On
Somalia, Fiji and Oil-for-Food, UN Ambiguity Leads to Hypocrisy and Corruption
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
November 29 -- Ambiguity, at the UN as elsewhere, is sometimes creative. Other
times, though, it is an invitation to misunderstanding, to hypocrisy and
corruption, as in the cases of North Korea, Somalia and Oil-for-Food,
respectively.
Wednesday at the UN, during a morning in which the Security Council
produced one resolution (on Somalia), one Presidential Statement (on Fiji) and
one Presidential declaration (known elsewhere as a letter, this on concerning
Nepal), a rare highbrow discussion occurred in Briefing Room 226. David Malone,
presenting his book "The International Struggle Over Iraq," and a staffer of the
International Peace Academy, James Cockayne, spoke and took questions for nearly
an hour on Security Council dynamics, with some critical legal studies (CLS)
blended in.
Mr. Cockayne, in particular, used CLS buzzwords like discretion and
accountability for its exercise, and representation in decision-making. He
distinguished between cases in which the Council is operating in a
military-political context, and more recent ones where it assumes a
legal-regulatory role. In the latter cases, leaving rules ambiguous, when they
are to be enforced by agents including conflicted member-states, is an
invitation to the troika of misunderstanding, to hypocrisy and corruption.
Inner
City Press asked about the provision in this year's North Korea resolution,
concerning the searching of ships. The U.S. claims it means one thing, and China
quite another. Mr. Cockayne replied that the passage of the North Korea
resolution was a "demonstration of consensus," but subsequent disagreements
about its mean show the limits of consensus. Video
here,
from Minute 45:25.
The
hypocrisy allowed by the non-enforcement of Security Council resolutions is on
display this week with regard to Somalia. Since 1992, the Council has imposes an
arms embargo on Somalia. However, beyond the naming of violators by UN's own
Monitoring Group, which was extended Wednesday for six more months, Ethiopia and
Uganda for example have publicly admitted violating the embargo. Nevertheless,
the U.S. is circulating a draft resolution which would lift the embargo for a
force of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development troops to go prop up the
Transitional Federal Government in Baidoa. By all accounts, the proposed IGASOM
force would include Ethiopian and even Ugandan troops. They wouldn't have to
leave Somalia -- they're already there.
In
Chad, victims of, among other things, ambiguity
After
Wednesday's Council meetings, the president of the Council, Peru's Jorge
Voto-Bernales, came to the stakeout microphone. There being no then few other
reporters present, Inner City Press asked three questions. Video here.
On Fiji,
did the Council's discussion include Kofi Annan's threat to no longer accept
Fijian peacekeeping troops if the threatened coup takes place?
Amb.
Voto-Bernales acknowledged that although he was reading out the Presidential
Statement, he had not been present at the meeting, but that next door at a
Palestine event in the ECOSOC Chamber. On Nepal, Amb. Voto-Bernales said that a
letter is forthcoming, authorizing the Secretary-General to send observers. (The
UN's Ian Martin, who it was said would talk to the press, left without doing
so.) On the deferment of the draft declaration on the right of indigenous
people, after some hemming and hawing, Amb. Voto-Bernales said that Peru
"regrets" the deferral. Alright, then. Video
here.
Finally,
for this report, Kofi Annan's threat to not accept Fijian peacekeeping troops if
a coup takes place is another example of ambiguity. On a previous question
about Nepalese peacekeepers, after Nepalese soldiers fired on civilians in
Katmandu, the Secretariat's response had been that it would look at the records
of individual soldiers one-by-one. So Wednesday Inner City Press asked the UN
spokesman what exactly Kofi Annan's threat to Fiji meant -- was it directed only
at soldiers who take part in a coup or more broadly? The spokesman's answer was
unclear -- or, to come full circle, ambiguous. Video
here.
Inner
City Press also asked if the UN had any response to Ivorian strongman Laurent
Gbagbo cracking down on TV stations and
newspapers that dared carry
UN-endorsed Prime Minister Banny's call to not put back in power those who
headed Abidjan's ports when the toxic waste was dumped. The spokesman replied
that nothing has been said publicly. If this is creative ambiguity, what do
capitulation and acquiescence look like?
Feedback: editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile: 718-716-3540
At the
UN, Threat and Possible Statement on Fiji Spotlights Selection and Payment of UN
Peacekeepers
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
November 28 -- As Fiji
slides toward an apparent military coup,
a United Nations diplomat on Tuesday told Inner City Press that a move is afoot
in the UN Security Council to issue a Presidential Statement as a warning to
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who has threatened to overthrow the government of
Fijian prime minister Laisenia Qarase. "There could be a coup there any day,"
the UN diplomat said. "We've had a lot of consultations on it and might try to
move very soon... tomorrow or the next day."
At the
UN's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman to confirm
that Mr. Annan had called Laisenia Qarase and had said that the UN would stop
accepting peacekeeping troops from Fiji if a coup takes place. The spokesman
confirmed that the call had occurred, but deferred any summary of the call until
later in the day.
Tuesday afternoon, Inner City Press asked Ambassador John Bolton for the U.S.
view on the turmoil in Fiji, prefacing the question by saying that Kofi Annan
had placed a call, and said the UN might not accept peacekeepers from a
post-coup Fiji. From the U.S. Mission's transcript:
Inner City Press: On Fiji, the
secretary-general has called there and said that if there's a coup that
the U.N. won't accept peacekeeping troops from there. Is the U.S. --
Ambassador Bolton: There's a press
report that says that... We are discussing here today the possibility of the
Security Council engaging in something that it talks a lot about but rarely
does -- namely, preventative diplomacy. But -- and we've been in discussion
with a wide range of countries, but we're not at this point prepared to say
exactly where we're going to come out. But we're certainly watching the
situation there very carefully.
Four
hours after the noon briefing, Inner City Press against asked Kofi Annan's
spokesman's office for a summary of his call about Fiji. We're still waiting,
was the answer. He definitely made the call, but we're still waiting for the
summary. [See update of 6 p.m., below.]
If Mr.
Annan did make the
reported statement about
rejecting peacekeeping troops from a country under military rule, it would call
into question a number of the so-called "troop contributing countries." Human
rights groups in Zimbabwe, for example, have asked the UN to stop accepting, and
paying for, Zimbabwean troops in peacekeeping missions, given the abuses
committed in their home country. A similar call was made regarding Nepal.
UN
Blue Helmets in Haiti
One should
also follow the money. The word "contributing" is somewhat misleading: the UN
pays the nations for the troops, and also for equipment. For weeks Inner City
Press has requested an answer from the UN regarding how much Germany is seeking
to charge for the use of its ships to patrol the coast off Lebanon. In the
interim, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations provided Inner City Press
with this breakdown of reimbursements:
Subject:
compensation of TCCs
From: @un.org
To: @InnerCityPress.com
In response to
some questions you had for Steph on compensation for troop-contributing
countries....
1.) How do we
reimburse TCCs for the use of their soldiers?
TCCs are
reimbursed the following for each soldier:
A. (i-iv) are
paid directly to TCCs
i) Troop
cost - $1,028/month
ii) Personal clothing, gear and equipment allowance - $68/month
iii) Personal weaponry - $5/month
iv) Specialist rates for 25% of troop strength (for logistics Units, eg
engineering, aviation, medical) - $303/month
v) Specialist rates for 10% of Infantry Units - $303/month
B. (vi-vii)
are paid directly to the soldier in the UN Field Mission
vi)
Daily allowance - $1.28/day
vii) Recreational leave allowance - $10.50 per day up to 7 days of
leave taken during each 6 months period.
2.) How we do
know/ensure that the money goes to the actual soldier and doesn't get kept by
the army?
The MOU is
signed between the UN and the TCC and there is no mechanism in place to ensure
the utilization of payments made directly to the troop contributor (Item A).
With Item B,
the Field Mission ensures payments are made to the soldiers.
3.) Do we
reimburse TCCs for ammunition used?
Training
ammunition is a national responsibility unless the Force Commander specifically
authorizes and directs special training beyond accepted UN readiness standards.
And on somewhat more general note....
Troops serving
in UN peacekeeping operations are paid by their own Governments according to
their own national rank and salary scale.
Countries
volunteering military contingents and formed police units are reimbursed by the
United Nations.
The standard
rates, approved by the General Assembly, are used to compensate for pay and
allowances of all troops and supplementary payment for specialists (within
infantry, logistics contingents and formed police units).
In addition,
troop contributing countries are reimbursed for the usage of personal clothing,
gear and equipment, including personal weaponry.
The current
rates of reimbursement paid by the UN to troop contributing countries per
peacekeeper per month include: $1,028 for pay and allowances; $303 supplementary
pay for specialists; $68 for personal clothing, gear and equipment; and $5 for
personal weaponry.
To
countries like Fiji, Nepal, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and others, UN payment from
sending soldiers overseas is a profit-center for the government. Incongruously,
it was
reported this
week that UN peacekeeping troops in Haiti cost $10,000 a month - click
here
for that report. While at the UN on Monday there was a call for nations to
disclose how much they make from sale of national resources, and how they spend
it -- click
here
for Inner City Press' story on this -- one wonders why the UN doesn't require,
or at least suggest, that countries disclose how much they are paid for troops
and equipment "contributions," and how they spend it. A Troop-Contributing
Country Transparency Initiative. It could start with less concealment of how
much Germany is asking for the use of its ships in Lebanon. Developing.
Update Nov. 28, 6
p.m. -- well after 5 p.m. deadline, the Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary General released this:
"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the
continued possibility of a military coup d’état against the legitimate
government of the Republic of Fiji Islands. He encourages the parties to
continue their search for a peaceful reconciliation of their differences
within the constitutional framework.
"The Secretary-General also wishes
to stress that further prolongation of the crisis may damage Fiji’s
international standing, which it has built carefully over the years, as an
important contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and more recently as a
member of the Peacebuilding Commission.
"The
Secretary-General stands ready to complement national and regional efforts
aimed at overcoming the crisis through dialogue."
A
relevant phrase, in diplomat-speak, is that any prolongation of the crisis might
damage standing built on peacekeeping "contributions." One notes this wasn't
said, at least not this way, with respect to Thailand and its coup... One theory
has it that Kofi Annan played the "no more participation in peacekeeping" card
in this instance because some, even many, of those moving toward a coup have
made money from peacekeeping, and that the U.S. Mission was miffed at Annan's
ploy because Washington wants to be (seen to be) saving the day. We'll see.
At
the UN, China and Islamic Dev't Bank Oppose Soros and World Bank On How to Fight
Poverty
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
November 27 -- "We do not impose political conditions." So said China's
representative Liu Zhenmin in critique of the Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative, which financier George Soros described at the UN Monday during a
daylong discussion of the Millennium Development Goals. Video
here
at Minute 1:44:00.
Mr. Soros
replied that the EITI contains no conditions about democracy, but focuses rather
on the use of revenue by governments. Video
here
at Minute 2:32:36.
"Transparency not conditionality," summarized the UN's Shashi Tharoor, who
moderated the session.
This same
critique of conditionality was launched by the operations director of the
Islamic Development Bank, Dr. Amadou Boubacar Cisse, former minister of Niger.
Inner City Press asked Dr. Cisse if the IDB, in making its general loans
including trade finance, considers such matters as workers' rights or
environmental protection, under the Equator Principles or otherwise. Video
here,
from Minute 35:54.
The IDB's
Dr. Cisse responded, "If you are asking if we impose conditionality such as the
World Bank, the answer is no. We are not interesting in doing that. Our member
countries are our partners." Video
here,
from Minute 37:07.
Fleeing
to Yemen: MDGs?
Dr. Cisse
had announced that a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed Monday at 3:30
with the UN Development program. UNDP apparently shares the opposition to
conditions. UNDP helps the Karimov government of Uzbekistan to collect taxes,
and helps Robert Mugabe set up a human right council which is being boycotted by
NGOs in Zimbabwe. (China's dealing with Zimbabwe have previously
been reported.)
When
UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis was approached with these and
other questions on
Monday after he gave a speech about the MDGs, he replied that he does not answer
questions upon leaving a meeting. He has not appeared to give a press conference
in over 14 months. UNDP does not appear to favor Transparency Initiative,
either. Reporters who asked were not allowed to attend Monday's MOU signing, and
no copy of the MOU, although requested, has been provided in the eight hours to
follow.
News analysis: noting
the consonance between the positions Monday of China and the Islamic Development
Bank, one wonders how the conditions of low-income manual workers, migrating for
example from Pakistan or East Asia to the Gulf, might be improved, if
anti-poverty funds are given without conditions or oversight. At least five of
the 50 least development nations are major oil producers, but this wealth has
not alleviated poverty. Take, for example, Equatorial Guinea, which after the
money laundering scandal at Riggs-now-PNC Bank pledged to join the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative. While still an LDC, the presidential heir in
Equatorial Guinea, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, recently bought a $35 million mansion
in California. Transparency, anyone?
Dr.
Jeffrey Sachs concluded the afternoon's debate by directing countries in the
audience to go to UNDP. For the Press, going to UNDP does not work; one wonders
if Dr. Sachs is aware of UNDP's lack of transparency. Dr. Sachs chided
countries for not setting high enough goals. As Inner City Press has previously
reported, doubling for example access to drinkable water in Chad, from the
current 19% to 42%, still leaves half the population with unhealthy water. Noted
in the GA hall on Monday was a water distilling contraption by a private firm
DekaResearch.com, whose representative
said it would cost only $1000. (Inner City Press asked the representative the
process by which hsi company had been selected and allowed to demonstrate its
product in the UN Headquarters; "my boss did it," was the the non-transparent
answer.) It still had to be plugged in, so count on greater costs for
solar or other power. Still, unlike some of the debate, the distilling machine
was concrete.
Following
the afternoon's debate there was a reception, sponsored as the debate was by
General Assembly President Haya Rashed Al Khalifa. It was held in the UN
Delegates' Dining Room, complete with roast beef and salmon, hummus and
champagne. One saw the Ambassador of North Korea pacing the room, and no one but
two reporters approaching him. One saw an ambassador who will remain unnamed
picking roast potatoes from the common bowl with his fingers. One heard much
talk of poverty reduction, but many questions remained unanswered, including by
the UN's own Development Program. They will continue to be asked.
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.
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
Congo Shootout
Triggers Kofi Annan Call, While Agent Orange Protest Yields Email from
Old London
On the UN -
Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost
UN Bets the
House on Lebanon, While Willfully Blind in Somalia and Pinned Down in
Kinshasa
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
Sudan Cites
Hezbollah, While UN Dances Around Issues of Consent and Sex Abuse in the
Congo, Passing the UNIFIL Hat
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
At the UN,
Lebanon Resolution Passes with Loophole, Amb. Gillerman Says It Has All
Been Defensive
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 Silence on
Congo Election and Uranium, Until It's To Iran or After a Ceasefire, and
Council Rift on Kony
At the UN Some
Middle Eastern Answers, Updates on Congo and Nepal While Silence on
Somalia
On Lebanon,
Franco-American Resolution Reviewed at UN in Weekend Security Council
Meeting
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
At the UN,
Speeches While Gaza Stays Lightless and Insurance Not Yet Paid
At the UN
Poorest Nations Discussed, Disgust at DRC Short Shrift, Future UN
Justice?
At the UN
Wordsmiths Are At Work on Zimbabwe, Kony, Ivory Coast and Iran
UN Silent As
Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army Colonel: News
Analysis
At
the UN, New Phrase Passes Resolution called Gangster-Like by North Korea; UK
Deputy on the Law(less)
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
At UN, North
Korean Knot Attacked With Fifty Year Old Precedent, Game Continues Into
Weekend
UN's Corporate
Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with Microsoft, and
UNDP Continues
Gaza Resolution
Vetoed by U.S., While North Korea Faces Veto and Chechnya Unread
BTC Briefing,
Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations
Conflicts of
Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal Reform Rifts
At the UN, A Day
of Resolutions on Gaza, North Korea and Iran, Georgia as Side Dish
UN Grapples with
Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit, Without
Explanation
In North Korean
War of Words, Abuses in Uganda and Impunity Go Largely Ignored
On North Korea,
Blue Words Move to a Saturday Showdown, UNDP Uzbek Stonewall
As the World
Turns in Uganda and Korea, the UN Speaks only on Gaza, from Geneva
North Korea in
the UN: Large Arms Supplant the Small, and Confusion on Uganda
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 in Denial on
Sudan, While Boldly Predicting the Future of Kosovo/a
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?
At the UN, a
Commando Unit to Quickly Stop Genocide is Proposed, by Diplomatic Sir
Brian Urquhart
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
At the UN,
Internal Justice Needs Reform, While in Timor Leste, Has Evidence Gone
Missing?
UN & US,
Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty
and Senator Tom Coburn
In Bolton's Wake,
Silence and Speech at the UN, Congo and Kony, Let the Games Begin
Pro-Poor Talk and
a Critique of the World Trade Organization from a WTO Founder: In UN
Lull, Ugandan Fog and Montenegrin Mufti
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
AIDS Ends at the
UN? Side Deals on Patents, Side Notes on Japanese Corporations,
Salvadoran and Violence in Burundi
On AIDS at the
UN, Who Speaks and Who Remains Unseen
Corporate Spin on
AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence (May 31, 2006)
Kinshasa Election
Nightmares, from Ituri to Kasai. Au Revoir Allan Rock; the UN's
Belly-Dancing
Working with
Warlords, Insulated by Latrines: Somalia and Pakistan Addressed at the
UN
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
In Liberia, From
Nightmare to Challenge; Lack of Generosity to Egeland's CERF, Which
China's Asked About
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
At the UN, Dues
Threats and Presidents-Elect, Unanswered Greek Mission Questions
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 Congolese
Chaos, Shots Fired at U.N. Helicopter Gunship
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
Who Pays for the
Global Bird Flu Fight? Not the Corporations, So Far - UN
Citigroup
Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference
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