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At the UN, Questions of Jobs Given Predetermined, Nepotism Admitted in Schori's Parting Shot

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

UNITED NATIONS, February 9 -- Jobs were the focus at UN Headquarters on Friday. At the two highest levels, there were comings and going, a few unexpected. Lower down the food chain, a question arose about 12 particular jobs which Ban Ki-moon said were open for application -- called "mobility" -- from anywhere within the UN system. More than five hundred have applied for the 12 jobs, but a rumor in the hall is that the winner were already selected, in some cases before the window to apply had even closed, on February 2.

            Chief of staff Vijay Nambiar took questions on Friday at noon.  Inner City Press asked him a senior official not mentioned -- Jan Beagle of the Office of Human Resource Management -- and about the status of the 12 "mobility" jobs. From the transcript:

Inner City Press: You already had a question I think that deals with ASG Jan Beagle, of whom the Staff Council passed a vote of no confidence, and I think was communicated -- she wasn’t on the list of acceptances, nor on the list of that you read out of approvals.  So, one, if you could somehow say what your thinking is on that, and two, on the mobility posts that were posted on I-seek back on January 19th for people to apply.  How many people applied, and we’ve heard -- there seems to be a sense among staff that some of those posts were already sort of given out -- what’s the status of the people seeking mobility at the staff level of the people who applied for those positions from D2 down to --

Chef de Cabinet:  I think there were in excess of 500 applicants, and I think they have been short-listed, and we are in the process of selecting the people for the 12 positions in the Executive Office.  And, I think this is unprecedented in many ways, so we hope that -- the selection process is following the normal procedure -- so I don’t think, we hope to be able to come to a kind of a closure in terms of appointments soon.

The other one that you said -- I wouldn’t want to deal with individual cases, but I would say that there we have laid out certain policy guidelines, and we’ve been following them as scrupulously as can be done in these circumstances.

            Since Mr. Nambiar mentioned "short-lists" for the 12 jobs at issue, Inner City Press asked the Office of the Spokesperson for a copy of the short-lists. The response was laughter: if we don't give lists out for Under Secretaries-General, we sure don't for these positions.

            One of the position is that of speechwriter. It is entirely understandable that a Secretary-General would want to choose his own speechwriter without the formalities of the UN's job recruitment rules. But to pretend one is following those rules to pick a speechwriter casts doubts on the claim of fairness for the other eleven positions.

Mr. Nambiar

            There is also the rumor of officials from South Korea, still parked in neutral in DC-1 and DC-2, gunning for positions. Most seem to feel that they will not land in this high-profile 12 jobs, but rather elsewhere. We shall see.

            Other questions arose about which of the officials whose resignations were accepted will actually stay on at the UN. Mr. Nambiar responded that Ban Ki-moon will certainly want to keep some experience. But behind the question are the rules, that staff members can return to their jobs after services as political appointees. Or, as is said of Carlos Lopes, can seek jobs back in UNDP, playing the card of the former Administrator.

            Among those whose resignations were accepted were two of the putative bosses of scandal-plagued Guido Bertucci: USG Jose Antonio Ocampo and ASG Patrizio Civili. Inner City Press interviewed Mr. Ocampo in mid-December outside the South Korean mission -- click here for that story -- and Mr. Ocampo said he saw no substance to the charges against Bertucci. Now it is rumored that Bertucci might get Civili's post. Along with Beagle staying, that would set a certain tone.

            Mervat Tallawy, who fought tooth and nail to keep her post, including in conversation and lobbying of Inner City Press, lost it. Click here for the story on Tallawy More damning information had come in, but now is rendered moot, except as indication of how the UN works. But for that, see Inner City Press' four part (so far) series about the UN Pension Fund. Next week we are told that the Pension Board will meet. The meeting should be public, as for example are the Executive Board meeting of UNDP, UNDPA, UNOPS and UNICEF. Thirty-six billion dollars should not be doled out in secret. We will be returning to that topic next week.

            In a sparsely-attended press conference on Friday, outgoing UN envoy to the Ivory Coast Pierre Schori went off, denouncing the Gbagbo government and troublingly, some things more. Inner City Press asked Schori to confirm that his predecessor, Albert Tevodedjre of Benin, had shown nepotism in hiring, and tarnished the name of the UN and its mission. Video here. Schori did not disagree, noting that when he started he received no transitions memo, and noticed "many strange people" working in the mission, who took a long time to get rid of. We aim to have more on this.

            After Schori's briefing, four Ivorian mission representatives made their case to Inner City Press that the next UN envoy should be more attuned to Ivorian-ness. But how will that be accomplished? Through the votes on the Council of the U.S. and of China. It is a process we will cover, after the weekend is over.

            In an end-of-week burst of unexplained secrecy, a meeting on Children and Armed Conflict held at 3 p.m. on Friday in basement Conference Room 5 was deemed closed. The sign outside did not say so, and Inner City Press entered the room. Immediately the order to leave was issued, and the sign was changed. Inside, French Ambassador de la Sabliere was bragging about the achievements at the recent Paris conference. Why close this to the press? And so it goes at the UN.

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At the UN, Haiti and Kosovo Predictions, Labor Mobility and Offshore Banking

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

UNITED NATIONS, February 8 -- At the UN, even the word "migration" has become controversial and is being worked around. Iran's deputy Ambassador, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi, responding Wednesday to Inner City Press' question about migration for employment, said that the UN Commission on Social Development, which Iran chairs, has decided to avoid the word "migration." Instead they use the phrase, mobility for labor. But what's in a word?

            Barbados Central Banker Marion Williams said at the same event, in response to Inner City Press' questioning of why in Barbados there are six commercial banks, and 57 offshore banks, gave a long explanation about the mobility of capital, and the need to labor, and laborers, be more mobile. Migrate, do you mean? Video here.

            Wednesday Inner City Press asked the Office of the Spokesperson about reports that the UN's Deputy SRSG Ivo Petrov was told that the Abkhaz side would not attend upcoming talks in Geneva. Minutes later, a spokesman responded that there will be Abkhaz representation at the talks.

            This hearkens back to a threat never followed through on, by Russia to file complaints about the U.S. blocking the visa request of a Georgia-designated official for Abkhazia during last Fall's General Assembly, based on extraneous concerns. At the time, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he would be filing a complaint. But this appears to never had happened.

Martti Ahtisaari

            The Abkhazia issue also arose Thursday at the UN, as Martti Ahtisaari briefed reporters on his draft status proposal for Kosovo. Mr. Ahtisaari called Kosovo "sui generis" and distinct from Abkhazia, South Ossentia, Transdniestria, and Nagorno-Karabakh where, he said, separatists hardly need a Balkan precedent to do what they are going.

            Inner City Press asked Mr. Ahtisaari to explain a quote of his in The Guardian, that "Failure to act would lead to 'a weakening of the security situation' and a possible withdrawal of Nato peacekeeping troops, he said. 'If I was advising my government I would say to pull out.'" Mr. Ahtisaari explained that in the course of a long interview, he was thinking not of a possible veto -- if it comes, from Russia -- in the Spring of 2007, but of longer-term delay. Video here. Meanwhile it is predicted to Inner City Press by informed sources that the current Russian thinking is to abstain, and not veto. We'll see.

   Connecting this items is a simple economic analysis: as other countries have entered the European Union, those still outside find their ability to travel -- their labor mobility, so to speak -- increasingly curtailed. This harms their economic prospects in ways that the World Bank and IMF, which Mr. Ahtisaari stresses, are unlikely to make up for.

   At Thursday's noon briefing, beyond a colloquy with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, on which we are still working, Inner City Press asked questions about Haiti and WFP. From the transcript:

Inner City Press: There’s a report of quote hundreds of protestors in front of the UN DPKO in Haiti.  So, I’m wondering, I don’t know, there have been reports of this and we haven’t seen any statement by MINUSTAH. One, is that the case, and two, if so, the report quotes a protestor saying the UN is part of the cause of the violence.  So, obviously, are you aware of that, and can you comment on it?

Spokesperson:  Yes, we are aware of it, but we cannot comment on it at this point.  There have been demonstrations over and over again for quite a few weeks now.  It’s nothing new, and nothing particularly that the Mission is reacting to.

Inner City Press:  You were here when Mr. Mulet said that everyone wants the UN in Haiti.  Obviously, it’s not everyone, but what percentage is it?  Does the UN see the protest as representing an important part of Haitian public opinion or not?

Spokesperson:  Well, we have no way to assess that.  The Mission has not informed us of percentages.

Inner City Press: Well, I was wondering if you are willing to… what do you think?

Spokesperson:  I have absolutely no personal opinion… my personal opinion will stay with me, if you don’t mind.

Inner City Press: I guess, just to follow it up.  If they do say something, maybe you could give me what they said here, or highlight it in some way, if MINUSTAH has some response to these protests?

Spokesperson:  Definitely, Matthew, I will.  As soon as we get an answer from them, we’ll inform you.

Inner City Press: And, on the Secretary-General’s schedule, Josette Sheeran is becoming head of WFP.  Is she still in the building?  Is there some way to get an opportunity, either at the stakeout or some other way, to ask her some questions?

Spokesperson:  We tried to have her, but, unfortunately, her schedule did not allow her to come, so that’s why.  We did try this morning.
Inner City Press: When was she, has there been a change in her start date at WFP?

Spokesperson:  No, nothing has been changed.  Still the same.

            We'll see. It's been noted to Inner City Press that Ann Veneman, as she was entering UNICEF, did a stakeout interview. In the months since her controversial selection to head WFP, Ms. Sheeran Shiner hasn't taken any question at all. What, as simply one example, is her view on whether internal audits of WFP should be available to member states, the Executive Board, the press and the public? We'll see -- WFP has of late been responding to questions with answers, watch this site. Click here for Inner City Press' fourth story on the UN Pension Fund, whose CEO has refused to act on an OIOS investigative report, triggered by the complaint of a whistleblower who gave an exclusive interview on Thursday night, click here to view.

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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