"Will Kofi Annan come back here in 10 years time to commemorate the genocide in Sudan

[Batman]

"Moslem genocide of about two million black southern Sudanese Christians over an 18-year period. Currently, one million people in Sudan have been driven from their homes, with the threat of murdering another 400,000 by the end of 2004."........

"Arab militias (the janjaweed) accused of looting and burning African villages, forcing some one million people to flee their homes and become displaced in Darfur.

Around 10,000 people are believed to have died in 15 months of fighting in Darfur, which started with a rebellion against the government amid allegations it had backed the marauding militias and was neglecting the region in the far west of Sudan. "..........

"It was past midnight when the farmer finally reached his home village of Deleij in the Wadi Saleh region of central Darfur, having crawled for hours under cover of darkness. Covered in blood and with a bullet wound in the neck, he told how he had been the sole survivor among 72 unarmed African men who had been trucked away for summary execution by a joint force of government soldiers and Arab militiamen."...........

Will Kofi Annan come back here in 10 years time to commemorate the genocide in Sudan? (http://www.escapinghades.com/darfur_sudan/sudan_photos_3.htm)

see link:

United Nations Is Guilty Of Crimes Against Humanity (http://www.israelforum.com/board/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=5861)

"KOFI ANNAN: Head of the UN peacekeeping department at the time of the Rwanda massacres which saw children hacked to death by machete, Annan said he did what he could.

Like refusing to send more troops as requested by retired Canadian General Romeo Dallaire telephoning from the actual death arena? Or like keeping mum about how the Black Box flight recorder from a shot down 1994 aircraft was discovered in a locked file cabinet in the UN peacekeeping department?"........

[Batman]

[ITALICS ARE MY COMMENTS HERE]

Investigate the United Nations Oil-for-Food Fraud (http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/bg1748.cfm)


Investigate the United Nations Oil-for-Food Fraud
by Nile Gardiner, Ph.D., and James Phillips
April 21, 2004
EXCERPTS:
There is mounting evidence that the United Nations Oil-for-Food program, originally conceived as a means of providing humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people, was subverted by Saddam Hussein's regime and manipulated to help prop up the Iraqi dictator. Saddam's dictatorship was able to siphon off an estimated $10 billion from the Oil-for-Food program through oil smuggling and systematic thievery, by demanding illegal payments from companies buying Iraqi oil, and through kickbacks from those selling goods to Iraq--all under the noses of U.N. bureaucrats. The members of the U.N. staff administering the program have been accused of gross incompetence, mismanagement, and possible complicity with the Iraqi regime in perpetrating the biggest scandal in U.N. history.
.......................
.......[SUGGESTIONS OFFERED SUCH AS:]
A leading international accounting firm with no previous ties to the U.N. should be hired to help conduct the investigation, alongside top criminal investigators. Investigators should be drawn from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Interpol, Scotland Yard, and other leading criminal investigative units.
If the Security Council investigation recommends that criminal charges be brought against U.N. employees, those identified should be suspended pending resolution of the charges and have their diplomatic immunity waived to permit trial. U.N. officials and individuals implicated with criminal activity in the Oil-for-Food fraud should then be extradited to face trial in Iraq. Since the Iraqi people were the victims of the Oil-for-Food scam, it is appropriate that the Iraqi legal system try to sentence those responsible. If convicted, their U.N. employment should be terminated. .........
History of the Oil-for-Food Program
The Security Council established the Oil-for-Food program in 1995 "as a temporary measure to provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people" while economic sanctions remained in place.2 Of Iraq's population of 24 million, 60 percent were dependent on food shipments administered through Oil-for-Food.

Oil-for-Food was the United Nations' biggest program anywhere in the world. As Claudia Rosett pointed out in The Wall Street Journal, the U.N. oversaw "a flow of funds averaging at least $15 billion a year, more than five times the U.N.'s core annual budget."3 Oil-for-Food was administered by 10 U.N. agencies employing over 1,000 staff internationally and in New York, as well as 3,000 Iraqi nationals. The U.N. collected a 2.2 percent commission on every barrel of oil sold, generating more than $1 billion in revenue.

Until 2001, all Iraqi oil revenues were held in an escrow account run solely by Banque Nationale de Paris. The money was later kept by several unnamed international banks, all approved by Saddam's regime.

The program was shrouded in secrecy, with little transparency or public accountability. There was no system of external auditing or publishing of accounts. The identity of the banks holding the Iraqi funds was kept secret. Oil-for-Food became a cash cow for the U.N. and a lucrative source of contracts for Russian and French companies. The Times of London calculated that from 1996 to 2003, Russian companies received $7.3 billion of business through Oil-for-Food, and French firms earned $3.7 billion.4

Oil for Corruption
In the 12 months since the fall of the Iraqi dictatorship, a clear picture has emerged of how Saddam Hussein abused the United Nations' Oil-for-Food program. The Iraqi Governing Council has begun to release critical information detailing how, in the words of The New York Times, "Saddam Hussein's government systematically extracted billions of dollars in kickbacks from companies doing business with Iraq, funneling most of the illicit funds through a network of foreign bank accounts in violation of United Nations sanctions." In effect the program was little more than "an open bazaar of payoffs, favoritism and kickbacks."5

Between 1997 and 2002, the Oil-for-Food program generated over $67 billion in revenues for the Iraqi regime. With little U.N. oversight, the Iraqi dictatorship was able to circumvent and exploit the program. It is suspected of selling Iraqi oil at bargain basement prices that benefited numerous middlemen while overpaying for various imports, which rewarded suppliers. The Iraqis then demanded kickbacks from both groups. The program was officially ended in November 2003.

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) estimates that the Saddam Hussein regime generated $10.1 billion in illegal revenues by exploiting the Oil-for-Food program, including $5.7 billion from oil smuggling and $4.4 billion in "illicit surcharges on oil sales and after-sales charges on suppliers."6 The scale of the fraud was far more extensive than the GAO had previously estimated.

According to the GAO, the oil was smuggled by pipeline into Syria, by ship through the Persian Gulf, and by truck across the borders of Turkey and Jordan. Oil purchasers were charged a surcharge of up to 50 cents per oil barrel, with an added commission of 5 percent to 10 percent of the commodity contract. A U.S. Department of Defense study cited by the GAO evaluated 759 contracts administered through the Oil-for-Food program and found that nearly half had been overpriced by an average of 21 percent.7

An International Network of Beneficiaries
Emerging from the evidence is a mosaic of international corruption involving a patchwork of politicians and businesses across the world that benefited from the Oil-for-Food program and helped to keep Hussein in power. The Iraqi Oil Ministry recently released a partial list of beneficiaries: 270 names of individuals, political entities, and companies from across the world who received oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein's regime, allegedly at below-market prices.8

The list includes former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, the "director of the Russian President's office," the Russian Communist Party, the Ukraine Communist Party, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the son of Lebanese President Emile Lahud, the son of Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass, and George Galloway, a British Member of Parliament.

Ominously, the list also implicates U.N. Assistant Secretary General Benon V. Sevan, executive director of the Oil-for-Food program, who has stringently denied any wrongdoing. Sevan, a longtime U.N. bureaucrat with close ties to Kofi Annan, has taken an extended vacation, pending retirement later this month.

Kofi Annan's son Kojo may also be implicated in the mushrooming scandal. Kojo Annan had ties to Cotecna Inspection SA, a Swiss-based company that received a contract for inspecting goods shipped to Iraq under the Oil-for-Food program. The younger Annan worked for Cotecna in the mid-1990s and became a consultant to the company until shortly before it won the Oil-for-Food contract.9 Cotecna, reportedly implicated in earlier bribery scandals, did not disclose this potential conflict of interest, and neither did the United Nations.

France, Russia, and Saddam
No fewer than 46 Russian and 11 French names appear on the Iraqi Oil Ministry list.10 The Russian government is alleged to have received an astonishing $1.36 billion in oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein.

The close ties between French and Russian politicians and the Iraqi regime may have been an important factor in influencing their governments' decision to oppose Hussein's removal from power. .........

Prior to the regime change in April 2003, French and Russian oil companies possessed oil contracts with the Saddam Hussein regime that covered roughly 40 percent of the country's oil wealth. French oil giant Total Fina Elf had won contracts to develop the Majnoon and Nahr Umar oil fields in southern Iraq, ............
Political and military ties between Moscow and Baghdad were extensive. Documents found in the bombed-out headquarters of the Mukhabarat (the Iraqi intelligence service under Hussein) reveal the full extent of intelligence cooperation between the Russian and Iraqi governments. According to reports in the London Sunday Telegraph:

Russia provided Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders. Moscow also provided Saddam with lists of assassins available for "hits" in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries.12
The Russians are also believed to have sold arms to Iraq illegally right up until the outbreak of war with the United States in March 2003. The Bush Administration has accused Russian arms dealers of selling anti-tank guided missiles, electronic jamming equipment, and thousands of night vision goggles to the Iraqis in open violation of U.N. sanctions.13 During Hussein's dictatorship, Russia reportedly provided him with $14 billion worth of arms shipments.14

Evidence has also come to light of intimate political cooperation between Paris and Baghdad in the period leading up to the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein. Documents found in the wreckage of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry reveal that "Paris shared with Baghdad the contents of private transatlantic meetings and diplomatic traffic from Washington."15
................

(CONTINUE)

[Batman]

A Security Council Investigation
As the most powerful member of the U.N. Security Council, the United States, together with its closest ally, the United Kingdom, should call for a wide-ranging and in-depth independent investigation into the way in which the U.N. handled the Oil-for-Food program.

The investigation should be appointed by the Security Council but should be completely independent of the United Nations and made up of non-U.N. employees. .............


Prosecution of U.N. Officials in Iraqi Courts
After the handover of power in Iraq on June 30, the Iraqi courts would be the appropriate venue for trying and sentencing individuals found to have been implicated in criminal wrongdoing by a Security Council-appointed investigation. The United Nations should suspend--and, if they are convicted, terminate the employment of--U.N. officials who are alleged to have received kickbacks from the Saddam Hussein regime.

Those charged should be stripped of diplomatic immunity and subject to extradition to Iraq, upon request of the new Iraqi government. The Coalition Provisional Authority should work closely with the Iraqi Governing Council to prepare for possible trials. Anyone convicted should be stripped of all U.N. pension rights.

In addition, the United States should press other governments to extradite their citizens who are guilty of criminal activity related to the Oil-for-Food program so that they may face trial in Iraq.
Reform the United Nations
........ The U.N. must provide accountability, transparency, and value for money.

Since the creation of the United Nations in 1945, the United States has been the biggest contributor to the U.N. The U.S. currently contributes 22 percent of the U.N.'s regular budget. In contrast, France contributes 6.4 percent, Britain 5.54 percent, China 1.53 percent, and Russia 1.2 percent. Total U.S. contributions to the U.N. system in 2001 totaled $3.5 billion, including $612 million in assessed contributions to the U.N. regular budget, $712 million toward U.N. peacekeeping, and $2.2 billion in voluntary contributions.17

The United States should reconsider its level of U.N. funding and link it directly to the pace of U.N. reform. The Bush Administration should call upon other leading member states, such as France, Russia, and China, to bear a larger share of the financial burden.

What the U.S. Should Do
The U.S. should push for action in 10 areas:

....... The U.S. and the U.K. should put forward a joint resolution calling for an exhaustive independent investigation into the Oil-for-Food scandal. France and Russia should be shamed into supporting such a resolution. ..........

Opening of U.N. accounts. U.N. Oil-for-Food accounts should be opened to full public scrutiny by private-sector auditors ......... Individuals and businesses that profited illegally from the Oil-for-Food program should be held responsible.

Investigation of U.N. officials. Senior U.N. bureaucrats with responsibility for running the Oil-for-Food program should be investigated and held accountable for their actions. ..........encourage individual governments to extradite to Iraq those of their citizens who have committed crimes relating to the Oil-for-Food program, to the same extent they would extradite citizens for any other serious crime.

The role of Kofi Annan. A Security Council-appointed investigation into Oil-for-Food should examine the Secretary General's role in overseeing the program and his failure to halt the widespread abuse. Annan must bear ultimate responsibility for the program's massive failings. If he is found to have deliberately turned a blind eye to the corruption and criminal activity, the United States should call for his resignation.

U.N. reform. The congressional investigation into Oil-for-Food should act as a catalyst for long-overdue reform of the U.N. system. Future U.S. funding of the United Nations must be dependent on substantial, not cosmetic, reform of the organization. Failure to prosecute U.N. officials implicated in wrongdoing should also result in reduced U.S. funding.

Future sanctions regimes. The mismanagement of the Oil-for-Food program raises serious doubts about the U.N.'s ability to manage future programs ..........


Limit the role of the U.N. in Iraq. The huge scandal surrounding the U.N.'s handling of the Oil-for-Food program clearly demonstrates that the U.N. cannot be entrusted with a major management role in Iraq. .......

Conclusion
The abuse of the Oil-for-Food program was the result of a staggering management failure by the United Nations and has raised troubling questions about the U.N.'s credibility and competence. The Oil-for-Food debacle reinforces the need for sweeping reform of the U.N. bureaucracy and the need for an annual external audit of its accounts.

Overall responsibility for one of the biggest financial scandals of modern times should lie with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The U.N.'s inability to manage the Oil-for-Food program successfully is a spectacular failure of his leadership.

The links between Saddam Hussein's regime and leading European companies and politicians were extensive. The Pentagon was correct to bar companies from countries that had opposed regime change in Iraq, such as France and Russia, from bidding for U.S.-funded contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq. Russian and French companies, in particular, benefited from the exploitation of the Oil-for-Food program.

The Oil-for-Food fiasco reinforces President Bush's point that the U.N. is in danger of becoming an irrelevance on the world stage..............

[David_in_NYC]

With luck he will have been executed as the war criminal he is by that time.

[Batman]

SLAVERY IN SUDAN (http://www.iabolish.com/default.htm)

http://passionofthepresent.org/

[Ahava]

Leon de Winter, a great Dutch-Jewish writer and columnist, frequently mentions the genocide in Sudan in his columns. He wrote that in America there's a lot more media attention for it than here. Well, it can't be less than here.

Something in my newspaper caused my rage. You know those little blocks on the left or right side of a newspaper page where the "short news" is mentioned? Last week there was this little piece of a couple of lines, on page 9, it said: "There are strong indications that in the region Darfur in Sudan genocide is being committed. Pierre Prosper, American envoy for war crimes, said that yesterday. If genocide is observed, international intervention is needed according to international law. Minister Colin Powell will visit Sudan next week."
That was all. Page 9, short news. Pages and pages about football (which is important though :o ), big headlines about our national coach allegedly being "demonized" by the media, our prime minister who thought it was needed for him to comment on that, all much ado about nothing. And then "oh by the way, hundreds of thousands of people are being killed or forced to flee, there's genocide going on." Unbelievable.

[Batman]

Like anything to do with the United Turn a Blind Eye & Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity Nations they are taking their time with anything to do with going against Arab-Moslem movements of terror and nations:

"Sudan, backed by African and Arab council members and Russia, has lobbied to keep the Darfur issue off the council agenda. Faced with mounting evidence of atrocities, several council members have urged a "go-slow" approach to sanctions."

Full ArticleSecurity Council to Consider Sanctions on Sudanese Miltias (http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2004_07_3_4024.html)

Security Council to Consider Sanctions on Sudanese Miltias

Jul 3, 2004 United Nations
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will brief the Security Council next week on his current trip to the Darfur region of Sudan the incoming President of the U.N. body says.
The council is being asked to impose sanctions against Sudanese Arab militias blamed for widespread atrocities in Darfur.
Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc of Romania, which holds the rotating presidency this month, said Friday a draft resolution on the subject was being circulated, but he had no indication regarding a time-frame on when it might be put to a vote. He said that Council members were ready to respond to the challenge, but an assessment from the ground was needed first.

Andrew Natsios, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator, briefed the Security Council Friday on Secretary of State Colin Powell's just-completed visit to the Darfur region. Secretary Powell's visit to Sudan coincided with one by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The combined visits were intended to draw world attention to the Darfur crisis, where aid officials say two million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

The top U.S. aid official came directly to the United Nations after accompanying Mr. Powell on his visit to Darfur.
Speaking to a closed-door Security Council meeting, Mr. Natsios called for sanctions against government-backed Arab militias known as Janjaweed. These militias are terrorizing black African villagers in Darfur.

Sudan, backed by African and Arab council members and Russia, has lobbied to keep the Darfur issue off the council agenda. Faced with mounting evidence of atrocities, several council members have urged a "go-slow" approach to sanctions.

Mr. Natsios said he had come directly to the Security Council because of the urgency of the potential catastrophe facing the more than one million displaced Darfurian villagers.