At the UN, Questions of Reform Are Kept Off Ban Ki-moon's Center Stage While Sudan Is "Too Sensitive"

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 11 -- Whether in French or English or presumably Korean, so far Mr. Ban Ki-moon doesn't say much. At a press conference Thursday, Ban took and largely dodged 15 questions from reporters carefully selected by his spokeswoman. On discussions about Darfur, Ban said the situation is "too sensitive" to say much.

   Asked repeatedly about Somalia and the U.S. bombing there, Mr. Ban finally said he "fully understand[s] the necessity behind this attack" on a "hideout of Al Qaedas," but expressed through his spokeswoman concern about impacts on civilians. The question raised to the spokeswoman for Ban's position on China's recent killing of at least 18 people in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region remains unanswered, like many other questions.

            At the press conference, UN reform as such was not (allowed to be) raised. Rather, three selected questioners asked about the process by which Ban has made his five senior selections to date. The paper of record referred respectfully, and without name, to the Deputy Secretary General. Ban responded that, contrary to what Ms. Migiro has reportedly told the press, he spent six hours with her on an airplane, flying to Tanzania. The Sunday News of January 7 reported "the minister, exulting total confidence narrated events leading to her appointment. First she had only met the Secretary-General as former Foreign Minister of South Korea when he was welcoming guests to a dinner party during the recent visit of President Kikwete's visit to Korea. Apart from the official talks they had held, there was no further communication between the two ministers." Click here for that article.

Ban: Tightly scripted

            Fox News asked specifically about Alicia Barcena, and whether under her the "global taxpayers" will be able to be sure their money is being appropriately expended. Ban referred, for the second time in the press conference, to Ms. Barcena's time with ECLAC and as a vice minister in Mexico. Some have been asking about events just before she left that post. But this press conference was so tightly controlled that few substantive answers emerged.

            The Washington Post asked about patronage to the Permanent Five members of the Security Council. Ban's answer included the statement that he gives "due consideration" to important countries of the P-5, but still seeks qualified people who are "team players."

            Unasked was what Ban's open focus on "team players" means for the rights of whistleblowers in the UN system. Ban and his team have reportedly been asking senior holdover officials what can be done to "stop leaks" and avoid them in the future. This does not bode well for whistleblowers or for transparency. Nor does such tightly-scripted press conference. Under the previous administration, questions for example about Annan's financial disclosure form were allowed, to Annan himself. While Ban has tried to preemptively take this issue off the table -- at little real cost to himself, since his finances were already public as South Korean foreign minister -- so far real questions of UN reform have not been allowed, much less answered.

            In the real world of the UN as workplace, a much asked question is what will Ban do with "OHRM," the Office of Human Resource and Management and its current chieftain Jan Beagle. It is said that Ms. Barcena is lobbying for Ms. Beagle to stay, while the New York Staff Union has the contrary position. Democracy or insiders? What does it mean, to be a Ban team player? Time will tell.

            In the absence of substantive answers from Mr. Ban, the press corps is left with rumors and jokes. One wag called him Bon-kimon, playing off the video game Pokemon. The various rumors, we will not for now report. We'd prefer to get questions answered, to get them confirmed or denied. But for now answers, and even the opportunity to seek them, are not forthcoming.

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At the UN, Dodging U.S. Bombs and Death of Uighurs, Outliers in UN's Economic Projection

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 10 --  In his seven weekdays on the job, new Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has faced a number of questions of law. It began with two positions on the death penalty, and since then has moved to whether actions of the U.S. and China constitute extra-judicial killings, and whether the International Criminal Court's indictments of leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army should be enforced.

            On Wednesday Inner City Press asked the UN spokeswoman for Ban Ki-moon's position on the ICC indictments, which Uganda's Museveni government is calling to be dropped. "It is a judicial process and will continue," said the spokeswoman. "The Secretary-General will not interfere in the process of the tribunal." Video here.

            On extra-judicial killings, the spokeswoman said that more information is needed about the bombings in Somalia by the U.S.. China's recent killing of at least 18 people in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, which Inner City Press asked about on Tuesday, was not addressed or mentioned on Wednesday.

   Also on Somalia, near six p.m. after the Security Council's consultations Inner City Press asked U.S. representative Jackie Sanders to address reports of civilians killed by U.S. bombing in southern Somalia. I am not aware of the numbers, Amb. Sanders said, in what by reporters' count was her second stakeout interview ever.

Somali refugees

   Inner City Press asked Ambassador Sanders for the U.S. position on Kenya having closed its border to Somalis trying to flee the fighting. That issue came up in consultations, Amb. Sanders said. But when Inner City Press asked Council president Churkin, he said he didn't recall Kenya's border closing being raised. He also declined to comment on the U.S. bombing in Somalia. The Transitional Federal Government's charge d'affaires answered Inner City Press' off-camera question about those shooting at Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu by claiming these were not nationalists, just militias in search of money.

            There was other happy talk on Wednesday. Inner City Press asked about the recent quotes from Sudan's president Al-Bashir that "Our experience with U.N. operations in the world is not encouraging... There are sufficient forces in the Sudan from African countries to maintain order and they can provide order. All we need is funding for the African troops."

            The spokeswoman acknowledged seeing this "press report," but cited to Al-Bashir's letter last month which was described as inviting UN troops in, despite that letter's insistence on a structure involving Sudanese veto power. And that letter was before the revelations about UN peacekeepers' sexual abuse in South Sudan, which Al-Bashir clearly referred to in his more recent quote. For two days Inner City Press has asked for a copy of the UN's report to the Sudanese government about sexual abuse, and each time has been told, "We can get that for you." When?

"World Economic Situation and Prospects 2007" -- and Outliers in Azerbaijan and Africa

            Also at Wednesday's UN noon briefing, an economic forecast was released. While this segment of the briefing morphed into a hurried question-and-answer with Jose Antonio Ocampo about current corruption scandals and the ways in which particular countries dominate parts of the UN and UNDP -- click here for that story -- prior to that, the question concerned the report. Inner City Press asked about outliers in the charts in the report: Bosnia with a reported unemployment rate of 46%, and Azerbaijan with a reported annual GDP growth of over 30 percent. How can these be explained? Mr. Ocampo deferred to a staffer, who explained Azerbaijan in terms of oil and the BTC pipeline, saying if one controls for oil and investment in oil infrastructure, "you will see it's not so amazing." After the briefing another staff addressed Bosnia, saying that people over-report their unemployment since they don't want to pay taxes. But why not elsewhere too?

            The chart in the report lists the two fastest-growing countries in Africa as Equatorial Guinea and Chad, and the slowest-growing as Zimbabwe, actually with negative growth. Oil dictatorships and coup-targets at the top, another dictatorship at the bottom, and what democracies there are, in the middle. Staffer Newton Kanhema explained that Africa is looking east, and that GDP growth of 7% would be needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Here's hoping.

            Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday morning attending the hand-over of power of the G-77 group, at which South Africa's ambassador said that Vijay Nambiar is his "inside man on the 38th floor. I tell him, I'm going to report you to Ambassador Singh [of India] if you don't help." All laughed, but what happened with Article 100 of the Charter, that UN staff do not report to their countries of nationality (even if these countries put them in the UN job)? Click here for today's UN reform story, which also deals with some member states' dominance of the UN and its staff and funds.

            South Africa's Ambassador also praised a G-77 staffer as "sitting in the Vienna Cafe smoking a pipe and negotiating," saying that many counter-parties had now also taken up pipe-smoking, presumably at the Vienna Cafe. Beyond that smoking is prohibited at the UN, it has given rise to a wasteful expenditure for a duct ventilation system, which Inner City Press has confirmed will be ripped out and destroyed in less than two years under the Capital Master Plan. Jokes are nice, but it would also be nice to know what UN policy is.

            The most basic of facts are obfuscated. During the push to confirm Josette Sheeran Shiner to succeed Jim Morris as head of the UN World Food Program, it was argued that action under lame-duck Kofi Annan was necessary because Morris wanted to leave on December 31, and would be leaving then. Then Josette Sheeran Shiner did not start on Jan. 1, and Morris stayed on. Inner City Press was then told that the hand-over date had "always" been April, which is not what Inner City Press was previously told by the spokesman's office.  Wednesday it emerged that, following these questions, Morris has now scheduled a going-away party for next week. Can we know when Josette Sheeran Shiner will start? We'll see.

UNHCR Updates on North Koreans in Thailand and Elsewhere and Refugees in Nepal

            Here are two responses from UNHCR in Geneva, on questions of recent days regarding North Koreans in Thailand and protests in Nepal:

In a message dated 1/10/2007 11:47:48 AM Eastern Standard Time, [ at] unhcr.org writes:

Hi Matthew,
On Nepal, there's a peaceful protest by urban refugees outside our office in Kathmandu. We understand that refugees affected by the reduction in their allowances feel the need to make their views clear to UNHCR. Our staff have been speaking to them about their concerns and also again explaining the reasons behind the reduction. We appreciate the fact it's a peaceful demonstration and that we can talk about their situation. In addition to their monthly allowance which is based on the minimum wage level, the refugees are also still receiving dependency allowances for spouse and children. Free medical assistance and discretional assistance for vulnerable individuals with specific needs as well as assistance for the education of children and language training is also still provided by UNHCR. A number of refugees have found stable informal work and some also get support from family members abroad.
On North Koreans in Thailand, the case you referred to dates back to 2005. As a rule we don't comment on individual cases. However, in general North Koreans are a group of concern to UNHCR. It is not necessary for UNHCR to go through the process of refugee status determination for North Koreans because they have a ready solution. They can usually go to South Korea where they have citizenship rights. In other words, they have a country where they have protection, where their rights will be respected and where they have physical security and are given support to integrate. There are of course other major advantages such as they speak the same language and have a common culture and in some cases, can be reunified with their families. UNHCR helps the authorities in countries concerned in South-East Asia, such as Thailand,  to find a humanitarian solution for N. Koreans - aside from a very small number going to third countries (such as US, Japan) most N. Koreans are going to S. Korea.

The US has told UNHCR that refugee status determination is NOT a requirement for North Koreans and that they will take referrals on humanitarian grounds. If a North Korean says they do not want to go to South Korea, then UNHCR can submit a case on humanitarian grounds to a third resettlement country.  It's then up to that country to decide whether or not they will take them according to their own regulations. It's their decision alone. If a case is rejected by the US, the case would still be eligible to go to South Korea.

In Thailand, we are not aware of any North Koreans being pushed back across the border. There have been round ups and detentions which we are very concerned about. We have been working with the Thai authorities to ensure these people are not returned to North Korea or China and can continue their journey to a safe third country, usually South Korea. 

Hope this helps.

  It does. China's treatment of those fleeing North Korea is a topic to be raised.

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

At the UN, Mysterious Deletion from Iran Sanctions List of Aerospace Industries Organization Goes Unexplained

At the UN, Iran Resolution Passes 15-0 Amid Media Frenzy While Somalia and UN Reform Are Ignored

At the UN, Security Council and GA Games and Holiday Spirit As Revolving Door Ban Disappears on Final Day

UNDP Not Covered By Weak UN Post-Employment Restrictions, Dervis and Mizsei and Aid to the Scapegoated

UN Post-Employment Restriction Are Watered Down for Senior Officials, Comparison to June Draft Reveals

At the UN, Curt Eulogies for Dictator, Revolving Door and Budget Left for the Last Day

UNDP's Dervis Backtracks on Transparency, Promises Accounting of Funds, Denies Role in Uganda Abuse

At the UN, Jeffrey Sachs Answers the $75,000 Question But Not on UNDP, Still Laudable Goals for 2025

Burundi Spin at the UN, Amid Coup Trial and Ceasefire Not Implemented, Great Lakes Commission Moves In

At the UN, Iran Resolution Goes Blue as Ivory Coast is Traded Away With No Follow-up on Hmung

At the UN, Annan's Long Goodbye, With Oil for Food in the Air and Hothouse Musical Chairs

At Kofi Annan's Farewell, UNDP Transparency is Raised, and Brian Gleeson Steps Up

At UN in Beirut, Dueling Charges of Job-Trading and Tax-Evasion, the Burden of Mervat Tallawy, Retaliation from Below

UNDP Will Be Called to Greater Transparency, Says President of Spain, on UNDP's Board, and Flaws of UNOPS

UNDP's Ad Melkert Says He Will Finally Increase Transparency, Describes Fraud in Russia, Dodges Uganda

In Eastern Congo, Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made a Colonel, Clooney And Now Guehenno Might Stay

At the UN, Ocampo 1 Says Kony To Jail and Ocampo 2 Sees No Serious Bertucci Charges, Dueling Parties

In UNDP's Book, Strong's Scandals Are Missing, While Workers Complain, MMB Schmoozes the Korean Mission

At UNDP, Flighty Rhetoric Founders in Mismanagement, MMB's Net, a Genocidaire and Whither ECOSOC

At the UN, Disabled Are Freed from a Footnote, Murky Answers from Gbagbo to Kosovo to a Genocidaire

Countering UN's Vanity Press, UNDP Histories from Below, Brussels and Two Views of Omar Bakhet

At the UN, Indigenous Indignation, Revolving Door Mysteries and Peace Pipe Belatedly Smoked

At the UN, Questions of Congo Mass Graves and Kazana, Mugabe and Forests and Rich German Ships

UNDP Is Important For The Poor, and Therefore Must Be Made Transparent

As UN Speechifies, UNDP Audits Are Still Being Withheld, While War in Somalia and Sudan, Pronk Blogs On

Waste, Fraud and Abuse at UNDP in Vietnam, While UN Secretariat Urges Censorship

At the UN, Questions of Humanitarian Aid and Congo Body Count, Despots' Crackdown on Dissent

In UNDP, Questions of Money Wasted, Neutrality Trampled, Russian Office Audits Withheld and Sachs Expenses

From Baidoa to the UN, Denials on Ethiopian Troops Being in Somalia, Resolution Is Passed

Retaliation Found at UNDP, While Dervis Is Focused on Turkey, In Two Weeks Will Take Questions

Annan's Spokesman Silent on 150 Dead in Congo, War in Somalia - But in Loud Defense of UNDP's $567,000 Book

At the UN, Interlopers into Somalia Are Discussed, With Chadian Pull-Back, Peacekeepers and Uganda's Karamoja

UNDP Spent $567,000 on Book to Praise Itself, While the Well-Placed Feed Off UNDP's Core Budget and Prime Postings

As UNDP Questions Mount, Mark Malloch Brown Calls Them Irresponsible, Answers Only in Vanity Press

In UNDP Series, Questions of Jeffrey Sachs and Associates Payments, From $1 to $75,000

From Sleaze in Vietnam to Fights in DC-1, UNDP Appears Out of Control at the Top

On Somalia, Past Arms Embargo Violations Forgiven in Zeal to Contain Islamic Courts

In UNDP, Drunken Mis-Managers on the Make Praised and Protected, Meet UNDP's Kalman Mizsei

From Violent Disarmament in Uganda to the National Bank of Serbia, UNDP Leaves Others to Answer for It

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

On Somalia, Fiji and Oil-for-Food, UN Ambiguity Leads to Hypocrisy and Corruption

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

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

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