fighters or mercenaries.

The report assumes at a minimum sending military and police advisers and liaisons, saying that "no specific [Security] Council mandate would be required for these type of tasks."

It flatly says that "the Security Council's 'protection of civilians' mandate implemented by NATO does not end with the fall of the Qadhafi government and, therefore, NATO would continue to have some responsibilities." (Introduction, Paragraph 8)

Significantly, while it envisions a continued NATO presence, particularly in Tripoli, it allows for no role for the African Union. It archly notes that only in Qadhafi's post-coup declaration was Libya said to be part of Africa. As Inner City Press has reported, even staff in the UN Department of Political Affairs Africa Divisions have expressed outrage at this, as well as the central role assigned to "the Brit" Ian Martin, to the agitated displeasure of DPA chief Lynn Pascoe when Inner City Press asked him about it on August 25, click here for that.

Troubling, but perhaps indicative of Ban Ki-moon's UN, is the report's recommendation that non-State media be "monitored" lest it "rush to resort to public opinion."

While Pascoe called "extraordinary" the failed mediation work of Ban Ki-moon's envoy for Libya Abdul Ilah Al Khatib, Martin's report mentioned Al Khatib only once, as a person consulted with. (Al Khatib has throughout remained a paid Senator in Jordan.)

Also consulted were UN funds and programs (the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes wants in and UNDP plans a "Surge" and to play a role in procurement), the International Migration Organization and the World Bank -- but, despite discussion for example of currency stabilization and exchange rates, NOT the International Monetary Fund.

Even to compile the report, the UN and Martin reached outside of the UN System and hired Dartmouth professor Dirk Vandewalle as a consultant. When Inner City Press first asked, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq refused to even confirm Vandewalle's hiring.

This week, when Inner City Press asked that the report be released in light of Vandewalle's public description of his role, Haq said no, and his associate spokesperson even claimed the report is "not a UN document."

One of the many questions arising from the report is under what mandate, and with what accountability, the UN Secretariat developed this "post-conflict" Libya plan, and then refused to share it even with member states.

There will be many other questions. For now, in advance of the (August 16 video) meeting convened by Ban Ki-moon, Inner City Press is making the UN's plan public, as it should have been. Watch this site.

At UN, Bonnafont Has Kudos of French Pol Bockel - & Peacekeeping Post?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, August 20 -- For the seven weeks after Inner City Press first reported that Jerome Bonnafont, France's ambassador to India, was being tapped to replace fellow Frenchman Alain Le Roy as chief of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the UN has refused to confirm it.

Now with Alain Le Roy already gone from the UN, amid charges of covered up negligence by peacekeepers in Southern Kordofan, and a failure to plan in advance for medical evacuation of Ethiopian UN peacekeepers in Abyei in Sudan, the French political establishment has already started congratulating Bonnafont.

Inner City Press is today putting online a letter of congratulations addressed to Bonnafont at the UN in New York from Jean-Marie Bockel, a former French minister and mayor of Mulhouse, now Senator from Haut-Rhin in northern France.

Bochel wrote, "I am happy to learn that you have been [named] Under Secretary General of the UN, in charge of peacekeeping operations."

Previously, Inner City Press quoted diplomats to whom Bonnafont had already bragged that he had the UN job. Now Bonnafont is receiving letters of congratulations.

There are several questions: why has the UN left the top job in DPKO empty at this time, when they had ample notice that Le Roy would leave on August 10?

Why hasn't the UN been willing to describe their process for selecting a replacement? (One UN-based Permanent Representative said that besides Bonnafont there were two other candidates -- both French.)

Why does the top Peacekeeping slot essentially belong to France? Inner City Press asked Le Roy in his exit press conference if he didn't think it would make sense that his successor come from a major Troop Contributing Country, like Pakistan or Bangladesh or Nepal or India. Le Roy said, "It is up the Secretary General." Is it?

Some joke that in naming Bonnafont, Ban Ki-moon is trying to please two countries: France bien sur, but also India since Bonnafont has been ambassador to India and is known there. Cold comfort.

This is more and more a pattern with Ban Ki-moon. When the top spot at the UN mission in Iraq opened up, when Dutchman Al Merkert said he wanted to leave after two years, there were only three final candidates: all German.

Inner City Press on June 24 reported that Michael von der Schulenburg, the German atop the UN in Sierra Leone, wanted the Iraq post, perhaps due to its antiquities, and that "Dutch politician Bert Koenders is set to replace UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's ally Choi Young-jin" at the UN in Cote d'Ivoire.

As it turned out, Ban for Iraq set up a German troika of candidates, just as he's said to have constructed a phantom French troika for DPKO. Ultimately Ban gave the Iraq job to another German, Martin Kobler.

But for DPKO, Bonnafont is already being congratulated from within the French political establishment, click here and watch this site.

Amid Conflicts in Libya, Syria, Sudan & Kosovo, Horn of Africa Famine, UN Reduces Q&A by 40%, Has "Nothing to Say"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 12 -- As the Arab Spring turns to a bloody late summer, and according to the UN famine spreads in the Horn of Africa, UN headquarters in New York Friday confirmed it is moving to reduce its availability to the press by 40%.

With UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon back in his native South Korea, Inner City Press on August 12 asked Ban's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq to explain why two of the expected five daily briefings next week, and possible the week after that, are being canceled at this time.

Haq replied that there would be "nothing to say," and accused Inner City Press of being the only one "worried about this one way or another," claiming to have polled journalists at the UN and gotten their agreement to cancel briefings. (See UN's partial transcription, below).

Haq refused to provide any details of his polling; at a press-related event hosted by the US Mission to the UN the evening of August 11, there were a number of complaints about Ban's Spokesperson's Office refusing to even do a daily ten minute briefing, as Inner City Press had reported, despite events in the world.

Even on the questions asked of Haq on August 11, few were answered. Inner City Press asked about the reported "buzzing" of the Zam Zam IDP camp in Darfur by Sudan's air force. Haq had no information on this, and said that "some of these reports have not checked out."

Three weeks ago, UN official Ivan Simonovic said that the UN's human rights report about Southern Kordofan in Sudan, which includes descriptions of Egyptian UN peacekeepers doing nothing as civilians were kiled, would be formally released "in two weeks."

Inner City Press asked Haq to explain the delay, one week and counting. Haq said it isn't delay, he'll announce when it's released.

In the Security Council, there are countries dissatisfied by the UN's delay, and trying to get emergency meetings of the Council. The Secretariat's lackadaisical delay and Haq's statement that these weeks there's "nothing to say" sends a message: there is no emergency, or even urgency.

Any response to letters to Ban from municipal officials in Northern Kosovo? No, Haq said, the letters are being "studied."

For months Ban's Spokesperson's Office claimed that a letter from the New York State AFL-CIO then a group of Congresspeople about UN attacks on the broadcast engineers' union was "being studied." On August 12, Haq confirmed Inner City Press' August 11 report that seven more engineers are being laid off, on top of 17 other posts lost, as a "cost cutting" move.

Inner City Press asked Haq if the 40% reduction in briefings is a cost cutting move. Haq replied that it's "standard procedure."

But what about Ban Ki-moon's repeated canned claim to be "deeply concerned" about the loss of civilian lives in a conflict in Libya in which under Security Council resolution 1973 Ban is to have a coordinating role? Because it's August (Haq said Ban's lead spokesman is out to August 29) -- and Ramadan -- will there be "nothing to say" about that?

In fact, at least in Syria and Libya, it has been said that "every day will be protest Friday during Ramadan." Is this the time for the UN to cancel briefings and press question and answer sessions?

Inner City Press asked, asks and will continue asking, what is the problem with devoting a ten minute briefing each week day to answering questions? Watch this site.

From the UN's transcription of its August 12, 2011, noon briefing, for video click here:

At UN on Sudan, Darfur in Darkness, Kordofan Report Delayed, Will Pillay Explain?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 12 -- At the UN less and less is done about Sudan, on government abuses in Darfur and Southern Kordofan, regarding which the UN is withholding a damning human right report, which criticizes UN inaction, for well more than a week now.

Three week ago UN official Ivan Simonovic told the Press that the report, an advance copy of which Inner City Press had already put online, would be released in two weeks. Now it still has not been, but the UN will not explain and instead seeks to further limit questions from the press.

Simonovic's boss Navi Pillay will brief the Security Council on August 18, along with top UN humanitarian Valerie Amos; the topic as bragged about by the French mission will by Syria, with nothing on Sudan.

The withheld report, as "leaked," says that UN peacekeepers then under the ultimate control of now departed DPKO chief Alain Le Roy did nothing as civilians were killed. For example:

42. On 8 June, UNMIS Human Rights witnessed the movement of four armed men (two armed civilians and two Central Reserve Police) carrying weapons in and out of the UNMIS Protective Perimeter without any intervention from the UNMIS peacekeepers guarding the premises.

With the top UN Peacekeeping post now empty at this important time, with another Frenchman, mostly likely Jerome Bonnafont, in waiting, perhaps this explains DPKO blocking-by-edits the report, and Pillay's so far limited August 18 agenda for briefing the Council.

At the UN's noon briefing on August 12, Inner City Press posed several Sudan questions to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's acting deputy spokesman Farhan Haq:

Inner City Press: Sudanese armed forces helicopters are buzzing and making hostile movements around the Zamzam refugee camp in Darfur. So I wanted to know, is that something that UNAMID [African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur] is aware of?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: We’d have to check whether it is. As is the case, some of these reports on the ground have not checked out. But we’ll check with UNAMID to see whether this is, whether this holds up.

Inner City Press: And what about the Southern Kordofan human rights report, I think Mr. Simonovic, it was three weeks ago today, was in here and said it would be released in two weeks. What’s the hold up?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: There is no hold up. It’s being finalized, and when we know for sure that it is coming out, we will certainly tell you.

If there's no hold up, why does it take more than three weeks to "finalize" a completed report about a situation as grave as Southern Kordofan?

Meanwhile in the Security Council on Southern Kordofan, the US only asked for a press statement, and according to the US Mission's statement given Friday to AP withdrew even that, blaming Russia and China. (For a UNSC Press Statement, any Council member can block it, not only the Permanent veto wielding members.)

Now one wonders if the US, or France or UK, will at least have Pillay and Amos when they are in the Council give an update on Southern Kordofan, including the UN report that seems to be getting swept under the rug.

At UN on Syria, War of Spin & Briefings, Doubts on SyriaTel Sanctions, Ban's Call

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10, updated with video -- As the UN Security Council met Wednesday about Syria, sources told Inner City Press from the outset to expect no formal Council Presidential Statement output at the end.

A Western member's spokesman emerged and said "we just want to keep the pressure on Assad." When asked "how" he said, "through you, the media."

Which a Council output not even on the table, inside consultations the issue became whether and how soon to get another briefing about Syria. A source told Inner City Press that the UK proposed another briefing in seven days.

Inner City Press asked Baso Sangqu, the Permanent Representative of South Africa -- which along with India and Brazil has vice ministers in Damascus, click here for IBSA statement, put online by Inner City Press -- "will there be a briefing in seven days?"

"No, not in seven days," Ambassador Sangqu said. "It's in the hands of the President, ask the President. But there's been a request for a meeting."

When President of the Council for August Hardeep Singh Puri of India came out, Inner City Press sought to ask him. But US Deputy Permanent Representative Rosemary DiCarlo engaged Puri in a heated discussion for several minutes, in the public hall outside the Security Council. Click here for YouTube video.

At the end of the exchange, Inner City Press asked Puri about a briefing. "There will be a briefing," he said, "most likely next week."

Later the Deputy Permanent Representatives of the Council's four European members clarified that they except top UN humanitarian Valerie Amos and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to do the briefing.

Wednesday's briefing was done by Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez Taranco, who for some reason did not speak to the press. The Western spokesman who said the media should pressure Assad was asked to have his country urge Taranco to speak to the press. But it did not happen.

A cynic might say that the four European countries wanted to be seen -- and filmed -- as doing something on Syria; urging a Secretariat official to come and take questions on camera was less important or appealing.

One also wonders why, after the meeting, the four Europeans and then Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari were the only ones to come speak at the formal UN stakeout. Russia's Vitaly Churkin spoke, on the stairs outside the Council, and said among other things it is disappointing that the Syrian opposition has not responded to reform proposals.

Inner City Press asked UK Deputy Permanent Representative Philip Parham to respond to this, and to complaints that sanctions against SyriaTel, the cell phone company, might make communications in the country more difficult, including for the opposition.

Parham noted his and his colleagues' previous statement that, in essence, violence and crackdowns have to stop to allow for dialogue. He said he could not respond on SyriaTel, not knowing the facts.

Ja'afari told Inner City Press, off camera, that SyriaTel is the regular cell phone company in his country. Inner City Press was going to ask him on camera, expecting him to come to reply to Parham's dismissal of his comparison between the London riots and events in Syria. But Parham was the last on-camera speaker.

Inner City Press asked Ja'afari if Assad would accept an envoy from Ban Ki-moon. Ja'afari replied that Assad's recent call with Ban was very productive. Quiet diplomacy? We'll see - watch this site.

As UN Admits Abyei Medevac Delay Was For Copter from Wau in South Sudan, What Safeguards Are In Place?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 5,updated -- As the delay associated with the death of three peacekeepers in Abyei garners more interest, the UN on Friday afternoon reversed its position of hours earlier, and admitted that it asked Sudan if it could medevac the injured peacekeepers using a helicopter from Wau in South Sudan, and that Sudan said no, "that is a different country."

This is what UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant told Inner City Press on Thursday evening, but which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky denied Friday at noon, saying that the request had been to fly the helicopter from Kadugli in Sudan.

If Khartoum blocked a medical flight entirely within Sudan it would be one thing; for them to deny access to a helicopter from a country which just broken away, while heartless, is not unexpected.

So the question is, why did the UN not plan for it, not admit it when it happened, and try to dissemble about it even after the cat was out of the bag, due to the UK Ambassador's commendable candor?

And what ensures that if a UN peacekeeper is injured today in Abyei, they too might not bleed out due to a lack of planning? Watch this site.

Note: The Council meetings on August 11 about Sudan -- but outgoing DPKO chief Alain Le Roy's last day is August 10. So once again at the UN: no accountability?

Footnote: Earlier this year when the Security Council traveled to Sudan, they intended to go to Abyei. But even before fighting flared up, there was controversy about whether they would fly in via Wau in the South, which has a shorter runway, or Kadugli, where ICC-indicted Southern Kordofan government Ahmed Haroun might greet them on the tarmac. Ultimately they didn't go: but they were on notice of the problems of air travel to and from Abyei. We will continue on this.

As UNSC Statement on Syria Opposes Attacks on State, Does UN Deem Assad More Legitimate than Gaddafi?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 3 -- After the Syria Presidential Statement was adopted by the UN Security Council Wednesday with Lebanon "disassociating" itself, Inner City Press asked Council President Hardeep Singh Puri why the investigation of human rights violations called for in the penultimate drafts had been dropped.

Ambassador Puri replied that "there was an issue as to whom would do the investigation." Moments later when Inner City Press asked again, UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant acknowledged "there was a concern that Syria would be investigating itself."

Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant for the UK's understanding of the PRST's call to refrain from "reprisals against state institutions." He said that "we do not expect to see attacks on state institutions, even from the protesters."

On a second round of questions, Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant and the three European deputies with him, from France, Germany and Portugal, to compare this call with Libya, where they are supporting attacks on Gaddafi regime state institutions.

Does this mean they -- and their PRST -- are deeming Assad as still fundamentally more legitimate than Gaddafi?

Lyall Grant referred the question to French deputy Briand, even as he himself was asked to answer it for the UK. Briand said, "there is no comparison." Later a journalist questioned if he meant Assad is much more legitimate than, and cannot be compared to, Gaddafi.

Later Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came to the stakeout. Inner City Press tried to ask him how he would provide the requested report or "update" to the Security Council in seven day if Assad does not even take his calls. But Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky did not call on Inner City Press for a question, just as he did not following Ban's re-appointment to a second term, preferring then to call on UN Radio for a request for Ban's message to children everywhere.

Beyond dodging questions, one again has to wonder about the wisdom of putting atop the world body an individual who can't even get his calls returned -- and then asking this individuals for reports about the countries concerned. To be continued -- watch this site.

South Africa Confirms Action on Syria with India & Brazil, IBSA Deputy Ministers on the Road to Damascus?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 -- Deputy ministers from India, Brazil and South Africa, the so-called IBSA, intend soon to fly to Damascus and address the situation in Syria, South Africa's Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu told the Press on Thursday.

“This will have nothing to do with the Security Council at all,” he said, even though the three country's current sit on the Council.

Sangqu said it will be “a trilateral engagement with the Syrian government... Demarche them, encourage them, see where they are on a number of things... As IBSA. Probably deputy ministers will be going to Damascus, it should be soon... to assist them to overcome the difficulties that they have.”

Yesterday Inner City Press exclusively reported that the three countries were preparing a joint “demarche” on Syria, and quoted Western sources as complaining this was a way to take pressure off from supporting the European proposed resolution on Syria that is languishing in the Council.

After a Council closed door consultation with UN political chief Lynn Pascoe on Thursday, a Western spokesman described a “heated... deadlock” on Syria, and Libya, inside the meeting. A list of the number of dead, by day, was read out.

UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant told the Press that “Pascoe confirmed the situation is deteriorating, peaceful protests were being repressed. I made the case that the Security Council should not remain silent at this point, we hope members of the Council would rally to the resolution. If they have alternatives, we should hear about them and the success of those alternatives on achieving an end to the violence and a political dialogue between the government and those protesting going forward.”

Sources in the consultations said that while IBSA has been speaking “for four weeks” about their plans, they haven't yet gone. To some it seems a savvy move; to others it seems to undermine these countries claims to permanent seats on the Council, if they seek to bypass it. Then again, the US did in Iraq, and some say the French have bypassed or gone beyond Council resolutions in Libya. Watch this site.

As UN Sits on S. Kordofan Report Until August, Silent on Mass Graves, Sudan Blocks Visas to Abyei for Rights Monitors

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 -- The UN's report on war crimes in Southern Kordofan, including inaction by UN peacekeepers, won't be released until “the first days of August,” Inner City Press was told Thursday by Ivan Simonovic, the New York representative of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

Thirteen days ago, Simonovic said it would be released in two weeks. After that, Inner City Press put a copy of it onli