On Syria, After Trump Strikes and Russia Draft Fails
in UNSC, Sullivan Calls Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait and Czech 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
hereNovember
13, 2017
Rosewood
Racket Signed
Off On By UN's
Amina J.
Mohammed Has
Cameroon
Smuggling
UNITED
NATIONS, November 10 – 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.
This may put a new light on the UN's inaction on
the Cameroonian government's killings and
Internet cut off in the Anglophone zones.
Cameroon's Ambassador to the UN, while saying
he'd call upstairs to ensure Inner City Press
couldn't go there any more (the UN's Department
of Public Information did threaten Inner City
Press' accreditation for Periscope broadcasting
in connection with photo ops on the 38th floor),
also bragged that the DSG's opposition to
separatism in Biafra led to the same position on
Cameroon. And just as UN envoy Chambas went and
preached One Nigeria, failing UN envoy Francois
Fall called Southern Cameroons secessionists
"extremists," on DPI's UN Radio no less. They
say in journalism, Follow the Money. But in this
case it may be, Follow the Rosewood, or
Kosso. In terms of money: Joe Biden
appeared at the UN on November 3, and tables
were sold
for up to $50,000. One might think, after the
proved corruption of the UN in the Ng Lap Seng /
John Ashe trial for events in this same
Delegates Dining Room, charging this kind of
money for sitting with a “senior UN
official” would be a thing of the past. Or after
Antonio Guterres was questioned after taking a
golden statue from Paul Biya, the 35-year rules
of Cameroon. But no. On November 6, Deputy
Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed appeared,
took an award and gave a speech at an event in
Washington for which $25,000 sponsorships were
offered, here,
by a publication which covers and is promoted by
the UN (while following up on November 9 on Le
Monde's November 3 story, no mention of
Cameroon.) On November 9, Inner City Press asked
the UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press; as you know or you or Farhan
[Haq] had said, she just recently received the
Diplomat of the Year Award from Foreign Policy
down in DC. Was she aware of this story being in
preparation when she accepted the award? Often,
to receive the award, you have to be
present. How long were the discussions?
Spokesman: I think some of those questions
should be addressed to Foreign Policy. She
was fully aware that the story was going to come
out when she received the award." No Cameroon.
Ban Ki-moon allowed the corruption of Ng Lap
Seng, and Antonio Guterres has done thing to
reverse it. In fact, Guterres left through the
same door Biden came in, one hour before, using
public funds to fly to his home in Lisbon, using
a 15 minutes speech there on Monday to justify a
three day UN paid junket. And his spokesman
refused to answer questions, even about his one
on one lunches on the 38th floor, where Inner
City Press' use of Periscope during photo ops
has allowed Guterres' DPI under Alison Smale to
threaten its accreditation. All of this takes
place while Guterres covers up mass killing in
Cameroon, and is prepared to be sold himself, on
Wall Street no less. We'll have more on this. November
6, 2017
UNITED
NATIONS, November 3 – What does today's UN
under Antonio Guterres stand for? Denouncing
secessionists as extremists, propping up
30-plus year presidents, and threatening and
restricting the Press that asks about it? When
this question was put to Guterres' spokesman
Staphane Dujarric on November 3, video here,
Dujarric claimed he had provided an answer to
it on November 2 (he hadn't) then quickly left
the podium of the UN Press Briefing Room, from
which he previously evicted Inner City Press.
This is today's UN. After major protests in
Togo were cracked down on with authorities
shooting and killed two or seven protesters,
Inner City Press on August 21 and 22 asked UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, what the UN's long time
West Africa envoy Mohamed Ibn Chambas is, in
fact, doing. Videohere;
UN August 22 transcripthere,
and below. Now, after giving his and Guterres'
blessing to the bid by Togo's rulingGnassingbefamily
to remain in power past 2030, Chambas has resurfaced in
Nigeria, opposing the aspirations of many in Biafra. It
is at odds with Guterres' claims about conflict
prevention and good faith efforts to address root
causes. Mis-identified as "Chambers," Chambas has now
beenquotedthat
"The Special Representative of the Secretary-General of
UN for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambers,
spoke when he led a special delegation of the world body
to the leadership of apex Igbo socio-cultural
organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu. Guterres said
that UN was gratified by the mature role of Ohanaeze
Ndigbo in quelling the recent agitations by some
secessionist groups, and encouraged them to continue to
adopt dialogue and constructive engagement in the
resolution of issues. He said that Nigeria, like many
other countries, is still battling with weak structures
which require constant dialogue and deepening of
democracy in overcoming the challenges. 'We indeed came
to commend Ohanaeze Ndigbo for the leadership they have
demonstrated. A few months ago we were all getting a bit
worried with events and developments in South-east of
Nigeria but thanks to their leadership and their
initiatives they were able to bring together the chiefs
and the political leaders and governors and respected
persons of South -east and through this intervention we
now see that calm is restored and all are working to
advance the one Nigeria agenda. The Secretary-General
believes in this one Nigeria project because he had
always said that a united peaceful Nigeria is not only
for the people of Nigeria, but indeed for the people of
West Africa and for all of Africa." That's the plan:
prop up dynasties like in Togo, portray secessions as
extremists thereby justifying government crackdowns and
killing as a form of counter-terrorism. It was Chambas,
when Inner City Press asking him about Anglophones in
Southern Cameroons, who said to focus on the "big
ticket" item: Boko Haram. This mirrors the position of
Guterres and another of his long time envoys Francois
Fall who covers Central Africa and has said that in
Cameroon secessionists are "extremists." It is also
noteworthy that Cameroon's Ambassador to the UN has said
he will work with Guterres' 38th floor to stop Inner
City Press' access (Guterres' Department of Public
Information under Alison Smale has threatened Inner City
Press' accreditation and continues to confine it to
minder unlike no-show state media) - and has bragged
about Guterres' Deputy Secretary General Amina J.
Mohammed assuring that the UN will oppose even
Federalism in Cameroon in light of the Biafra issue in
her native Nigeria. It is impossible to know what her
and the 38th floor team's thinking is: she has not had a
press availability in quite a while, Guterres is heading
to his native Lisbon, and Smale's Kafka-esque
accreditation threat after refusing to respond to
detailed Press freedom petitions for weeks combine for a
trifecta of UNtransparency. We'll have more on this.
October
30, 2017
As UNSG
Guterres
Stopped in
Cameroon, Now
UN Read-Out,
Here,
Destination
UNdisclosed
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, October 28 – UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres left the Central African
Republic after four days and stopped over in
Yaounde the capital of La Republique du
Cameroun, meeting with Paul Biya to assess the
situation in the Anglophone areas where Biya
has killed hundreds since their last meeting.
Even the next day the UN had issued no
read-out or photo of the meeting, UNlike
Biya's office here, complete with photos of
Biya giving Guterres a statuette or award,
like the one Ban Ki-moon received from the now
discredited South South News, along with
Francis Lorenzo who pleaded guilty to UN
bribery. After Inner City Press asked for a
read-out and where Guterres is, this came
back, which we publish in full: "Dear Matthew,
In response to your question, the
Secretary-General and President Paul Biya
discussed the situation in the Central African
Republic; refugees in Cameroon; the situation
in the Lake Chad Basin; and the situation in
the Anglophone regions of Cameroon." So what
might Biya have said about this region in
which he has killed so many? And why didn't
Guterres listen to any of those impacted? The
UN still refuses even to say where Guterres
was, until Monday, spending public funds in UNdisclosed
amounts. In UN headquarters on October 28,
where Guterres' Department of Public
Information under Alison Smale has threatened
Inner City Press' accreditation for reporting
what Guterres' officials say, UN excutions
expert Agnes Callamard said it would have been
better if Guterres had issued a read out of
his meeting with the Philippines foreign
minister. But Guterres is untransparent, and
more. This is today's UN. with his team of UN
"storytellers" trying to make him and the UN
look good. His spokespeople refused three
times to confirm to Inner City Press that he
would stop, if only for four hours, in
Cameroon where hundreds have been killed by
the government, which as repeatedly cut of the
Internet to prevent exposure of its crackdown.
Then Guterres handed the "news" to Agence
France Presse, which never asked him about
Cameroon at the UN. So on October 27, Inner
City Press again asked Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about,
as I have the last three days in a row, about
the Secretary-General's stopover in
Yaoundé. I saw he was quoted by AFP
[Agence France-Presse]. Quote, we're
going to be able to… we are going to be able
to assess the recent evolution of the
situation in the Anglophone community.
So some people are wondering how a four-hour
stopover in an airport and speaking with Paul
Biya, who's actually the one accused of the
killings and turning off the internet in the
Anglophone areas, is going to make the
Secretary-General able to assess the
evolution. Is he going to speak to
anyone else on the other side of it? And
also, why was it so… why was it so difficult
to confirm this trip, and why did he do it in
the way that he did? Deputy
Spokesman: The Secretary-General is the
one who confirms when he will go to certain
places. He did announce it yesterday,
and after which, we made it very clear that
that's where he was going. Up until
then, it wasn't officially confirmed. He
will go there, and we'll try to get some
details from his meeting. But, of
course, this is not the only way that we've
been assessing the situation. There have
been efforts by other officials, including his
envoy, François Lonseny Fall, to deal with the
situation, and we'll continue with those
efforts. Innner City Press: So it was
said right after 1 October and all the
killings that Mr. Fall was going to go.
Now it's 27 October. Has Mr. Fall gone?
Deputy Spokesman: He will, I believe, be
accompanying the Secretary-General on this
visit." But Fall is the one who, on UN Radio,
calls secessionists in Southern Cameroons
"extremists." We'll have more on this.
Guterres' head
of Global Communications Alison Smale, as
recounted and documented
by Inner City Press, has said that positive
stories by her Department during Guterres'
trip will "show what we can do." And what's
that? Smale's DPI has used public money to
produce a vanity two-minute video
of Guterres in CAR, complete with adoring
crowds reaching out to touch his hand, in the
background Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the fifth
French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row. This
amid a scandal of frightened people having to
pay contractors to protect them as the UN
peacekeepers won't. The previous day Smale was
promoting
a multimedia story about a poster-child
peacekeeper in CAR - from Cameroon.
The story
has the peacekeeper, Gladys Ngwepekeum Nkeh,
helping a girl who has been raped (not as has
often happened by a UN peacekeeper.) The UN
for two days has refused
to answer Inner City Press if it ever
disciplined, and if Guterres is meeting with,
Renner Onana who was criticized in the UN's
own report on its sexual abuse in CAR, noted
even in Smale's New York Times, here.
(Renner has been shown in a tweeted
photo in December 2016 with Fabrizio
Hochschild, one of Guterres' advisers, more on
which below.)
While the UN
images, by a UN photographer flown from New
York to Bangui days before Guterres and his
spokesman Stephane Dujarric went, are welcome,
the written story does not even mention the
rapes by UN peacekeepers, much less the human
rights record of the Cameroonian security
forces.
Meanwhile,
Smale's Department of Public Information on
October 20 issued a threat to Inner City Press
to "review" its accreditation for its reporting,
including on Guterres' team on the UN's 38th
floor. This is a clear conflict of interest,
between the openly stated goal of making
Guterres and the UN look good and the power to
threaten the accreditation of, and continuing
retaliatory restrictions on, the independent,
critical Press. Smale herself has not answered repeatedpetitions
to her in the seven weeks she has been on the
job; the same is true to the top of the UN. This
all is shameful. October
23, 2017
In
Cameroon,
Opposition
March Banned
in Douala as
UN Parades in
Yaounde,
UNheard
UNITED
NATIONS, October 21 – Amid the killings by
Cameroon's Paul Biya government, Inner City
Press on October 18 asked UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, "there have been hundreds of
people killed there. Your envoy, François
[Louncény] Fall, has said he was going to go but
hasn't gone. People are extremely concerned. And
I'm just wondering, are we missing something?
Are you preventing conflict in this instance or,
or what is the UN doing?" Video here.
Guterres did not answer that part of the
question. On October 19 UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric said Guterres told him he had not heard
Inner City Press' Cameroon question. Now on
October 21, after Guterres' UN
threatened Inner City Press'
accreditation, the Resident Coordinator in
Cameroon Allegra Baiocchi is bragging
about marching for UN Day in Yaounde. But in
Douala the government had banned an opposition
march, and detained two journalists. Today's UN
has much more in common with those making the
arrests than those seeking the truth.
We'll have more on this. n October 19 when Inner
City Press asked another question, Dujarric had
a statement ready, below. It welcomed Prime
Minister Yang's trip and dialogue, and said
Fall's visit is now only possible. On October 20
Inner City Press asked Dujarric's deputy
(Dujarric was apparently in DC with Guterres who
intoned about a "strong, reformed and modernized
UN") about the failure of the dialogue, and to
confirm that Guterres is advised by Khassim
Diagne, previously close to the government in
Yaounde when with UNHCR,
the refugee agency Guterres ran. Video here.
Haq called the "dialogue" a first step, and said
Guterres gets information for example also from
Francois Fall. How? The October 19 statement,
video here,
praised a visit to the west that is widely
mocked, but noted the reporting killings. The UN
put stock in Cameroon's self-investigation,
again dubious and now referred to a visit by UN
envoy Fall as merely "possible." Inner City
Press told Dujarric it will have further
questions, and it will. Watch this site. Inner
City Press on October 11 interviewed the
government's ambassador to the UN, Tommo Monthe.
He contradicted what UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric told Inner City Press, that "Mr.
[Francois] Fall and the Government are in
discussion about when he can go. The
Government has expressed its willingness to
welcome him. It's now a matter of finding
the dates." Inner City Press two days after
Dujarric's quote - which Dujarric has twice
refused to expand upon - asked Cameroon's
Ambassador Monthe who replied of Fall,"Why he
should visit Cameroon?” Audio
here. While there is still no date for Fall to
visit Cameroon, people are being summoned in to
see the police, in a campaign of intimidation.
There are new mass graves.October
16, 2017
In Cameroon
Anglophones
Tortured, ICP
Requests UN
Action, UNder
Restrictions
UNITED
NATIONS, October 14 – Amid the killings by
Cameroon's Paul Biya government, Inner City
Press on October 11 interviewed the government's
ambassador to the UN, Tommo Monthe. He
contradicted what UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
told Inner City Press, that "Mr. [Francois] Fall
and the Government are in discussion about when
he can go. The Government has expressed
its willingness to welcome him. It's now a
matter of finding the dates." Inner City Press
two days after Dujarric's quote - which Dujarric
has twice refused to expand upon - asked
Cameroon's Ambassador Monthe who replied of
Fall,"Why he should visit Cameroon?” Audio
here. While there is still no date for Fall to
visit Cameroon, people are being summoned in to
see the police, here, in a campaign of
intimidation. Inner City Press asked the UN's
Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, to
inquire into torture in Southern Cameroons,
video here,
and then submitted to his office a formal
request for action. (He said he can act on
requests by journalists). Meanwhile Inner City
Press' journalism on Cameroon is being hindered
in the UN by restrictions continued by the UN
Department of Public Information under Alison
Small, see here
and here
and watch this site. October
9, 2017
As
Cameroon Kills
Civilians, ICP
Asks UN &
UK, Crackdown
Continues, Failing
Fall
UNITED
NATIONS, October 7 – When Cameroon's President
for the past 30-plus years Paul Biya came to
meet Antonio Guterres on September 22, before he
went back to the Hotel Inter-Continental in
Geneva, he was accompanied by his state media
and... Inner City Press. Biya, still in Geneva,
directed his forced to use water cannons and
more in Buea, as they shoot to kill from
helicopters in North-West and South-West
Cameroon. Now on October
7-8, despite belated calls
from Geneva and an unapologetic Guterres, restrictions on
movement and free
association are being
extended, for example in Manyu Division,
Mamfe Town and
elsewhere, see here.
Will there be any
follow through by the
UN on its statements,
or just more
"welcoming" of
Biya? When will
the already
postponed visit by
the UN's Francois
Fall occur, to
where and with
whom, and what
will it accomplish?
On
October 5 Inner City Press
asked UK Ambassador Matthew
Rycroft, who earlier this year told Inner City
Press the UK did not view
the situation in Cameroon
as a threat to
international peace and security but
would continue to
monitor it, if the
threshold
has been reached
and the
UK will ask for
a UN
Security
Council
meeting.
Periscope
video here.
He said no one
has asked and
the UK
continues to
weigh the pro and
con of putting
it on the Council's
agenda (along
with Myanmar,
Guinea Bissau,
Haiti, Colombia
and others). Earlier
Inner City
Press asked Francois
Delattre, the UN Ambassador of
France and President of the UN
Security Council for October,
why he has not yet convened a
Security Council meeting amid the killings of
civilians and cutting off of
social networks in
Cameroon. Periscope video
here.
Delattre said the French
Foreign Ministry's spokesperson
has spoken earlier
in the day, again
calling for
dialogue. We'll
have more on this.
Guterres'
spokespeople have three times
refused Inner City Press'
request for the UN's estimate
of how many people have been
killed by Paul Biya's forces
since Guterres offered him
praise on September 22.October
2, 2017
Angered
at UN
Praise of
Cameroon's
Biya, Letter
to UN Cites
Genocide
Threat,
UN Corruption
UNITED
NATIONS, September 30 – When Cameroon's
President for the past 30-plus years Paul Biya
came to meet Antonio Guterres on September 22,
before he went back to the Hotel
Inter-Continental in Geneva, he was
accompanied by his state media and... Inner
City Press. According to the UN read-out, the
conversation was entirely positive and did not
mention Biya's abuse of Anglophones, or human
rights in any way. Since then Biya has again
undermined the Internet and rights to
communicate in Southern Cameroons, to which
Inner City Press after asking the UN
four days in a row until exclusion now turns.
Here is a letter sent not only to Inner City
Press, but to the UN Office of the
Spokesperson: "I am writing from Southern
Cameroons. I am pleading you should use your
high office to stop the genocide that
President Biya wants to exercise on the
English speaking Cameroonians. a lot of people
have lost their lives already and yet the
President of Cameroons is seriously planning
to shed more blood. The truth is clear,
the people of southern Cameroons (English
speaking ) was a country of its own that
legally voted to joint La Republic of
Cameroon. But now La Republic of Cameroon are
treating these people as if they colonize them
or conquered them in a war. sir use your
conscience, it could have been your family
going through what we are going through. Where
is human rights in the 21st Century where
people of a particular nation turns to treat
their fellow brothers and sisters as slaves
and the whole world is reacting as if there is
nothing happening Does it mean that if
tomorrow if I'm in one top position in the
world that has to deal with the society i will
give deaf ears to a situation that has to do
with millions of lives ? what is wrong with
the world today? where is human right? there
is no justice at all? is it that human lives
no longer matters? Please kindly react to stop
the genocide that is about to happen in 48
hours." No response from the UN. Here is
another letter: "Dear Matthew Russell Lee,
Inner City Press: Accept my greetings and that
of those who can't write to you. I am writing
to you from Buea, Southern Cameroons. Am
reacting to your articles on September 28
concerning the crisis in Southern Cameroons.
The approach of the UN concerning the Southern
Cameroons and it people, proves time and again
that the UN must be very corrupt, and have
turned it back against in commitment to
protect human rights freedoms, and states
sovereignty. How can the Secretary General be
talking of his to consolidate peace and the
Territorial integrity of Cameroon, when knows
very well that, the UN holds no legal treaty
that binds the British Southern Cameroons with
LA Republique DU Cameroun? I hereby want to
inform you that, I, as well as an overwhelming
majority have chosen to separate from la
Republique DU Cameroun because of what we have
gone through in 56 of forced union. If the
government of la République du Cameroun,
considered us Southern Cameroonians as a
people with the same rights as Francophones,
if the government wanted to make peace and
resolve this problem from it core, I think the
repression taking place now won't have been.
While you published on the Cameroon crises
yesterday, the government of la Republique DU
Cameroun became violently repressive and
attacked and beating people their homes,
taking seizing money and smart phones, and
taking them to jail. As am writing to you now,
six people were shot yesterday in the town of
Ekona, and a grandmother was killed by the
military in her home. 14 years old kids are
being arrested and detained in jails under
very cruel conditions. Since the beginning of
this crises since November last year, 112
people have been killed by the military of la
Republique DU Cameroun. The la République du
Cameroun's government have been using
terrorism blackmail the peaceful protests. I
hereby call on the Secretary General to read
the the UN charter on human right and
freedoms, and the right for self governance."
Biya's renewed attacks on the Internet have
ranged from Bamenda to Kumbo and Kumba, but
are being circumvented by VPNs. Meanwhile
Inner City Press is receiving video of
protests in front of the Inter-Continental
Hotel in Geneva where Biya is staying.
Guterres praised Biya, then belatedly called
on him to dialogue: while Biya is not even in
the country. His landing in Geneva: "VP-CAL
used by #PaulBiya, President of Cameroon
(Boeing 777) on 2017/09/26 at 08:56:46." We
ran this sample letter to Inner City Press: "
woke up this morning and discovered Internet
Services in Cameroon have somehow been
limited. I am suspected the regime of Paul
Biya have tampered with the internet service
and Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, VPNs,
Vcontact aren't working. I am sure many
other social media have been cut off as well.
There have been plans to celebrate the
symbolic independence of this region 'the
Former British Southern Cameroons' on the 1st
of October 2017. That is on Sunday and the
region have been heavily militarized by the
Biya regime, Homes of people invaded, beaten ,
some killed, many kidnapped and with this
shutdown to major social media to which
it is where most of these crimes are exposed,
many have been fearing a total Genocide that
can be perpetrated on the people of that
region. There were rumors that, the internet
will be shutdown come 30th September. The
Minister of Communications made a public
communique two days ago to say, the internet
won't be shutdown but I guess it was just a
ploy as through some websites are working,
major social medias ( Facebook, Whatsapp,
Twitter) have been cut off. Please, make the
world know what is happening in this region.
This is a sly move to blackout to the world
what atrocities the Biya's regime is/will be
perpetrating in these regions." In
Fiango, Biya's security forces have killed,
reportedly Enogene Basile, following their
September 28 killings in Ekona. Watch this
site. Inner City Press on September 26, 27 and
28 asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about these glaring omissions. The first time,
Dujarric alluded to "private" diplomacy. Then
on September 27 when Inner City Press asked
ask, video here,
Dujarric said that UN envoy Francois Fall will
be going to Cameroon "next week." On September
28, Inner City Press asked Dujarric deputy
Farhan Haq if this would be before or after
October 1, and Haq said he didn't know. Hours
later, Dujarric's office put out a statement
of concern below, which many see as too
little, too late, with its emphasis on
territorial integrity. On September 29, Inner
City Press asked Dujarric not only about the
UN's surveillance of the Press, on which he
refused to answer referring to the question to
the UN Department of Public Information whose
chief Alison Smale has refused to answer basic
questions
for a month, but also if Guterres' concern is
at threats to those in Anglophone Cameroon to
stay indoors or be treated as "terrorists,"
for citing UN General Assembly Resolution
1608. Video here.
Dujarric replied that he doesn't have
"granularity" about what's being done and
said. But he put this out: "The
Secretary-General is deeply concerned about
the situation in Cameroon, including with
regard to the recent security incidents in
Bamenda and in Douala, and mounting tensions
in the South-West and North-West regions
related to planned events on 1 October. The
Secretary-General has encouraged the
Cameroonian authorities to continue their
efforts to address the grievances of the
Anglophone community. He urges the authorities
to promote measures of national reconciliation
aimed at finding a durable solution to the
crisis, including by addressing its root
causes. The Secretary-General supports
upholding the unity and territorial integrity
of Cameroon and urges all parties to refrain
from acts that could lead to an escalation of
tension and violence. The Secretary-General
believes that genuine and inclusive dialogue
between the Government and the communities in
the South-West and North-West regions is the
best way to preserve the unity and stability
of the country. The Secretary-General
stands ready to support these efforts,
including through the United Nations Regional
Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). " We'll
see. On September 26, Dujarric replied that
Guterres would say there is a time for public
diplomacy, and a time for private diplomacy.
Video here. Some wonder, how many people have
to die, or what kind of people, for it to be
time for UN "public" diplomacy? Earlier on
September 22 Inner City Press interviewed
Southern Cameroonians out on 47th Street, then
asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about people killed that very day. UN transcript
here and below. The crackdown is also
financial: Biya's Minister of Finance has
threatened the National Frincne Credit Bank in
Bamenda with loss of its license for taking
part in the "Ghost Town" expression of desire
for independence, or in the first instance a
referendum. See letter here. This
politicization should trigger action by the
"decision making phere" [sic] written about by
Biya's state
media, the kind of media that the UN and
now its new head of Public Information favor
over independent
press. From the September 22 UN
transcript: Inner City Press: there’s a
protest right now of Southern Cameroonians on
47th Street, but more importantly, there’s one
in Southern Cameroon where five people have
been killed today, as Paul Biya gave his
speech, so I’m wondering… I know the
Deputy Secretary-General had some interest in
the issue. There’s Mr. [Francois
Lonseny] Fall. Are they aware of these
protests? Spokesman: "We’ve seen the
reports I think we would definitely… we would
call on the authorities to show restraint and
ensure that people have the right to
demonstrate freely." But on the UN's 27th
floor, it was all smiles. And much later the
UN put this read-out on its website: "The
Secretary-General met today with H.E. Mr. Paul
Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon.
The Secretary-General appreciated Cameroon’s
hospitality towards the refugees.
They discussed the latest political
developments in the country, as well as
regional issues, including Boko Haram and the
situation in the Central African Republic. The
Secretary commended Cameroon for its efforts
to combat Boko Haram, and reiterated the
readiness of the United Nations to support the
Government in all areas." No mention of the
Anglophone areas, much less the day's
killings. This is a new low, even for today's
UN. UN Department of Political Affairs chief
Jeffrey Feltman had left the floor with the
Australian delegation; it was unclear if any
UN Human Rights official was present. One of
Biya's handlers even signed the UN visitors
book in advance for him. When Guterres greeted
his next visitor he did so in French then
apologized, the last meeting was in French.
North Korea's
Ri Yong Ho
Meets UNSG
Guterres, Asks
For
Impartiality,
Conference
UNITED
NATIONS, September 23 – Days after the UN
Security Council banned textile exports from
North Korea, the country fired another missile
over Japan's Hokkeido. On September 23, North
Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho delivered this
speech in the UN General Assembly hall, then
came to meet UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres, USg Jeffrey Feltman and others. There
was a photo op, well attended by wire services
and largely Japanese and some South Korean
photographers - and Inner City Press. Periscope
video here.
Inner City Press asked the North Korea Mission
to the UN if the international legal conference
they have been asking for was discussed; the
North Korean Mission to the UN told Inner City
Press its “Foreign Minister raised that issue
during the meeting. He also told UNSG to be most
impartial, not to take one-sided.” We'll see.September
18, 2017
OnMyanmar,
UNSG Guterres
Resisted Calls
To Act,
Officials Tell
ICP, Deference
to "The Lady"
UNITED
NATIONS, September 16 – Myanmar's abuse of the
Rohingya has suddenly become a major topic for
the UN of Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
But senior UN officials exclusively tell Inner
City Press that in the prior months, Guterres
repeatedly rejected detailed recommendations
made directly to him by some of his officials to
become more active on the crisis. The officials
tell Inner City Press that Guterres responded
that for the UN to become more active might
create problems for "The Lady," Aung San Suu
Kyi, and the military. So the UN stood by, as it
did in Sri Lanka in 2008-2009 and in Rwanda
before that, always with an excuse. There was
even a ten point plan presented early on to
Guterres, on which he never acted. On September
15 Guterres spokesman arranged a background
briefing for his favored correspondents, with
senior UN officials we will leave UNnamed - but
did not inform or invite Inner City Press, who
asks him many questions, including about
Myanmar. To this has the UN descended. The UN
Security Council's September 13 meeting on
Myanmar was a closed affair, after which the
President of the Council, Ethiopia, read a
statement that "acknowledg[ed] the attack on the
Myanmar security forces on August 25," as if the
problem began then. It goes back decades. And
even in April of this year, this memo was sent
to Secretary General Guterres: "The United
Nations in-country presence in Myanmar continues
to be glaringly dysfunctional. Strong tensions
exist within the UN country team, the
humanitarian parts of the UN system find itself
having to confront the hostility of the
development arm, while the human rights pillar
is seen as complicating both. The impact of this
dysfunctionality is a growing irrelevance of the
UN in guiding and defining the international
community’s efforts to address the challenges
confronting Myanmar." After that, the UN in June
2017 said that Resident Coordinator
Lok-Dessallien was being rotated out and the
position advertised. But this week Inner City
Press asked and found that she is still there;
on September 14 Inner City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric why didn't happen
and he said she it does, he'll say. The UN's
hands are not clean, either, some say. To the
Ethiopian ambassador on September 13, Inner City
Press asked if there was talk of UN envoy,
without answer. Periscope video here.
In terms of the UN Secretariat, while it said in
June that dubious UN Resident Coordinator Renata
Lok-Dessallien was being rotated out and the
position advertised, when Inner City Press asked
UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric on September 12
who the Resident Coordinator in Myanmar is, he
first said he didn't know, then after the
briefing his Office e-mailed this: "Regarding
your question on Myanmar at today's noon
briefing, the Resident Coordinator is Renata
Lok-Dessalien." So despite saying she was being
rotated out and the post advertised, and despite
Guterres saying how concerned he is about
Myanmar and the Rohingya, three months and
thousands of dead later, she's still in. And the
Spokesman, Dujarric, didn't even insert this
answer into "his" transcript. On September 13
Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Matthew
Rycroft about criticism of Lok-Dessallein and
the country team. From the UK transcript: Inner
City Press: There is talk of the country team at
the UN being too close to the Government over
time. There was criticism of the resident
co-ordinator. Does the UK feel comfortable that
the country team has been on top of this issue,
even prior to this August “terrorist attack”
that was referenced in press elements? Amb
Rycroft: Well one of the points I made was that
several of us around the table, including the
UN, have very good and close relationships with
various parts of the establishment in Myanmar.
Some of us with Aung San Suu Kyi, others with
the military, and my point is that it’s time now
to be using those relationships to get action
and to get an end to this deterioration, rather
than allowing those relationships to become an
end in themselves and to prevent us from taking
action. Periscope video here.
We'll have more on this.September
11, 2017
For
UN General
Assembly Week,
List Here, UN
Both
UNprepared and
UNfair
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, September 9 –The UN is
both unprepared and unfair in the run-up to
the 72nd General Assembly high level week,
which the UN brags will include 90 heads of
state, five vice presidents, 36 heads of
government, 3 deputy prime ministers and 55
ministers.
At a
background briefing on September 8, a UN
Department of Public Information official told
Inner City Press that the current
nearly-useless wifi Internet “should” be fixed
in time, and that “there will be a secondary
pass for RC to go to basement area, 1B,
limited to resident correspondents” - a group
of less than 200 of the several thousand
journalist the UN says are coming.
Inner City
Press asked, Why are these passes limited in
that way? The UN official said, “That's the
arrangement with Security and with the UNCA
[UN Correspondents Association] because we
have to find some distinction.”
So the UN let
a group of at most 200 insiders limit the
access of thousands of other journalists, with
no transparency. This Department of Public
Information has been headless since April 1;
New York Times journalist Alison Smale was
named by Secretary General Antonio Guterres as
replacement but has apparently not arrived:
she has not answered e-mailed questions about
these elitist “distinctions.” Actually, the
200 UNCA insiders include numerous rarely seen
state media, for example Akhbar al Yom from
Sisi's Egypt, making the “distinction” all the
more telling.
Similarly,
when Inner City Press was for assurance that
at least the UN Press Briefing Room would be
open to all journalists, the UN official said
while missions are told that, there is no
guarantee, the Media Accreditation office does
not make the bookings. Those are done by the
UN Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, who has a
history as noted by theFree UN
Coalition for Accessof
"lending" the UN Press Briefing Room to the
president of his native France, and to UNCA,evictingthe
Press which tried tocoverthe
event with Periscope.
The UN is
closing in on itself, while bragging about all
the important people coming to see it. The
reformed needed at the UN go well beyond those
alluded to in the pre-signed outcome document
of the September 18 event. That reform event,
tellingly, is not even mentioned on the UN's
list so far of UNGA72 events:
12 September:
Opening of the 72nd Session of the General
Assembly (Preliminary list of items in the
provisional agenda);
18 September:
High-Level Meeting on the Prevention of Sexual
Exploitation and Abuse;
19-25
September: General Debate of the General
Assembly 72nd Session;
20 September:
Signing Ceremony of the Treaty for the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons;
20 September:
Security Council High Level Meeting: Reform of
UN peacekeeping, implementation and follow-up;
26 September:
High-level plenary meeting to promote and
commemorate the International Day for the
Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons;
27-28
September: High -level meeting of the General
Assembly on the appraisal of the United
Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat
Trafficking in Persons (resolution 71/287).
Watch this
site.
September
4, 2017
As ICP
Pursues N
Korea Story,
UN Security
Orders It To
Stop, UNlike
Others,
Censorship for
Corruption
UNITED
NATIONS, August 29 – More than nineteen months
ago, acting against Press coverage of Ban
Ki-moon's links to UN corruption cases, the UN
Department of Public Information (DPI) had
Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN.Audio
here.
Since then
an UNrelenting campaign of harassment by UN
Security (DSS) and the requirement that Inner
City Press unlike other media have minders to
stake-out public events in the UN has continued. On August
29 as Inner City Press covered the UN Security
Council debate in the run-up to an emergency
meeting on North Korea, an Ambassador walked
down the second floor. A slew of correspondents
took off in pursuit, including "non resident
correspondents" who only come in for North Korea
meetings. While awaiting the end of the double
standard between it and other UN-favored
correspondents, it seemed obvious to Inner City
Press it must be treated like other non-resident
correspondents. But no - a UN Security officer
in front of the ECOSOC chamber, after letting
other non-resident correspondents by, stepped
out and stopped Inner City Press. This is pur
censorship, for covering the UN's (expanding)
corruption. On August 28, as Inner City Press
with its still required DPI minder / escort
covering the UN General Assembly meeting on
South South Cooperation, a UN Security
supervisor had the DPI minder order Inner City
Press to stop filming and covering - from a
roped-in stakeout. When Inner City Press asked
the UN Security officer for his name, he refused
(so, this
Vine video), finally saying "You talking to me?"
then walking off. Further requests for the UN
officer's / censor's name were not responded to
when raised to DPI, including Darrin Farrant
who's been at the right hand of three DPI Under
Secretaries General in a row. Incoming USG
Alison Smale is going to have to deal with this
censorship, these double standards. August
28, 2017
After
UN Sold Itself
to Ng,
Stonewall
on Event By
Guo Xiangang,
Censors
Demand, Canceled
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, August 23– After the UN was exposed
as having been bought and corrupted by
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, convicted
less than a month ago on six counts of UN
bribery, money laundering and Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act violations, what has changed?
While the
spokesmen for new Secretary General Antonio
Guterres evade the questions
asked by Inner City Press, for example about
the UN rewarding
Ng for his South South News' coverage of Ban
Ki-moon's Central America trip in 2015, murky
uses of the UN and its building, movement
inside which Inner City Press is still
restricted for its anti-corruption coverage,
continue.
For
example, on August 23-24 the UN General
Assembly Hall is still scheduled be taken over
by an NGO named “World Development Foundation”
headed by Guo Xiangang. Attended list and
junket offer below; voice mail after UN
refused to answer, here,
UN Spokesman's one-quarter answer, below;
second voicemail
here. In a third voicemail, an interview
of with the Ambassador of Suriname, just as he
was interviewed by South South News in Macau,
was offered here.
But Inner City Press' questions were and are
to the UN, how it vetted the NGOs -
UNanswered. Now a fourth voicemail, here,
asking that Inner City Press take down
article(s) - and, on August 23, the event was
not taking place in either the General
Assembly Hall, nor Conference Room 4. We'll
have more on this. Inner City Press first
reported on this group in May
2016, noting that the UN Department of
Public Information was partnering with a group
that at that time did not even have a website.
This came after DPI's then-chief Cristina
Gallach did no
due diligence of Ng Lap Seng's purchase
of events in the UN lobby and even its slavery
memorial, then evicted
Inner City Press after it asked
her about her links to Ng's South South
Awards. The UN's holdover Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric has been involved, including in both
the eviction and continuing restrictions. On
August 22, Inner City Press asked and e-mailed
Dujarric about the August 22-24 event. Video here;
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: there's an event this week
in the General Assembly, and some of the
sponsors are those who attended the Macau
event sponsored and paid for by Ng Lap Seng in
August 2015 just before he was indicted and
arrested. So, I wanted to know — maybe
you can find this out today — it's said that
it's going to be webcast.
Spokesman: What's the event? I
don't, what's the event?
Inner City Press: The event has to do
with sustainable tourism. It's sponsored
by an NGO and two Member States, both of whom
went to Macau. So, my question to you
is, you've said the things have radically
cleaned up…What's the UN's role in the
event… Who's paying for the-
Spokesman: I need… drop me off a piece
of paper with information about the event and
I will…
Inner City Press: I'm going to give you the
email as well, the one about…
Spokesman: Perfect.
Inner City Press: …Yiping Zhou and the one
that you said you hadn't seen.
Spokesman: Okay, thank you.
Inner
City Press immediately sent Dujarric as well
as his top two deputies the Yiping Zhou email
and some questions. Five hours later when he
left, Dujarric had not answered nor even, as
requested, confirmed receipt. After 8 pm one
of the sponsors called Inner City Press, audio
here.
But the answer should come from the UN
Secretariat, which had been asked eight hours
previously. Inner City Press called the caller
how to ask Dujarric, and Dujarric did respond
to this NGO, emailing Inner City Press: "Dear
Matthew, The event is sponsored that the
Mission of Suriname. They are responsible for
the content of the event and we have been
assured that no one is being charged for this
event. Sincerely, Steph." But this didn't
answer the questions that Inner City Press had
asked (while showing that Dujarric had
received them - we'll have more on this, and this).
Inner City Press had sent Dujarric the
information about the event: "Sustainable
Tourism development projects from other Member
States will also be introduced. Special Guests
Include: Mr. Carlos Vogeler, UN World Tourism
Organization, Executive Director and Regional
Director for the Americas; Ms. Shavani Vora,
NY Times Travel Columnist, Invited' Ms.
Alexandrine Wan, Sustainable Tourism Advocate,
Entrepreneur
H.E. Ambassador Loreen Bannis-Roberts,
Permanent Representative, Dominica Mission to
the United Nations; Peter Claesson, Indigo
Travel, Sweden; Neelam Melanie, Second
Secretary, Kingdom of Netherlands Mission to
the United Nations; Robert Watson, Noted
Author and Tourism Strategist; Amir Dossal,
President and Founder, Global Partnerships
Forum; Peter Tichnsky, President and CEO,
Business Council for International;
Understanding; Laura Choi, Resort-wear
Sustainable Fashion Designer, Invited
Vincent Fuentes, Director, WFUNA Tours
Dr. Joshua Weiss, Harvard faculty, Abraham
Path Initiative; Suzanne Carlson, President,
Carlson Maritime Travel; Anderson Pilgrim,
Caribbean Travel Initiatives (CTO and CARICOM
Report); Michelle Guelbart, ECPAT Report on
Responsible Tourism; Edward H Hall III, Bureau
of Indian Affairs Tourism Specialist Plus a
SPECIAL FAMILIARIZATION TOUR TO GUYANA AND
SURINAME will be announced for travel media,
travel professionals and others. October
date... under the auspices of His Excellency
Ambassador Henry MacDonald, Permanent Mission
of Suriname to the United Nations and His
Excellency Michael Ten-Pow, Permanent Mission
of Guyana to the United Nations. The program
is produced and developed by the World
Development Foundation, Dr. Guo Xiangang,
President. Patrick Sciarratta is the
Conference Manager for the two-day
proceedings; Conference Coordinator is
Dominique Schwenner; Ms. Zephanii Smith is
Public Relations Liaison. Cristina Fan is the
Conference Administrator." Ng paid for the
trip to Macau, which at least two sponsors and
the vice president of the UN Correspondents
Association attended. There are photos of DPI
officials with Guo Xiangang. The cover, just
as Ng Lap Seng used the Dominican Republic's
Francis Lorenzo and a number of other states,
in this case are Suriname and Guyana, both of
whose Permanent Representatives attended Ng
Lap Seng's Macau event in August 2015 and were
interviewed by South South News, here
and here.
This week in attendance will be the Permanent
Representative of Dominca, whose Prime
Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was the only head
of state who went to Ng Lap Seng's Macau
event, along with the vice president of the
United Nations Correspondents Association.
As Inner City
Press reported and pursued, the UN
Correspondents Association took payment from
Ng' South South News for full page ads, then
provided the venue for Ng's and Vivian Wang's
photo op with Ban Ki-moon. It was for seeking
to cover the UNCA event in the UN Press
Briefing Room, “lent” without paperwork by
Ban's and Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, that Inner City Press was evicted
and is still restricted.
New DPI chief
Alison Smale will have to deal with all this -
and clean it up. For now, this is how the UN
under Guterres remains. Watch this site.
August 21,
2017
On
Kenya, ICP
Asked UN of Monica
Juma Job,
Blogger Alai
Locked Up, UN
Censors
In Other
Media e.g. Somalia,
Ghana,
Azerbaijan,
The
Gambia
Click here
for Global
Inner City Archives 2006