UNITED
NATIONS, June 14 – Amid the
worsening crackdown by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya in the country's
Anglophone areas (June 12 UK comment below), in
April a video circulated depicting soldiers
burning down homes. Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by many residents
and activists: blue helmet of the type used by
UN peacekeepers. On April 30 Inner City Press
asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the video, the
day after publishing a story about it, in Google
News. April 30 Q&A video here;
transcript below. On June 13, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, Video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you
about Cameroon. I was just listening to
what Mr. Fall said and I just wonder, it
seemed... on Monday, a report was put out by
Amnesty International detailing in some detail
first-hand accounts of torture, burning of
villages, murder of suspects. So, I just…
one, can he do a stakeout? Is he… if he's
the Secretary-General's envoy on the
region…? Number two… and I say it because…
Spokesman: We can ask. As you know,
he hasn't been to… in Cameroon in some time, but
we'll ask.
Inner City
Press:
Right. Other Council members praised his
engagement. I wanted to ask you
that. There's no engagement that you
haven't announced from here?
Spokesman: Not that I'm aware of.
I'm not hiding any engagement.
Inner City
Press:
Right. So, I mean, is the
Secretary-General satisfied with not necessarily
the performance of Mr. Fall, but with the
engagement of the Government, given an Amnesty
International report detailing the torching of
villages…?
Spokesman: I think we have expressed and
we'll continue to express our concern about the
developments in the area.
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask… you may
not know, but photos have come out of UNDSS
[United Nations Department of Safety and
Security] personnel in Buea, which is a town in
Anglophone Cameroon, quite a few of them.
And… and I'm… so people don't know what they're
doing there. This goes back to the… sort
of distrust from the Blue Helmet at one of the
torching sites. Is there some way you can
find out… if there's some… is there some
engagement taking place?
Spokesman: I'll find out." A full day
later, nothing. Dujarric was spotted watching
the World Cup in the UN Delegates Lounge bar, bt
he did not do the UN's June 14 briefing. So
Inner City Press asked his deputy Farhan Haq,
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Dujarric] yesterday had said…
I'd asked him a pretty… pretty straightforward
questions, that there… there are photos
circulating. Many people in Anglophone
Cameroon are concerned about it, of several… a
team of UNDSS [Department of Safety and
Security] personnel in Buea at the Mountain
Hotel in blue t-shirts. What is the
purpose of that deployment?
Deputy Spokesman: Regarding that, we've
asked our colleagues in the Department of Safety
and Security. They're actually unaware of
what these reports are, but they are following
up." How?
June 11, 2018
On
Cameroon UK
Told Inner
City Press
Monitoring But
Brags Of New
Age Oil Deal
UNITED
NATIONS, June 8 – Amid the
worsening crackdown by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya in the country's
Anglophone areas, in April a video circulated
depicting soldiers burning down homes. Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by many residents
and activists: blue helmet of the type used by
UN peacekeepers. On April 30 Inner City Press
asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the video, the
day after publishing a story about it, in Google
News. April 30 Q&A video here;
transcript below. Why hasn't the UN Security
Council had a single meeting about the
government's killings in Cameroon, specifically
in the former British Southern Cameroons?
Previous UK ambassador Matthew Rycroft, and now
his successors, tell Inner City Press the UK
continues to monitor the issue, even as the UK
denied in full Inner City Press' request for
documents under the UK Freedom of Information
Act, and the UK Mission to the UN siddles up
only to the media which don't ask them about the
issue. Now this outrage: the UK is bragging
about a big natural gas deal with Paul Biya's
government, through a London based company
called New Age. Minister Liam Fox "announced
today a deal worth more than £1.5 billion had
been secured by a UK company to deliver natural
gas project in Cameroon." More detailed,
"Following Trade Minister, Baroness Fairhead’s,
meeting with Minister Secretary General
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, London based oil and gas
company, New Age, and the Cameroon Government
have agreed a deal which will see the
development of a floating natural gas project in
Cameroon utilising the offshore Etinde gas
field. The project is of huge importance to the
African country, who will be able to ramp up
their gas export operation, in turn generating a
huge revenue stream for the public treasury,
whilst also helping to develop offshore
infrastructure in support of future local power
generation." This is on the UK.gov website, here.
We'll have more on this. On June 7, Inner City
Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you
this. It has to do with Cameroon.
It's reported that Samuel Eto’o, the football
player, as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, will be
touring with Government officials [in] the
Anglophone areas trying to encourage people to
either go back to school or stop protesting, and
so there's a lot of pushback against him.
And I wanted to know, one, when's the last time
Mr. [Francois Lounceny] Fall was in the
area? Maybe you have it or could find it
out… I want to compare.
Spokesman: No, I mean there's nothing more
than what is publicly known.
Inner City Press:
Would Samuel Eto’o’s trip, if it takes place —
he's in Yaoundé — would it be as a UN Goodwill
Ambassador? And, if so, what would you say
to the…?
Spokesman: I have to check what his status
is and who he actually worked for.
Inner City Press:
Well, people are saying that he's said nothing
about this crisis the whole time…
Spokesman: No, no, I'm not debating you. I
just have to see what… the details.
Inner City Press: Can you… okay. I'd
appreciate an answer on that." But 23 hours
later, nothing. Dujarric waited until the June 8
noon briefing, when he read out: "I was asked
yesterday about a visit, I think by you Matthew,
by [football star] Samuel Eto’o to Anglophone
Cameroon. UNICEF has told us that this was
a private visit to Cameroon, and that this was
done completely outside his role as UNICEF
National Goodwill Ambassador." Video here.
We'll see. June 4,
2018
As
North Korea's
Kim Yong Chol
Heads to DC,
Pompeo Cites
72 Hours of
Progress in
Presser
UNITED
NATIONS, May 31 – On the much discussed North
Korea - US talks, US President Donald Trump on
May 29 tweeted,
"Meetings are currently taking place concerning
Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice
Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New
York." On May 30 just before 7 pm Kim Yong Chol
and security, as well as at least one staffer
from the US Mission to the UN, exited the
Millennium Hilton hotel on 44th Street across
from the UN and piled into a series of black
cars, pursued by media. See 2 minutes and 20
seconds of Inner City Press' Periscope feed, here.
They drove to 330 East 38th Street, the
Corinthian Condominium where many war crimes
linked diplomats have lived and the US leases a
condo for its deputy ambassador; they dined for
1 hour and 26 minutes on "American beef." On May
31 after a two and a half hour meeting at the
Corinthian, Pompeo held a short press conference
at the Lotte Palace Hotel at 2:15 pm. Inner City
Press arrived as required at 1:15 pm; there was
a full stand up by Fox then another cut short by
someone's ring tone. Periscope video here.
Pompeo took four questions (Bloomberg, WSJ, ABC
and Fox) and was upbeat but declined to entirely
confirm the June 12 talks are on. Why could he,
if another statement like those on Bolton and
Pence could get it called off again? Looks like
it's a go. Will UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres (again out of town until May 31, when
he canceled the press Q&A he had scheduled)
try to make himself relevant? Seems not. On
travel ban exemptions, the UN Security
Council website as Inner City
Press exclusively
reported is to be run by the
"self employed" husband of the
chief of staff of the
Department of Political
Affairs. The Dutch have a role
in this website, DPA
whistleblowers tell Inner City
Press. We'll have more on
this. Back
on May 24 Trump wrote to Kim Jong Un, "based on
the tremendous anger and open hostility
displayed in your most recent statement, I feel
it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this
long-planned meeting." Simultaneously, UN
Secretary General put out a statement - praising
North Korea for destruction of an already played
out testing site. The UN under Guterres remains
out of date, irrelevant and worse.May 28,
2018
After
UN Discloses
Rape Case in
Mali, Inner
City Press
About
Accountability,
Cut Off,
Guterres May
29
UNITED
NATIONS, May 25 -- UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres says
he has a "zero
tolerance"
policy for
sexual
harassment,
and for
retaliation. But
when Inner
City Press
asked
Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan
Haq on March
15 about
Michel
Sidibé's reported
threats of retaliatory
investigations
against those
making
and offering
support to sexual
harassment
complaints at
UNAIDS, Haq said
this is entire
a matter for
UNAIDS. Earlier
Inner City
Press story here; exclusive
publication of
whistleblowers'
international
condemnation
of retaliation
and favoritism
in Sidibe's
UNAIDS, below.
On May
22 at 5:30 pm,
the UN
disclosed a
rape
allegation against
one of its
civilian
contractors in
Mali, in the
MINUSMA mission in
2018. The
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services,
whose director
has declined Press
requests to
take questions
about OIOS'
procedures,
is the one
investigating
it. But why
isn't it
a crime
subject to
real prosecution by
Mali?
Inner City
Press asked
Haq on May 25,
UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: an
additional
case of child
rape by a
civilian
contractor of
the UN in
Mali, and
unlike for
military
personnel, it
doesn't
disclose, one
the
nationality,
and two it's a
pretty serious
charge, and
the
Secretary-General
is obviously
going there
for the Day of
the
Peacekeepers,
so I wanted to
know what's
the
nationality of
the
contractor?
How did the UN
become aware
of this?
And what… in
the serious
instance of
alleged child
rape, what is
the UN going
to do about
it?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I don't have
the
nationality to
share with
you.
What I can say
is that
MINUSMA has
received a
report of
sexual abuse
involving a
national
civilian
contractor, so
this… I assume
from that what
the
nationality
is, but it
says it
involves a
national
civilian
contractor.
The
allegations
refer to the
rape of a
female minor,
resulting in
her
pregnancy.
The incident
allegedly took
place at an
unspecified
date in
2018.
Ensuring the
provision of
assistance to
the victims is
our
priority.
The victim has
been referred
to UNICEF
[United
Nations
Children’s
Fund] and an
NGO
[non-governmental
organization]
partner for
appropriate
medical,
psychosocial,
and legal
support.
The Mission
also stands
ready to
provide
additional
assistance as
needed and the
allegation is
currently
being
investigated
by the Office
of Internal
Oversight
Services
(OIOS).
Inner
City
Press: If,
in fact, the
contractor is
Malian and the
victim is
Malian, why
wouldn't… why
would not this
be a criminal
matter for
actual
prosecution in
Mali? Is
the person
given immunity
simply by
being a UN
contractor?
What is it…
like, for
example, what
was this
person doing
for the UN…?
Deputy
Spokesman:
You would have
to ask the
Malian
authorities
whether
there's any
criminal
prosecution
being followed
up in that
case.
That is a
matter between
the contractor
and the
Government of
Mali.
I've given you
the details on
our side.
Inner
City Press: But
what was the
contractor
doing?
You say he's a
contractor,
just to
understand a
little bit
better how
someone could
get immunity
for child
rape, what
services were
their
performing for
the UN?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I didn't say
that any…
first of all,
there's not
immunity for
crimes that
are
committed.
Second of all,
I didn't say
that immunity
was in play.
Inner
City Press: Is
it immunity
from local
prosecution?
[Inaudible]…
rape by the
UN…
Deputy
Spokesman:
Again, you
would have to
ask… no, it's
not by the
UN.
Like I said,
it's by a
national
contractor.
Second of all,
you would have
to check with
the Malian
authorities
whether they
are following
up with
criminal
charges." The
"inaudible"
was a correspondent
often used
by the UN for
this purpose
trying to cut
off the follow
up on UN child
rape with an
unrelated
question.
We'll have
more on this.
May 21,
2018
At UN,
Guterres To
Move NYC Jobs
to Mexico
City, Budapest
and Nairobi,
290 From
Uganda, ICP
Asks
UNITED
NATIONS, May 18 – At the UN with Antonio
Guterres 17 months into his term as Secretary
General, there's talk of reform but little
transparency. The attempted power-grab of the
resident coordinator system has yet to be
approved; the proponents have yet to answer
Press questions. Guterres' proposed Global
Service Delivery Model (GSDM) may, despite
Guterres' murky attempts to over-ride his
advisory team's recommendations, be an
exception, as it would eliminate jobs in New
York, jobs held by Americans. The proposal,
which Inner City Press first wrote about in
early March, is to move to cheaper location(s)
back office functions like human resources,
payments and payroll.
Inner City
Press has reported -- and has published full
documents on Patreon,here--
the four cities in Guterres' initial filing
with ACABQ, the UN's Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary Questions. They
were Budapest, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City and
Nairobi. The first three were each the product
of conflict of interest. Guterres wanted
Budapest, those involved say, in order to
support or cover up his Budapest move while at
UNHCR. But given Victor Orban's statements,
why is Antonio "Mister Migration" Guterres
tweaking the process to reward Hungary? On
Kuala Lumpur, UNDP in that country "lent" John
Kidd to mediate or change the outside
consultants' recommendations - and include KL.
Now Malaysia has said it cannot or will not
commit the requisite resources, and Inner City
Press is informed - not by Guterres
spokespeople which it has repeatedly asked -
that Kuala Lumpur is out. And then there were
three. Inner City Press asked in each article
in this series, What will happen to Entebbe
which was set up by DFS for their GFSS Global
Field Support Strategy? And now Uganda's
Museveni has protested to Guterres, without
response. Museveni called the decision
"unfair;" his foreign minister Sam Kutesa has
threatened to call a vote in the General
Assembly, of which he was president (and
allegedly acceptedbribesfrom
Patrick Ho of China Energy Fund Committee,
still in Special Consultative status with UN
ECOSOC. On May 7, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, again,
about the GSDM and specifically about Uganda -
and it turns out Guterres spoke with Kutesa,
though presumably not about the CEFC bribery
scandal, on which Guterres has yet to act.
From the UNtranscript:
Inner City Press: I want to ask you again
about this global service delivery
mechanism. Seems that… you'd said you
were going to give some granular guidance, but
I wanted to ask you if it's the case that
Kuala Lumpur has dropped out of the four
cities and, if so, why, and also if you can
confirm the receipt of a letter by the
President of Uganda protesting their
non-selection in… despite having this Entebbe
situation and the various critiques he's made
in it. There's been a call… at least
they've said that Sam Kutesa, which… a name
from the past, may call a vote in the General
Assembly about the selection of Nairobi over
them. And staff are… are… many people
and I've asked here to see the underlying
recommendations of how these cities were
selected.
Spokesman: Not aware of Kuala
Lumpur. On Entebbe, the
Secretary-General spoke last week with the
Foreign Minister of Uganda to explain the
situation to him. A number of functions
related to peacekeeping will remain in
Entebbe.
Inner City
Press:
Could I ask you…
Spokesman: Go ahead.
Inner City Press: I want to ask you another…
since it seem… so, was that called before or
after the reported letter from the President?
Spokesman: It was before. I'm not…
I can't confirm the letter's been received."
On May 18, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman
Farhan Haq about reports in Uganda, videohere
May
14, 2018
UN
Guterres Met
Finland FM,
His Security
Ordered Inner
City Press To
Not Periscope
UNITED
NATIONS, May 11 – UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres met Finland's Foreign Minister Timo
Soini on May 11, and Inner City Press went up
intending to photograph (Alamy photos here)
and stream Periscope video as it had with
Iceland's President in the morning. But once in
Guterres' conference room, two UN Security
officers told Inner City Press it could not
Periscope. "But I did this morning," Inner City
Press replied. "That because there were
remarks," one of the officers said. No more that
in this Finnish one: Guterres' small talk, of
the type his predecessor Ban Ki-moon routinely
allowed to be recorded and even used to praise
his visitor. Was this because Inner City Press
Periscoped Guterres telling Egypt's Ambassador
to convey his "warm regards" to Sisi? Wasn't
that newsworthy? The other UN Security officer
declined to explain - UNTV was shooting video,
but would apparently be counted on to censor
anything embarrassing. "This is on the order of
the speechwriter," one of the UN Security
officers said. But who is the speechwriter? It
is certainly not spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
who tried earlier in the week to entirely ban
Inner City Press from photo ops, saying they
were only for photo agencies (clarified to be,
those who do not write). So is it the writing
that is the problem? Periscope or not, those
present hear what is said, and see where they
are brought through. Since we have been
censored, here's writing for example about
Guterres' back pillow, brought back and forth
from his office to the conference room. The
menus and place cards, for exmple for Rosemary
DiCarlo (the swearing in of whom Inner City
Press was banned from). How about that the
meeting, at most, lasted ten minutes, since when
Inner City Press went at the appointed 2:40 pm
time for Guterres' photo with UN Force
Commanders it had already happened, ten minutes
early? What is wrong with today's UN? What are
they so willing to censor to ensure is not
shown? Earlier on May 11 Guterres met Iceland's
President Gudni Th. Johannesson and First Lady
Eliza Reid and Inner City Press openly
Periscoped; other than in-house UNTV and UN
Photo, Inner City Press was the only media
there. Alamy
photo, Periscope.
This
came two days after Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric had Inner City Press blocked from
covering Guterres' meeting with Al Sharpton
while allow another media to cover. Dujarric
said he was trying to bring "order" by excluding
any photographer who also writes articles like
this one. That is clearly censorship, but the
decision was not revoked; Dujarric called Inner
City Press "self-centered" for questioning it.
Video here.
We'll have more on this - and on Finland, where
Gudni Th.
Johannesson will visit on May
15, when Guterres will also
again be in Europe. In other
news, Eliza Reid recent
presented the Icelandic crime
writing award to Eva Björg
Ægisdóttir. Guterres' UN is
ripe for crime writing, what
with the still unacted on UN bribery
by Patrick Ho's China Energy
Fund Committee, still in
special consultative status
with UN ECOSOC. Watch this
site. Guterres
disclosed the existence of a meeting with Martin
Luther King III and Kweku Mandela at 3:30 pm on
May 9 - but Inner City Press was not allowed as
before to go up to the UN's 38th floor and
photograph it. It was told that since it also
files written reports, it is not a photo agency.
This is the new censorship system of Guterres
and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. So Inner
City Press waited as it its right in the lobby,
until Martin Luther King II came down - with Al
Sharpton. Photo here.
Inner City Press asked the two what they
discussed with Guterres and was told it is still
premature to announce it. Periscope video from here.
Tellingly, there was no UNTV camera there, and a
lone non-UN paid photographer. Whether he
writes, as Inner City Press is accused of, is
not known, including to the UN. Another attendee
told Inner City Press Guterres was rude and
dismissive to some of the attendees, including
it seems Kweku Mandela, not shaking his hand -
we can't dispute, as we weren't there by the
Guterres / Dujarric "rules." On May 10 Inner
City Press asked Dujarric about it. He said he
didn't know Sharpton had been there, and
stonewalled on the censorship "rule" he had put
forward. Video here.May
7, 2018
At UN Press
Restricted
From Covering
Guterres'
Lusophone
Garden Party,
Kids Climb
Slavery
Memorial
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 5 – The UN Media Alert for May 5
listed a “Portuguese Language Day
Celebration;” when Inner City Press asked the
spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres it was told there would be remarks
by Guterres, who is increasingly rarely in New
York. Events in the UN Media Alert are open to
all journalists - but in today's UN, rules
mean little.
On May 5 UN
Security stopped Inner City Press saying, No,
I know who you are. Another UN Security
Officer asked, Why don't you like the UN?
Haiti cholera
impunity came to mind, or UN Security
Deputy Chief McNulty throwing Inner City
Press' laptop on the sidewalk when it was
evicted (audio here)
for covering an event in the UN Press Briefing
Rule - also ostensibly open to all
journalists.
On My 5
while UN Security was focused on making it
impossible for Inner City Press to do its job,
they allowed children, presumably Lusophone,
to play on the UN's slavery memorial, which
its Department of Public Information took
money for from now convicted UN briber Ng Lap
Seng, even according to the UN's own audit.
The UN was turned into Antonio Guterres'
Lusophone garden party. Any number of state
media, like rarely present Egyptian Akhbar al
Yom to which DPI under Alison Smale continues
to assign Inner City Press' long time work
space to, could enter and cover the event
without no interaction much less blocking by
UN Security. (Smale retweeted Guterres'
Portuguese language self celebration, here
- but could not or would not assure that the
Press could cover the event, in the Media
Alert, and has not in eight months responded
to 5000 signature petitions
and request for reinstatement and rules).
The May
5 targeting of Inner City Press -- "I know who
you are" -- is allowed by downgrading and
keeping down Inner City Press as "non resident
correspondent," while giving full resident
correspondent status to no-show state media
like Akhbar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef who has not
asked the UN a question in more than a decade.
Inner City Press, by contrast, is required to
have a minder. But the UN is a place now of
targeted censorship - the cancellation
by the UN Alliance of Civilizations is just
the most recent example. We'll have more on
this.
April
30, 2018
UN in DRC
Drone
Procurement
Ousts Low
Bidder, Lets
In Firm Under
Probe, ICP
Asks, Dodge
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED
NATIONS, April 27 -- In UN
Procurement, the lowest bidder
doesn't always win, the UN confirmed
on March 26 in response to Inner
City Press' March 23 question.
Rather than e-mail the statement to
Inner City Press which asked, UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
spoksman Farhan Haq waited to read
it out at the March 26 noon
briefing, and then refused to answer
questions about it. See transcript,
and below. Today's UN is corrupt.
Now it's even clearer: after ousting
the low bidder PPI, UN Procurement
has let in a company, Aeronautics
Ltd a/k/a Aeronautics Defense
Systems, which is under
investigation and had a contract
canceled in Romania in 2017, like
one in Poland in 2012, and Mexico in
2009. On April 27, after publishing
the above, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I had asked you
before about the procurement of
drones for MONUSCO [United Nations
Stabilization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo] in
the DRC, and I think the upshot of
this back-and-forth is that the low
bidder doesn't necessarily get the
bid, but it's since emerged that a…
a company has been allowed in as… as
now, the presumptive front-runner,
Aeronautics Defence Systems, which
will actually banned from… had
contracts terminated in Romania in
2017 and Poland in 2012, so many…
the people that are… that are, you
know, following this to see how
money is being spent… what's the…
the… it's one thing to say, you
know, the low bidder, we can
investigate them and not do them,
but then how can a company be
brought in…?
Spokesman: Look, I don't have
all the facts on the top of my
head. What I do know is that
obviously, it's always the lowest…
it's the low bidder with the best
possible bid. I mean, you
know, what the process is. All
vendors go through a vetting
process. I have no information
on this particular company or know
whether or not they are, in fact,
part of the bidding process.
Inner City Press: Is past… is past
record of completion or termination
of contracts part of the…?
Spokesman: Everything is
looked at in the procurement
process." Really? Inner City
Press was exclusively informed that
in the bidding for the UN's
Democratic Republic of the Congo UAS
or Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones)
program, the low bidder is being
displaced by more favored companies,
unilaterally, by UN Procurement
chief Dmitry Dovgopoly.
The
story, exclusive to Inner City
Press, goes like this: out to bid is
a $50 million contract to provide
Unmanned Aerial Systems services to
the UN's MONUSCO in the DRC for a
term of five (3 + 1 + 1) years. The
present company, Leonardo, has a
contract which expires in November.
PPI beat out Leonardo, CAE, Thales,
Qintetiq, Airbus and Trans Capital.
But
shortly after our award, UN
Procurement chief Dmitry Dovgopoly
refused to approve the agreed upon
terms and demanded PPI perform a
demonstration flight prior to
contract signature. Inner City Press
covered
Dovgopoly and similar tricks back
when he was at the “D-1” level, and
received pushback and is currenty still
restricted to minders in the UN for
pursuing
its anti-corruption
coverage
into the UN Press Briefing
Room, its
work space purportedly assigned to a
no-show Eygptian state corresponent
Sanaa Youssef who has not asked a
question in ten years.
April
23, 2018
On North Korea
Talks, Kim
Talks Freeze,
UN Stonewalls
From Margins,
Amid
Mis-Reporting
UNITED
NATIONS, April 20 -- The Trump - Kim
talks, primed by Mike Pompeo's visit
to Pyongyang, have had their
location sweepstakes narrowed down,
excluding the US. On April 17,
"Pooler yelled out to Trump if any
of those are in the US. He shook his
head and said no." Could the UN's
Geneva be in the running? Or is the
UN running to try to remain
relevant? The UN
Security Council is on retreat in Sweden,
accompanied by UN Secretary General and, Inner
City Press first reported, UN Disarmament
chief Izumi
Nakamitsu. On the 38th floor the word
was that her agenda is "OPCW" - that is,
Douma. And North Korea? No other media was up
on the 38th floor for this, other than Inner
City Press. And no other media, as Inner City
Press did, asked the UN on April 20 to name
who else is at the retreat. Now Kim Jong Un
announces he will freeze testing, having
accomplished his goals. On CNN it was said
this is a gambit to outlast Trump. But if the
talks go badly, will things last even two more
years? Inner City Press ran into Nakamitsu
after she had a meeting preparing for the
retreat with Guterres and his Political (some
say, Cameroon) adviser
Khassim Diagne. The UN Secretariat has
yet to release a list of
the officials
it is bringing to the
retreat, so this report is a
scoop-lette.
Sweden's Deputy
Ambassador Carl Skau's joke
the previous day about
making the Council members
sit silent and listen to
music, perhaps Bach as Dag
Hammarskjold famously did,
came up. But what music?
Inner City Press is covering
this. At
an April 18 press conference Inner City Press
asked what seemed an obvious journalistic
question: who's paying? Video here.
April
16, 2018
On Syria, After Trump Strikes and Russia Draft Fails
in UNSC, Sullivan Calls Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait and Czech
UNITED NATIONS, April 14
– At 9 pm on April 13 US
President
Donald
Trump announced airstrikes
on Syria, with
the UK and
Syria. In the
UN, Inner City
Press rushed
from the
phone booth it
works in to
the UN
Security
Council, only
to find the
music and
drinkers still
pulsing from
the UN
Delegates
Lounge. Video here. Russia
called a UN
Security
Council
meeting and
had a draft
resolution
voted on. It
failed, with
three in favor
(China,
Bolivia and
Russia), eight
against and
four
abstentions.
(Ethiopia
called its
abstention
pragmatic).
Video here.
Now the US
lists
calls made by
Acting Secretary of
State
Sullivan: "The
following is
attributable
to
Spokesperson
Heather
Nauert: On
April 14,
2018, Acting
Secretary
Sullivan made
the following
calls to
foreign
leaders to
brief on the
strikes in
Syria: Kuwaiti
Foreign
Minister Al
Sabah, Czech
Foreign
Minister
Stropnicky, Turkish
Under
Secretary
Yalcin, Iraqi
Foreign
Minister
al-Jaafari." Some
wonder, why Czech
Republic,
where Chinese
businessman
and briber Ye
Jianming
remains an
adviser to the
President?
Meanwhile
there are
reports of air
strikes on
Jabal Azzan -
watch this
site. After
the UNSC
meeting, Inner
City Press
asked Russia's
Vassily Nebenzia if
any of the
abstentions
surprised him.
He stopped and
said that
Russia doesn't
twist any
arms, it is a
sovereign decision
of each
country. UN
Secretary General
Antonio
Guterres left
with his
entourage;
Inner City
Press asked
quite audibly.
so are you
going to Saudi
Arabia now? He
didn't answer;
Inner City Press
has asked his two
top spokesmen
now in writing
to be informed,
hour by hour.
It is, after
all, public money.
Watch this
site. The
failed draft
at the end,
“Condemns the
aggression
against the
Syrian Arab
Republic by
the US and its
allies in
violation of
international
law and the UN
Charter [and]
Demands that
the US and its
allies
immediately
and without
delay cease
the aggression
against the
Syrian Arab
Republic and
demands also
to refrain
from any
further use of
force in
violation of
international
law and the UN
Charter.”
Russian
Ambassador
Vassily
Nebenzia mocked
the UK and
France as
having joined
a military
action based
only on
the US
Constitution;
he used the
word "neo
colonialism."
Moments
before, Nikki
Haley,
entering the
UN Security
Council at 11
am on April 14
paused and
said, The time
for talk was over
and the time
for action had
come, that's
what happened
last
night. As she
kept walking,
there was a
shouted
question: What
is the proof? Vine
video here.
Earlier on
April 14 at
the Pentagon,
Lt Gen Kenneth
McKenzie
bragged that
there had been
no
military
response, and
that the
deconfliction
channel was
working with
Russia. Earlier
still on
April 14, the
Organization
for the
Prohibition of
Chemical
Weapons announced,
"The
Fact-Finding
Mission (FFM)
team of the
Organisation
for the
Prohibition of
Chemical
Weapons (OPCW)
will continue
its deployment
to the Syrian
Arab Republic
to establish
facts around
the
allegations of
chemical
weapons use in
Douma. The
OPCW has been
working in
close
collaboration
with the
United Nations
Department of
Safety and
Security to
assess the
situation and
ensure the
safety of the
team." April
9, 2018
Amid UN
Bribery of Ng
Lap Seng and
CEFC China
Energy,
Guterres Spun
Xinhua, ICP on
Xi's Vase to
Kim
UNITED
NATIONS, April 7 -- As UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres took off on
his trip to China, Inner City Press
which has pursued the UN bribery
scandals of Ng Lap Seng and now the
China Energy Fund Committee asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on April 6 if Guterres will
address any of these issues during
his five days in the country.
Dujarric was dismissive, and ended
the briefing. Video here;
UN transcript
here and below. This cutting
off of public quesitons happened
after Guterres gave a private (self)
promotional interview to China's
state media Xinhua, touting the trip
and China as "absolutely essential"
on the North Korea nuclear issue.
Dujarric race off the podium made it
impossible to ask him for Guterres'
opinion on if the gifts given to Kim
Jong Un on his recent train trip to
China violated the UN's 1718
sanctions. Then again, the UN's own
World Intellectual Property
Organization helped on North Korea's
cyanide patents without telling the
1718 Committee, and Guterres has
been as hands-off with WIPO's Gurry
as he has been with UNAIDS' Michel
Sidibe on the sexual harassment and
retaliation scandal. We'll have more
on this. From the UN's April 6
transcript: Inner City Press: I
wanted to ask about the… the trip to
China by the
Secretary-General. You know,
as you know there's… there's one
being concluded and one still active
UN bribery cases pending in the
Southern District of New York.
Most recently…
Spokesman: I don't agree with
your characterization.
Inner
City Press:
They're both about bribing the
PGA. I guess you can say the
PGA is not really the UN, but…
Spokesman: Go ahead. Go
ahead.
Inner City Press: Okay.
So my question is since there seems
to be a pattern of… in two cases,
one was Ng Lap Seng, South-South
News, who Vivian Wang has now
pleaded guilty. The other is
the China Energy Fund Committee,
which remains in consultative status
with ECOSOC [Economic and Social
Council]. Is this an issue
that the Secretary-General, in
visiting the home base of both
operations, and both are alleged to
be Government connected?
Spokesman: The United Nations
has cooperated with the Southern
District here in New York in
whatever way we can in any and all
investigations. The legal
process here has played itself out
and is playing itself out, and as
for the accreditation of the ECOSOC
accreditation, as I've told you
numerous times, it's a member state
issue…". And then Dujarric ran off
the podium. We'll have more on this.
The UN has been targeting not only
Inner City Press for censorship, but
also its sources, for retaliation.
It
was reported and quoted here:
"Looks like UN is making efforts to
ID people who send stuff to media:
'Identified a computer used to print
an email that was later leaked to
Inner City Press, by correlating an
URL on the top of the leaked
document with Webmail & DHCP
logs.' Are they punishing
whistleblowers?"
Well,
yes. And the investigative Press.
On
March 14, Inner City Press asked UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about
the above-quoted and he said, since
the UN has confidential information
it can and does investigate leaks
and leakers. Video here.
But isn't that, in leaks to Inner City
Press ranging from Burundi to Cameroon
to cover ups to North Korea, going
after whistleblowers? Haq dodged, and
Inner City Press asked if a person who
leaked the memo to Kofi Annan about
impending genocide in Rwanda would be
investigated. Apparently yes - but Haq
again claimed that there is no
retaliation. What about Anders
Kompass, fired after releasing a
document bout French peacekeepers'
rapes in Central African Republic? Or
Miranda Brown? Or Emma Reilly? On
March 15, after asking Haq about
threats of retaliation made at and by
UNAIDS, Inner City Press asked what
type of leak the UN investigates, and
for whom. Haq said any kind the UN
wants, and ostensibly for member
states. Video here.
April
1, 2018
After UN
Guterres
Refused Press
Question on
UNAIDS #MeToo,
To Lisbon For
4 Days, Slow
UNITED NATIONS,
March 31 – For Antonio
Guterres' 15 months as UN Secretary General he has
gotten less and
less transparent, about
meetings and read-outs and
even where he is. At one
point for more than a week
his
spokespeople refused to
answer the Press on
where he was, finally
saying "Europe." On March
29, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' top
three spokespeople a simple
question: "where *is*
the Secretary General?
And where will he be,
each day prior to his
appearance Monday in
Geneva? Again,
has the Secretary
General or anyone in
his team spoken with
Michel Sidibe of
UNAIDS following the
reports of his threats
to staff who have come
forward with
harassment
complaints?" Past 4 PM
on March 30, despite
Guterres'
spokespeople putting
out a statement
from
him about Liberia,
no answer.
His absence was
noted at a
protest in front
of the UN, here
(and later at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
Gaza). More
than 17
hours after
the question
was asked, and
asked again,
finally this
from Guterres'
spokesperson:
"the SG
is in Lisbon." There -
was that so
difficult? The
question of
costs, of four
days in Lisbon
based
off an
appearance
Tuesday in
Geneva, amid
protests and
the Gaza
crisis and
inaction by UN
Headquarters
on sexual harassment
and
retaliation at
UNAIDS
and elsewhere
is another
question. And
there are
still other
questions left
unanswered,
for example
"what is the
UN's position,
and what has
the UN done,
about the
detention then
deportation of
Kenya
opposition
figure Miguna
Miguna, and
the beating of
journalists
covering it in
the Nairobi
airport?
Does
the UN have
anything more
to say about
Somalia's
complaint
about UAE's
deal with
Somaliland for
port and
military base,
other than
that it is a
bilateral
matter between
Somalia and
the UAE?"
We'll have
more on this.
On March 29
Guterres
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
question about
sexual
harassment
at UNAIDS,
about
which Inner
City Press
has been
asking the UN
all
year and which
will be on CNN
International
on March 30, while protesters
from Southern
Cameroons
/ Ambazonia
gather across
from the UN to
have their voices heard.
But where
IS Guterres?
We'll have
more on this. Only two
weeks ago
Guterres found yet
another reason to visit, with public
funds, his home in Lisbon. He
also investigates
whistleblower,
presumably for
retaliation, here.March
26, 2018
On
Cameroon, ICP
Asked
Nigeria's
Ambassador
About the 47
Taken, UN Not
Sure DSG Will
Raise
UNITED
NATIONS, March
22 -- The deference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
36-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity in
his
recent
crackdown,
continues. UN
Deputy
Secretary
General Amina
J. Mohammed
was in Abuja
as 47 people
were illegally
refouled to
Cameroon;
she has been
silent on
that, as on
continuing
restrictions
on the Press
in her UN. She
will be back
in Abuja on
March 23-24.
On March 22,
Inner City
Press asked
Nigeria's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Tijjani
Muhammad Bande
about the 47
people. Video
here.
He replied
that he cannot
answer, he
doesn't know
all the facts.
"I would need
information"
about it, he
said, "I am
looking for
verification."
Really?
Isn't it his
government,
even more than
(still) the
government of
Amija J.
Mohammed.
Still Tijjani
Muhammad Bande
UNlike Amina .
Mohammed at
least took the
question,
along with
Niger's
affable
Ambassador
Abdallah Wafy
and offered
some response.
Amina J.
Mohammed
hasn't
responded on
that, on the
CITES issues,
or on this.
On March 23
Inner City
Press asked
the Spokesman
for Antonio
"Golden
Statue"
Guterres and
Amina J.
"Rosewood"
Mohammed, UN
transcript here: Inner
City Press: at
the stakeout
yesterday, the
ambassador…
the Permanent
Representative
of Nigeria,
Tijjani
Muhammad
Bande, I asked
him about
these 47
people that
were sent back
to Cameroon,
that… that
UNHCR [Office
of the United
Nations High
Commissioner
for Refugees]
has said were
sent back, and
criticized.
He said he
doesn't have
any
information on
it. I'm
wondering,
given that the
Deputy
Secretary-General
is going to be
in Abuja, is
this one of
the issues
that she's
going to try
to get an
answer to?
Spokesman:
She had raised
it with
various
officials in
the past.
Inner
City
Press:
But now, the
Government is
taking they
don't know?
Spokesman:
I'm not aware
that she plans
to raise
it. If
anything
changes, I
will let you
know." What,
to SABC?
On March 19,
while
constrained
with a minder
and a roped in
cage, Inner
City Press
asked UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Prince
Zeid if he had
any updated
death count,
since he
stopped at 10.
Video here.
He replied he
needs to look
at the
statistics, I
can't recall,
the important
issue is to
have access.
Inner City
Press pointed
to the visit
or access of
UN envoy
Francois
Lounseny Fall
(who equated
secessionists
with
extremists,
justifying the
crackdown).
Zeid replied
"like in West
Papua, I am
asking for
access." But
not asking as
loudly as
elsewhere. March
19, 2018
As
Cameroon's
Biya Vows
Crackdown in
NW and SW
Regions, ICP
Asks UN,
Prober of
Press
UNITED
NATIONS, March
16 -- The deference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
36-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity in
his
recent
crackdown,
continues. The
UN has enabled
Biya in
equating Boko
Haram with the
restorationist
forces, as he
did in his
cabinet
meeting on
March 15 with
this line:
"Thanks to the
firm action of
our defense
and security
forces, we
have been able
to drastically
curb the
atrocities
perpetrated by
criminal
groups in the
Far North,
North-West and
South-West
Regions." The
violence in
the Far North
is entirely
different from
that in North-West
and South-West
Regions. But
it was the UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres'
envoy Francois
Lounceny Fall
who equated
separatists
with
extremists; it
was Guterres
who stopped by
Yaounde and
took Biya's
golden statue
back in
October. On
March 16,
Inner City
Press asked
Guterres'
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq, UN
transcript here: Inner
City Press:
since it's so
rare, I got
asked
today.
The President
of Cameroon,
Paul Biya,
held his a
Cabinet
meeting for
the first time
since 2015,
second one in
the last six
years, and one
of the quotes
coming out of
it is to
congratulate
his defence
and security
forces for
their… to
drastically
curb the
atrocities
perpetrated by
criminal
groups in the
far north,
north-west,
and south-west
regions.
And "the far
north" seems
to be a
reference to
Boko Haram,
but
"north-west"
and
"south-west"
are the
Anglophone
regions, where
there's a
dispute about
whether that
part of the
country is…
actually is
part of
Cameroon.
So I wanted to
know, given
what's been
said by
François Fall
and others
about
dialogue, if
they took note
of the speech,
if they have
any thought on
it. And
I had also…
and also on
the issue that
you had been
talking about,
about investigating
leaks, I
wanted to ask
a very
specific
question.
If an internal
UN memo
concerning
Cameroon, not
submitted by
the Government
of Cameroon,
but simply the
UN's own
analysis on
why it might
make sense to
not speak out
or to speak
out, were to
be leaked, is
that the type
of leak that
would be
investigated,
since you said
that it's done
at the behest
of or in order
to protect
Member States'
ability to
give
information to
the UN, if I
understood you
correctly?
Deputy
Spokesman:
And part of
what I said is
that those are
decisions to
be taken
ultimately by
the managers
who deal with
the various
files. I
wouldn't
answer on any
particular
hypothetical
circumstance.
Inner
City Press:
But is there
any guidance…
I know… Is
there any
guidance from
the top of…
are there
cases where,
from the top,
the UN would
say this is
not an
appropriate
thing to
investigate
because it
chills
whistle-blowers?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Obviously,
you're aware
of what the
whistle-blower
protections
are, and all
managers are
aware of
those.
Regarding your
question on
Cameroon and
the behaviour
of the
security
forces, we've
also made
clear our
concerns about
any excessive
use of force,
and we want to
make sure both
that security
forces,
wherever
they're
deployed,
avoid
excessive use
of force,
abide by
international
human rights
norms, and in
this
particular
case, of
course, we
want to make
sure that
nothing is
done to
forestall any
efforts at
dialogue.
Have a good
weekend,
everyone."
Guterres is in
Lisbon, again,
for the
weekend. March
12, 2018
On
North Korea
Talks,
Location Ideas
Range from
Pyongyang to
Mar-a-Lago,
Bolton Urges
Geneva in
March
UNITED
NATIONS, March 10 – On the North Korea - Trump
talks by May announced on March 8, it's said US
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is going
to brief the UN Security Council on Monday,
March 12, and meet with UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres at 3 pm, without even a photo
spray at the top. Amid that murk, one view of
where (and when) a Trump meeting with Kim Jong
Un should take place was voice March 9 by none
other than John Bolton: by the end of March, in
Geneva. Bolton said it should be in the same
"former League of Nations" conference room where
James Baker met Tariq Aziz in January 1991
before Operation Desert Storm, the so-called
extra mile for peace. Others throw out locations
like Pyongyang, New York, Seoul, Tokyo (if Trump
wants to throw Abe a bone, see below) or even
Mar-a-Lago. The timing of Trump's meeting
with Bolton shortly before the North Korea talks
were announced bears more reporting. At the UN
by mid-morning on March 9, this was not listed
on the Security Council's online Program of
Work. Photo here.
In Japan, no longer on the Security Council,
media like the Sankei Shimbun complained instead
about the issue of abductees
and about Trump's dissing of Japan on tariffs,
while using wire or "joint" copy on the Florida
gun bill, UN
Women's Day and even on UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' canned
statement. From Seoul, Kato's successor Norio
Sakurai warned
of Japan being "peeled off." Similarly, in North
Korea itself the ostensibly agreed to talks
weren't even yet disclosed to the public.
Working at the UN, Inner City Press asked the
spokesman for Miroslav Lajcak, President of the
UN General Assembly, for comment on the North
Korea talks. By evening, this was sent to Inner
City Press: "The President supports dialogue as
well as efforts to denuclearize the Koran
Peninsula." Earlier, Inner City Press asked the
Dutch President of the Council for the month,
Karel van Oosterom, who told Inner City Press he
has been invited to a meeting with McMaster but
for more to ask the US. In DC the questions were
about McMaster leaving the Administration, with
a less than rousing defense by the spokesperson.
When the UN Spokesman called his end of day (and
week) lid, there was mention of another Security
Council meeting for Monday, but nothing on North
Korea. Meanwhile, when UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres belatedly commented 17 hours
after the announcement, his spokesman Stephane
Dujarric went on to link to the slated talks the
earlier visit to Pyongyang by outgoing UN
Department of Political Affairs chief Jeffrey
Feltman. But is the connection? And when Feltman
leaves on March 31, who will the US put in,
particularly given developments on and in North
Korea? Watch this site. Back on March 8, half an hour after
South Korean official
Chung Eui-yong
announced at
the White
House that US
President
Trump will
meet North
Korea's Kim
Jong Un by
May, Inner
City Press
after
informing the
UN's
Department of
Public
Information
sought
reaction from
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres.
Since, despite
Inner City
Press'
request, all
UN Department
of Public
Information
minders had
left for the
day, Inner
City Press
retreated to
the Conference
Building where
a Chinese
opera, as it
happens, was
taking place.
But when
Guterres and
his entourage
came off the
elevator,
Inner City
Press
approached, at
the same time
as one of
Guterres'
female
Assistant SGs
he'd met with.
Guterres,
chatting with
a youth,
ignored even
her. Video here. Did he know the news?
Inner City
Press followed
up by Twitter:
nothing. This
is today's
UN. Two
cars were at
the ready, and
two security
officers faced
Inner City
Press. (One
said that yet
a third
officer
"wanted to
file a
complaint
against your
story," here).
There was the
sound of
opera, and
down the hall
a painting of
Ban Ki-moon,
who
accomplished
nothing on the
issue in ten
years. It was
the UN. The
next morning, still nothing from Guterres. FMarch
5, 2018
In
Cameroon,
Visiting UN's
Fall Didn't
Witness Biya's
Deployment,
Didn't Mention
Refoulement
UNITED
NATIONS, March
1 -- Thedeference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
36-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity inhis
recent
crackdown,continues.
The Biya
government is
destroyinghistoricplaces
like Boa
Bakundu,
reportedly
burning alive
another
grandmother,
this time
Frida Ndumu.
Meanwhile
after illegal
refoulement to
Yaounde from
Nigeria, and
ongoing
crackdowns.
Now the UN's
Central Africa
representative
Francois
Lounceny Fall,
who on UN
Radio equated
secessionists
and extremists
then ran from
Pressquestionsin
UN
Headquarters,
has deigned to
visit Buea,
along with the
UN's resident
coordinator
Allegra Maria
Del Pilar
Baiocchi, more
focused on
promoting the
UN than trying
to prevent
conflict and
the killing of
civilians. She
has tweeted
photos about
the visit,
nothing on the
burned motor
bikes and
people, much
less the
illegal
refoulement.
The same day
in Buea, the
station
manager of
CRTV implored
the Governor
of Buea to put
the whole area
on red alert
as the
crackdown,
using Fall's
secessionists
are extremists
logic,
continues. The
UN has poured
fuel on this
conflict, and
refused to
answer basic
questions
about it.
Sources in the
UN Department
of Political
Affairs say
Guterres
arranged for a
memo
justifying his
inaction since
receipt of
Biya's golden
statue. But
when Inner
City Press on
February 28
asked first
outgoing DPA
chief Jeff
Feltman, then
UN Spokesman
Dujarric, both
said they
didn't know of
Fall's visit.
From the UN's
February 28transcript:
Inner City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you about
Cameroon.
I've seen that
François Fall
has… or at
least his
office is
tweeting that
he's in the
south-west
region in
Buea, saying
he's having
some great
meetings.
Given that the
Government
side there has
asked for a…
for a… an
alert and that
young people's
motorcycles
are being
burned,
destroying
their
livelihood,
I'm just
wondering, are
we going to
get a
readout?
Was that said
in advance…?
Spokesman:
Let me see
what I can
get. Inner
City Press: It
seems like Mr.
Feltman didn't
actually know
it was taking
place. I
tried--
Spokesman:
Well, he may
not be the
only
one. I
was not aware
of the visit."
A full 24
hours later,
without
sending Inner
City Press any
update or
response to
its question,
Dujarric at
the noon
briefing read
one out...
The
deference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
35-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity in
his
recent
crackdown,
continues.
After illegal
refoulement to
Yaounde from
Nigeria, and
ongoing
crackdowns, UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres'
humanitarian
deputy
official
Ursula Mueller
has offered
"congratulations"
to Biya's
foreign
minister
Mbella Mbella.
Photo and
UNanswered
Press question
here.
This comes
after Inner
City Press
asked
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric if
Mueller would
stop in the
Anglophone
zones, and
since not, why
not? He
replied that
the overall
humanitarian
situation
would be
discussed. So
on February
23, Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric
again, video here,
UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: I had
asked you
before Ursula
Mueller's
trip, whether
the… the
situation in
the anglophone
zones of
Cameroon would
come up, and I
just want to
say I saw… I
guess she
tweeted a
picture of
herself with
the Foreign
Minister of
Cameroon
yesterday,
saying…
congratulating
the Cameroon
Government,
entirely
positive.
And I just
wanted to
know… you
seemed… you
seemed to
indicate that
the overall
humanitarian
situation
would
arise.
Given even…
even on the
issue of
refugees,
given that
there were 47
people sent
back seemingly
illegally,
refouled from
Nigeria, is
this… is she
unaware of
that in giving
these
congratulations?
Spokesman:
Her mission
focused on the
Lake Chad
Basin, on the
situation in
the Lake Chad
Basin which,
as you know,
has led to
mass… to a
humanitarian
situation
that's
impacted at
least 10
million
people.
She discussed
a wide range
of
humanitarian
concerns with
the government
of Cameroon,
including the
Boko Haram
crisis in the
far north, the
situation of
refugees from
the CAR
[Central
African
Republic] in
the east, and
the growing
food
insecurity
across the
country, as
well as the
situation in
the Anglophone
regions."
Really? With
congratulations,
echoes of the
golden statue
that Guterres
took in
October?
Meanwhile in
Nigeria people
are being
prosecuted for
sheltering
refugees from
Cameroon, and
Guterres and
the UN are
silent. We'll
have more on
this. A new
report details
Biya's long
stays outside
of the country
in Geneva,
while his
military kills
Anglophones
and the
country
declines. Biya
has spent four
and a half
years in
Geneva, at a
cost of $65
million in
hotel fees and
$117 million
for chartered
private plane,
sometimes left
"on stand-by"
for weeks at a
time. The
report goes
one level
down: "One of
Biya’s closest
confidants,
Joseph Fouda,
a military
officer and
special
advisor, has
accompanied
him on at
least 86
trips,
amounting to
more than
three years of
travel since
1993. He
prefers a room
on a top floor
of the
Intercontinental.
Another close
confidant,
Martin Belinga
Eboutou, 78,
has spent
nearly three
years
travelling
with the
president
starting in
1987, when he
was Cameroon’s
ambassador to
Morocco. The
president
attempted to
buy a brand
new private
jet in 2004,
but his staff
reportedly cut
corners on the
deal, buying a
defective
plane covered
by a fresh
coat of paint
that nearly
crashed on its
first flight.
Since then,
the president
has chartered
at least
several
private
aircraft,
including a
luxury jet
formerly owned
by the
government of
Kazakhstan."
Still UN
Secretary
General,
himself a murky
first class
flyer,
smilingly took
Biya's golden
statue and has
done nothing;
his advisers
Khassim Diagne
and the
outgoing head
of Political
Affairs have
assured him of
Biya's bona
fides or the
wisdom of
doing...
nothing. The
UN has failed.
The UN refugee
agency UNHCR
in Abuja early
on January 30
told Inner
City Press
that it has as
yet no comment
on the blatant
forced
repatriation
or refoulement
to Cameroon of
Sisiku Ayuk
Tabe and 46
others while
it seeks
"explanations
through
official
channels."
(Later UNHCR
issued a short
statement.) On
January 31,
Inner City
Press again asked
UN Secretary
General
Antonio Guterres' Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, UN
transcript
here and
below. When
Inner City
Press on
February 8 put
the
refoulement
question to
Francois
Delattre, the
UN Ambassador
of France
which has
supported Paul
Biya's 36-year
rule, Delattre
replied that
"We always
have views but
no comment
from me at
this stage."
Video here.
That is
irresponsible
- or another
sign of
France's
responsibility
for what is
happening in
the region.
We'll have
more on this -
and now on
Germany. Angela
Merkel's
"personal
representative
for Africa" Gunter
Nooke
showed up in
Yaounde on
February 15
trying as he does
elsewhere to
drum up business. With
him was
Ambassador
Hans Dieter
Stell; there
was according
to CRTV "the
exchange of
gifts symbolic
of Cameroon's
legendary
hospitality."
Another golden
statue like
UNSG Guterres
took? At UN
headquarters,
as
Inner City Press
alone asked,
Germany's
Ambassador
procured a
publicly
funded post
for his wife
by merely
emailing
Guterres'
chief of
staff. Inner
City Press asked
Dujarric and his
deputy Haq -
no real answer
- while
the only other
question asked
about it was
how the
information
about the job
had leaked.
The media asking that
is given full
access to the
UN by the UN
Department of
Public
Information of
British Alison
Smale, a major
Germanophile
who
continues to
have Inner
City Press
restricted, its long
time work
space given to
a no-show
no-question
Egyptian state
media.
We'll have
more on this.
February
19, 2018
On
Cameroon, UK
Denies Inner
City Press
FOIA Request
After 170
Days, Yemen
Too, Appeal
UNITED
NATIONS, February 15 – The United Kingdom's
silence about the plight of Anglophone
residents of the former British Southern
Cameroons persists even in the face of a
Freedom of Information Act request from Inner
City Press.
More than five
months ago on 15 August 2017 Inner City Press
asked the UK government for records concerning
Cameroon. After repeatedly extending the time
to response, now the UK has denied access to
all responsive records, letter here,
saying that "the release of information
relating to the UK’s discussion on UN business
could harm our relations and other member
states of the United Nations (UN)."
Here
on Patreon is the full denial letter, from
which Inner City Press is preparing an appeal,
on Yemen as well - it has 40 working days.
This is
shameful - the UK is also exiting
transparency.
On February 6
in front of the UN Security Council, Inner
City Press asked the United Kingdom's Deputy
Ambassador Jonathan Allen for the UK's comment
on Nigeria's forced repatriation of 47 to
Cameroon. From the UK transcript: Inner City
Press: Nigeria did a forced repatriation of 47
Cameroonian leaders. The UNHCR said it was
illegal. The US has commented on it. Does the
UK have any view? Amb Allen: I’m afraid I
wasn’t aware of that before. I’ll have to get
back to you on the details." Video here.
At day's end, a UK Mission spokesperson sent
Inner City Press a short comment, here.
As Inner City
Press pursues these questions
at the UN, it remains restricted
to minders by the head of the
UN Department of Public
Information Alison Smale, who
it is noted is British - and
functionally a censor. A
retaliator, too? Smale has not
explained why Inner City
Press' long time work space is
assigned to no-show,
no-question Egyptian state
media Akhbar al Youm. February
12, 2018
In
UN Bribery
Case, Ho Was
Denied Bail,
Inner City
Press Asks 3
Why CEFC Still
in ECOSOC
UNITED
NATIONS, February 6 – UN bribery indictee
Patrick Ho was denied bail on February 5, in a
lengthy oral order that found the weight of
evidence against him substantial. On November
20, the US Attorney for the Southern District of
New York issued an indictment against the head
of the UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund
Committee (CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal
foreign minister Cheikh Gadio,
accused
together of bribing Chad's President Idriss Deby
-- as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN
President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa,
now as then the foreign minister of Uganda,
since 2005, allegedly for the benefit of
President Yoweri Museveni. On February 5, Inner
City Press asked the UN Spokesman why CEFC is
still in "special consultative status" with
ECOSOC, transcript here
(video here)
and below, than ran to the courthouse. There, US
District Court Judge Katherine Forrest asked
Prosecutor Daniel C. Richenthal to describe the
weight of the evidence. "How strong is your
case?" she asked, to some laughter. Very strong,
he said, adding that Ho has been emailing the
"Shanghai-based Energy Company" (that would be
CEFC China Energy) from MCC detention, to launch
a public relations campaign. It may be
backfiring: Judge Forrest in her ruling denying
bail noted that if Chinese government press is
describing the case as political, it would make
fleeing and remaining in China all the easier.
Richenthal said that Ho could travel to other
places - he listed Chad, Uganda, Iran and
Russia. The continued home detention of UN
bribery convictee was raised by Richenthal and
Judge Forrest, and not favorably. Gadio was
alluded to as not yet indicted - he'd said to be
talking about a plea - and Judge Forrest
emphasized November 5 as the trial date. She
said there was leave to re-apply for bail but
said such an application should include what
Ho's lawyer Mr Kim called the "context" of the
payments. Kim said they including country-wide
charitable and military aid. From a Chinese
energy company? From the UN's February 5 transcript:
Inner City Press: Patrick Ho, who is the head of
the China Energy Fund Committee, is arguing
again for bail today. And the US, in
opposing it, put it in writing that they've
executed a search warrant at China Energy Fund
Committee, the NGO's (non-governmental
organization) offices in Virginia. It
seems the China Energy Fund Committee is still
in special consultative status with ECOSOC
(Economic and Social Council) even as its
offices are being raided and… and its head is in
jail. What are the procedures for… for…?
Spokesman: As far as I'm aware… you know,
the consultative status of ECOSOC, as opposed to
the DPI (Department of Public Information)
status, is one that is managed by the Member
States. There is a committee of ECOSOC
that is made up of Member States. They
give… they grant or deny consultative status to
various NGOs. I think we'll have to look…
you can contact ECOSOC to see what the exact
rules are, but my assumption would be that, if
Member States grant, only Member States can take
away." So, Guterres is doing nothing. On
February 6, after another non-response by
ECOSOC's chair, Inner City Press asked Guterres'
and Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: yesterday, the… Patrick
Ho, the head of the China Energy Fund Committee
here, was denied bail. And in the… in the
hearing, basically, the prosecution said and the
judge said that she found weight to be given to
the evidence that basically the NGO
[non-governmental organization] was a front for
bribery to Sam Kutesa and others. So,
given that… how this trial is going, I'm
wondering, again, Stéphane [Dujarric] had said
that the Secretariat plays no role in sort of
following through and making sure that China
Energy Fund Committee can't continue to say it's
a… in special consultative status with ECOSOC
[Economic and Social Council]. I've
written to the ECOSOC chair now twice, 28
November 2017 and today, but I don't have
anything back. Is there any spokesperson
for ECOSOC that can at least say what the
process is? Deputy Spokesman: There is a
spokesperson for the President of the Economic
and Social [Council], and I can give you that
contact afterwards. Inner City Press: Because…
because Brenden… oh. Yeah. Anyways,
I'd written before to that same individual, and
there was no response. I'm just… guess I'm
wondering, what is their… what is the… does the
Secretary-General… given that trial that's now
moving forward and what's coming out in it, does
he believe in the same way that he has…
asserting himself as to agencies on other
issues, that he should maybe get involved to
ensure that there's not a… a named briber saying
that they're in consultative status with the UN?
Deputy Spokesman: "Well, UN bodies
themselves have been dealing with the problems
created by the China Energy Fund Committee in
their own ways, but what you're talking about is
consultative status that's granted by Member
States through the Economic and Social Council,
and that decision would have to be taken by
Member States." Then Inner City Press emailed
the alluded to spokesman, one Paul Simon. Hours
later, nothing.
February 5,
2018
On Cameroon
& Nigeria,
UN Hides
Behind Belated
UNHCR
Statement to
Inner City
Press, DSG
Avoids Qs
UNITED
NATIONS, February 1 – The UN system's deference
to Cameroon's 35-year president Paul Biya, and
to the government of neighboring Nigeria,
continues. The UN refugee agency UNHCR in Abuja
early on January 30 told Inner City Press that
it has as yet no comment on the blatant forced
repatriation or refoulement
to Cameroon of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 46 others
while it seeks "explanations through official
channels." On January 31, Inner City Press
against asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript
here and below. On February 1, the UN
refugee agency UNHCR finally answered Inner City
Press' repeated questions, below. But at the UN
noon briefing, even when Inner City Press
specifically cited Guterres shameless golden
statue moment and Amina J. Mohammed's Nigeria
links, the UN passed the buck. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: you had said two days ago, on
the issue of these… this refoulement from
Nigeria to Cameroon, to wait for UNHCR [Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees] to speak. And they have spoken,
and they've said that the law has been broken by
Nigeria, sending back, they say, 47; some people
involved say it's 51. But, what I wanted…
so, I wanted to know, at the Secretariat level,
given its involvement and its call for dialogue
in Cameroon, and number two, specifically, given
that the Deputy Secretary-General was in Abuja
when the abductions took place, according to
you, has spoken to the Government about it, has
been quoted in a speech she gave in South Africa
as calling Mr. [Muhammadu] Buhari her President,
what is her statement on Nigeria's refoulement
of at least 47 and maybe 51? Spokesman: I
think we'll refer you to UNHCR. UNHCR is
in the lead on the issue of refugees and
asylum-seekers and refoulement. They have
spoken. We fully back what UNHCR has said.
Inner City Press: But, how does it impact this…
I mean, obviously…? Spokesman: We continue
to engage with the Cameroonian authorities, and
our offers of helping them work out some of the
issues in the Anglophone areas continues to
stand. I will come back to you." When?
Today's UN is corrupt. Here was UNHCR: "Hi dear
Matthew, Following up on my email, below is our
statement on the issue: UNHCR condemns forced
returns of Cameroon asylum-seekers from Nigeria:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has learned with
great concern of the forced return by Nigeria of
47 Cameroonians, who were handed over to the
Cameroonian authorities on 26 January 2018. Most
of the individuals in question had submitted
asylum claims. Their forcible return is in
violation of the principle of non-refoulement,
which constitutes the cornerstone of
international refugee law. The returns were
carried out despite UNHCR’s efforts and
engagement with the authorities. UNHCR reminds
Nigeria of its obligations under international
and Nigerian law, and urges the Nigerian
Government to refrain from forcible returns of
Cameroonian asylum-seekers back to their country
of origin. We also urge the Government of
Cameroon to ensure that the group is treated in
accordance with human rights law and standards."
Is this why UN Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed has
refused and avoided all questions from Inner
City Press on this, including by using
restrictions on the Press in "her UN, in support
of "her" President and country? We'll have more
on this.
January
29, 2018
On UN
Bribery, Inner
City Press
Asked Guterres
of CEFC, Now
Suspended From
Global Compact
UNITED
NATIONS, January 25– On November 20, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York
issued an indictment against the head of the
UN ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund
Committee (CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal
foreign minister Cheikh
Gadio, accused
together of bribing Chad's President Idriss
Deby (as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN
President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa,
now as then the foreign minister of Uganda,
since 2005).
Inner City Press
has covered
the case and repeatedly asked
the UN Spokesman why Secretary General Antonio
Guterres has not even started an audit based on
the indictment, including of how CEFC got its UN
status and even remains in the UN Global Compact
espousing anti-corruption goals. On January 16,
Inner City Press put the question directly to
Antonio Guterres, video here,
UN transcript here,
and below. Guterres said "I will look into
it... We don't want the
Compact to have companies that do not abide by
the set of principles." But a week passed, and
nothing. On January 24, Inner City Press asked
again. And on January 25, Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric announced, Matthew you've
asked once or twice, the Global Compact has
suspended China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC
China Energy). But, Inner City Press notes, China Energy
Fund Committee is *still* in special
consultative status with UN ECOSOC. And there
has been no audit of the other connections.
We'll have more on this. From the UN's January
16 transcript: Q: Matthew Lee, Inner City Press,
on behalf of the Free UN Coalition
for Access, hoping for more question and
answer in 2018, as you said. In November, there
there was an indictment announced in Federal
Court downtown of the head of an ECOSOC
(Economic and Social Council)-accredited NGO for
bribing, allegedly bribing, the President of the
General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, to benefit the
China Energy Fund Committee. And I wanted to ask
you, that remains still in the Global Compact,
and there hasn't been even an audit or anything
created. Why haven't you started an audit in
that case? Why is the beneficiary of what's
described as bribery in the UN still in the
Global Compact? And how do your reforms preclude
or make impossible this type of bribery that's
now happened twice under John Ashe, may he rest
in peace, and under Sam Kutesa? SG
Guterres: "In relation to other cases, I would
like to say that I'm not aware of presence in
the Compact or whatever. I will have to look
into it. I will look into it. What is clear for
me is that we don't want the Compact to have
companies that do not abide by the set of
principles that were defined in the constitution
of the Compact. There is a code of conduct that
is there, and that should be respected. So, I
don't know exactly what happened in the compact
in that regard. I will look into that."January
22, 2018
At
UNSG Guterres
Presser, Inner
City Press
Asks of
Cameroon &
UN Bribery for
CEFC, Here
UNITED
NATIONS, January 16 – When UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres held a press conference on
January 16, it was his first public media
question and answer sessions at the UN in
months. Inner City Press arrived early and kept
its hand raised; as the 14th questioner it was
able to ask Guterres about the ongoing UN
bribery case and about ten abductions in Nigeria
by / for Cameroon, which he visited in October.
On the latter, Guterres said that the UN is
active and has gotten some people released. This
may be a reference to Felix Aghbor Balla and
others. But what of those still held in Nigeria,
where as Inner City Press pointed out his deputy
Amina J. Mohammed has been for the past week?
We'll have more on this. On the UN bribery
indicted against Cheikh Gadio and Patrick Ho of
the China Energy Fund Committee, to benefit CEFC
China Energy which is still a member of the UN
Global Compact, Guterres focused on this part of
the question, saying he would look into the
Global Compact membership. It's worth nothing
that when Ng Lap Seng was indicted in 2015 for
UN bribery, his Sun Kian Ip foundation was
dropped by the UN and money returned. Here, UN
DESA still used $1 million of CEFC even after
the indictment. As Guterres seems not to know,
the case and Inner City Press' coverage has been
reported all over the world, from China
to Uganda and Senegal to the Czech
Republic. We'll have more on this as well.
Here's the UN's January 16 transcript:
Q: Matthew Lee, Inner City Press, on behalf of
the Free UN Coalition for Access, hoping for
more question and answer in 2018, as you
said. In November, there was an indictment
announced in Federal Court downtown of the head
of an ECOSOC (Economic and Social
Council)-accredited NGO for bribing, allegedly
bribing, the President of the General Assembly,
Sam Kutesa, to benefit the China Energy Fund
Committee. And I wanted to ask you, that remains
still in the Global Compact, and there hasn't
been even an audit or anything created. Why
haven't you started an audit in that case? Why
is the beneficiary of what's described as
bribery in the UN still in the Global Compact?
And how do your reforms preclude or make
impossible this type of bribery that's now
happened twice under John Ashe, may he rest in
peace, and under Sam Kutesa? And, also, on
Cameroon, you visited, I know, in late October.
Since then, some Anglophone leaders have been
arrested or abducted in Nigeria, where I know
your deputy was. I wanted to know what the UN
system is doing about this now cross-border
problem. Thanks a lot. Secretary-General:
Well, as a matter of fact, in relation to that,
we have done several initiatives, and some of
them even led to the release of people, and we
will go on engaging with all the states
involved. In relation to other cases, I would
like to say that I'm not aware of presence in
the Compact or whatever. I will have to look
into it. I will look into it. What is clear for
me is that we don't want the Compact to have
companies that do not abide by the set of
principles that were defined in the constitution
of the Compact. There is a code of conduct that
is there, and that should be respected. So, I
don't know exactly what happened in the compact
in that regard. I will look into that."January
15, 2018
After
Nigeria
"Disappears"
10 in Abuja,
Amina J.
Mohammed Tours
with Gov't,
ICP Asks UN,
Nothing
UNITED
NATIONS, January 12 – After UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres accepted a golden statue from
Cameroon's 35-year president Paul Biya in Biya's
palace in Yaounde, Guterres again shook hands
with Biya in Paris at the One Planet event,
photo here;
UN told Inner City Press no meeting was
scheduled. Now, after Guterres' envoy Francois
Lounceny Fall equated secessionists with
extremists, Inner City Press is informed that
ten officials of the Federal Republic of
Ambazonia declared on October 1 including Sisiku
Julius Ayuk Tabe have been grabbed and
disappeared -- while in Nigeria. Now with UN
Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed who
is in Abuja still silent, Inner City Press on
January 12 asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you
again. Now, Amnesty International has
spoken out about - it turns out it's 10
independence leaders of the anglophone regions
of Cameroon as they've put it that were abducted
in Nigeria more than a week ago, and they've
said… Spokesman: I don't have anything new
on that. Inner City Press: I guess…
because I see pictures of Amina Mohammed with
the Government of Nigeria and I'm just wondering
has she brought it up to them? Spokesman:
I have nothing new on that at this point." This
is the AI statement: "Ten leaders of the
independence movement in the Anglophone regions
of Cameroon could be at risk of torture and
unfair trials if extradited from Nigeria, where
they have been arrested and detained in secret
for one week, Amnesty International said today.
On 5 January, armed men in plain clothes stormed
a hotel in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja where the
activists, all members of the pro-independence
Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC), were
meeting, and arrested them without presenting a
warrant or providing an explanation. They
are being held incommunicado, without any access
to a lawyer, in contravention of Nigerian law
which demands they must be seen by a judge
within 48 hours. Human rights lawyers in Nigeria
have said that an extradition request has been
made by the Cameroonian government, but no
details have been made public. “By holding these
activists in secret, without charge, the
Nigerian authorities are failing to respect both
national and international law. If they are
extradited to Cameroon, they risk an unfair
trial before a military court and the deeply
disturbing possibility of torture,” said Osai
Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International
Nigeria." So where is the UN and Amina J.
Mohammed? On tour with and praising Nigeria's
government, of course. On January 11, Inner City
Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I'd asked you on Monday about
this abduction of nine southern Cameroon leaders
in Abuja. So, it's… they were taken out of
a hotel, you know, by armed men. So, I'm
wondering… I was wondering even in Chamb… I was
wanting to see if Mr. Chambas, who I know covers
Nigeria… what's the UN system… you said that
you're aware of it and trying to monitor it.
Spokesman: We have not seen any
confirmation or not… we have… we're still
looking at the situation, but we've not seen any
official or been made aware of any official
confirmation since the incident's happened.
Inner City Press: Well, The Guardian has a
quote from a Nigerian official saying they did
take them into… into custody, and there's a big
concern that they'll be extradited to Cameroon
but my question… Spokesman: That's…
that's… yeah. Go ahead. I… Inner
City Press: Since I've seen that Amina
Mohammed's schedule says that she's in Abuja for
the entire week, meeting with Government
officials, it seems… I guess I'm asking you, did
she… has she asked them if they're
responsible? It's a disappearance.
Spokesman: I have nothing else to add."
Nothing. With Ayuk Tabe still "disappeared,"
Inner City Press is re-publishing a few of his
responses to its questions back in November.
Inner City Press asked him if he thought the
"One Nigeria" policy of Antonio Guterres, his
(Nigerian) Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed and envoy
Chambas impacts their view of Southern Cameroons
/ Ambazonia. Ayuk Tabe noted the lack of
transparency for Guterres' meeting with Paul
Biya in late October; when Inner City Press
asked of Biya's Ambassador to the UN bragging
about Amina J. Mohammed's position on Biafra,
Ayuk Tabe replied
that then she does not have the correct
facts. Now in Abuja, she is silent. January
8, 2018
In UN
Bribery Case,
Ho Again Seeks
Bail, Saying
CEFC Is With
UN Like
Salvation Army
UNITED
NATIONS, January 6 – On November 20, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York
issued an indictment against the head of the UN
ECOSOC accredited China Energy Fund Committee
(CEFC) Patrick Ho and former Senegal
foreign minister Cheikh Gadio,
accused
together of bribing Chad's President Idriss Deby
(as well as, for Ho, of bribing former UN
President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa,
now as then the foreign minister of Uganda).
Inner City Press has covered
the case and repeatedly asked
the UN why Secretary General Antonio Guterres
has not even started an audit based on the
indictment, including of how CEFC got its UN
status and even remains in the UN Global Compact
espousing anti-corruption goals. But Guterres
has done nothing. Now Ho will be asking to be
released on bail on January 8, and his argument
includes that he is the head of "UN recognized"
NGO similar, Ho's brief argues, to the American
Bar Association, the Salvation Army and the
World Jewish Congress. So the UN's inaction is
now part of UN bribery indictee Ho's argument to
be released. The filing, dated January 5, says
Ho is "the leader of a non-governmental
organization recognized by the United
Nations....After leaving government service, Dr.
Ho became the Deputy Chairman and Secretary
General of the China Energy Fund Committee
(“CEFC”), a Hong Kong based non governmental
organization that has Special Consultative
Status with the United Nations Economic and
Social Council. Other organizations with Special
Consultative Status include the American Bar
Association, the Salvation Army, and the World
Jewish Congress." The proposal is for Ho to be
released on $10 million bond secured by $2
million in cash, into home detention in
Manhattan with electronic monitoring. We'll have
more on this. January
1, 2018
In 2017
UN's Guterres
Failed in
Myanmar, Yemen
&
Cameroon, Amid
Corruption,
Censors
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, December 30 – Antonio
Guterres' year as UN Secretary General began
by telling UN staff how much he respected
them, but ended
with Guterres on vacation
while the UN budget was cut
and staff ousted
from their work-spaces, demoralized and
disrespected.
In between
Guterres delayed
for months in responding to the slaughter of
the Rohingya in Myanmar, out of too much
deference to Aung San Suu Kyi. Guterres
continued in Yemen
with a Saudi-biased envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh
Ahmed as ports were closed, children starved
and cholera spread. Pressured to respond to
the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon,
his response was a brief stop-over in Yaounde
where he accepted a golden statue from 35-year
president Paul Biya.
In
November alone, Guterres ignored evidence that
his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed undermined
environmental protection, at a minimum, in
signing 4000 certificates for endangered rosewood
exported from Nigeria and Cameroon to China,
then ignored a UN bribery indictment in the
courts of Lower Manhattan. Guterres' UN used
$1 million from the China Energy Fund
Committee of indicted
Patrick Ho even after the Press asked his
spokesman about the indictment - and still no
audit.
But little
coverage either: Guterres eschewed press
conference, holding none at the end of the
year, but allowed himself to be sold for $1200
a pop at a fundraiser on Wall Street in
mid-December. Inner City Press, which covered
the event, is launching a series on Guterres'
performance as UN Secretary General, even as
he and his head of “Global Communications” Alison
Smale keep Inner City Press more
restricted than no-show no-question state
media like Egypt's
Akhbar al Yom, assigned the work-space it long
shared along with the alternative Free UN
Coalition for Access, pushing for a UN
Freedom of Information Act.
A spotlight
must be shined on this UN. Here a review of
2017, month by month.
January -
February: In Antonio Guterres' first two
months as UN Secretary General, the
longstanding Cyprus talks began to fall apart,
and Guterres stood silent
as Burundi, for example, banned
access by UN officials. Guterres ignored a
protest by whistleblowers against Francis
Gurry of the UN World Intellectual Property
Organization, and that UN agency's work on
North Korea's cyanide patents.
He did nothing
about a UN waste dump exposed
by Inner City Press in the Central African
Republic, despite his predecessor Ban
Ki-moon's record with waste in Haiti and
elsewhere. While he announced that Kenyan
troops would head back to South Sudan to join
UN Peacekeeping, he appointed the fifth
Frenchman in a row to head this DPKO,
Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
Meanwhile he
was rebuffed in his attempt to appoint Fayyad
to head the UN's Libya mission, perhaps
explaining his refusal later in the year to
take a single press question after reading out
his canned statement on Jerusalem. In a
harbinger of his approach to UN corruption and
(non) reform, his UN was named as not
providing requested documents in the first
UN bribery case, of Ng Lap Seng. (In the
second case, of Patrick Ho and Cheikh Gadio,
Guterres has yet to even launch an audit).
February 2017
ended with a seeming second wind, the belated
arrival of Guterres deputy Amina J. Mohammed.
Inner City Press was throughout constructive;
it would later emerge that during the delay
Mohammed signed 4000 certificates for
endangered Nigerian and Cameroonian rosewood
already exported to China, something Guterres
has refused to investigate despite a petition
with 92,000 requests. Guterres' first
interaction with UN staff was a Town Hall
meeting on January 9. Even though it was on
the UN's public website, when Inner City Press
live-streamed it on Periscope
for the impacted public to see it received a
threat that this violated unspecified
UN's guidelines.
This has been
a pattern in Guterres' first year: threats to
Press for unspecified violations, such as that
of Maher
Nasser on October 20, and a total
failure to respond or reform by Nasser's boss,
Alison
Smale. Ultimately, Guterres is
responsible.
March - April:
The spring
thaw in Antonio Guterres' first year as UN
Secretary General, in March and April, began
to reveal hypocrisy. A small but telling
example was when, after Guterres called on
people all over the world to turn off their
lights for Earth Hour, Inner City Press found
the lights on at the UN-owned mansion on
Sutton Place where Guterres lives.
At first the
UN refused to answer Inner City Press where
Guterres was - Lisbon
- then accused it of “monitoring
the residence.” It's called journalism: with
the UN refusing to disclose even what country
Guterres is in, checking the residence is the
only way. The UN also refuses to disclose how
much these Lisbon trips cost the global
taxpayers, for example how many UN Security
officials are taken, where they stay and for
how much.
Likewise
Guterres' 2016 financial disclosure
differed significantly from what he filed as
head of UNHCR in 2013. This has yet to be
explained. In April Guterres was petitioned to
replace the UN's pro-Saudi Yemen
envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. But when Inner
City Press asked, Guterres' spokespeople
refused to even confirm receipt of the letter.
This happened
on a petition by staff
too, about retaliation by Francis Gurry
the head of the UN World Intellectual Property
Organization, whose assistance to North
Korea's cyanide patents Guterres did not act
on.
In late April,
Guterres did nothing as Tanzania expelled
his resident coordinator, a far cry from his
knee-jerk defense later in the year -
continuing on December
27 - of the 4000 rosewood signatures by
his Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed. Sustainable
development? Try hypocrisy, and censorship and
restriction of the Press which covers it - and
Cameroon, here.
We'll have more on this.
May - June: As Antonio
Guterres entered his fifth month as UN
Secretary General in May 2017, there were
still no reforms, and even his budget and
reform speech was withheld when Inner City
Press asked
for a copy of it.
Rather than
propose anything but deck-chair moving changes
in UN bureaucracy - new acronyms, new
Departments - Guterres seemed to believe his
private meetings and canned speeches could do
the trick. He met with 11 Congressmembers in
May - all Democrats, Inner City Press' inquiry
found
- and gave a speech in South
Carolina. But to what effect?
By year's end
the UN budget
would be cut by over $200 million with
Guterres nowhere in sight, already on vacation
in Lisbon, not even a comment for two days. In
the real world, in South
Sudan for example, leaked documents
published by Inner City Press showed inaction
as the SPLA moved toward a violent reclaiming
of Pagak.
Amid the
ongoing crackdown in Burundi, the best
Guterres could do was a Burkina Faso based
envoy, Michel Kafando, who would be only part-time
Inner City Press learned though Guterres
didn't tell the Security Council members that.
He never had a comment on Morocco's crackdown
in the Rif,
despite dozens of questions
from Inner City Press, perhaps thinking that
silence might help on Western
Sahara (it didn't).
On nuclear
North Korea, Guterres did nothing as the UN
Federal Credit Union did business
with the mission and UN WIPO helped with
cyanide patents.
In continuing
Cameroon failure, Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J.
Mohammed appeared at the ghoulish
“National Day” in a townhouse on Manhattan's
Upper East Side; the Ambassador told Inner
City Press due to her position on Biafra in
“her” Nigeria, she would never support the
Anglophones in his. She has yet to answer
questions, initially surprising but after the
rosewood scandal was revealed, more
problematic. Scandals were coming...
July - August:
Antonio
Guterres first summer as Secretary General had
a 14 day black hole in it, in which not only
did he disappear but his spokespeople refused
at first to confirm to Inner City Press even
were he was: the Dalmatian coast.
He had failed
on Cyprus,
descending from the 38th floor for a mere
three minute stakeout. He delegated the Cameroon
conflict, unwisely, to his Deputy
SG Amina J. Mohammed, who was said by Paul
Biya's Ambassador to be in the bag, firmly
against any secession.
She had worked
for Ban Ki-moon, whose era at the UN was
indicted, and in essence convicted, along with
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng at the end
of July. But Guterres doubled down in
impunity, claiming that the UN was the victim
of the scheme, even as its accomplices
continued on the payroll. Guterres' UN was
accused of racial discrimination in a Town
Hall meeting he closed to the press - but what
did he care?
He dodged
questions about the crackdowns in Togo
and Gabon and left, even at year's end, the UN
Special Adviser on Africa position empty. In
Kenya he called electoral official Msango's
murder an “untimely demise,” alternately
deferring to Ban Ki-moon's pro-Kenyatta son in
law and then to his opposite, Roslyn Akombe.
Apparently, Africa didn't and doesn't interest
him.
In Europe, he
supposed his group by ignoring Catalonia, even
as he let sell-out Catalan Cristina “The
Evicter” Gallach stay on too long as a
representative to the UN's school. Her
replacement Alison Smale was late in coming,
and surrounded by the same staff like
Guterres, would continue the same abuses and
worse. The Fall was approaching...
September -
October: Antonio
Guterres' first UN General Assembly “high
level” week as Secretary General featured a
grip and grin with Egypt's
Sisi witnessed only by Sisi's state media to
whom Inner City Press' office is assigned
under Guterres, a praise-fest
with Cameroon's Paul Biya even as his
forces killed Anglophone civilians and a total
refusal to answer questions on UN corruption.
During the
week, Haiti
called on Guterres to belatedly do something
about the 10,000 people the UN killed with
cholera; Guterres has raised very little money
and his envoy on the topic has yet to take
Press questions.
Even when
Guterres did, on September 13, he answered
only on peacekeeper sexual abuse, entirely
evading Inner City Press' question
about the six UN bribery guilty verdicts in
the case of Ng Lap Seng, for coverage of which
Inner City Press was evicted and is still
restricted under Guterres. Other corrupt
events and bribery cases proceeded; Guterres'
Secretariat took on a Junior Professional
Officer from Kim Jong-Un's North
Korea, while refusing to confirm the
name.
By October,
with his head of Global Communications vowing
to spin the trip, Guterres took off for
Central African Republic, refusing to answer
why one of the only three officials criticized
in the UN report on sexual abuse there, Renner
Onana, remained in place, with promotion. On
the way back, most tellingly, Guterres stopped
in Younde and took a golden statue from Paul
“The Killer” Biya, smiling. This is the symbol
of Guterre's Secretary Generalship....
November -
December 2017: As 2017 drew
to a close UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres closed in on himself, like a small
star collapsing, speaking only to friendly or
paid media, accepting money from an already-indicted
NGO then fleeing to Portugal, where he ended
the year as the UN budget was cut. Was this
what he was elected or selected for?
In early
November Inner City Press had already just
been threatened
for covering his photo ops noticed
after one a two-person lunch set-up on the
38th floor with the name plate, Gillian Tett.
But Guterres' spokesman - and Ban K-moon's
before that, who does that - refused to say
what it was about.
It was an
interview, with Guterres criticizing even the
food at the UN and showing up. It left many UN
staff and contractors disgusted. But with the
threat of retaliation and many guards,
Guterres was unaware.
What did he
care, when 98,000 environmentalists asked him
to investigate his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed
for signing CITES certificates for endangered
rosewood
from Nigeria and Cameroon already in China?
Rather than investigate, Guterres lashed out
at a rare on the record Ambassador critic,
from Kenya, calling him “unfair.”
This as
Guterres and his head of Communications Alison
Smale kept the critical Press restricted,
refusing even to offer any explanation, using
three time loser Maher
Nasser to issue new
threats. Even when the budget was cut and
Inner City Press alone covered it, with one of
Smale's minders to 2
am on Christmas Eve, Guterres was gone,
in Portugal, an absentee UN slowly collapsing
in on itself like a small star, refusing even
on the last work day of the year to answer any
Press questions, here.
To be continued...
December
25, 2017
UN Over $5
Billion Budget Passed
by UNGA With
No Public
Present,
Holiday Tree
and Carol,
Here
UNITED
NATIONS, December 24 – The UN's more than five
billion dollar budget was supposed to be adopted
by the UN's Fifth Committee on December 22 then,
the Committee chairman told Inner City Press,
noon on Saturday December 23. Ultimately the
Committee approval didn't finish until 2 in the
morning on Christmas eve, with the ultimate
approval postponed until 10 am on Christmas eve.
Inner City Press, the only media covering it,
was required to get a UN "minder" to access the
General Assembly, unlike other no-show
non-critical UN resident correspondents. From a
booth about the GA it Periscoped the approval,
and even an impromptu holiday carol. And holiday
was the word. While in previous hears a colorful
Christmas tree has been displayed on the GA Hall
after the last session, this year it was a
generic pine tree with no ornaments. In all
other ways, it was routine: opposition to
Responsibility to Protect and the UN Convention
on the Law of the Sea, to funding the
implementation of UN Security Council
resolutions 2231 (Iran) and 1559. Myanmar
opposed any UN envoy being funded, but it passed
122 yes, 10 no, 24 abstaining.There was vague
praise of reforms, even as absent S-G Guterres
hasn't even ordered an audit of the most recent
UN bribery indictment, much less his own
Deputy's signing of 4000 rosewood certificates.
Reform? And end of UN censorship of
investigative Press? We will Press on this.
December 18,
2017
On
Cameroon,
Inner City
Press Asks UN
If Guterres
Has Done Anything on
Press Freedom,
No, Failing
Fall
UNITED
NATIONS, December 15 – After UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres accepted a golden
statue from Cameroon's 35-year president Paul
Biya in Biya's palace in Yaounde, Guterres again
shook hands with Biya in Paris at the One Planet
event, photo here;
UN told Inner City Press no meeting was
scheduled. And as of Deember 15 it seems clear
Guterres has not lifted a finger on the case of
journalist Patrice Nganang, jailed by Biya for
ten days and counting. Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman at the December 15 UN noon
briefing, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:
wanted to ask you again about… about the
journalist clocked up in Cameroon for ten days
now, Patrice Nganang, who was, you know…
basically had investigated the Anglophone areas
and was picked up from the airport in Douala, is
in jail, charged with insulting or threatening
the president. Has the UN done anything on
that? Spokesman: I don't have an update on
the case in Cameroon." Later on December 15,
Guterres was slated to be sold for $1200 a table
at a Wall Street fundraiser; we'll have more on
this. When Guterres' envoy Francois Lounceny
Fall briefed the UN Security Council on December
13, he lumped Boko Haram and "the Anglophone
separatist movement" in the same sentence. On UN
Radio, Fall has equated secessionists with
extremists. On December 13 he said "clashes have
continued between radicals and government forces
resulting in the death of security officers in
the North-West and South-West regions likely to
further inflame tensions." Wait, security
officers were the only ones, even as implied
here the first ones, to be killed? Inner City
Press at noon on December 13, after Fall ran
past it at the stakeout saying he had another
meeting, asked UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq
about it, UN transcript here
and below. On December 14, Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Haq again about Fall, who is
failing on the Lord's Resistance Army (and
Gabon) as well, UN transcript here: Inner City
Press: I'd asked you yesterday about whether Mr.
[Francois Lounceny] Fall would answer questions,
and many… given… after his briefing yesterday,
many people, in looking at the paragraph on
Cameroon, in particular, have many questions
about it. He referred to clashes between
radicals. And so people want to know, in
the same way that he called secessionists
extremists, what he meant by radicals. I
guess I'm just wondering, is he still in New
York? I know he was here Monday through
Wednesday. And is there some way to get
him to clarify why… for example, the refugee
flows into Nigeria are not mentioned in his
report and sort of what he's actually doing on
this issue? Deputy Spokesman: Well, it's
certainly his call whether he wants to come to
the press. He chose not to do that
yesterday, but he did have an open briefing, and
we provided the contents of he said. Hold
on. Hold on. [Cutting Press offDecember
11, 2017
North
Korea Said
UN
Feltman Agrees
With Them On Sanctions,
Now He Cites
Funding Gaps
UNITED
NATIONS, December 9 – In North Korea
accompanying UN Department of Political Affairs
chief Jeffrey Feltman is a former staffer of his
who now works directly with Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, Katrin Hett. (UN's belated
read-out below.) Inner City Press exclusively
reported this on December 5, and after Guterres
canceled his December 6 noon briefing for a
stakeout at which he took no questions, asked
for confirmation from UN deputy spokesman Farhan
Haq, who typically refused. See below, with two
more names. Now, because of today's UN secrecy,
it is the North Korean government which has
issued a read-out of the meetings: "the visit of
Jeffrey Feltman, the undersecretary general for
political affairs at the U.N., helped the
communist nation and U.N. understand each other
deeply, and the two sides agreed to have regular
communications at various levels, according to
the Korean Central News Agency. KCNA reported
that North Korea told U.N. officials that
current situation on the Korean Peninsula is due
to the United States' threat and its wish to
launch a nuclear attack against North Korea
first. The U.N. officials responded that they
will help ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula
by following the U.N. Charter, which states the
organization's mission of maintaining
international peace and security, the KCNA
added. According to the KCNA, Feltman recognized
international sanctions against North Korea are
having a negative influence on humanitarian aid
there. He visited a children's food factory and
a hospital in Pyongyang on Thursday. Feltman was
expected to leave Pyongyang on a North Korean
Air Koryo passenger jet to land in Beijing on
Saturday." Maybe Feltman will speak there, as he
so rarely has in his more than five years at the
UN. Hett has yet to speak. While SG Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not initially
confirm Inner City Press noting in "his" UN
Press Briefing room that Feltman's predecessor
and Ban's brain Kim Won-soo visited DPRK in
February 2010 and now some surmise why. The
month after that visit described by both as this
one should be as having been successful, North
Korea sunk South Korea's Cheonan
ship, killing 46. And this time? Guterres
himself, typically, is avoiding the Press. But
multiple sources tell Inner City Press Guterres
doled out quotes to media from a major UN
funder. This before he whispers again on
December 15 in a Wall Street event he'll be sold
for $1200 a table at. We'll have more on this.
For now, Feltman has issued this read-out:
"Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs
Jeffrey Feltman visited the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) from 5 to 8 December
2017. Mr. Feltman had a series of meetings with
H.E. Mr. RI Yong Ho, Minister for Foreign
Affairs, and H.E. Mr. PAK Myong Guk, Vice
Minister for Foreign Affairs, of the DPRK. They
exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula and
agreed that the current situation was the most
tense and dangerous peace and security issue in
the world today. Mr. Feltman emphasized the need
for the full implementation of all relevant
Security Council resolutions. He also said
there can only be a diplomatic solution to the
situation, achieved through a process of sincere
dialogue. Time is of the essence.
Noting the urgent need to prevent
miscalculations and open channels to reduce the
risks of conflict, Mr. Feltman underlined that
the international community, alarmed by
escalating tensions, is committed to the
achievement of a peaceful solution to the
situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr.
Feltman also met with the United Nations Country
Team and members of the diplomatic corps, and
visited UN project sites, including a children’s
foodstuff factory, TB prevention institute,
breast tumour institute, and paediatric
hospital. During the site visits he learned
about the UN’s life-saving work on the ground as
well as the challenges in procurement and
funding gaps." And on this: in advance of a
December 11, 11:30 am North Korea human rights
event announced by the US, it belatedly emerges
that the UN Security Council is set to hold a
procedural vote at 10 am for a human rights
meeting in the Council. Inner City Press twice
asked Japan's Koro Bessho, the Council's
president for December, about this. The first
time he said it was still being worked on. The
second time, he walked away. And it was his
deputy, not him, who appeared at the Council
stakeout on the afternoon of December 8. Inner
City Press asked a question and it was partially
answered. But it was not Bessho. More on this -
and on Feltman and his team's trip to North
Korea. It is customary to at least disclose the
identities of such a delegation. And so today
Inner City Press names two others accompanying
Feltman: unsurprisingly the UN Resident
Coordinator in DPRK since 2015, Tapan Mishra
formerly of Burma Shell Co, and surprising to
some, Department of Political Affairs staffer
Samuel Martell of the UK, in his position since
October 2014. We'll have more on these, amid
Guterres increasingly shrunk UN transparency. He
banned the Press from his swearing-in of Global
Communications boss Alison Smale; now he says
that unlike even Ban Ki-moon, he will hold no
end of the year press conference, while
arranging to be sold on Wall Street for $1200 a
table. This is today's UN. As to Hett, she was
suggested to (or some say, planted with)
Guterres by Feltman during the former's
transition, and since then Hett has nearly
always been at Guterres' side. For example she
took an August 2017 photograph
of Guterres with Palestine Prime Minister Rami
Hamdallah published by the UN Department of
Public Information. Inner City Press exclusively
quoted DPA whistleblowers that Hett reported
back to Feltman all of the people Guterres was
interviewing to staff up his administration.
(Guterres' spokesman called the questioning
despicable.) Now Hett is in North Korea, with
Feltman - and Guterres excluded the Press from
his December 6 swearing-in of DPI's Alison
Smale, here.
Guterres is sure to hype up his wor on North
Korea in connection with his December 13-14 trip
to Japan. But what about Hett? To some, the UN
is beginning to mirror Feltman and Hett's host.December
4, 2017
On
Cameroon,
ICP
Asked UN of
Biya Calling Secessionists
Terrorists, Now He
Orders
"Relocations"
UNITED
NATIONS, December 1 – A week after UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres accepted a golden
statue from Cameroon's 35-year president Paul
Biya in Biya's palace in Yaounde, there were
threats of prosecution against people who refuse
to celebrate Biya's 35 years in power. Photo of
letter here.
So is this was Guterres celebrates, under the Guterres
Doctrine? What is the relation to the
illegal lumber exports signed off on by
Guterres' Deputy, Amina J. Mohammed in the #RosewoodRacket?There
were threats to Inner City Press' accreditation
at the UN, here.
Now upon Paul Biya's return from the African
Union - EU summit in Abidjan he has "declared
war" on what he calls secessionist terrorists in
Ambazonia or Southern Cameroons. Inner City
Press asked the UN about it and UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric only said they are "still
looking at" or studying what Biya said. Now
orders have been issued for civilians to
"relocate" and for business people to stop
working. See order here.
We'll have more on this. This echoes what the
UN's Francois Fall said, on Alison Smale's UN
Radio no less, that secessionists are extremists
and even Federalism is not on the table. The UN
has thrown gasoline on this conflict, far from
engaging in the preventative diplomacy that
Antonio Guterres, when running for his post,
said he was about. In the UN, he and his Deputy
Amina J. Mohammed have kept up Press
restrictions and censorship. On December 1 Inner
City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric about Biya's comment. Dujarric said the
UN is still trying to study them - it's not
hard, they're on YouTube, here -
and said the last time Guterres spoke with Biya
was in October (that is, over the golden
statue). Now what? In Bamenda, local journalist
Elvis McCarty (some say Elvis Macarty) was
reportedly roughed up by Paul Biya's security
forces, the tools of his journalistic trade
confiscated and/or broken, with him being
accused of being a secessionist - or, as the
UN's Francois Fall has put it, an "extremist."
And while Guterres and his envoy Failing Fall
purport to urge dialogue in CameroUN on "the
Anglophone issue," when the issue was raised in
Parliament in Yaounde, there was a walk-out.
some dialogue. Meanwhile the Swiss government
has responded in a November 17 letter obtained
and published
by Inner City Press to issues raised by Southern
Cameroonians there. On November 21, Inner City
Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan
Haq, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask a
question about Cameroon. In the south-west
region, a video emerged basically of authorities
ordering people out of their cars and to walk on
their knees, very much to humiliate them,
etc. And so, people… one, they've
wondered, like, what's the status of the UN's
call for dialogue since they don't see this as
dialogue? And, number two, they've seen
that the Swiss ambassador has said publicly that
he visited the area and is very concerned.
So, the question, I guess, I had is whether
François Fall, in his various visits… has he
actually gone to those regions of the
country? Does he have an intention to
go? Has he requested to go but been
rebuffed? How can it be that the
ambassador of a country based in Yaoundé has
more… has greater access than the UN… UNOCA
[United Nations Office in Central Africa]
representative? Spokesman: "Well, Mr. Fall
works out his itinerary with the authorities as
he can. Whenever we have further travel
for him… by him to announce, we will." Well.
Meanwhile another part of the UN system --
independent experts whom the UN Secretariat
emphasizes are NOT the UN -- has belatedly
spoken out where Guterres, Amina "Rosewood"
Mohammed and Francois Fall have not. But then
Fall essentially undercut the experts, focusing
on attacks on security forces and... territorial
integrity. Here's from Failing Fall's UNOCA:
"The United Nations Regional Office for Central
Africa (UNOCA) continues to closely monitor the
situation in the North-West and South-West
Regions of Cameroon... Mr. François Louncény
Fall seizes this opportunity to recall the
commitment of the United Nations to the
territorial integrity and unity of Cameroon." On
November 17, Inner City Press asked Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Tweeted
video
here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: this François [Louncény] Fall
statement. And the reason I'm asking is
that, as you may know five experts of
Geneva-based special rapporteurs, including on
freedom of expression, defense of human right
defenders and others, issued a statement. The
statement is largely focused on abuses by the
Government of Anglophones, censorship, turning
off social media. They have a[n
artificially low] death figure. They talk
about torture. I know that they're not
part of the UN system. They do give
briefings in this room. They are appointed
by the Human Rights Council. What's the
relationship between human rights experts saying
the Government is killing Anglophones and
François Fall saying territory is important and
gendarmes have been killed? It seems like
they're two opposing statements.November
27, 2017
On UN
Bribery Case,
ICP Asked of
Guterres Use
of CEFC Funds,
Kutesa Travel,
UN
Half-Answers
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Video
, ICP in Hong King, here
UNITED
NATIONS, November 24 – On November 20, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York
issued an indictment against former Senegal
foreign minister Cheikh Gadio as well as against
the head of the China Energy Fund Committee
Patrick Ho, who is accused of bribing former UN
President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa,
now as then the foreign minister of Uganda.
Contrary to the indictment which says Kutesa
stepped down as Foreign Minister during his year
as UN PGA, Inner City Press asked him on
September 14, 2015 and Kutesa said, "I am still
foreign minister." Scoop
here, video here.
While the UN of Secretary General Antonio
Guterres, even after the indictment and Inner
City Press' public questions went forward on
November 21 with CEFC's money, see below, in
Kampala members of Parliament are calling for
Kutesa to resign as foreign minister. On November 24,
Inner City Press asked three of Guterres'
spokespeople questions, including: "in light of
the indictment announced Nov 20 involving
Patrick Ho of CEFC, Cheikh Gadio and alleging
acts by former UN PGA Sam Kutesa and others,
please provide a list of all funds received by
the UN or any of its funds, programs or agencies
from CEFC or its affiliates, the use of those
funds and how much remains, and all information
regarding selection processes for disbursement
of the funds. Please provide dates and details
of CEFC's sponsorship of events in the UN, and
interactions with ECOSOC, for the past five
years. Also please state the status of Cheikh
Gadio's entry into the UN, whether via the OIC
or otherwise. Regarding the year in which Sam
Kutesa was UN PGA, please provide a list of all
UN funds used for his travel, including but not
limited to China or Uganda, the composition of
his delegation(s) and any and all Special
Advisers to the PGA that he named. There will be
more questions." There certainly will be.
Because this is the entirety of the UN's
response to the above: "On the CEFC, we have the
following information: The decision to grant
consultative status lies with Member States and
is exercised through the Economic and Social
Council and its Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations. Under the resolution,
consultative status may be established with
organizations a) concerned with matters falling
within the competence of ECOSOC and its
subsidiary bodies; b) whose aims and purposes
are in conformity with the spirit, purpose and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations
and c) that can contribute to the work of the UN
in accordance with their own aims and purposes
and the nature and scope of their competence and
activities. Special consultative status is
conferred to organizations that have a special
competence in or are concerned with a limited
number of fields of activity covered by the
Council and its subsidiary bodies. Regarding
questions concerning Sam Kutesa, please address
those to the Government of Uganda, for which he
was working, including during his time as
President of the General Assembly." That is,
there is no explanation of Guterres' DESA using
CEFC's funds after the indictment, no
information about UN spending on Kutesa's
trip(s) to China. A total cover-up. Meanwhile
the UN, implicated, canceled Guterres' photo op
involving the CEFC money but went forward and used
it, while the event remained on the schedule
of Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed,
embroiled in a scandal involving the signing of
4,000 certificates for rosewood
illegal logged in Cameroon
and Nigeria and already in China. Ironically,
she will be delivering the "Nelson
Mandela" address. We'll have more on this.November
20, 2017
UN
Spox Runs From
DSG Rosewood
Qs, Now
Guterres Is
Petitioned by
62,000 to
Probe, Recuse
UNITED
NATIONS, November 17 – The export to China of
illegally harvested rosewood, reported on by Le
Monde on November 3 with reference
to UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed
who signed the certificates, also involves
"smuggling from Cameroon." See EIA video, here.
On November 14, for the second day in a row,
Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about what
Amina Mohammed knew, and when,
and he again refused to
answer. Nov 14 video here.
But from the UN's resident
coordinator in Kenya Sid
Chatterjee, given the position
by his father in law Ban
Ki-moon and now or soon
reporting to Amina Mohammed,
the spin that the detailed
Rosewood Racket report is
"fake news." Is this? An
environmental group has
launched a petition
to get Ban's successor
Antonio Guterres to
investigate Mohammed. Inner
City Press asked UN Spokesman
Dujarric about the petition, now at
62,000 signatures, and about
Mohammed recusing herself,
on November 17, Periscope
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
Yesterday, I had asked you
about… about some
questions about this
rosewood situation, and I
want to say that
yesterday, there were
46,000 people petitioning
for the
Secretary-General.
Now, there's 62,000.
But you had said to me, go
and read Le Monde, so I
did read Le Monde, and
there's no mention of
Cameroon in it, but, in
fact, in the report by the
Environmental
Investigation Agency,
there is… and in other
reports, there are talk
that some of these logs
don't over come from
Nigeria, which would make
them outright illegal,
signing any certificate
for their export.
So, I wanted to… this is
the kind of thing I would
like to ask Amina Mohammed
if she did a press
conference, just what did
she know about… I'm sure
there's answers. I'm
sure there's many things
that could be said. Spokesman:
Next time she's in front
of the press, she will be…
she has engaged with
journalists who have
written stories on this
and has not been hiding
from anything. Quite
to the contrary. We
have said what we've had
to say. I think any
further questions on how
this issue is dealt with
should go to the Nigerian
Government. Inner
City Press:
But just so you know, the
petitioners are not
writing to the Nigerian
Government. They’re
saying that there’s
inconsistencies… Spokesman:
I've answered the question
about the petitioners. Inner City
Press: This is
kind of a related question
that you may or may not
like, but there's a lot of
interest by… by Greenpeace
and other environmental
organizations in a… in a…
in a move by the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo to end what's called
an embargo on logging, or
an embargo on new, you
know, industrial logging
concessions. And so
people… I could imagine a
UN body or the Secretariat
itself, since it relates
to climate change, might
have a position on
this. Sorry to ask
you, but given the 62,000
signatures, would Amina
Mohammed, otherwise, you
know, responsible for
sustainable development on
many issues, would she be
recused from deciding the
Secretariat's position on
logging matters until this
logging matter is cleaned
up? Spokesman:
You’re jumping over
conclusions that, I think,
that have… over facts that
have been an Olympic
record. Inner
City Press:
Read the
petition. Spokesman:
I'm not talking about the
petition. I'm
talking about your… the
logic within your
question. I think
Amina Mohammed has, in her
past capacity, in her
current capacity, has been
a very strong advocate
against illegal logging
and has shown that through
her actions. Thank
you." Then he ran off the
podium.
Inner City Press had
asked him on November
16, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I want
to ask you about, again, this
rosewood situation. Yesterday
I'd asked what I think is a
simple question, whether the
certificates, the thousands of
certificates, that the Deputy
Secretary-General signed were
filed in real time with CITES
[Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of
Flora and Fauna] as seems to
be required. I don't
know if I'm going to get an
answer to that, but I have a
different, I guess,
superseding question, which is
that there's now online,
launched by a group called
Rainforest Rescue, a petition
to Secretary-General António
Manuel de Oliveira Guterres to
investigate the allegations
against Amina J.
Mohammed. The
international community must
prosecute criminals between
timber trafficking. And
it has 46,000 signatures so
far. So what's this
procedure… can I just finish
the question? What is
the procedure in the United
Nations for a civil society
petition such as this which
has garnered 46,000 requests
in a very short period of
time? Will the
Secretary-General actually
compare the report to what's
been said publicly by Amina J.
Mohammed and consider these
environmental people's deep
concern about it?
Spokesman: First of all,
we receive petitions all the
time, and they're looked at
and… Inner City Press: Is
there a threshold?
Spokesman: We value as a
matter of principle our
engagement with civil
society. We have spoken
and have said what we've had
to say on behalf of the Deputy
Secretary-General, including
the fact that she has… she
followed all the rules.
If there are questions about
CITES and the workings of the
Nigerian Ministry of
Environment, I would encourage
you to talk to the Nigerian
Ministry of Environment.
The Secretary-General has full
confidence and continues to
have full confidence in the
Deputy Secretary-General.
Inner City Press: Separate
question. Separate
question. Was she aware…
this is not about CITES.
Was she aware… the report says
that much of the timber that
was actually exported comes
from Boko Haram territories,
i.e., money would go to Boko
Haram. And some of it
was illegally smuggled from
Cameroon, so it's a question
that's not addressed by any…
Spokesman: I think it is
addressed… it's addressed in
the statement. I would
also encourage you to read the
lengthy Q&A she did with
Le Monde." But the petition
was launched after that. When
will Mohammed answer Press
questions? Will Guterres, as
petitioned, investigate?
From the petition: "UN Deputy
Secretary-General Amina J.
Mohammed has been implicated
in rosewood trafficking. The
former Nigerian Minister of
Environment is said to have
acted to facilitate the sale
of 10,000 shipping containers
of illegal rosewood to China.
Tell the UN to prosecute the
criminals behind timber
trafficking. To: the UN Member
States, the CITES Signatory
States and the CITES
Secretariat. The UN Deputy
Secretary-General has been
implicated in the illegal sale
of rosewood. The UN must
prosecute the criminals behind
timber trafficking.... Chinese
authorities played an
uncharacteristically positive
role in the incident by
seizing no less than 10,000
shipping containers of illegal
rosewood. The timber is valued
at more than $300 million.
According to the EIA, the
Nigerian Ministry of
Environment responded by
simply issuing the missing
documents retroactively. This
allowed over 1.4 million
illegal logs to be laundered,
in violation of both Nigerian
laws and the Convention on
International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES).
The traffickers allegedly
bribed senior Nigerian
officials – including
ministers and members of
parliament – with more than US
$1 million. The scandal is an
impressive illustration of the
power wielded by the timber
mafia. The then Minister of
Environment, Amina J.
Mohammed, appears to have
personally signed the
fraudulent documents as one of
her last actions in office.
She is currently serving as
the Deputy Secretary-General
of the United Nations.
Mohammed has since denied the
allegations. Please call on UN
Secretary-General António
Manuel de Oliveira Guterres to
investigate the allegations
against Amina J. Mohammed. The
international community must
prosecute the criminals behind
timber trafficking." Then
again, Guterres and Mohammed
have been ignoring a petition
to end Press censorship, here.
We'll have more on this. On
November 15, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric's deputy Farhan
Haq, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Rosewood
Racket and the report that was
put out by the Environmental
Investigation Agency.
And it's a very detailed
report. And one… and
I've read what was put out by
the Secretary-General [sic] [ICP:
it is unclear why the UN
inserted "sic" here -
Dujarric said the SG
supports the DSG.]
I've read what her interview
with the… of the Cab… the
Pulse, the Cable. And
what I wanted to ask you is,
when she signed these 4,000
certificates, CITES
[Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Flora and Fauna]
regulations require that they
be filed with the Secretariat
of CITES if they are, in fact,
retroactive. And so…
it's not answered
anywhere. And I'd like
you to either maybe get an
answer from her or have her
have a press conference when
she comes back. If that
was committed to, that would
seem to be the way to
go. Were these
certificates ever filed with
CITES, given the various
pronouncements that it's made
by this Secretariat about
commitment to these
regulations? Deputy
Spokesman: Well, I
believe Stéphane [Dujarric]
has already given you the
details of where we stand on
this. I don't have
anything further to add on
this. If the Convention
on International Trade in
Endangered Species, CITES, has
any actions, we can evaluate
it at that time. But, at
this stage, we've said what
we've said on terms of her
actions.
Inner City
Press:
My question is, he said… I
mean, I'm asking a
question. He said, your
question is answered by the
statement by the
Secretary-General, but it's
not answered. It's a
straight, factual
question. Were… she
signed the certificates.
Were they, in fact, filed with
the CITES Secretariat as
required? It's just a yes or
no… Deputy Spokesman:
The Deputy Secretary-General
has made clear that she
followed the procedures that
were supposed to be followed
in what she was doing. Inner
City Press: The reason I'm
asking you this is because the
Resident Representative of the
UN in Kenya, Siddharth
Chatterjee, has today issued
an interview saying that the
whole report is fake news and
she's a great person.
She may be a great person, but
what I wanted to know is, is
he speaking on behalf Amina
Mohammed or the UN system when
he says this detailed report
of… of seeming violations is
CITES regulations is fake
news? Deputy Spokesman:
"I don't have to comment for
him. He's offering his
personal view. This is…
that's outside of his
particular area." Oh.
Chatterjee says
he too has been the victim -
the reference is to nepotism
in his promotions, from Iraq
with Steffan
de Mistura under Ban and
forward from there, and IPKF
war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Sid says:
"having been a target of
malicious and fake news myself
for close to 10 years, let me
just begin by saying that I
feel very sorry for Amina
Mohammed. It is most unfair.
This is yellow journalism and
premeditated mendacity." This
is the response to detailed
questions about retroactive
CITES permits for rosewood,
illegally smuggled from
Cameroon. We'll have more on
this. From the November 14 UN
transcript:
Inner City Press: I want to
ask you about this rosewood
situation. I'd asked you
yesterday. You'd said
that everything is answered in
the statement... So, my
question is as follows, and
it's not answered by the
Secretary-General's
statement. The
allegation in the report, and
it's documented by a guy
holding up a sheet of paper
that has bill of lading
numbers on it, is that, at the
time that Amina Mohammed
signed thousands of
certificates in January 2017,
that this wood was already in
China, that the state… that
the… that the… the
certificates were backdated,
which is, under CITES
[Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Flora and Fauna], a major
problem. So, I wanted to
know… she says that there's no
evidence of that, but the
evidence is in the report, and
I'm directing you to figure
33… Spokesman: I've read
the report. Inner City Press:
Okay. So what is her
response to that? And how
could the Secretary-General
say “I back her up entirely”
in advance of the CITES
meeting that's coming up in
late November? Given that the
CITES is part of the UN
system, will he defer to them?
If they find wrongdoing, will
he take action?
Spokesman: I think the
statement that we issued is
pretty comprehensive.
The… Ms. Mohammed, the Deputy
Secretary-General, said the
signing of the legal signing
of export permits for rosewood
was delayed due to her
insistence that stringent due
process was followed.
She said she signed the export
certificates requested before
the ban only after due process
was followed and better
security watermarked
certificates became available. Inner
City
Press: Is
it permissible to sign
certificates when the wood is
already in China?
Spokesman: You're making
that assumption. I think
she's answered… she's… she's
answered the question. Inner
City Press:
That's why I think she should
do a press conference on
it. It's a major… given
that you talk about the
environmental SDGs
[Sustainable Development
Goals], here are many people
who think that the answer is
insufficient Spokesman:
She's answered the question."
No, she hasn't. And the UN
says she will stay on the road
until November 20.
On November 13, Inner City Press asked Dujarric
to answer basic questions, but he refused. Video
here
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