UNITED NATIONS
GATE, September 14 – That the US government is
paying
$58,000 a month to rent the full floor
penthouse across from the UN for Nikki Haley
is one thing. The $52,700 for mechanized
curtains was a decision made under the Obama
Administration, when Samantha Power was US
Ambassador to the UN.
But what needs
to have the curtains drawn on it, so to speak,
is the current lack of transparency. The UN of
Secretary General Antonio Guterres had Inner
City Press
roughed up on July 3 as it covered the
UN Budget
Committee meetings on his $6.7 billion
proposals, and has had it banned
from the UN since - by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' head of Global
Communications Alison
Smale, until a year ago the Berlin
bureau chief of the New
York Times,
which has
backtracked on
curtain-gate
but remains silent
on and stands
behind Smale's
censorship.
The US Mission under Haley has
done nothing - in fact, Inner City Press is
informed that Guterres' UN is telling people
that the US Mission supports and even
requested the banning of Inner City Press.
Inner City Press has filed a Freedom of
Information Act request, no documents
responsive to which have yet been produced.
Asking question at the UN Delegates Entrance,
since it is banned from the UN Security
Council stakeout and noon briefing, Inner City
Press has repeatedly asked Haley about the
censorship (and about Cameroon,
abuse
by UN peacekeepers, and UN bribery). Haley does not
answer. This is not transparency - the
curtains should be and will be pulled back.
Watch this site. How arrogant or out of touch
a self-styled world leader is has been
revealed in the Leader's contemptuous approach
to freedom of the press and whose who even
gently chide him on it, including a Nobel
Peace Prize winner. No, this is not a
reference to Donald Trump, but to UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, including as
represented by his Franco-American spokesman
Stephane Dujarric. And now Inner City Press is
told that Guterres is cynically trying to
recast his 65 days of censorship
as being based on a request FROM the Trump
Administration, or at least Trump's UN Mission
to the UN and its ally, the UK. A UN
Correspondent who sought as many
have to get the ban on Inner City Press lifted
at least from the upcoming General Assembly
week has said, in writing: "I spoke with
Stephane the other day and unfortunately your
situation remains unchanged. The case against
you is based on complaints from the US &
UK Missions... I have tried to get you a
waiver for the UNGA week but Security remains
firm in their refusal." So, the answer is that
Guterres ban on Inner City Press -- which
began on July 3 right after I spoke with
Cameroon's Ambassador -- is now based on
questions I have asked the US Mission's Deputy
Ambassadors including Jonathan Cohen and UK
Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen at the
Delegates' Entrance AFTER I was already
banned. There was also serial questioning of
Guterres and UK Permanent Representative Karen
Pierce in front of IPI on July 20, Periscope
video here.
In fact, all of my questioning of the US and
UK Missions, and all other Mission, is online
on Periscope, full archive here.
It is no different that the questions hurled
at Trump. But there, the First Amendment
applies. At the UN, it seems, an already
censoring Secretary General can claim to get
subsequent support from... Trump and his
Mission. See 6 September
2018 question put to US
Ambassador Nikki Haley, here. Inner
City Press had already submitted a Freedom of
Information Act request to the UK
government, after statements by UN (British)
Under Secretary General Alison Smale. Now
today a US FOIA request has been filed to the
US State Department in Washington:
"On behalf of
Inner City Press and in my personal capacity
as its United Nations bureau chief, Matthew
Russell Lee, pursuant to the federal Freedom
of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 for the
following information: 1) Most pressingly, any
and all record reflecting communications by
the US Mission to the UN or its personnel to
the UN concerning Inner City Press or me,
including but not limited to my questioning
and broadcasting on Periscope of and
concerning such personnel; and 2) any and all
record reflecting communications by the US
Mission to the UN or its personnel to the UN
concerning Inner City Press or me from January
1, 2017 to the date of your
response. This request,
particularly (1) above which can and should be
treated separately, should be afforded
expedited treatment. I have today been
informed that my banning from the UN,
including prospectively from covering the UN
General Assembly High Level week as I have for
11 years and for which I submitted a timely
application on Sept 3, is based on complaints
by the US Mission to the UN, who officials I
have questioned in a journalistic capacity
since July 5. Such a complaint would impinge
on my First Amendment rights, and threatens
imminent irreparable harm. Expedited treatment
must be accorded. If this request is
denied in whole or part, please provide the
basis for each such denial or deletion by
reference to the specific exemption of the Act
which you assert is applicable. Request for
All Portions of Material for Which No
Exemption to Production is Claimed Please
provide all segregable portions of otherwise
exempt material. We reserve the right to
appeal your decision to withhold any
information... I am requested expedited
treatment of the request for all USUN
communications to the UN about Inner City
Press or me since July 3, 2018 due to such
communications being cited as a basis to ban
me from covering the UNGA High Level week
beginning September 24 - the US Mission is
being called responsible for the ban and it is
imperative to prove or disprove that before
then, asap, before irreparable harm including
to First Amendment interests takes place."
["Your request has successfully been
submitted."] Watch this site. We maintain: on
press freedom, in terms of actual acts,
Guterres is worse than Trump: Guterres had
Inner City Press roughed up, twice, and now
banned for life. On September 5, after a
report-back from a large democracy - not the
United States - which sought to intervene to
stop Guterres' censorship, Inner City Press
turned it into a question to Guterres'
spokesmen and Deputy and Alison Smale:
"September 5-2: I'm informed that when
approached by a major democracy the/your
answer has been that my “issue is being
treated as one which does not require
consultation with Member States as it relates
to Security & DPI taking action in pursuit
of existing procedures” (which?) and that this
is not the only case where restrictions have
been placed and in the past other journalists
too have been banned. Please explain by what
right the Secretariat ignores member states,
given the conflicts of interest and needs for
recusals timely raised, and state the
precedents of other expulsion, on what
grounds, with what due process and for what
periods of time. Note my September 3
application." Hours later - after Guterres'
ASG Fabrizio Hochschild's declined to answer
Inner City Press' question by claiming that
Dujarric is answering - Deputy Farhan Haq
replied, "as for question 5-2, the Spokesman
has never said that." So Inner City Press
immediately specified: "The "you" in question
Sept 5-2 referred to the UN Secretariat for
which you speak. And that's what they tell me
was the answer. So the request pre-publication
for your Office as the Spokesperson to
"explain by what right the Secretariat ignores
member states, given the conflicts of interest
and needs for recusals timely raised, and
state the precedents of other expulsion, on
what grounds, with what due process and for
what periods of time. Note my September 3
application." After having been told this
afternoon by ASG Hochschild that that "Steph"
is providing answers - after al this time,
response on one (or I guess if you include
Sept 5-3, two) out of 24 questions?
Please provide a list of and read outs for SG
Guterres' meeting with African officials while
in China, including in light of UNanswered
question Sept 5-6" concerning Guterres' son's
business links in Angola, Cape Verde, Timor
Leste and Sao Tome. No answer - but a
colleague from the UN's fourth floor said
first there were boxes by Inner City Press'
workspace then the boxes were gone. The UN
went through Inner City Press' files. [Update:
because of being contacted by concerned
whistleblowers, clearly Guterres' retaliatory
UN's goal, we specify: we never print out
anything so this intrusion by Guterres and
Smale will be for naught. But it shows what
they have made
the UN.] We'll have more on that, and this:
while a major democracy is told Guterres'
censorship is none of its business, Guterres'
Smale in her letter and Dujarric in his
briefing room have used unnamed member states'
complaints as the basis of Inner City Press
being banned. Smale used an old complaint by
Morocco, which her own MALU (Marija) told
Inner City Press was frivolous. Did she stoke
up other missions to complain to her? Watch
this site.
On August
30, spokes-hatchet-man
Stephane Dujarric was asked,
again, about how and why Inner
City Press was roughed up,
ousted and banned for life
without due process. Dujarric,
with a smile, cut the question
off and said to review his
previous Orwellian answers,
adding "The issue is settled
as far as we're concerned." Like the
way Guterres
golden
statue gifter Paul
Biya is "settling
the
issue" in the
Anglophone zones,
pure force and
cover up? Dujarric
also
called it "asked and
answered." What, like the UN's
failures in protecting
civilians, in raping children,
spreading cholera, selling out
the Anglophones to
Cameroon for a favor in the Budget Committeee?
This is disgusting. Video here.
Dujarric moved on with a "Mademoiselle," a
question about the UNGA week which Guterres and
Dujarric have worked - and lied - to ban Inner
City Press from. On August 29, Guterres'
spokes-hatchet-man Stephane Dujarric was asked,
again, about the lack of due process and
specifically about Guterres now banning a
journalist who has covered the UN General
Assembly high level week for a decade. Video here;
from the UN transcript:
Question: two questions related to the status of
Matthew Lee. The first is whether any
consideration is being given to at least giving
him temporary access to the UN Headquarters
during the General Assembly week and, secondly,
just if you would respond to his repeated claims
that he was not accorded due process before
being banned from the, from the premises.
Spokesman: The process through which
accreditation is given and withdrawal is clear,
it’s written publicly in the media
guidelines. You all agree to the process
when you accept your accreditation, which
accreditation to any institution is a
privilege. Everybody has a right to, to
report and to say whatever they, they
wish. But the accreditation process is
such. It’s very clear. Really?
September
10, 2018
On
Cameroon Inner
City Press
FOIAs US DOD
For Report and
All Records on
Anglophone
Areas
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, September
7 --As the
Cameroon
government of
36 year
President
Paul
Biya
slaughters
civilians in
the Anglophone
regions as well as in
the North, it
re-engaged
Washington
lobbying firm
Squire Patton
Boggs and Mercury
Public Affairs, documents
show. The
UN belatedly
acknowledged
to Inner City
Press,
which UN Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres had
roughed
up on July
3 right after
it spoke to
Cameroon's
Ambassador Tommo
Monthe and on
August 17 declared
banned for
life from
entering the
UN,
that
Guterres met
with a
Cameroon
delegation on
July 11. And
they discussed,
disturbingly,
strategies to
reduce
negative
coverage of Biya's killings,
see below.
Now after
being informed
that the UN is
saying the
US or at least
its US Mission
to the UN
under Nikki
Haley and/or her
Deputy
Jonathan
Cohen and
spokesman John
Degory are supporting
and even
have requested
Inner City
Press' banning
from the UN
and UN General
Assembly high
level week featuring
Donald Trump,
Inner City
Press on
September 7
files its
second Freedom
of Information
Act
request: "On
behalf of
Inner City
Press and in
my personal
capacity as
its United
Nations bureau
chief, Matthew
Russell Lee,
this is a
request
pursuant to
the federal
Freedom of
Information
Act, 5 U.S.C.
§ 552 for the
following
information:
1) most
pressingly,
for the report
on human
rights abuse
by the
Cameroon
military and
of the US'
knowledge
thereof, on
information
and belief
headed by
Brig. Gen.
Timothy
McAteer and
concluded in
November 2017;
2) any and all
other records
in your
possession
concerning
abuses by the
Cameroon
security
forces,
including but
not limited to
in the
North-West and
South-West
regions, from
January 1,
2017 to the
date of your
response to
this request.
This request,
particularly
(1) above
which can and
should be
treated
separately,
should be
afforded
expedited
treatment.
Inner City
Press is
reporting on
abuses in
Cameroon,
including with
the knowledge
of the US -
and why there
has been no UN
Security
Council
meeting on
Cameroon. The
US is for this
month the
president of
the US
Security
Council and
this request
should be
fully
responded to
in that time
frame,
including any
necessary
appeal." We'll
have more on
this.
Now
in Ekona in South-West Region Cameroon's
government has
engaged
in what's
become their
trademark
abuse, the
killing at
point blank
range of
civilians, in
this case
Bezeng Jonas
and his sons,
one of whom was
attending
University of
Buea. Where
are the
"positive
steps" the UK
Mission's
Karen Pierce asserted
this week to
Inner City
Press across
the street
from the UN,
from which
British USG
Alison Smale
has banned
Inner City Press
for 66 days
with assists?
Things have reportedly
reached the
point that in
Lebialem
Division in
the South West
region officials
have de
facto
separated the
country by
instituting an
‘Access Card’
from locals
fleeing
insecurity in
the division. One
needs to pay
FCFA 20, 000
for the 'Laissez
passer'
to cross
over." After
Guterres did
nothing, in order
to try to get
Cameroon's
support as
chair of UN Budget
Committee, and
after
again refusing
Inner City Press'
questions on August 31, video here,
is now in China which
is arming
Biya. Now with
Guterres' spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
cutting off
question and
saying
Guterres' ban
of Inner City
Press is
"settled" and
that it
cannot enter
to cover the
General
Assembly high
level
week where
last year
Guterres
greeted Paul Biya,
Guterres is
headed to China
September 1-4.
And here's
from China
state media:
"In March,
Cameroonian
President Paul
Biya was the
first African
leader to
visit China
this year. It
was the sixth
trip to China
by the
president. Fruitful
deals from
FOCAC Beijing
summit can
significantly
revamp the
country's
economy,"
Mpoche said.
"That is why,
I think the
Belt and Road
Initiative is
laudable."
According to
the Cartel of
Cameroon
Entrepreneurs,
known in its
French acronym
as GICAM,
close to 100
Cameroonian
businessmen
will visit
China on the
sidelines of
the Beijing
summit,
scheduled for
early
September. The
businessmen
traveling to
China intend
to seize the
opportunity
and sign deals
with Chinese
private
companies to
"boost our
cooperation
and create
more jobs for
the youths
back home,"
said Magloire,
the rapporteur
at Cameroon's
Ministry of
Economy and
Finance."
The
article makes
no mention of
Southern
Cameroons and
Biya's
killings -
nor,
apparently,
will Guterres.
We'll
have more on
this.Here are
questions Guterres
and his
spokesman,
contrary to
the promise of
evicter
Alison Smale,
has left
UNanswered:
"August 27-6:
August 22-3:
On Cameroon,
your belated
July 11 read
out does not
answer the
questions
Inner City
Press has
asked. Before
asking more,
there are now
broken out by
letter for
ease of
reference and
for belated
answer today,
as well as
this:
was DSG
Mohammed
present at the
July 11
meeting? And
what is the
SG's response
to what was
said about him
in the
demonstration
by Anglophone
Cameroonians
in Washington
yesterday? How
does he
respond to
their charges
of corruption?
a) Cameroon
has hired
Mercury Public
Affairs for
$100,000 a
month, even as
the UN is
paying money
to the
government. Is
UN money being
used for the
mass killing
cover up
campaign? Are
there any
safeguards in
place?
b) please
disclose any
and all other
meeings the SG
has had this
year arranged
by paid
lobbyists.
[responded to
Aug 22, but
see (d) below:
c) what is the
SG's comment
on the recent
announcement
of seven
arrests for
summary
executions,
and the newer
video of
Cameroon Army
executions
that has
emerged?
d)
Specifically,
how are these
videos being
incorporated
into the
supposed
vetting of
Cameroon's
contributions
to UN
Peacekeeping
missions?
e) please
provide a list
and read-out
of each of the
Secretary
General's
meetings and
communications
with Cameroon
Ambassador
Tommo Monthe
during
Monthe's time
as chair of
the Fifth
(Budget)
Committee.
[semi-answered
Aug 22 f) In
light of
statements at
the August 8
noon briefing
please state
whether envoy
Fall even
requested to
meet with
President Paul
Biya or
whether the UN
believes that
Biya is once
again out of
the country,
in Geneva. Has
the UN ever
met with Biya
in Geneva? ]
g) I reiterate
August 7-1 and
8-1 and 9-1,
on this: was
the SG or
anyone else in
the UN aware
that this Biya
delegation's
lobbying trip
was stage
managed by the
DC-based
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs?
Why was this
meeting not
disclosed at
the time? Why
is there no
photo, even
just UN Photo,
of it? Where
did it take
place? Who
attended, on
each side?
h)Has the
Secretariat
communicated
since with the
Biya
government?
Has it ever
communicated
with the
opposition?" September
3, 2018
UN
Guterres
Refuses To
Answer Why He
Bans Inner
City Press
From UNGA What
Done on
Cameroon Son's
Conflict of
Interest
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, August 31 – Before Inner City Press was
roughed up by UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' Security on June 22
and July
3, 2018 and under a ban on entry since
then, which his spokesman on August 30 called
settled or final, it insistently asked about
Guterres' conflicts of interest, for example
with murderous
Cameroon chairing the UN Budget Committee
where Guterres sought support or with the
business interests of his family, as for
disclosure of how many of Guterres' publicly
funded trip took him through his real home,
Lisbon. (The answer, with no UN help, is at
least 14.) The questions are not
being answered by Spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
and Guterres has had Inner City Press banned
from the UN for life, by his Global
Communicator Alison Smale who has failed
to make even the minimal public financial
disclosure called for under Guterres'
predecessor Ban Ki-moon. Guterres' forms do
not include the business interests of his
direct children - but they should, see below.
On August 31,
the 59th day Inner City Press has been banned
from the UN by Guterres, there was nothing
listed on Guterres' schedule until 4:30 pm:
grip and grin photo op with the new
Ambassadors on Armenia, Costa Rica, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Sidhartha Francisco Marin
Aráuz of Nicaragua. But at 1:10 pm some of
Guterres many guards -- one, Lt Ronald E
Dobbins, twice roughed up Inner City Press on
June 22 (which Inner City Press wrote to
Guterres about on June 25) and more so on July
3 - showed up telling other cars including
diplomats' cars where they could and couldn't
park on 46th Street. Soon fully three black
4x4s pulled up in front of the restaurant
Aretsky's Patroon, which recently hosted
Hillary Clinton. Out stepped Guterres and UN
President of the General Assembly Miroslav
Lajcak, who disclosed
a 1:15 pm appointment with Guterres. First
(silent) video here.
An hour and a half later, Guterres emerged
with his chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti and
with Miguel Graca. Inner City Press asked,
calmly but audibly, why Guterres is banning it
from entering to cover the General Assembly
Week, which is has covered for 11 years, about
what he has (not) done on Cameroon and on
conflicts of interest related to his son's
business links, first reported by Inner City
Press. As is the Guterres way, he got into his
limosine. Video here.
By contrast the President of the General
Assembly Miroslav Lajcak listened when Inner
City Press asked about access to the GA and
seemed... well, we'll see and report.
Guterres, as
is typically including on the business
dealings of his son, did not even disclose his
meeting with Lajcak. Guterres has shown such
bias in having Inner City Prss roughed up and
banned that Inner City Press has asked Lajcak,
and will ask him and hereby his successor
again, to take over the case and ensure Inner
City Press can cover the upcoming UN General
Assembly week. Lajcak's chief of staff says
Lajcak is trying; his spokesman says "I
discussed your letter with the PGA. Please
know that he is personally sympathetic to your
situation. He also continues to strongly
believe that the UN should be as transparent
as possible and that journalists should be
able to do their work without hindrance.
At the same time, our practice here at the UN
is for the Secretariat – not the Office of the
PGA – to handle matters related to media
accreditation and security. In that regard, we
will continue to defer to the Secretariat in
such areas. The PGA appreciates your interest
in and coverage of the General Assembly. In
that regard, from our side, we will continue
to respond to your journalistic questions –
whether you are inside or outside UNHQ. I look
forward to our continued collaboration during
the rest of the 72nd session." We'll have more
on this As Inner City Press has now
exclusively reported, Guterres' son
Pedro Guimarães e Melo De Oliveira Guterres
has been Manager of Planning and Control at PT
Portugal since 2009, see here.
And "PT Portugal has significant interests in
telecommunications companies in Angola, Cape
Verde, Namibia and São Tomé and Principe in
Africa and in Timor-Leste in Asia," see US SEC
filing here.
(Guterres recently rebuffed, in an entreaty to
stop banning Inner City Press, Time Leste's
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta, here).
Given that his father, as a UN Secretary
General who has shown himself willing to stay
quiet of the deaths of Anglophone Cameroonians
to gain the support of Cameroon's Ambassador
as chair of the UN Budget Committee, has and
can impact on each of these countries, where
are the clearly needed controls against
conflict of interest? Inner City Press
Periscop stand-up, here. As Guterres flies off
for a business confab about Africa and China
from September 1 to 4, complete with 100
businesses from Cameroon
where Guterres is complicit in the crackdown,
how is he recusing himself there and in New
York (and Lisbon) from involvement in things
impacting where his son's company does
business and makes money? We'll have more on
this - for now despite the empty promises of
Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale who
has banned Inner City Press for life without
any hearing or appeals process that written
questions would be answer, none
have been for three days, including on another
Inner City Press exclusive
noted from on high in UNDP, here. Inner
City Press on August 28 published the first in
this exclusive and detailed series. Here from
multiple member state sources are the dates of
Guterres' 14 -- 30% of total UN trips -
through Lisbon for each of which Inner City
Press has asked, and not been answered, and
live-stream Periscope of the UN's empty
massion on 57th Street and Sutton Place for
which it was roughed up and banned:
Do the
member states paying for this - whom Guterres'
Smale quotes without name as supporting the
roughing up of and permanent ban on Inner City
Press, agree with this? Do they know this? How
arrogant or out of touch a self-styled world
leader is has been revealed in the Leader's
contemptuous approach to freedom of the press
and whose who even gently chide him on it,
including a Nobel Peace Prize winner. No, this
is not a reference to Donald Trump, but to UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The Nobel
Peace Prize winner who has sought the reversal
of Guterres' outrageous 56 day and counting ban
on Inner City Press even entering the UN is Jose
Ramos Horta of Timor Leste, still serving
Guterres' UN, who told Inner City Press on
August 27, "Dear Matthew I did reach the very
inner sanctum of the UN system reporting on your
case to no avail. Apologies but I don't know
what else I can do." Later on August 27 an
independent journalist asked Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric why things are not fixed with
Inner City Press' access, since it "looks bad"
given other attacks on press freedom. Video here.
Dujarric tried to cut the journlist off,
insisting to say this is about freedom of the
press would be wrong. (Then why is it in the
Press Freedom Tracker, here,
and the Columbia
Journalism Review, among others
for example in the UK,
Japan,
Italy
and Cameroon?)August
27, 2018
For
UNGA Trump to
Hold Drug
Event Banned
Inner City
Press Learns
By Not From
USUN Notified
of Ban Like
Pressman
UNITED
NATIONS GATE, August 24 – A month from day on September 24,
US President Trump will host
his "big UN event, this time on the
world drug situation,"
a source not with the US Mission
told Inner City Press on
August 24 as
it staked-out the UN
Delegates Entrance
questioning
diplomats as it
has for the 52 days
it has been banned
from the UN - ironically,
for its style of
questioning.
Another source
told Inner
City Press
that the US circulating
a draft outcome to
the political
coordinators
all of member
states, not
just those
on the
Security
Council. This
source - ironically
a pro-UN
source who still
leaks to
Inner City Press after
the UN banned
it for life --
exclusively
told Inner
City Press of
"pushback" that
is coming.
As the afternoon
of August
24 progressed,
while other
information came in,
as to
the US Mission
to the
UN across the street
there were
peripheral
developments.
As Inner City
Press reported
on August
23, on the Periscope live-streaming
platform which
the UN cited
in imposing
its lifetime
ban,
the portrait
of Mike Pompeo
belatedly
went up in the
lobby of the Mission.
On August 24
starting around 3:30 some USUN
personnel
boarded a
chartered bus
with coolers and
in Jets and
Giants (LT 56)
jerseys,
presumably to got
to the Meadowlands
in New Jersey
and see a pre-season
NFL game.
Would anyone
take a knee? In
the bus stop
Inner City
Press works in it
formally
notified the two
top US Missio
spokespeople
that its 52 day ban
has had no due
process
and should be
reversed
at latest by
September 5,
the deadline
for the UNGA
week on which
Inner City Press is
reporting. The
same was conveyed,
and more, to
former USUN
Deputy Permanent
Representative
David
Pressman, who
to his and
their credit bantered with
the Mission's
security
officers. He's
with the
Clooney Foundation
for Justice
and the Boies
law firm.
Inner City Press
asked, not joking,
want to
sue the UN on
press
freedom (and
non assault)
grounds? He
said it might
be a
conflict given
his previous jobs -
though the UN's
decision maker
or
letter signing
Alison Smale
ignored her
own conflicts
of interest - but he
could,
it would seem,
find someone.
Even a recent
mother.
For now, we report
on Trump's upcoming
event. Watch
this site. With
the UN General
Assembly High Level week coming up next
month, the UN of anti-Press
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres is still moving
to push further away from
the action the
visiting
media that he and Under
Secretary General
Alison Smale, in
their lawless way,
allow in. Now
this UN
dynamic duo
have not
surprisingly
gotten buy in
fro the
insiders they
give
offices to and
use to censor
others, those
who don't need
the tent but
rather complain about
the air
conditioning
and TV reception
in their offices.
For
years the
so-called Media
Center has been in
Conference
Room 1. But
this year
Guterres and
Smale still
want to put it
even further
away --
now in a tent.
Typically,
they are
trying to
blame their
anti-press
policies on
member states.
But this is
the duo which
had Inner City
Press roughed
up by their
Security -
twice - and
banned for 52
days and
counting. They
are censors, and
hypocrites (see
Smale's ex NYT
myopic
hand-wringing,
here.)
On August 17
Smale issued a
ghoulish no
due process ruling
purporting to
ban Inner City Press
for life,
which has put
the UN into
the Press Freedom
Tracker. Back
Oon
August
8, Inner City
Press
during the
noon briefing
it is banned from
43
days and counting emailed
the
spokesperson
for President of
the General
Assembly
Miroslav Lajcak:
"Hello. Since
I am still
banned from
the UN noon
briefing, I am
e-mailing you
this
question
during your
August 8
briefing: What
does the PGA
think and do
about the
moves to push
the media even
further away
from CR 1
during High
Level week?" The
spokesman
Brenden Varma
to his credit
replied, just
after the
briefing, "For
the President,
it is
important that
journalists
are able to do
their work and
cover the
general
debate. As
for the
logistics,
that is a
matter for the
UN
Secretariat."
August 20,
2018
On
Cameroon Inner
City Press
Video
Guterres'
Smale Calls
Derogatory for
Lifetime Ban
Remonetized by
YouTube
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, August 19
--As the
Cameroon
government of
36 year
President
Paul
Biya
slaughters
civilians in
the Anglophone
regions as well as in
the North, it
re-engaged
Washington
lobbying firm
Squire Patton
Boggs, documents
show. The
UN belatedly
acknowledged
to Inner City
Press,
which UN Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres had
roughed
up on July
3 right after
it spoke to
Cameroon's
Ambassador Tommo
Monthe and on
August 17 declared
banned for
life from
entering the
UN,
that
Guterres met
with a
Cameroon
delegation on
July 11. And
they discussed,
disturbingly,
strategies to
reduce
negative
coverage of Biya's killings,
see below.
Guterres'
Global Communicator
Alison Smale's
August 17 letter
banning Inner
City Press, on
which she took
45 days to try
to phrase
censorship in
terms of
"professionalism,"
states that
Inner City
Press'
questioning
broadcasts on
Periscope,
for then 45
days at the
gate outside
the UN, are
derogatory
and even
somehow dangerous.
Dangerous
to the
cover up of Biya's
killings,
perhaps, and
those who play a role
in it.
Relatedly,
Google's
YouTube de-monetized
Inner City
Press' video
of
questioning
Guterres' Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
about
Cameroon's
lobbying contracts,
saying the video
was not
appropriate
for all advertisers.
While that YouTube
phrasing, even
if accurate,
would not
justify a ban
on Inner City
Press, it is
significant
that after
Inner City
Press submitted to
YouTube an
appeal -- something
Guterres'
Kafkaesque UN
does not allow
for
journalists --
the demonetization
has been
reversed: "Hi
Inner City
Press, Great
news! After
manually
reviewing your
video, we’ve
determined
that it is
suitable for
all
advertisers: "Cameroon
Leak Showed UN
Guterres
Offered Biya
Help In
Combating Bad
Press He
Banned No
Answers"
Thanks, The
YouTube team."
So the
coverage that
UK national Alison
Smale
unilaterally
asserts is so
derogatory and
dangerous as
to be
part of her
Orwellian
justification
of a lifetime
ban of Inner City
Press is found
by a party not
named, as
Smale is, in
the video to
be "suitable
for all
adversers."
You can see it
here.
-- it already
has 2000
views, more
that the entire
audience of some of
those "professional"
correspondents
to whom Guterres
and Smale give
UN offices and
full access.
Alison Smale,
and Guterres,
are censors
pure and
simple,
particularly
on
Guterres'
shameful role in
Cameroon. In a
single sentence,
Guterres
stayed quiet on
and helped
cover up Paul Biya's killings
of Anglophones in Cameroon
because Guterres
wanted the
bureaucratic
support of
Cameroon's
Ambassador
Tommo Monthe,
the chair of
the UN Budget
Committee, for
his proposal
some of which
didn't even get
enacted.
Shameful, as is
the lifetime ban. We'll
have
more, much
more, on this. The
Cameroon government's
write up of the
meeting obtained by
Inner City
Press,
on which
the UN
has repeatedly
refused to
respond, quotes
Guterres that
the
("Anglo-Saxon")
media is
unfair to Paul
Biya's
Cameroun and
that he,
Guterres, will
help them in
the
"propaganda
campaign."
Guterres said
he "will
contact
reasonable
people" and
"counter the
daily press
briefs." August
13, 2018
On Cameroon
Dutch and HRW
Overplay UK
Pres Vague
Line on
Violence As
Guterres Bans
Press
UNITED
NATIONS GATE, August 10 – As the
Cameroon
government of
36 year
President
Paul
Biya
slaughters
civilians in
the Anglophone
regions as well as in
the North, it
has
re-engaged Washington
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs,
on a retainer
of $100,000 per
quarter
plus
expenses, documents
show.
Now on August
10, with Inner
City Press
banned from
entering the
UN for the
38th day by UN
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres, the
Dutch
Mission to
the UN
and HRW
started
bragging about
a UN
Security Council
Presidential
Statement
which they
said embodied
deep concern. At first
banned
Inner City
Press, thanks
to Guterres
who took Biya's
golden statue
in
October 2017,
couldn't even
see the Statement:
it was not on
the Security
Council's
website
now run
by the (Dutch)
husband of
the chief of
staff of the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs'
Rosemary DiCarlo,
and was not
emailed out to
those not
(allowed) in
the UN. But by
mid afternoon
it came out: and it was
just a single
line, about
the "worrying
increase in violence
in the
north-west and
south-west
regions of
Cameroon." Why did
Human Rights
Watch make so
much of this,
after earlier
this year
telling
Inner City
Press - before
Antonio
"Golden
Statue" Guterres
banned it from
the UN - that
HRW omitted
Cameroon
from its 2018
World Report because it
didn't view it
as a top-90 problem? That's
here.
As Guterres
and his Alison
Smale and their stooges
try to keep
Inner City Press
out even
longer, we'll
have more on
this. After
twice asking
the Spokespeople
for UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres (from
the bus stop
outside the
UN Delegates'
Entrance since
Guterres
has banned
Inner City
Press since
July 3), UN Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq on
August 8
belatedly told
Inner City
Press, "On
your first
question, we
can confirm
that, on 11
July, a
high-level
Cameroonian
delegation was
dispatched to
UNHQ to brief
the
Secretary-General
on the efforts
carried out by
the Government
to address the
crisis in the
North-West and
South-West
regions. The
Secretary-General
stressed the
importance of
finding a
peaceful
resolution to
the crisis
through an
inclusive
dialogue and
reiterated the
UN’s readiness
to support
such efforts,
including the
provision of
humanitarian
assistance to
the affected
regions." But
Inner City
Press'
question was,
"On Cameroon
beyond the
questions you
have left
unanswered
from August 3
and August
6-1, please
state if
anyone in the
UN Secretariat
met with a
Cameroonian
government
delegation in
the US from
July 11 (whcn
they met UK
Ambassador
Pierce) to
July 20 and if
the UN was
aware that
this Biya
delegation's
lobbying trip
was stage
managed by the
DC-based
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs."
No answer on
this, nor on
August 10,
when Guterres'
Deputy Spokesman Haq
answered a past
question from
August 6,
on using and
paying for
Biya's troops:
"Regarding
your earlier
Cameroon
question,
here’s what we
have for you: "August
6-1: On
Cameroon,
important and
not answered -
please
immediately
confirm and
explain: “A
295-strong
Cameroonian
contingent
including four
doctors, will
be deployed in
the
intervening
weeks to the
Central
African
Republic
(CAR).They
will be part
of the United
Nations
Multidimensional
Integrated
Mission for
the
Stabilization
of CAR
(MINUSCA),
ministry of
Defense
sources in
Cameroon
disclosed on
Thursday.”
Given not only
this
military's
torching of
villages in
the Anglophone
areas but
summary
executions,
why is the UN
accepting this
deployment at
this time? How
much of the
money goes to
/ stays with
the Biya
government?
What vetting
has been done?
Does the UN
know the
identity of
the Cameroon
soldiers
recently shown
killing women
and children?
What assurance
does the UN
have these
soldiers will
not “serve”
the UN in
CAR?"
The 295-strong
Cameroonian
contingent
referred into
in the article
is not a new
deployment. It
is in fact a
rotation of
two
Cameroonian
Formed Police
Units (FPUs)
already
deployed in
MINUSCA.
In this
specific case,
the two
Cameroonian
FPUs will
finish their
tour of duty
by
mid-September,
will
substitute
them. As per
established
procedures,
all FPU
personnel
undergo
extensive
pre-deployment
training to
ensure they
understand the
rules,
regulations
and, standards
and values
expected of
personnel
deployed to UN
operations,
including
respect for
human rights.
With regard to
the vetting
process, the
Policy on
Human Rights
Screening of
United Nations
Personnel
places primary
responsibility
on Member
States to
ensure that
the personnel
they appoint
for deployment
have not been
involved in
violations.
All countries
contributing
uniformed
personnel to
UN
peacekeeping
operations
have primary
responsibility
for screening
individuals
and for
ensuring that
personnel they
nominate for
service have
not been
involved, by
act or
omission, in
violations of
international
humanitarian
law or human
rights law,
and have not
been
repatriated on
disciplinary
grounds from a
UN operation.
Contributing
countries have
to provide a
certification
to that effect
when they
nominate
personnel for
deployment.
The Policy
thus sets
forth
procedures to
strengthen the
ability of the
United Nations
to ensure that
its personnel
meet the
highest
standards of
efficiency,
competence and
integrity, and
to promote and
encourage
respect for
human rights,
in accordance
with the
United Nations
Charter. These
procedures
have notably
led to
strengthen
pre-deployment
screening and
certification
by
contributing
countries.
On your
question
regarding
payment,
countries
contributing
uniformed
personnel to
peacekeeping
operations are
reimbursed by
the UN at a
standard rate,
approved by
the General
Assembly, of
US$1,428 per
person per
month."
After
Guterres remained disturbingly
quiet
about Biya's
killing for a
full year, when Cameroon
was the chair
of the Budget
Committee
whose support
Guterres
wanted for his
proposal like
moving jobs
from Geneva to
Budapest,
New York to
Mexico City,
Entebbe to
Kenya? We'll
have more on
this.
August 6, 2018
To
Replace Zeid
UN Guterres
Who Bans Press
Eyes 4 Latins
from Mexico
Colombia
Argentina and
Guatemala
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, August 3 – In choosing a replacement for
Prince Zeid as UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Secretary General Antonio Guterres has
typically under-performed, being so slow that
who ever is chosen will have a nearly
unprecedentedly short time to prepare. Now on
August 3 Inner City Press' sources tell it of
a short list of four: Pablo de
Greiff of Colombia, Jorge Castañeda of Mexico,
Claudia Paz y Paz of Guatemala and Argentinian
judge Silvia Fernandez. If the decision is not
made soon by Guterres, who has been on
vacation location UNdisclosed since July 20
when he refused to answer Inner City Press why
he had banned it (and had its reporter roughed
up), then Guterres may name as Acting High
Commissioner the current Deputy High
Commissioner Kate Gilmore, from Australia like
Guterres head of Security Peter Drennan.
Gilmore has not been supportive of
whistleblowers. She apparently continues to
defend Rupert Colville and his egregious
statements about Anders Kompass and others,
with complete impunity (as, so far, Guterres
Drennan and Alison Smale have enjoyed for
having Inner City Press roughed
up, ousted
and now banned
for 31 days and counting with no end in sight,
Fox
News story here,
GAP blogs I
and II,
Independent here - on August 3
while Inner
City Press was
reporting-out
this story on
Human Rights
Commish short
list, it was
told by a free
press group
(not CPJ) that
Guterres
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
told it Inner
City Press
will be told
“in the coming
days” if it's
banned forever
from UN for
being roughed
up covering UN
Budget). How
can a
man who has ousted
and banned a
critical
journalist
for a
Kafkaesque
investigation
by the one
choosing a
High Commissioner for
Human Rights?
Or deciding on bans for journalists who
scrutinize and question him? Overall, the
sources say, Bachelet and
they say Bokova are out of
the running. Traditionally
the P5 UK, US and France
play an important role in
the selection of High
Commissioner for Human
Rights. But the UK is
entirely focused on Brexit
and the US is apparently
disengaged, in part because
of its withdrawal from the
HRC and mooted funding cuts
to OHCHR. The sources ay
neither France nor the EU
has a candidate. Nor have
they done anything about
Guterres' censorship of the
Press at the UN.
Today's UN system's attacks on whistleblowers
extend from New York where Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' armed Security officials
ousted the Press on June 22 (video,new
petition,Q&A) to
Geneva where outgoing Human Rights
Commissioner Zeid's Deputy Kate Gilmore and
spokesman Rupert Colville deploy "hard talk"
(and worse) against whistleblowers.
Today in Geneva Deputy UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Kate Gilmore - in typical UN
fashion, a good friend of Zeid's wife princess
Sarah - who Amnesty International decided it
was worth paying to leave a few years back
because she was so toxic to the organization)
had what she terms a “hard talk.”
Whistleblower Emma Reilly, of whose case Inner
City Press has repeatedly asked the UN, posed
the first question. Reilly noted that the UN's
Central African Republic panel found
that Zeid went after whistleblowers with a
“single minded determination,” and said that
her own experience confirmed this. She
referred to emails sent by the OHCHR
Spokesperson Rupert Colville to journalists
that referred to CAR whistleblowers
Anders Kompass and Miranda Brown as
“dishonest... disgusting... underhanded” and
the “sh*ttiest” individuals he had encountered
in a 30-year career, and even accused Anders
Kompass - Sweden’s ambassador to Guatemala -
as being “in the pay of the French.” Reilly
noted that journalists reported to her that
Colville regularly resorted to personal
insults and questioned her sanity when “asked
about OHCHR handing over names to the
Chinese.”
Reilly
then asked if Gilmore agreed with the UN
position that these emails, sent from a UN
spokesman’s account during UN working hours in
response to a request for comment from the UN,
were personal. If so, she asked if the UN
would lift immunity to allow her to sue the
spokesperson in national courts.
Gilmore avoided the question. We'll have more on
this - and on Guterres' lead spokesman, who has
moved beyond insults and exclusion of Inner City
Press to bringing about physical ouster by armed
UN Security officers who refused to give their
names, and running off the podium as Inner City
Press asks about it. On June 29 after
publishing the above, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: I have a Human Rights
Commissioner question.
Spokesman: Go ahead.
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask you. There was a Q and A
by Kate Gilmore, the Deputy High Commissioner of
Human Rights, today in Geneva, and an issue
arose in which… several whistle-blowers raised
the fact that they have evidence, they say, that
the spokesperson for, for Prince Zeid, Rupert
Colville, has, from, on his UN computer during
UN time, said that the whistle-blowers are the
worst people he’s ever known, used a
profanity. And so they wanted to know,
since it’s, it’s their understanding that this
was then said in a personal capacity by the
spokesman, not as a UN statement, whether the UN
will, in fact, waive immunity so that they can
take some kind of a legal action? They’re
very troubled that the spokesperson…
Spokesman: I… I didn’t see the Q and
A. What I do know is that Mr. Colville
does an outstanding, an outstanding job in
promoting and defending human rights.
Inner City Press: Would you say it’s consistent
with the whistle-blower protections…?
Spokesman: I’m not going to, I’m not going
to talk about things that I don’t know, most of
the time." Really. The UN took most of its
counter-terrorism money from Saudi Arabia, just
as Secretary General Antonio Guterres smiled and
took a $930 million check from Saudi's Crown
Prince and said nothing about Saudi bombing of
Yemen, and now assault on the port of Hodeidah
there. On June 18 the UN in New York held a
so-called background briefing for only some of
the media which cover the UN day to day.
On June 19 Inner City Press asked the Office of
the Spokesperson, the briefer and the UN's
Global Communicator why, with no answer yet in
48 hours. Instead the response has been
frivolous complaints about Inner City Press non-
or anti-spoonfed coverage. And on June 22,
Guterres' UN Security ousted Inner City Press
from the UN without even its laptop, during an
event at which Guterres gave a bragging speech.
Video
here,
story here, new
petition here.July
30, 2018
On
Cameroon Inner
City Press
Asked UN's
Zeid Before
Being Banned
Now A Belated
Statement With
Guterres
Silent
UNITED
NATIONS, July 25 – After the abuses by Cameroon's security forces
have been ignored by the UN, as Inner City
Press has repeatedly asked about them until
being
banned from the UN on July 3 and since, new
leaked videos show summary executions
and manhandling
of prisoners. On July 23 Inner
City Press
raised the
issue, and
that of the
UN's censorship
to
the Italian
Mission to
the UN, which
split its UN
Security
Council term with
the Netherlands
and last year
told Inner
City Press
that Paul Biya's
abuses in
the
Anglophone
areas hadn't
come up on the
Council trip
to Cameroon that it
accompanied.
Nothing, from
Italy and from the
Security
Council as a
whole, not
even an "Any
Other
Business" briefing (Inner
City Press
has, even while
banned from
the UN by
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres who
took Biya's
golden statue,
asked a number
of
non-Security
Council UN
member states
for their position
on convening
a meeting in
the General
Assembly as
has been done
regarding
other
countries; watch
this space). Now
on July 25
from Geneva
outgoing Human
Rights
Commissioner
Prince
Zeid, who
like his
spokesman has
said almost
nothing about
Biya's killings
for the past
year despite
written and in
person
questions from
Inner City
Press before the
ban, has
issued this:
"UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Zeid
Ra’ad Al
Hussein on
Wednesday
expressed deep
alarm at
persistent
reports of
human rights
violations and
abuses in the
English-speaking
Northwest and
Southwest
regions of
Cameroon, as
well as in the
Extreme North. The
High
Commissioner
said it was
regrettable
that the
Government of
Cameroon had
failed to
grant the UN
Human Rights
Office access
to the
Northwest and
Southwest
despite
repeated
requests. “Given
the
seriousness of
the reports of
violence
against
Cameroonians
in the western
part of the
country, we
have asked for
access to be
able to verify
allegations
made against
both security
forces and
armed
elements,”
High
Commissioner
Zeid said. “We
will now need
to explore
other options,
including
remote
monitoring.” What
began as
protests in
October 2016
in the
Northwest and
Southwest
regions
against
structural
discrimination
escalated into
violence in
2017, and the
situation has
worsened
considerably
since then.
There are
reports that
armed elements
have carried
out
kidnappings,
targeted
killings of
police and
local
authorities,
extortion and
have torched
schools. There
are also
reports that
Government
forces are
responsible
for killings,
the excessive
use of force,
burning down
of houses,
arbitrary
detentions and
torture. UN
figures
indicate that
more than
21,000 people
have fled to
neighbouring
countries,
while 160,000
have been
internally
displaced by
the violence,
many
reportedly
hiding in
forests. “To
prevent the
situation from
deteriorating
further, I
urge the
Government to
launch
independent
investigations
into the
reports of
human rights
violations by
State security
forces as well
as abuses by
armed
elements,”
Zeid said. “I
condemn the
attacks by
Cameroonian
armed
elements,
including the
ambush on 13
July near the
town of Kumba
in the
Southwest
region on a
Minister of
Defence
convoy. But
the
heavy-handed
security
response that
the Government
appears to
have employed
since October
last year will
only make
matters worse
for the women,
children and
men caught in
the middle.” The
High
Commissioner
also said he
was “utterly
appalled” by a
horrific video
reportedly
showing
members of the
armed forces
executing a
woman, a child
and a baby
accused of
being members
of Boko Haram. “The
Government of
Cameroon has
an obligation
to investigate
this atrocious
crime
urgently. I am
deeply worried
that these
killings
captured on
camera may not
be isolated
cases,” he
said." We'll
have more on
this, and Guterres'
negligent
delay in
and moral
disqualification
from belatedly
choosing
Zeid's
successor. As
to Italy
Inner City
Press sent a
formal request
to the
Italian
spokesperson who
told it that,
Giovanni
Davoli, and
elsewhere
including the
Mission's official
email
address in UN
Protocol's
Blue Book,
info.italyun
[at] ester.it,
as well as
press.italyun
[at] esteri.it:
"Hello - This
is a request
for your
Italian
Mission's and
Ambassador
comment on the
human rights
abuses by the
Cameroon army
and security
forces, not
only in the
Anglophone
areas (which I
have been
asking about
in the UN
since early
2017) but now
also in the
north, video
linked to in Inner
City Press here,
as
verified by
Amnesty
International, here.
Since
the UN
Security
Council has
not even taken
up the issue
in an Any
Other Business
briefing, with
blockage by
former
colonial
powers France
and the UK,
which recently
bragged of a
UK firm's
natural gas
deal with the
Cameroonian
government,
this is also
to know
whether your
Mission -
which is still
technically on
the Security
Council but
not much seen,
even before
Inner City
Press was
banned since
July 3 for
covering the
UN Budget --
would support
General
Assembly
action on
these Cameroon
and regional
issues, under
Uniting for
Peace or
otherwise.
I am asking
these
questions in
writing now
because I have
been banned
since July 3
from entering
the UN and
could not ask
them inside
the UN
building.
This notifies
your Mission
that I have
been banned
from the UN
since at
latest July 5,
with no due
process. See,
The
Independent
(UK), July 12,
2018, “UN
'roughs up and
bans'
investigative
reporter long
considered
thorn in side
of world body
officials, Mr
Lee has
written about
UN in
connection to
Haiti,
Burundi, Sri
Lanka and
other nations." July
23, 2018
Cameroon
Not Seen By
Human Rights
Watch As Top
90 Problem But
Now Spun For
Money with UN
Censorship
Alliance
UNITED
NATIONS, July 19 – As the crackdown in
Cameroon by 36-year government of Paul Biya
has grown worse and worse in 2017 and 2018 and
Inner City Press has repeatedly asked why UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres only took a
golden statue from Biya in October 2017,
Guterres' UN itself has cracked down, now
having banned Inner City Press from entering
the UN for 15 days and counting. Fox
News story here,
GAP blogs I
and II. Back
on 6 March
2018 before Guterres'
UN
Security had
roughed it up
and banned it,
Inner City
Press asked
Human Rights
Watch official
Jo Becker why the slaugher
in Cameroon
was not even
listed at a
Top-90 problem
in HRW's
2018
"World" report.
Becker told
Inner City Press that HRW has to decide where
to spend the resources it receives, and
apparently didn't see Cameroon as among the 90
countries meriting a look in their "World"
report, nor Gabon or Togo. Video here.
On July 19, with the UN Censorship Alliance,
HRW belatedly and apparently to try to raise
funds off a crisis it had ignored and enabled
held a briefing that was truly disgusting. The
first question was given to a Reuters reporter
who has repeatedly cut off Press questions
about Cameroon. Next was UN Censorship
Alliance figure head saying why not defer to
the AU, which took a golden statue. Then a
Reuters retiree; then a UN staffer doubling as
a UN resident correspondent. It was truly
disgusting. We'll have more on this.
Now on
July 19, with Inner City Press banned from the
UN and, UNlike
for example the Government Accountability
Project, HRW at best doing nothing about this
banning of the Press despite a series of
e-mails to its Ken Roth, Sarah Whitsos and
Akshaya Kumar, HRW has told some it will
present with the UN Censorship Alliance the
following, complete with moral equivalence:
"Human Rights
Watch will release “‘These Killings Can Be
Stopped’: Abuses by Government and Separatist
Groups in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions,” a
report based on an April 2018 mission to the
country. Researchers conducted 82 interviews
with victims and witnesses of abuses and key
informants. Human Rights Watch analyzed
satellite images showing recent
burning in 20 villages and verified half a
dozen videos showing abuses or their
aftermath.
Since late 2016, activists from Cameroon’s
Anglophone minority have been calling for
their region’s independence. Violent
repression of mostly peaceful demonstrations
by government forces in 2016 and 2017 has led
to an escalation of the conflict. Anglophone
separatists have extorted, kidnapped, and
killed civilians, and prevented children from
going to school." The briefers are listed as
Jonathan Pedneault, Mausi Segun, and the
aforementioned Akshaya Kumar, Deputy UN
Director, Human Rights Watch. We'll have more
on this - and on the role of another HRW
official Louis Charbonneau in having lobbied
Guterres' spokesman to get Inner City
Press ousted from the UN, using his link with
this UN Censorship Alliance, then getting
Google to remove his leaked lobbying from
Search as allegedly copyrighted under the US
Digital Millennium Copyright Act. See Lou
Charbonneau's DMCA filing, here.
This is shameful.
Back on
March 6, to make sure its question was not
misunderstood, given the answer, Inner City
Press waited as others from who had skipped
the press conference came in to ask questions,
then showed Ms. Becker the report. She said
she had understood the question. (She did not
explain why "Ashley" who answered for HRW
Press never returned with this answer, nor put
Inner City Press back on HRW's mailing lists).
So who makes these decisions for Human Rights
Watch?
HRW has refused
to provide any read-outs of the issues it raises
to Guterres. Guterres is himself far from
transparent.
July 16,
2018
On
Cameroon Inner
City Press
Asks UNSC
Members About
Videos of
Abuses and UN
Ban, Sweden
1st Reply
UNITED
NATIONS, July 14 – After the abuses by Cameroon's security forces
have been ignored by the UN, as Inner City
Press has repeatedly asked about them until
being
banned from the UN on July 3 and since, new
leaked videos show summary executions
and manhandling
of prisoners. Inner City
Press has asked a number of UN
Security Council about these abuses
and will be reporting on responses.
On
Saturday July 14, after Inner City Press' e-mail
inquiry to Swedish Mission personnel
including Permanent Representativee Olof B. Skoog and
his deputy Carlo Skau, the Mission's
spokesperson
Lisa
Laskaridis proactively
replied,
"Thank you for
your email and
concern. We
continue to
follow the
situation in
Cameroon very
closely, and
we are in
touch with the
U.N. and other
partners. We
have stressed
the importance
of national
dialogue and
the need for
the U.N. to
have access. I
will also
contact Ms.
Smale" -
Alison Smale,
the Under
Secretary General for
Global
Communications
who has declined
to answer
Inner City
Press' seven e-mails
since September
2017 and
5000+ signature
petition.
We'll have
more on
this.
As UN Secretary
General
Antonio Guterres prepared to hold on July
12 his first press conference in UN
Headquarters since January, he so
much wanted to avoid questions
on his failings like that in Cameroon
that he had his UN Security rough
up and oust Inner City Press
and his bureaucracy ban it from the
building. There was, as
picked by Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric (who told
The Independent
the idea that Inner City
Press has been targeted is
"ridiculous"), no question
about Cameroon. And still
no answer to Inner City Press' written
question - on
the
morning of July 11, Inner City
Press asked three Guterres
spokespeople, his deputy,
his chief of staff and his British head of
Communications Alison
Smale questions including
"There is a widely shared
video
of Cameroonian troops
summarily executing
civilians, including women
and infants. What is
Antonio Guterres' response
to this?" While
providing a cursory answer to a
question Inner City Press
submitted about the killing of
civilians in Haiti - essentially
a reference to another organization's
position - these six UN
officials did not even
acknowledge the Cameroon
question. And that remains
true two days
later, so
Inner City Press on
July 13 asked
again: "Two
full days ago
I asked your
Office about
the video of
Cameroon
soldiers
executing
women and
infants. You
have still not
answered. Now
that Amnesty
International
has verified
the video,
what has the
UN done about
it? What will
the UN do?
Relatedly,
what is the
UN's comment
on “Cameroon's
President Paul
Biya has
announced that
he will be a
candidate in
the 7 October
presidential
election that
would, if he
wins, extend
his
35-year-rule.
Biya tweeted
'I am willing
to respond
positively to
your
overwhelming
calls. I will
stand as your
candidate in
the upcoming
presidential
election'"
Inner City
Press asked
other
questions,
including
about its
being banned,
that Haq has
still not
answered. On
Cameroon, he
returned with
this pablum:
"On Cameroon,
we can say the
following now: We
are aware of
the video
circulating on
social media
and welcome
the
announcement
by the
Government of
Cameroon to
open an
investigation
into the
matter. We
urge the
Government to
swiftly and
transparently
conduct the
announced
investigation." Wait - UN
Security's
self-investigation
of physically
assaulting and
ousting Inner
City Press
from covering
the UN
Budget
Committee meeting on
Guterres'
proposals is
neither swift
- it's been
ten days, a
single sham
interview -
nor transparent.
Inner City
Press asked,
without answer: "who
is responsible
for deciding,
between 10 pm
July 3 when I
was assaulted
by UN DSS Lt
Dobbins and
another
UNnamed, and
10 am on July
5, that I was
and am banned
from entering
the UN? Who
participated
in this
decision? Your
office
yesterday told
The
Independent
(UK) that “a
review ha[s]
been launched
into the
manner in
which Mr Lee
had been
removed and
his future
accreditation.”
How my
accreditation
should suffer
for having
been assaulted
by Lt Dobbins
and unnamed
colleagues,
for the second
time in 11
days, is a
mystery or
worse. But
please state
how it is
possible for
DSS to
investigate
itself in this
matter. What
provisions
does the UN
have when
abuse BY UN
Security
officers is
alleged, and
how does it
impact for
example their
New York and
other gun
permits?"
We'll have
more on all of
this. Guterres
lead spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who
will again be
hand picking
the questions
and
questioners
present at
noon on July
12, told
another
reporter on
July 11 that
Inner City
Press' “status
is being
reviewed.
My
understanding
is that he
will be having
discussions
with various
parts of this
administration,
and then we'll
keep you
updated, and
I'm sure he
will keep you
updated. His
credentials
and pass have
been
suspended,
pending
review." Video
here.
This is
all based on
Inner City
Press having
been unjustly,
and
increasingly
violently,
ousted from
the UN on June
22 (during a
Guterres
speech
bragging about
Mali) and July
3, during
consideration
of Guterres'
budget and
reforms, with
mixed results.
Amnesty
International (which
recently
under counted Anglophone deaths in
Cameroon, blocked the Press which asked
and has done
nothing, despite
requests, about
the ban) has verified
the videoJuly 9, 2018
UN
Guterres
Snubbed #MeToo
Club in Vienna
and Beagle and
Haq Ignore
Since While
Banning Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Series
UNITED
NATIONS, July 8 – UN
Secretary General
Antonio Guterres on
May 14 in
Vienna
told UN
staff that sexual exploitation
and abuse is
not relevant,
only sexual
harassment is.
This was
in a
closed-door
Town Hall
meeting on
which Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported, including
Guterres
refusal then
and since to
answer to request by
staff
member Monica
Garcia Montes
to establish a
#MeToo
club at the UN
in Vienna.
Since then, under
Guterres Inner
City Press has
been ousted
and now banned
from the UN,
for covering
his budget and
reform / job
moving
proposals.
Fox News story
here,
GAP blogs I
and II.
Now, while
covering the
UN from the
park in front
of it, Inner
City Press has
obtained
a series of
e-mails
regarding the
#MeToo
club proposal
Guterres
has blocked, some
copied to
Guterres'
spokespeople
including Farhan Haq.
Sample e-mails
exclusively put
online via
Patreon here.
They
include such
outrageous
reasons for
opposing as "Mr
Zabaar said
the Metoo
Movement is in
conflict with
the UN code of
conduct" and
"Ms Kuleshnyk
compared the
name of the
Club with an
hypothetical
Club named
Osama Bin Laden."
A cover letter
recites that "
Mr Guterres
had a staff
meeting in the
VIC on May 14,
2018, and
Monica
publicly asked
him for his
support in a
question. Mr
Guterres
reserved his
reply. This
was documented
here. Immediately
after the
meeting Monica
contacted Mr
Bridi's team
and Mrs
Menendez
replied to her
and
subsequently
called her and
had a long
conversation
with her. The
conclusion of
this
conversation
is that Monica
should contact
Mrs Beagle.
Monica
contacted Mrs
Beagle, but
Mrs Beagle
didn't contact
Monica (her
secretary
called but
nothing else
happened). On
June 25 Monica
sent an e-mail
to Mrs
Menendez
urging her to
provide her
with the reply
of Mr Guterres
on her initial
question about
him supporting
the creation
of the club.
She has
received no
reply to this
date. As a
matter of
fact, apart
from the phone
call from Mrs
Menendez in
May, and as
you can see in
the e-mails
copied below,
highly placed
persons in the
office of Mr
Guterres have
been
systematically
copied, so
that they are
informed of
the progress.
However never
once did
Monica receive
any kind of
reply or
contact from
any of them
ever since."
This is Guterres'
UN. We'll
have more on
this - and on
censorship
which has been
raised to Guterres,
his deputy Amina
J. Mohammed,
his chief
of staff Viotti
and Communicator
Alison Smale,
here.
Earlier
Inner City
Press asked
the UN to
explain
Guterres' statement,
below - and
then was
informed by
sources in
Vienna that
the #MeTooUN problem
there is wider
than
heretofor
reported. An abrupt
resignation at
the
International
Atomic Energy
Agency in
Vienna, of
Tero
Varjoranta, was
by
some like Reuters
linked
to
Trump's
pull out from
the Iran JPCOA
deal. But
Inner City
Press is exclusively
informed
it is more tied to
an incident witnessed
by many, and
inquired into
by press
pursuing the
impunity in
the UN system
for sexual harassament
and
abuse.July 2,
2018
In
Cameroon
Macron Envoy
Lemoyne
Unfurls French
Banner in
Anglophone
Buea With
Soldiers
UNITED
NATIONS, June 30 – Amid the
worsening crackdown by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya in the country's
Anglophone areas (June 12 UK comment below), in
April a video circulated depicting soldiers
burning down homes. Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by many residents
and activists: blue helmet of the type used by
UN peacekeepers. Back on April 30 Inner City
Press asked UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the
video, the day after publishing a story about
it, in Google News. April 30 Q&A video here;
transcript below. When French Minister Jean
Baptiste Lemoyne visited Anglophone South-West
Cameroon this week, amazingly he appeared in
front of a banner welcoming him... entirely in
French, here. His visit was opposed, and there
was a heavy military presence. Some claimed
Macron meant the end of FrancAfrique but this is
a new low. Lemoyne took a golden statue, just
like UNSG Antonio Guterres. We'll have more on
this. On June 27, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' Children and Armed Conflict envoy
Virginia Gamba why Cameroon is not listed in her
new report. Video here.
She said her Office has no presence on the
ground in Cameroon, try of so many of the UN's
observational bodies. Why not? On June 25, the
business day after Guterres' Security ousted
Inner City Press using Emergency Response Unit
guards equipped with automatic weapons, video
here,
story here,
new
petition here) Inner
City Press managed to ask Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq about BBC authenticating
the blue helmet and other images, here.June
25, 2018
At UN 5 Guards
Eject Inner City Press As It Covers Guterres
Talk, Noting His Inaction on Corruption and
Cameroon
UNITED
NATIONS, June 22 – Five UN Security officers,
most with automatic weapons, pushed Inner City
Press' reporter out of the UN on June 22 as it
was filming and preparing to write about
Secretary General Antonio Guterres' claims
about his visit to Mali, where he didn't even
inquire into a recent case child rape by a UN
Peacekeeper. With the event still ongoing,
Inner City Press was approached by UN
Lieutenant Dobbins and told that since it was
just past 7 pm it had to leave the building.
That is
not the rule, nor the practice; in any event,
the Guterres Eid al -Fitr event listed in the
UN Department of Public Information was still
ongoing, making it unquestionable that Inner
City Press had a right to be in the UN and
cover it.
But even as Inner City Press dialed DPI's
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, getting
only voice mail, Dobbins made a call and UN
“Emergency Response Unit” officers arrived,
with barely concealed automatic weapons. One
of them repeatedly pushed Inner City Press'
reporter in the back, forcing him through the
General Assembly lobby toward the exit.
Periscope video here.
UN Under Secretary General Catherine Pollard
was told the ouster and did nothing, as was a
Moroccan diplomat. The heavily armed UN
Security officers refused to give their names
when asked. Lieutenant Dobbins, with no name
plate on his uniform, refused to spell his
name. He said, I have my orders. From who -
Guterres? His Deputy SG or chief of staff,
both of whom were at the event? DSS chief
Drennan? DPI chief Alison Smale?
Inner City Press repeatedly asked to be able
to get its laptop computer, which was upstairs
- there was no way to have known it would be
ousted during Guterres' event.
But
Dobbins and the others refused, as did the UN
Security officers at the gate. Inner City
Press remained there, with dwindling cell
phone battery, raising the issue online to
Smale, under whose watch Inner City Press has
remained in the non-resident correspondent
status it was reduced to for pursuing the Ng
Lp Seng UN bribery case into the UN press
briefing room where Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric ordered it out, then had it
evicted. A DPI representative, whom Inner City
Press asked to call Smale, was unable or
unwilling to even let Inner City Press go in
escorted to get its laptop.
Just in the past week, when Inner City Press
complained of Dujarric providing only to Al
Jazeera the response of Antonio Guterres to
the US leaving the UN Human Rights Council,
Dujarric and the Al Jazeera trio claimed to
MALU that the coverage was “too aggressive.”
Journalism is not a crime? Next week, Antonio
Guterres is set to give remarks, to which
Inner City Press has requested the right to
cover response, to the UN Correspondents
Association, which not only has not acted on
this censorship, but has fueled it.
Inside
the UN the Eid event continued, alongside a
liquor fueled barbeque thrown by UN Security.
This DSS sold tickets to non resident
correspondents, and allowed in people who had
nothing to do with the UN, including some
seeming underage. When Inner City Press
audibly raised the issue to UN Safety and
Security Service chief Mick Brown, he did
nothing.
The Moroccan diplomat emerged and chided Inner
City Press for even telling him of the ouster,
claiming that “25% of what you write is about
Morocco.” Pakistan's Permanent Representative,
who hosted the Eid event, said she would look
into it. Sweden's spokesperson asked whom to
call in DPI and when Inner City Press said,
Alison Smale, responded, Who is Alison Smale?
Indeed.
Smale
has refused to respond in any way, in the
eight months she has been Guterres' “Global
Communications” chief, to a 5000 signature
petition to restore Inner City Press to its
unused office S-303 and to adopt content
neutral media access rules going forward.
That, and appropriate action on Lt. Dobbins
and the others, must be among the next steps.
Watch this site.
June
18, 2018
On Cameroon
Inner City
Press Asked of
UN DSS Staff
in Buea and UN
Says UNaware
of Reports
UNITED
NATIONS, June 14 – Amid the
worsening crackdown by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya in the country's
Anglophone areas (June 12 UK comment below), in
April a video circulated depicting soldiers
burning down homes. Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by many residents
and activists: blue helmet of the type used by
UN peacekeepers. On April 30 Inner City Press
asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the video, the
day after publishing a story about it, in Google
News. April 30 Q&A video here;
transcript below. On June 13, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, Video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you
about Cameroon. I was just listening to
what Mr. Fall said and I just wonder, it
seemed... on Monday, a report was put out by
Amnesty International detailing in some detail
first-hand accounts of torture, burning of
villages, murder of suspects. So, I just…
one, can he do a stakeout? Is he… if he's
the Secretary-General's envoy on the
region…? Number two… and I say it because…
Spokesman: We can ask. As you know,
he hasn't been to… in Cameroon in some time, but
we'll ask.
Inner City
Press:
Right. Other Council members praised his
engagement. I wanted to ask you
that. There's no engagement that you
haven't announced from here?
Spokesman: Not that I'm aware of.
I'm not hiding any engagement.
Inner City
Press:
Right. So, I mean, is the
Secretary-General satisfied with not necessarily
the performance of Mr. Fall, but with the
engagement of the Government, given an Amnesty
International report detailing the torching of
villages…?
Spokesman: I think we have expressed and
we'll continue to express our concern about the
developments in the area.
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask… you may
not know, but photos have come out of UNDSS
[United Nations Department of Safety and
Security] personnel in Buea, which is a town in
Anglophone Cameroon, quite a few of them.
And… and I'm… so people don't know what they're
doing there. This goes back to the… sort
of distrust from the Blue Helmet at one of the
torching sites. Is there some way you can
find out… if there's some… is there some
engagement taking place?
Spokesman: I'll find out." A full day
later, nothing. Dujarric was spotted watching
the World Cup in the UN Delegates Lounge bar, bt
he did not do the UN's June 14 briefing. So
Inner City Press asked his deputy Farhan Haq,
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Dujarric] yesterday had said…
I'd asked him a pretty… pretty straightforward
questions, that there… there are photos
circulating. Many people in Anglophone
Cameroon are concerned about it, of several… a
team of UNDSS [Department of Safety and
Security] personnel in Buea at the Mountain
Hotel in blue t-shirts. What is the
purpose of that deployment?
Deputy Spokesman: Regarding that, we've
asked our colleagues in the Department of Safety
and Security. They're actually unaware of
what these reports are, but they are following
up." How?
June 11, 2018
On
Cameroon UK
Told Inner
City Press
Monitoring But
Brags Of New
Age Oil Deal
UNITED
NATIONS, June 8 – Amid the
worsening crackdown by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya in the country's
Anglophone areas, in April a video circulated
depicting soldiers burning down homes. Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by many residents
and activists: blue helmet of the type used by
UN peacekeepers. On April 30 Inner City Press
asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the video, the
day after publishing a story about it, in Google
News. April 30 Q&A video here;
transcript below. Why hasn't the UN Security
Council had a single meeting about the
government's killings in Cameroon, specifically
in the former British Southern Cameroons?
Previous UK ambassador Matthew Rycroft, and now
his successors, tell Inner City Press the UK
continues to monitor the issue, even as the UK
denied in full Inner City Press' request for
documents under the UK Freedom of Information
Act, and the UK Mission to the UN siddles up
only to the media which don't ask them about the
issue. Now this outrage: the UK is bragging
about a big natural gas deal with Paul Biya's
government, through a London based company
called New Age. Minister Liam Fox "announced
today a deal worth more than £1.5 billion had
been secured by a UK company to deliver natural
gas project in Cameroon." More detailed,
"Following Trade Minister, Baroness Fairhead’s,
meeting with Minister Secretary General
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, London based oil and gas
company, New Age, and the Cameroon Government
have agreed a deal which will see the
development of a floating natural gas project in
Cameroon utilising the offshore Etinde gas
field. The project is of huge importance to the
African country, who will be able to ramp up
their gas export operation, in turn generating a
huge revenue stream for the public treasury,
whilst also helping to develop offshore
infrastructure in support of future local power
generation." This is on the UK.gov website, here.
We'll have more on this. On June 7, Inner City
Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you
this. It has to do with Cameroon.
It's reported that Samuel Eto’o, the football
player, as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, will be
touring with Government officials [in] the
Anglophone areas trying to encourage people to
either go back to school or stop protesting, and
so there's a lot of pushback against him.
And I wanted to know, one, when's the last time
Mr. [Francois Lounceny] Fall was in the
area? Maybe you have it or could find it
out… I want to compare.
Spokesman: No, I mean there's nothing more
than what is publicly known.
Inner City Press:
Would Samuel Eto’o’s trip, if it takes place —
he's in Yaoundé — would it be as a UN Goodwill
Ambassador? And, if so, what would you say
to the…?
Spokesman: I have to check what his status
is and who he actually worked for.
Inner City Press:
Well, people are saying that he's said nothing
about this crisis the whole time…
Spokesman: No, no, I'm not debating you. I
just have to see what… the details.
Inner City Press: Can you… okay. I'd
appreciate an answer on that." But 23 hours
later, nothing. Dujarric waited until the June 8
noon briefing, when he read out: "I was asked
yesterday about a visit, I think by you Matthew,
by [football star] Samuel Eto’o to Anglophone
Cameroon. UNICEF has told us that this was
a private visit to Cameroon, and that this was
done completely outside his role as UNICEF
National Goodwill Ambassador." Video here.
We'll see.
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Inner City Archives 2006