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UNDP Sources Say Dervis Fires Malloch Brown-linked Officials, Then Offers Hush-Up Jobs

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN - First in a series, followed by second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 29, lightly edited Dec. 7 -- Kemal Dervis, the administrator of the UN Development Programme, sent out an email mid-afternoon on November 29 stating that the Director of UNDP's Office of Human Resources, Brian Gleeson, was taking a lower-level job as a Senior Advisor. UNDP sources tell Inner City Press that the Special Advisor position was quickly created after two events. In the first, UNDP moved to fire Brian Gleeson for having funneled high-paying jobs, outside of normal channels, to associates of UN Deputy Secretary-General, and former UNDP Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown.  According to these UNDP sources, alternative grounds for firing or requesting resignation involved [ ] harassment or the outright sale of jobs for cash, or first month's salary. Then, between 11 a.m. and Mr. Dervis' 2:20 p.m. email, something changed. Some say Mark Malloch Brown intervened. [For the record, Mr. Malloch Brown's spokesman Stephane Dujarric denied this on November 30, the day after this story was published, stating according to the transcript that "Mr. Mark Malloch Brown played no role in Mr. Gleason’s transfer from one job to another." There.] Other say Mr. Gleeson went to the office of Kemal Dervis and showed evidence of other improprieties at UNDP which he would release if the firing proceeded. Suddenly the Senior Advisor position was offered, effective immediately.

    This is also a story about an agency and its personnel being unable or unwilling to answer simple factual questions on a timely basis.  By telephone and email, and in person in the case of Kemal Dervis, Inner City Press sought comment on these UNDP issues. The agency's head of Communications William Orme was told that these were questions on deadline, but made no response. Brian Gleeson was called and a detailed message was left with his secretary. Given the lack of subsequent response, only this film, click here, can be offered, expressing dissatisfaction at "certain political leaders" and at reporters for not telling the UN's story. You have to return calls, some reporters say.

  In the UN Headquarters building, the UN spokesman was asked to seek comment, including from Mark Malloch Brown. Was Malloch Brown consulted prior to Mr. Gleeson's redesignation? Did Malloch Brown play any role in this process? These are yes or no questions.

            It was at 2:20 p.m. Wednesday that Mr. Dervis wrote to "colleagues" that "this is to inform you that Brian Gleeson, Director, Office of Human Resources (OHR), Bureau of Management (BoM), has been designated to serve as Senior Advisor for the Surge Project in the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery... on Thursday, 30 November, 2006." Mr. Dervis' email also thanked Brian Gleeson for having "done a difficult job well." If the swirl of Gleeson issues remains, this written praise by the head of UNDP seems more like cover-up than diplomacy.

            The demotion announced Wednesday is the most recent of moves by Mr. Dervis against officials previously installed by Mark Malloch Brown. In UNDP's Office of Finance, covering all European and CIS countries, the Hungarian Kalman Mitzei was fired, Inner City Press is told by UNDP sources, for sexual harassment and favoritism [for more, click here] and was replaced by Ms. Kori Udovicki, formerly of the World Bank, and before that from Belgrade. Observers question the wisdom of this selection, for Balkan(ized) geo-political reason and otherwise.

            It's worth noting that both Mark Malloch Brown and Kemal Dervis formerly worked at the World Bank. Those who know him say Mr. Dervis envied Malloch Brown's ascent to the top of UNDP. Now that he rules UNDP, with surprisingly little oversight, Mr. Dervis is putting his own hand-picked associates in place.

Kemal Dervis, speechifying, refusing questions, then emailing:

From: Kemal Dervis [mailto:kemal.dervis@undp.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 2:20 PM
Subject: Appointment of Brian Gleeson as Senior Advisor for BCPR Surge Project

Dear Colleagues,

This is to inform you that Brian Gleeson, Director, Office of Human Resources (OHR), Bureau of Management (BoM), has been designated to serve as Senior Advisor for the Surge Project in the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR). On behalf of the organization, I would like to thank Brian for doing a difficult job well for more than two and a half years and to wish him success in his new assignment While the selection process for the appointment of a new OHR Director is underway, I have asked Romesh Muttukumaru, Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau for Resources and Strategic Partnerships (BRSP), to serve as Officer-in-Charge of OHR. These transition arrangements will come into effect on Thursday, 30 November, 2006. I urge all staff to please cooperate during this transition period.
With best regards, Kemal

            Mark Malloch Brown, of course, is still asserting himself. His close ally Bruce Jenks remains in place at UNDP's Bureau of Resources and Partnerships (Mr. Jenks was traveling on Wednesday and would not be able to comment, Inner City Press was told, until next week at the earliest) and his Cape Verdean associate Carlos Lopez has been selected to give briefings to incoming Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

   Some call it Shakespearean, this hard-ball dueling between ex-World Bankers Kemal Dervis and Mark Malloch Brown. But how is it, these people ask, that high-paying UNDP jobs are given outside of official channels, in some cases, such as that of one Nancy Barnes, without even showing up in databases of employees? In UNDP's European Union  and CIS shop, corruption is said to be endemic. The European Union in Brussels funnels funding through UNDP, a funding stream never reviewed even by UNDP's Executive Board. Nor is oversight being given by UNDP auditor Jessie Mabutas, whose role in jobs-for-pay may be more participatory than investigative. More on this next week.

            For now we note: on November 27, Inner City Press attempted to ask Kemal Dervis questions in the General Assembly hall, after a meeting about the Millennium Development Goals. As Inner City Press recounted at that day's UN noon briefing, Mr. Dervis said, "I don't answer questions this way, walking out of meetings." Inner City Press reiterated its request, made for more than five months now, that Mr. Dervis come to a press conference and answer questions, which he hasn't done since a single press conference when he got the UNDP job, 14 months ago. Mr. Dervis indicated that it would take a "special event" to get him to a press conference. Might these events be considered special? We'll see.

            Inner City Press sought to reach Brian Gleeson on Wednesday afternoon. His office expressed surprise that word of his (down) shift to Special Advisor had "spread to the UN." Some thought that UNDP was part of the United Nations. UNDP is the UN's main representative to most countries. But UNDP these days is apparently run as a fiefdom unto itself. In seeking UNDP's explanation for Mr. Gleeson's abrupt downshift, and UNDP's response to this story, messages to the UNDP Communications Office went unanswered, as has become a pattern. An attempt to reach Kalman Mitzei yielded that he has returned by Hungary. A 6:45 p.m. call to Romesh Muttukumaru, Brian Gleeson's interim replacement at the helm of UNDP Human Resources, yielded an outgoing message that Romesh Muttukumaru was busy on the phone; a message seeking comment, or UNDP's official explanation of the change at the top of its Office of Human Resources, was not returned.

       Given what UNDP sources say of Mr. Gleeson, now downshifted to advisory status with "the Surge Project in the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery," it's worth noting that a recent UNDP job ad for a position with this Surge Project in the BCPR lists, among required "corporate competencies," that the employee (and presumably advisor) "Treats all people fairly without favoritism" and "Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards."

[Dec. 7 note - In the above, certain details have been removed so that there is less distraction from the subject of this series: the UN Development Program. According to the Secretariat's spokesman's December 7 lecture, these were the details which led to the December 4 comments of the Deputy Secretary-General, ex-Administrator of UNDP. Back to the substance - click here for a list of the most recent articles.]

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At the UN, Misdirection on Somalia and Myanmar, No Answers from UNDP's Kemal Dervis

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- With Ethiopian and Ugandan troops already inside Somalia, and the U.S. reportedly preparing a Security Council resolution to grant them UN powers to expanding fighting against the Council of Somali Islamic Courts, on Monday both Kofi Annan and U.S. Ambassador John Bolton dodged the issue.

            As Kofi Annan left the General Assembly's meeting on development, Inner City Press asked Mr. Annan what the UN was doing about war in Somalia. As transcribed by UN staff:

Inner City Press:  On Somalia.  The monitoring group’s report about ten countries violating the arms embargo -- what do you think the UN can or should do to try to hold off a war that seems to be brewing between the Islamic Courts and the Ethiopians and others?

Secretary-General:  I think we have encouraged both parties to resume their talks in Khartoum.  They’ve made various attempts to talk together and find a way of working together.  It is important that they do find a way of coming together, not escalate the situation, which may draw neighboring countries into the conflict in Somalia, and make matters much worse.  So we will continue our efforts.  My own Special Representative on the ground is working quite actively with both parties.

            In real time, Mr. Annan first called the work of SRSG Francois Lonseny Fall "fairly" active. Video here, from Minute 2:40. In reality, the UN's Office on Somalia is not even based in the country, but rather in Nairobi. And Mr. Annan's statement that event "may" draw neighboring countries into the conflict in Somalia is months late. Ethiopian troops are all around Baidoa, and now Uganda has acknowledged having sent troops.

Breakdown in Chad

            U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, emerging for a Security Council meeting about Myanmar, was asked by Inner City Press for the U.S. position on Somalia. Last week Amb. Bolton told Inner City Press he had nothing to say on the topic, while at the State Department's briefing in Washington it was said that the U.S. was working hard at the UN on the issue. Monday Amb. Bolton repeated that he had nothing to say, but added that he might have something to say in "a couple of days." Video here, from Minute 11:30.

            Inner City Press asked Amb. Bolton to respond to Somali denials of the authenticity of a letter from the Islamic Counts' Sheik Aweys, which was reportedly the trigger for the U.S.'s recent terrorism alert in East Africa. "I have nothing to add to that point," Amb. Bolton said.

            On Myanmar, Amb. Bolton unceremoniously dropped from his litany of Myanmar's sins the allegation, which he previously made, that Myanmar is a threat to international peace and security because it is engaged in money laundering. Weeks ago at a stakeout outside the General Assembly, Inner City Press asked Amb. Bolton to comment on the G-8's FATF having dropped Myanmar from its money laundering blacklist. At the time, Amb. Bolton said he hadn't heard of it. Inner City Press provided the information to Amb. Bolton's staff for a comment, which never came. Now the issue is dropped -- although the spread of refugees and "diseases such as HIV / AIDS" is cited by Amb. Bolton in support of a resolution said to be coming in the next "days or weeks."

            Inner City Press asked the UN's head of political affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, if his briefing to the Council had addressed money laundering or drug trafficking. Video here, from Minute 4:10. Mr. Gambari mentioned "progress" on stopping drug trafficking, and did not mention money laundering. As one of the top five issues he listed humanitarian access. Earlier in the day, Myanmar's government reportedly threw the Red Cross out of the country.

            Inner City Press asked Council President Voto-Bernales if either money laundering or drug trafficking was discussed in the Council meeting. There was "no general discussion on the matter," Amb. Voto-Bernales said. Video here, from Minute 3:20. He added that Somalia will be on the Council's agenda for Wednesday. Click here for further analysis.

            Finally, for this report, we are compelled to note that outside the very General Assembly meeting following which Secretary-General Kofi Annan stopped and took questions from reporters, both in the hall and before the stakeout camera (video here), Inner City Press sought to ask UN Development Program Administrator Kemal Dervis about UNDP's role in funding and / or monitoring involuntary disarmament in northeast Uganda.

            Mr. Dervis said, "I don't just answer questions like this, walking out of a room."

            Inner City Press suggested that Mr. Dervis come to a press conference in UN Headquarters Room 226 to take questions.

            Mr. Dervis allowed, "Perhaps that can be arranged."

            Inner City Press pointed out that the request has been made, for months, to UNDP Communications staff, and that Mr. Dervis has not held such a press conference for 14 months.

            "It would have to be something special," Mr. Dervis said. Why not hold a press conference to take questions, as do the heads of other UN agencies and even Kofi Annan, who, it must be noted, did on Monday "answer questions like this, walking out of a room."

           Also Monday outside the (GA) room, Mr. Dervis rebuffed another reporter from his home country. Earlier, his staff had declined to provide an advance copy of his speech to the General Assembly, claiming that it would be extemporaneous. Why play hide the ball about a public speech to be delivered? Lack of transparency and lack of accountability apparently start at the top.

            At Monday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric what are the minimum standards of accessibility and transparency for the heads of UN agencies like Mr. Dervis.

            "I am not the boss of him," Mr. Dujarric answered, adding that that from emails he has seen, UNDP is answering questions. We note that a question about Bangladesh asked two weeks ago has still not been answered.

            Inner City Press was told, by a representative of the Islamic Development Bank, that a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed at 3:30 Monday afternoon at UNDP Headquarters. (This concerns an IDB initiative to fight poverty, one that will not use the types of "conditionalities" employed by the World Bank, Inner City Press was told by the IDB's Dr. Amadou Boubacar Cisse, formerly a minister of Niger, click here for more). Inner City Press asked to attend but was told that it was an internal UNDP event. Inner City Press has asked for a copy of the agreement. "There is nothing sensitive in it," an IDB official replied. "But I don't know about UNDP's information disclosure policies." Developing.

UNDP Dodges Questions of Disarmament Abuse in Uganda and of Loss of Togo AIDS Grant, Dhaka Snafu

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, November 24 -- In eastern Uganda, villages this month have been burned and residents shot and killed by government soldiers. The Uganda military has been asked by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour to halt a cordon-and-search disarmament program which has killed 55 civilians in the Karamoja region. Uganda's deputy defense minister Ruth Nankabirwa has said the program will continue, telling reporters that "It is true that some people were killed, but in an operation where both sides are armed, you should expect such things to happen."

            Missing from both stories, and from Louise Arbour's report,  is that the UN Development Programme funded and encouraged the wave of cordon-and-search disarmament earlier this year, until UNDP begrudgingly suspected its funding. Uganda's New Vision newspaper of June 28, 2006, under the headline " UNDP suspends Karamoja projects" recounted that

"Inner City Press reported that the UPDF were committing abuses in the process of the cordon and search exercise, including killing of people and burning of homes and shelters. But both the UPDF spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye and the eastern and northeastern spokesman, Capt. Paddy Ankunda, dismissed the reports yesterday. 'That is absolutely ridiculous,' Ankunda said."

            Since then, UNDP dodged answering whether it has resumed funding the program, and UNDP has most recently reverted to claiming that it never funded or encouraged the program.  A month ago, around Karamojo, UNDP's spokesman wrote Inner City Press: "As we conveyed to the Spokesman's office when you first raised this question there, neither UNDP nor the UN is the appropriate source for comment on a member-state government inquiry; we would suggest perhaps the UN mission from Uganda may help."

            UNDP has not always been adverse to commenting on Uganda's disarmament programs. UNDP's spokesman had previously informed Inner City Press that

"In 2006 UNDP began work on an independent community development and human security project in the Karamoja region, one component of which was the encouragement of voluntary disarmament. The project was budgeted initially for $1 million, to be financed from UNDP's Uganda country office [Due to a misunderstanding on my part I erroneously identified to you in our conversation Tuesday the government of Denmark as a funder of this project.] Only $293,000 has been spent to date and all UNDP activities in the region are now halted, given that they are unworkable at this time, for the reasons noted."

   On May 25, 2006, then UNDP Country Director Cornelis Klein gave a speech praising Uganda's disarmament programs -- during a time that, as reported by Inner City Press, Karamojong villages were being torched and civilians tortured and killed. Mr. Klein's speech, still online as of this writing, said:

"Uganda -- and the state institutions involved here today -- is fast becoming a leading light in Africa and beyond in how it is seizing the opportunity to address small and light weapons concerns. While UNDP currently provides modest support to the nation, it is Uganda that can support and lead other countries in doing the same. Let me take this opportunity, therefore, to applaud the Government for its strong leadership and commitment."

            The Ugandan government's in-house investigation of that round of violent disarmament, for which the Kampala newspaper the Daily Monitor credited Inner City Press, is still pending, even as more burning and killing by government soldiers takes place. Most close observers opine that at least the May phase of the cordon-and-search operation was intended to meet UNDP's aggressive goals for disarmament, for a photo-op for a UNDP country representative who has since dropped out of sight, refusing to take questions.

UNDP's Cornelis Klein amid smoldering Uganda

            UNDP's lack of forthrightness and follow-up about abuses in Eastern Uganda is echoed in more recent agency responses regarding its administration of AIDS programs in Togo, and non-responses regarding Bangladesh.

            In Togo, grants of millions of dollars were stopped earlier this year due, the donor said, to the UN Development Programme filing incorrect data. While the health of thousands of HIV-positive Togolese continues to decline, questions to UNDP result, days later, in finger-pointing at the donor, and a full two-week delay in any UNDP response to a critique by Bangladesh officials. A Ugandan cordon-and-search disarmament program which UNDP previously acknowledges having supported has killed dozens of civilians in the past months. Now UNDP denies ever having funded the program. UNDP's Administrator Kemal Dervis has not made himself available for press questions in the UN's Headquarters for more than 14 months. And so the questions continue to back up.

            On November 13, Inner City Press sent UNDP's main Communications Office in New York a request for comment on UNDP snafus in Togo and Bangladesh. Two days later, UNDP acknowledged receipt of the request and promised response by November 15.

            After deadline on November 15, one of UNDP's spokespeople sent this:

Subject: RE: UNDP questions, re Togo and Bangladesh

From: @undp.org

To: Inner City Press

Sent: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 6:12 PM

Kindly find below our response to your question on Togo. We will get back to you on your Bangladesh query shortly.

Question: Please explain UNDP's actions on HIV/AIDS in Togo, including addressing the report (below) that funding has been lost. ("The Global Fund, the main donor of  antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in Togo, halted one of two three-year HIV grants amounting to US$15.5 million in January 2006, citing "irregularities" in the  information provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on managing the money.")

Answer:  With regards to the Global Fund, the Togolese HIV/AIDS grant proposal, developed by a multidisciplinary coordination committee, was approved in 2003. In light of its previous experience in neighboring countries, UNDP was appointed as the grant's principal recipient....A June 2006 evaluation by Price Waterhouse of data provided by UNDP and the concerned NGOs concluded that UNDP had not put in place systems to ensure effective reporting from the field, making it difficult to verify the actual number of people or communities serviced. As part of its normal project operations, UNDP had advanced funds for selected activities. Prior to reimbursing UNDP for these expenses, the Global Fund called for a financial review. In response, UNDP launched a bidding process in the sub-region and the firm CGIC won the bid and was contracted to carry out this independent financial review. As CGIC has confirmed in a declaration to the media and in its discussions with Togo's President, Prime Minister and Minister of Health, that study, undertaken in September and October 2006, found that, while there may have been errors in the data reported, there was no mismanagement or fraud... The Country Coordination Mechanism -- a body consisting of national partners, such as the concerned ministries, NGOs and the private sector, as well as international partners, which manages Global Fund matters in Togo -- could make a special request for the purchase of the ARVs in order to ensure that treatment of the 3,000 patients continues."

            But it is uncontested that due to the improper data, no new patients have been accepted. On Saturday, November 18, UNDP sent a further clarification:

In a message dated 11/18/2006 12:02:17 PM,  @undp.org writes: 

I'd like to clarify something regarding the Togo information I provided you yesterday evening: In its financial review report, CGIC found that no fraud or mismanagement existed. It was the Global Fund 's Manager for Togo, M. Mabingue Ngom, who informed the country's President, Prime Minister and the Minister of Health that there was no fraud or mismanagement."

            Subsequently, Inner City Press has asked for a copy of the CGIS audit. No response has been received. Nor has any response been received regarding Bangladesh, despite the passage of 11 days. It has been reported from Bangladesh that:

"The Ministry of Commerce has rejected a Preparatory Assistance (PA)  project proposal of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as  it finds the UN organization jobs unplanned, lack of coordination and integrated mechanism. 'The UNDP only suggest preparatory assistance projects rather to take  further full projects to address the identified problems," one of the commerce ministry officials' said."

            How can it take 11 days to provide a comment on this? The spin machine is at work.

            It has been 14 months since UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis appeared to take questions in UN Headquarters. On November 27, Mr. Dervis will be in UN Headquarters to attend a meeting on the Millennium Development Goals. While two of the other participants will, that afternoon, take questions at a UN press conference, Mr. Dervis is notably not listed as available for questions. While, after repeated requests, Inner City Press has been told he will take questions sometime in December, the need for answers is now.

Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

At the UN, Indigenous Rights Get Deferred, As U.S. Abstains, Deftly or Deceptively

At the UN, Threat and Possible Statement on Fiji Spotlights Selection and Payment of UN Peacekeepers

At the UN, China and Islamic Dev't Bank Oppose Soros and World Bank On How to Fight Poverty

At the UN, Misdirection on Somalia and Myanmar, No Answers from UNDP's Kemal Dervis

UNDP Dodges Questions of Disarmament Abuse in Uganda and of Loss of Togo AIDS Grant, Dhaka Snafu

At the UN, The Swan Song of Jan Egeland and the Third Committee Loop, Somalia Echoes Congo

UN Silent As Protesters Tear Gassed in Ivory Coast, As UNMOVIC Plods On and War Spreads in Somalia

In the UN, Uzbekistan Gets a Pass on Human Rights As Opposition to U.S. Grows and War's On in Somalia

At the UN, Cluster Bombs Unremembered, Uighurs Disappeared and Jay-Z Returns with Water -- for Life

From the UN, Silence on War Crimes Enforcement and Conflicts of Interest on Complaint from Bahrain

En Route to Deutsche Bank, the UN's Door Revolves, While Ban Ki-moon Arrives and Moldova Spins

As Two UN Peacekeepers Are Killed, UN Says Haiti's Improving, Ban Ki-moon on Zimbabwe?

Nagorno-Karabakh President Disputes Fires and Numbers, Oil and UN, in Exclusive Interview with Inner City Press

Inside the UN, Blaming Uganda's Victims, Excusing Annan on Mugabe, and U.S. Blocked Darfur Trip

U.S. Blocked Council's Trip to Darfur Meeting, Brazzaville Envoy Explains After U.S. Casts a Veto

At the UN, Council Works Overtime To Cancel Its Trip About Darfur, While DC Muses on John Bolton

UN Panel's "Coherence" Plan Urges More Power to UNDP, Despite Its Silence on Human Rights

On Water, UNDP Talks Human Rights, While Enabling Violations in Africa and Asia, With Shell and Coca-Cola

Will UN's Revolving Door Keep Human Rights Lost, Like Bush's Call and WFP Confirmation Questions?

On Somalia, We Are All Ill-Informed, Says the UN, Same on Uganda, Lurching Toward UNDP Power Grab

On WFP, Annan and Ban Ki-Moon Hear and See No Evil, While Resume of Josette Sheeran Shiner Is Edited

Would Moon Followers Trail Josette Sheeran Shiner into WFP, As to U.S. State Dep't?

At the UN, Positions Are Up For the Grabbing, Sun's Silence on Censorship, Advisor Grabs for Gun

In WFP Race, Josette Sheeran Shiner Praises Mega Corporations from Cornfield While State Spins

At the UN, Housing Subsidy Spin, Puntland Mysteries of UNDP and the Panama Solution

In Campaign to Head UN WFP, A Race to Precedents' Depths, A Murky Lame Duck Appointment

At the UN, Gbagbo and his Gbaggage, Toxic Waste and Congolese Sanctions

WFP Brochure-Gate? John Bolton Has Not Seen Brochure of "Official" U.S. Candidate to Head World Food Program

Ivory Coast Stand-Off Shows Security Council Fault Lines: News Analysis

At the UN, It's Groundhog's Day on Western Sahara, Despite Fishing Deals and Flaunting of the Law

"Official" U.S. Candidate to Head WFP Circulates Brochure With Pulitzer Claim, UN Staff Rules Ignored

Senegal's President Claims Peace in Casamance and Habre Trial to Come, A Tale of Two Lamines

A Tale of Two Americans Vying to Head the World Food Program, Banbury and Sheeran Shiner

At the UN, the Unrepentant Blogger Pronk, a Wink on 14 North Korean Days and Silence on Somalia

At the UN, Literacy Losses in Chad, Blogless Pronk and Toothless Iran Resolution, How Our World Turns

Sudan Pans Pronk While Praising Natsios, UN Silent on Haiti and WFP, Ivorian Fingers Crossed

UN Shy on North Korea, Effusive on Bird Flu and Torture, UNDP Cyprus Runaround, Pronk is Summoned Home

At the UN, Silence from UNDP on Cyprus, from France on the Chad-Bomb, Jan Pronk's Sudan Blog

Russia's Vostok Battalion in Lebanon Despite Resolution 1701, Assembly Stays Deadlocked and UNDP Stays Missing

As Turkmenistan Cracks Down on Journalists, Hospitals and Romance, UNDP Works With the Niyazov Regime

At the UN, Darfur Discussed, Annan Eulogized and Oil For Food Confined to a Documentary Footnote

With All Eyes on Council Seat, UN is Distracted from Myanmar Absolution and Congo Conflagration

As Venezuela and Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona De-Listed

At the UN, North Korea Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons Sales

At the UN, Georgia Speaks of Ethnic Cleansing While Russia Complains of Visas Denied by the U.S.

At the UN, Deference to the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of Slippery Eels and Sun Microsystems

At the UN, Annan's Africa Advisor Welcome Chinese Investment, Dodges Zimbabwe, Nods to Darfur

At the UN, Richard Goldstone Presses Enforcement on Joseph Kony, Reflecting Back on Karadzic

UN Defers on Anti-Terror Safeguards to Member States, Even in Pakistan and Somalia

Afghanistan as Black Hole for Info and Torture Tales, Photos and Talk Mogadishu, the UN Afterhours

Amid UN's Korean Uproar, Russia Silent on Murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Chechnya Exposer

UN Envoy Makes Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and Threat-Filled Election

Sudan's UN Envoy Admits Right to Intervene in Rwanda, UNICEF Response on Terrorist Groups in Pakistan

At the UN, As Next S-G is Chosen, Annan Claims Power to Make 5-Year Appointments, Quiet Filing and Ivory Coast Concessions

Chaos in UN's Somalia Policy, Working With Islamists Under Sanctions While Meeting with Private Military Contractors

U.S. Candidate for UN's World Food Program May Get Lame Duck Appointment, Despite Korean Issues

At the UN, U.S. Versus Axis of Airport, While Serge Brammertz Measures Non-Lebanese Teeth

Exclusion from Water Is Called Progress, of Straw Polls and WFP Succession

William Swing Sings Songs of Congo's Crisis, No Safeguards on Coltan Says Chairman of Intel

Warlord in the Waldorf and Other Congo Questions Dodged by the UN in the Time Between Elections

In Some New Orleans, Questions Echo from the South Bronx and South Lebanon

In New Orleans, While Bone Is Thrown in Superdome, Parishes Still In Distress

At the UN, Tales of Media Muzzled in Yemen, Penned in at the Waldorf on Darfur, While Copters Grounded

US's Frazer Accuses Al-Bashir of Sabotage, Arab League of Stinginess, Chavez of Buying Leaders - Click here for video file by Inner City Press.

Third Day of UN General Debate Gets Surreal, Canapes and Killings, Questions on Iran and Montenegro and Still Somalia

On Darfur, Hugo Chavez Asks for More Time to Study, While Planning West Africa Oil Refinery

At the UN, Ivory Coast Discussed Without Decision on Toxic Politics, the Silence of Somalia

Evo Morales Blames Strike on Mobbed-Up Parasites, Sings Praise of Coca Leaf and Jabs at Coca-Cola

Musharraf Says Unrest in Baluchistan Is Waning, While Dodging Question on Restoring Civilian Rule

At the UN, Cyprus Confirms 'Paramilitary' Investigation, Denies Connection to Def Min Resignation, CBTB Update

A Tale of Three Leaders, Liberia Comes to Praise and Iran and Sudan to Bury the UN

UN Round-up: Poland's President Says Iraq Is Ever-More Tense While Amb. Bolton Talks Burmese Drugs, Spin on Ivory Coast

As UN's Annan Now Says He Will Disclose, When and Whether It Will Be to the Public and Why It Took So Long Go Unasked

At the UN, Stonewalling Continues on Financial Disclosure and Letter(s) U.S. Mission Has, While Zimbabwe Goes Ignored

At the UN, Financial Disclosure Are Withheld While Freedom of Information Is Promised, Of Hollywood and Dictators' Gift Shops

UN's Annan Says Dig Into Toxic Dumping, While Declining to Discuss Financial Disclosure

A Still-Unnamed Senior UN Official in NY Takes Free Housing from His Government, Contrary to UN Staff Regulations

UN Admits To Errors in its Report on Destruction of Congolese Village of Kazana, Safeguards Not In Place

As UN Checks Toxins in Abidjan, the Dumper Trafigura Figured in Oil for Food Scandal, Funded by RBS and BNP Paribas

Targeting of African Americans For High Cost Mortgages Grew Worse in 2005, While Fed Downplays Its Own Findings

The UN and Nagorno-Karabakh: Flurries of Activity Leave Frozen Conflicts Unchanged; Updates on Gaza, Gavels and Gbagbo

The UN Cries Poor on Lawless Somalia, While Its Ex-Security Chief Does Business Through Ruleless Revolving Door

At the UN, Micro-States Simmer Under the Assembly's Surface, While Incoming Council President Dodges Most Questions

"Horror Struck" is How UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments Would Leave U.S., Referral on Burma But Not Uzbekistan

Security Council President Condemns UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments, While UK "Doesn't Do It Any More"

At the UN, Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by Member States

Rare UN Sunshine From If Not In Chad While Blind on Somalia and Zimbabwe, UNDP With Shell in its Ear on Nigeria

Annan Family Ties With Purchaser from Compass, Embroiled in UN Scandal, Raise Unanswered Ethical Questions

At the UN, from Casamance to Transdniestria, Kosovars to Lezgines, Micro-States as Powerful's Playthings

Inquiry Into Housing Subsidies Contrary to UN Charter Goes Ignored for 8 Weeks, As Head UN Peacekeeper Does Not Respond

On the UN - Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost

Stop Bank Branch Closings and Monopolies in the Katrina Zone, Group Says, Challenging Regions- AmSouth Merger

Ship-Breakers Missed by UN's Budget for Travel and Consultants in Bangladesh, Largest UNIFIL Troop Donor

With Somalia on the Brink of Horn-Wide War, UN Avoids Question of Ethiopian Invasion

In UN's Lebanon Frenzy, Darfur Is Ignored As Are the Disabled, "If You Crave UNIFIL, Can't You Make Do With MONUC?"

UN Decries Uzbekistan's Use of Torture, While Helping It To Tax and Rule; Updates on UNIFIL and UNMIS Off-Message

On Lebanon, Russian Gambit Focuses Franco-American Minds, Short Term Resolution Goes Blue Amid Flashes of Lightening

Africa Can Solve Its Own Problems, Ghanaian Minister Tells Inner City Press, On LRA Peace Talks and Kofi Annan's Views

At the UN, Jay-Z Floats Past Questions on Water Privatization and Sweatshops, Q'Orianka Kilcher in the Basement

In the UN Security Council, Speeches and Stasis as Haiti is Forgotten, for a Shebaa Farms Solution?

UN Knew of Child Soldier Use by Two Warlords Whose Entry into Congo Army the UN Facilitated

Impunity's in the Air, at the UN in Kinshasa and NY, for Kony and Karim and MONUC for Kazana

UN Still Silent on Somalia, Despite Reported Invasion, In Lead-Up to More Congo Spin

UN's Guehenno Says Congo Warlord Just Needs Training, and Kazana Probe Continues

With Congo Elections Approaching, UN Issues Hasty Self-Exoneration as Annan Is Distracted

In DR Congo, UN Applauds Entry into Army of Child-Soldier Commander Along with Kidnapper

Spinning the Congo, UN Admits Hostage Deal with Warlord That Put Him in Congolese Army

At the UN, Dow Chemical's Invited In, While Teaming Up With Microsoft is Defended

Kofi Annan Questioned about Congolese Colonel Who Kidnapped Seven UN Soldiers

UN Silent As Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army Colonel: News Analysis

UN's Guehenno Speaks of "Political Overstretch" Undermining Peacekeeping in Lower Profile Zones

In Gaza Power Station, the Role of Enron and the U.S. Government's OPIC Revealed by UN Sources

UN's Corporate Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with Microsoft, and UNDP Continues

BTC Briefing, Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations

Conflicts of Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal Reform Rifts

UN Grapples with Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit, Without Explanation

UN Gives Mugabe Time with His Friendly Mediator, Refugees Abandoned

At the UN, Friday Night's Alright for Fighting; Annan Meets Mugabe

UN Acknowledges Abuse in Uganda, But What Did Donors Know and When? Kazakh Questions

In Uganda, UNDP to Make Belated Announcement of Program Halt, But Questions Remain (and see The New Vision, offsite).

Disarmament Abuse in Uganda Leads UN Agency to Suspend Its Work and Spending

Disarmament Abuse in Uganda Blamed on UNDP, Still Silent on Finance

Alleged Abuse in Disarmament in Uganda Known by UNDP, But Dollar Figures Still Not Given: What Did UN Know and When?

Strong Arm on Small Arms: Rift Within UN About Uganda's Involuntary Disarmament of Karamojong Villages

UN's Selective Vision on Somalia and Wishful Thinking on Uighurs

UN Habitat Predicts The World Is a Ghetto, But Will Finance Be Addressed at Vancouver World Urban Forum?

UN's Annan Concerned About Use of Terror's T-Word to Repress, Wants Freedom of Information

UN  Waffles on Human Rights in Central Asia and China; ICC on Kony and a Hero from Algiers

UN & US, Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty and Senator Tom Coburn

Human Rights Forgotten in UN's War of Words, Bolton versus Mark Malloch Brown: News Analysis

In Praise of Migration, UN Misses the Net and Bangalore While Going Soft on Financial Exclusion

UN Sees Somalia Through a Glass, Darkly, While Chomsky Speaks on Corporations and Everything But Congo

Corporate Spin on AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence

The Silence of the Congo and Naomi Watts; Between Bolivia and the World Bank

Human Rights Council Has Its Own Hanging Chads; Cocky U.S. State Department Spins from SUVs

Child Labor and Cargill and Nestle; Iran, Darfur and WHO's on First with Bird Flu

Press Freedom? Editor Arrested by Congo-Brazzaville, As It Presides Over Security Council

The Place of the Cost-Cut UN in Europe's Torn-Up Heart;
Deafness to Consumers, Even by the Greens

Background Checks at the UN, But Not the Global Compact; Teaching Statistics from Turkmenbashi's Single Book

Ripped Off Worse in the Big Apple, by Citigroup and Chase: High Cost Mortgages Spread in Outer Boroughs in 2005, Study Finds

Burundi: Chaos at Camp for Congolese Refugees, Silence from UNHCR, While Reform's Debated by Forty Until 4 AM

The Chadian Mirage: Beyond French Bombs, Is Exxon In the Cast? Asylum and the Uzbeks, Shadows of Stories to Come

Through the UN's One-Way Mirror, Sustainable Development To Be Discussed by Corporations, Even Nuclear Areva

Racial Disparities Grew Worse in 2005 at Citigroup, HSBC and Other Large Banks

Mine Your Own Business: Explosive Remnants of War and the Great Powers, Amid the Paparazzi

Human Rights Are Lost in the Mail: DR Congo Got the Letter, But the Process is Still Murky

Iraq's Oil to be Metered by Shell, While Basrah Project Remains Less than Clear

Kofi, Kony, Kagame and Coltan: This Moment in the Congo and Kampala

As Operation Swarmer Begins, UN's Qazi Denies It's Civil War and Has No Answers if Iraq's Oil is Being Metered

Cash Crop: In Nepal, Bhutanese Refugees Prohibited from Income Generation Even in their Camps

The Shorted and Shorting in Humanitarian Aid: From Davos to Darfur, the Numbers Don't Add Up

UN Reform: Transparency Later, Not Now -- At Least Not for AXA - WFP Insurance Contract

In the Sudanese Crisis, Oil Revenue Goes Missing, UN Says

Empty Words on Money Laundering and Narcotics, from the UN and Georgia

What is the Sound of Eleven Uzbeks Disappearing? A Lack of Seats in Tashkent, a Turf War at UN

Kosovo: Of Collective Punishment and Electricity; Lights Out on Privatization of Ferronikeli Mines

Abkhazia: Cleansing and (Money) Laundering, Says Georgia

Post-Tsunami Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives

Citigroup Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference

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