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 Castańeda 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 Ł1.5 billion had
been secured by a UK company to deliver natural
gas project in Cameroon." More detailed,
"Following Trade Minister, Baroness Fairhead’s,
meeting with Minister Secretary General
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, London based oil and gas
company, New Age, and the Cameroon Government
have agreed a deal which will see the
development of a floating natural gas project in
Cameroon utilising the offshore Etinde gas
field. The project is of huge importance to the
African country, who will be able to ramp up
their gas export operation, in turn generating a
huge revenue stream for the public treasury,
whilst also helping to develop offshore
infrastructure in support of future local power
generation." This is on the UK.gov website, here.
We'll have more on this. On June 7, Inner City
Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you
this. It has to do with Cameroon.
It's reported that Samuel Eto’o, the football
player, as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, will be
touring with Government officials [in] the
Anglophone areas trying to encourage people to
either go back to school or stop protesting, and
so there's a lot of pushback against him.
And I wanted to know, one, when's the last time
Mr. [Francois Lounceny] Fall was in the
area? Maybe you have it or could find it
out… I want to compare.
Spokesman: No, I mean there's nothing more
than what is publicly known.
Inner City Press:
Would Samuel Eto’o’s trip, if it takes place —
he's in Yaoundé — would it be as a UN Goodwill
Ambassador? And, if so, what would you say
to the…?
Spokesman: I have to check what his status
is and who he actually worked for.
Inner City Press:
Well, people are saying that he's said nothing
about this crisis the whole time…
Spokesman: No, no, I'm not debating you. I
just have to see what… the details.
Inner City Press: Can you… okay. I'd
appreciate an answer on that." But 23 hours
later, nothing. Dujarric waited until the June 8
noon briefing, when he read out: "I was asked
yesterday about a visit, I think by you Matthew,
by [football star] Samuel Eto’o to Anglophone
Cameroon. UNICEF has told us that this was
a private visit to Cameroon, and that this was
done completely outside his role as UNICEF
National Goodwill Ambassador." Video here.
We'll see. June 4,
2018
As
North Korea's
Kim Yong Chol
Heads to DC,
Pompeo Cites
72 Hours of
Progress in
Presser
UNITED
NATIONS, May 31 – On the much discussed North
Korea - US talks, US President Donald Trump on
May 29 tweeted,
"Meetings are currently taking place concerning
Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice
Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New
York." On May 30 just before 7 pm Kim Yong Chol
and security, as well as at least one staffer
from the US Mission to the UN, exited the
Millennium Hilton hotel on 44th Street across
from the UN and piled into a series of black
cars, pursued by media. See 2 minutes and 20
seconds of Inner City Press' Periscope feed, here.
They drove to 330 East 38th Street, the
Corinthian Condominium where many war crimes
linked diplomats have lived and the US leases a
condo for its deputy ambassador; they dined for
1 hour and 26 minutes on "American beef." On May
31 after a two and a half hour meeting at the
Corinthian, Pompeo held a short press conference
at the Lotte Palace Hotel at 2:15 pm. Inner City
Press arrived as required at 1:15 pm; there was
a full stand up by Fox then another cut short by
someone's ring tone. Periscope video here.
Pompeo took four questions (Bloomberg, WSJ, ABC
and Fox) and was upbeat but declined to entirely
confirm the June 12 talks are on. Why could he,
if another statement like those on Bolton and
Pence could get it called off again? Looks like
it's a go. Will UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres (again out of town until May 31, when
he canceled the press Q&A he had scheduled)
try to make himself relevant? Seems not. On
travel ban exemptions, the UN Security
Council website as Inner City
Press exclusively
reported is to be run by the
"self employed" husband of the
chief of staff of the
Department of Political
Affairs. The Dutch have a role
in this website, DPA
whistleblowers tell Inner City
Press. We'll have more on
this. Back
on May 24 Trump wrote to Kim Jong Un, "based on
the tremendous anger and open hostility
displayed in your most recent statement, I feel
it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this
long-planned meeting." Simultaneously, UN
Secretary General put out a statement - praising
North Korea for destruction of an already played
out testing site. The UN under Guterres remains
out of date, irrelevant and worse.May 28,
2018
After
UN Discloses
Rape Case in
Mali, Inner
City Press
About
Accountability,
Cut Off,
Guterres May
29
UNITED
NATIONS, May 25 -- UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres says
he has a "zero
tolerance"
policy for
sexual
harassment,
and for
retaliation. But
when Inner
City Press
asked
Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan
Haq on March
15 about
Michel
Sidibé's reported
threats of retaliatory
investigations
against those
making
and offering
support to sexual
harassment
complaints at
UNAIDS, Haq said
this is entire
a matter for
UNAIDS. Earlier
Inner City
Press story here; exclusive
publication of
whistleblowers'
international
condemnation
of retaliation
and favoritism
in Sidibe's
UNAIDS, below.
On May
22 at 5:30 pm,
the UN
disclosed a
rape
allegation against
one of its
civilian
contractors in
Mali, in the
MINUSMA mission in
2018. The
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services,
whose director
has declined Press
requests to
take questions
about OIOS'
procedures,
is the one
investigating
it. But why
isn't it
a crime
subject to
real prosecution by
Mali?
Inner City
Press asked
Haq on May 25,
UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: an
additional
case of child
rape by a
civilian
contractor of
the UN in
Mali, and
unlike for
military
personnel, it
doesn't
disclose, one
the
nationality,
and two it's a
pretty serious
charge, and
the
Secretary-General
is obviously
going there
for the Day of
the
Peacekeepers,
so I wanted to
know what's
the
nationality of
the
contractor?
How did the UN
become aware
of this?
And what… in
the serious
instance of
alleged child
rape, what is
the UN going
to do about
it?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I don't have
the
nationality to
share with
you.
What I can say
is that
MINUSMA has
received a
report of
sexual abuse
involving a
national
civilian
contractor, so
this… I assume
from that what
the
nationality
is, but it
says it
involves a
national
civilian
contractor.
The
allegations
refer to the
rape of a
female minor,
resulting in
her
pregnancy.
The incident
allegedly took
place at an
unspecified
date in
2018.
Ensuring the
provision of
assistance to
the victims is
our
priority.
The victim has
been referred
to UNICEF
[United
Nations
Children’s
Fund] and an
NGO
[non-governmental
organization]
partner for
appropriate
medical,
psychosocial,
and legal
support.
The Mission
also stands
ready to
provide
additional
assistance as
needed and the
allegation is
currently
being
investigated
by the Office
of Internal
Oversight
Services
(OIOS).
Inner
City
Press: If,
in fact, the
contractor is
Malian and the
victim is
Malian, why
wouldn't… why
would not this
be a criminal
matter for
actual
prosecution in
Mali? Is
the person
given immunity
simply by
being a UN
contractor?
What is it…
like, for
example, what
was this
person doing
for the UN…?
Deputy
Spokesman:
You would have
to ask the
Malian
authorities
whether
there's any
criminal
prosecution
being followed
up in that
case.
That is a
matter between
the contractor
and the
Government of
Mali.
I've given you
the details on
our side.
Inner
City Press: But
what was the
contractor
doing?
You say he's a
contractor,
just to
understand a
little bit
better how
someone could
get immunity
for child
rape, what
services were
their
performing for
the UN?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I didn't say
that any…
first of all,
there's not
immunity for
crimes that
are
committed.
Second of all,
I didn't say
that immunity
was in play.
Inner
City Press: Is
it immunity
from local
prosecution?
[Inaudible]…
rape by the
UN…
Deputy
Spokesman:
Again, you
would have to
ask… no, it's
not by the
UN.
Like I said,
it's by a
national
contractor.
Second of all,
you would have
to check with
the Malian
authorities
whether they
are following
up with
criminal
charges." The
"inaudible"
was a correspondent
often used
by the UN for
this purpose
trying to cut
off the follow
up on UN child
rape with an
unrelated
question.
We'll have
more on this.
May 21,
2018
At UN,
Guterres To
Move NYC Jobs
to Mexico
City, Budapest
and Nairobi,
290 From
Uganda, ICP
Asks
UNITED
NATIONS, May 18 – At the UN with Antonio
Guterres 17 months into his term as Secretary
General, there's talk of reform but little
transparency. The attempted power-grab of the
resident coordinator system has yet to be
approved; the proponents have yet to answer
Press questions. Guterres' proposed Global
Service Delivery Model (GSDM) may, despite
Guterres' murky attempts to over-ride his
advisory team's recommendations, be an
exception, as it would eliminate jobs in New
York, jobs held by Americans. The proposal,
which Inner City Press first wrote about in
early March, is to move to cheaper location(s)
back office functions like human resources,
payments and payroll.
Inner City
Press has reported -- and has published full
documents on Patreon,here--
the four cities in Guterres' initial filing
with ACABQ, the UN's Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary Questions. They
were Budapest, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City and
Nairobi. The first three were each the product
of conflict of interest. Guterres wanted
Budapest, those involved say, in order to
support or cover up his Budapest move while at
UNHCR. But given Victor Orban's statements,
why is Antonio "Mister Migration" Guterres
tweaking the process to reward Hungary? On
Kuala Lumpur, UNDP in that country "lent" John
Kidd to mediate or change the outside
consultants' recommendations - and include KL.
Now Malaysia has said it cannot or will not
commit the requisite resources, and Inner City
Press is informed - not by Guterres
spokespeople which it has repeatedly asked -
that Kuala Lumpur is out. And then there were
three. Inner City Press asked in each article
in this series, What will happen to Entebbe
which was set up by DFS for their GFSS Global
Field Support Strategy? And now Uganda's
Museveni has protested to Guterres, without
response. Museveni called the decision
"unfair;" his foreign minister Sam Kutesa has
threatened to call a vote in the General
Assembly, of which he was president (and
allegedly acceptedbribesfrom
Patrick Ho of China Energy Fund Committee,
still in Special Consultative status with UN
ECOSOC. On May 7, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, again,
about the GSDM and specifically about Uganda -
and it turns out Guterres spoke with Kutesa,
though presumably not about the CEFC bribery
scandal, on which Guterres has yet to act.
From the UNtranscript:
Inner City Press: I want to ask you again
about this global service delivery
mechanism. Seems that… you'd said you
were going to give some granular guidance, but
I wanted to ask you if it's the case that
Kuala Lumpur has dropped out of the four
cities and, if so, why, and also if you can
confirm the receipt of a letter by the
President of Uganda protesting their
non-selection in… despite having this Entebbe
situation and the various critiques he's made
in it. There's been a call… at least
they've said that Sam Kutesa, which… a name
from the past, may call a vote in the General
Assembly about the selection of Nairobi over
them. And staff are… are… many people
and I've asked here to see the underlying
recommendations of how these cities were
selected.
Spokesman: Not aware of Kuala
Lumpur. On Entebbe, the
Secretary-General spoke last week with the
Foreign Minister of Uganda to explain the
situation to him. A number of functions
related to peacekeeping will remain in
Entebbe.
Inner City
Press:
Could I ask you…
Spokesman: Go ahead.
Inner City Press: I want to ask you another…
since it seem… so, was that called before or
after the reported letter from the President?
Spokesman: It was before. I'm not…
I can't confirm the letter's been received."
On May 18, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman
Farhan Haq about reports in Uganda, videohere
May
14, 2018
UN
Guterres Met
Finland FM,
His Security
Ordered Inner
City Press To
Not Periscope
UNITED
NATIONS, May 11 – UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres met Finland's Foreign Minister Timo
Soini on May 11, and Inner City Press went up
intending to photograph (Alamy photos here)
and stream Periscope video as it had with
Iceland's President in the morning. But once in
Guterres' conference room, two UN Security
officers told Inner City Press it could not
Periscope. "But I did this morning," Inner City
Press replied. "That because there were
remarks," one of the officers said. No more that
in this Finnish one: Guterres' small talk, of
the type his predecessor Ban Ki-moon routinely
allowed to be recorded and even used to praise
his visitor. Was this because Inner City Press
Periscoped Guterres telling Egypt's Ambassador
to convey his "warm regards" to Sisi? Wasn't
that newsworthy? The other UN Security officer
declined to explain - UNTV was shooting video,
but would apparently be counted on to censor
anything embarrassing. "This is on the order of
the speechwriter," one of the UN Security
officers said. But who is the speechwriter? It
is certainly not spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
who tried earlier in the week to entirely ban
Inner City Press from photo ops, saying they
were only for photo agencies (clarified to be,
those who do not write). So is it the writing
that is the problem? Periscope or not, those
present hear what is said, and see where they
are brought through. Since we have been
censored, here's writing for example about
Guterres' back pillow, brought back and forth
from his office to the conference room. The
menus and place cards, for exmple for Rosemary
DiCarlo (the swearing in of whom Inner City
Press was banned from). How about that the
meeting, at most, lasted ten minutes, since when
Inner City Press went at the appointed 2:40 pm
time for Guterres' photo with UN Force
Commanders it had already happened, ten minutes
early? What is wrong with today's UN? What are
they so willing to censor to ensure is not
shown? Earlier on May 11 Guterres met Iceland's
President Gudni Th. Johannesson and First Lady
Eliza Reid and Inner City Press openly
Periscoped; other than in-house UNTV and UN
Photo, Inner City Press was the only media
there. Alamy
photo, Periscope.
This
came two days after Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric had Inner City Press blocked from
covering Guterres' meeting with Al Sharpton
while allow another media to cover. Dujarric
said he was trying to bring "order" by excluding
any photographer who also writes articles like
this one. That is clearly censorship, but the
decision was not revoked; Dujarric called Inner
City Press "self-centered" for questioning it.
Video here.
We'll have more on this - and on Finland, where
Gudni Th.
Johannesson will visit on May
15, when Guterres will also
again be in Europe. In other
news, Eliza Reid recent
presented the Icelandic crime
writing award to Eva Björg
Ćgisdóttir. Guterres' UN is
ripe for crime writing, what
with the still unacted on UN bribery
by Patrick Ho's China Energy
Fund Committee, still in
special consultative status
with UN ECOSOC. Watch this
site. Guterres
disclosed the existence of a meeting with Martin
Luther King III and Kweku Mandela at 3:30 pm on
May 9 - but Inner City Press was not allowed as
before to go up to the UN's 38th floor and
photograph it. It was told that since it also
files written reports, it is not a photo agency.
This is the new censorship system of Guterres
and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. So Inner
City Press waited as it its right in the lobby,
until Martin Luther King II came down - with Al
Sharpton. Photo here.
Inner City Press asked the two what they
discussed with Guterres and was told it is still
premature to announce it. Periscope video from here.
Tellingly, there was no UNTV camera there, and a
lone non-UN paid photographer. Whether he
writes, as Inner City Press is accused of, is
not known, including to the UN. Another attendee
told Inner City Press Guterres was rude and
dismissive to some of the attendees, including
it seems Kweku Mandela, not shaking his hand -
we can't dispute, as we weren't there by the
Guterres / Dujarric "rules." On May 10 Inner
City Press asked Dujarric about it. He said he
didn't know Sharpton had been there, and
stonewalled on the censorship "rule" he had put
forward. Video here.May
7, 2018
At UN Press
Restricted
From Covering
Guterres'
Lusophone
Garden Party,
Kids Climb
Slavery
Memorial
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 5 – The UN Media Alert for May 5
listed a “Portuguese Language Day
Celebration;” when Inner City Press asked the
spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres it was told there would be remarks
by Guterres, who is increasingly rarely in New
York. Events in the UN Media Alert are open to
all journalists - but in today's UN, rules
mean little.
On May 5 UN
Security stopped Inner City Press saying, No,
I know who you are. Another UN Security
Officer asked, Why don't you like the UN?
Haiti cholera
impunity came to mind, or UN Security
Deputy Chief McNulty throwing Inner City
Press' laptop on the sidewalk when it was
evicted (audio here)
for covering an event in the UN Press Briefing
Rule - also ostensibly open to all
journalists.
On My 5
while UN Security was focused on making it
impossible for Inner City Press to do its job,
they allowed children, presumably Lusophone,
to play on the UN's slavery memorial, which
its Department of Public Information took
money for from now convicted UN briber Ng Lap
Seng, even according to the UN's own audit.
The UN was turned into Antonio Guterres'
Lusophone garden party. Any number of state
media, like rarely present Egyptian Akhbar al
Yom to which DPI under Alison Smale continues
to assign Inner City Press' long time work
space to, could enter and cover the event
without no interaction much less blocking by
UN Security. (Smale retweeted Guterres'
Portuguese language self celebration, here
- but could not or would not assure that the
Press could cover the event, in the Media
Alert, and has not in eight months responded
to 5000 signature petitions
and request for reinstatement and rules).
The May
5 targeting of Inner City Press -- "I know who
you are" -- is allowed by downgrading and
keeping down Inner City Press as "non resident
correspondent," while giving full resident
correspondent status to no-show state media
like Akhbar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef who has not
asked the UN a question in more than a decade.
Inner City Press, by contrast, is required to
have a minder. But the UN is a place now of
targeted censorship - the cancellation
by the UN Alliance of Civilizations is just
the most recent example. We'll have more on
this.
April
30, 2018
UN in DRC
Drone
Procurement
Ousts Low
Bidder, Lets
In Firm Under
Probe, ICP
Asks, Dodge
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED
NATIONS, April 27 -- In UN
Procurement, the lowest bidder
doesn't always win, the UN confirmed
on March 26 in response to Inner
City Press' March 23 question.
Rather than e-mail the statement to
Inner City Press which asked, UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
spoksman Farhan Haq waited to read
it out at the March 26 noon
briefing, and then refused to answer
questions about it. See transcript,
and below. Today's UN is corrupt.
Now it's even clearer: after ousting
the low bidder PPI, UN Procurement
has let in a company, Aeronautics
Ltd a/k/a Aeronautics Defense
Systems, which is under
investigation and had a contract
canceled in Romania in 2017, like
one in Poland in 2012, and Mexico in
2009. On April 27, after publishing
the above, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I had asked you
before about the procurement of
drones for MONUSCO [United Nations
Stabilization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo] in
the DRC, and I think the upshot of
this back-and-forth is that the low
bidder doesn't necessarily get the
bid, but it's since emerged that a…
a company has been allowed in as… as
now, the presumptive front-runner,
Aeronautics Defence Systems, which
will actually banned from… had
contracts terminated in Romania in
2017 and Poland in 2012, so many…
the people that are… that are, you
know, following this to see how
money is being spent… what's the…
the… it's one thing to say, you
know, the low bidder, we can
investigate them and not do them,
but then how can a company be
brought in…?
Spokesman: Look, I don't have
all the facts on the top of my
head. What I do know is that
obviously, it's always the lowest…
it's the low bidder with the best
possible bid. I mean, you
know, what the process is. All
vendors go through a vetting
process. I have no information
on this particular company or know
whether or not they are, in fact,
part of the bidding process.
Inner City Press: Is past… is past
record of completion or termination
of contracts part of the…?
Spokesman: Everything is
looked at in the procurement
process." Really? Inner City
Press was exclusively informed that
in the bidding for the UN's
Democratic Republic of the Congo UAS
or Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones)
program, the low bidder is being
displaced by more favored companies,
unilaterally, by UN Procurement
chief Dmitry Dovgopoly.
The
story, exclusive to Inner City
Press, goes like this: out to bid is
a $50 million contract to provide
Unmanned Aerial Systems services to
the UN's MONUSCO in the DRC for a
term of five (3 + 1 + 1) years. The
present company, Leonardo, has a
contract which expires in November.
PPI beat out Leonardo, CAE, Thales,
Qintetiq, Airbus and Trans Capital.
But
shortly after our award, UN
Procurement chief Dmitry Dovgopoly
refused to approve the agreed upon
terms and demanded PPI perform a
demonstration flight prior to
contract signature. Inner City Press
covered
Dovgopoly and similar tricks back
when he was at the “D-1” level, and
received pushback and is currenty still
restricted to minders in the UN for
pursuing
its anti-corruption
coverage
into the UN Press Briefing
Room, its
work space purportedly assigned to a
no-show Eygptian state corresponent
Sanaa Youssef who has not asked a
question in ten years.
April
23, 2018
On North Korea
Talks, Kim
Talks Freeze,
UN Stonewalls
From Margins,
Amid
Mis-Reporting
UNITED
NATIONS, April 20 -- The Trump - Kim
talks, primed by Mike Pompeo's visit
to Pyongyang, have had their
location sweepstakes narrowed down,
excluding the US. On April 17,
"Pooler yelled out to Trump if any
of those are in the US. He shook his
head and said no." Could the UN's
Geneva be in the running? Or is the
UN running to try to remain
relevant? The UN
Security Council is on retreat in Sweden,
accompanied by UN Secretary General and, Inner
City Press first reported, UN Disarmament
chief Izumi
Nakamitsu. On the 38th floor the word
was that her agenda is "OPCW" - that is,
Douma. And North Korea? No other media was up
on the 38th floor for this, other than Inner
City Press. And no other media, as Inner City
Press did, asked the UN on April 20 to name
who else is at the retreat. Now Kim Jong Un
announces he will freeze testing, having
accomplished his goals. On CNN it was said
this is a gambit to outlast Trump. But if the
talks go badly, will things last even two more
years? Inner City Press ran into Nakamitsu
after she had a meeting preparing for the
retreat with Guterres and his Political (some
say, Cameroon) adviser
Khassim Diagne. The UN Secretariat has
yet to release a list of
the officials
it is bringing to the
retreat, so this report is a
scoop-lette.
Sweden's Deputy
Ambassador Carl Skau's joke
the previous day about
making the Council members
sit silent and listen to
music, perhaps Bach as Dag
Hammarskjold famously did,
came up. But what music?
Inner City Press is covering
this. At
an April 18 press conference Inner City Press
asked what seemed an obvious journalistic
question: who's paying? Video here.
April
16, 2018
On Syria, After Trump Strikes and Russia Draft Fails
in UNSC, Sullivan Calls Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait and Czech
UNITED NATIONS, April 14
– At 9 pm on April 13 US
President
Donald
Trump announced airstrikes
on Syria, with
the UK and
Syria. In the
UN, Inner City
Press rushed
from the
phone booth it
works in to
the UN
Security
Council, only
to find the
music and
drinkers still
pulsing from
the UN
Delegates
Lounge. Video here. Russia
called a UN
Security
Council
meeting and
had a draft
resolution
voted on. It
failed, with
three in favor
(China,
Bolivia and
Russia), eight
against and
four
abstentions.
(Ethiopia
called its
abstention
pragmatic).
Video here.
Now the US
lists
calls made by
Acting Secretary of
State
Sullivan: "The
following is
attributable
to
Spokesperson
Heather
Nauert: On
April 14,
2018, Acting
Secretary
Sullivan made
the following
calls to
foreign
leaders to
brief on the
strikes in
Syria: Kuwaiti
Foreign
Minister Al
Sabah, Czech
Foreign
Minister
Stropnicky, Turkish
Under
Secretary
Yalcin, Iraqi
Foreign
Minister
al-Jaafari." Some
wonder, why Czech
Republic,
where Chinese
businessman
and briber Ye
Jianming
remains an
adviser to the
President?
Meanwhile
there are
reports of air
strikes on
Jabal Azzan -
watch this
site. After
the UNSC
meeting, Inner
City Press
asked Russia's
Vassily Nebenzia if
any of the
abstentions
surprised him.
He stopped and
said that
Russia doesn't
twist any
arms, it is a
sovereign decision
of each
country. UN
Secretary General
Antonio
Guterres left
with his
entourage;
Inner City
Press asked
quite audibly.
so are you
going to Saudi
Arabia now? He
didn't answer;
Inner City Press
has asked his two
top spokesmen
now in writing
to be informed,
hour by hour.
It is, after
all, public money.
Watch this
site. The
failed draft
at the end,
“Condemns the
aggression
against the
Syrian Arab
Republic by
the US and its
allies in
violation of
international
law and the UN
Charter [and]
Demands that
the US and its
allies
immediately
and without
delay cease
the aggression
against the
Syrian Arab
Republic and
demands also
to refrain
from any
further use of
force in
violation of
international
law and the UN
Charter.”
Russian
Ambassador
Vassily
Nebenzia mocked
the UK and
France as
having joined
a military
action based
only on
the US
Constitution;
he used the
word "neo
colonialism."
Moments
before, Nikki
Haley,
entering the
UN Security
Council at 11
am on April 14
paused and
said, The time
for talk was over
and the time
for action had
come, that's
what happened
last
night. As she
kept walking,
there was a
shouted
question: What
is the proof? Vine
video here.
Earlier on
April 14 at
the Pentagon,
Lt Gen Kenneth
McKenzie
bragged that
there had been
no
military
response, and
that the
deconfliction
channel was
working with
Russia. Earlier
still on
April 14, the
Organization
for the
Prohibition of
Chemical
Weapons announced,
"The
Fact-Finding
Mission (FFM)
team of the
Organisation
for the
Prohibition of
Chemical
Weapons (OPCW)
will continue
its deployment
to the Syrian
Arab Republic
to establish
facts around
the
allegations of
chemical
weapons use in
Douma. The
OPCW has been
working in
close
collaboration
with the
United Nations
Department of
Safety and
Security to
assess the
situation and
ensure the
safety of the
team." April
9, 2018
Amid UN
Bribery of Ng
Lap Seng and
CEFC China
Energy,
Guterres Spun
Xinhua, ICP on
Xi's Vase to
Kim
UNITED
NATIONS, April 7 -- As UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres took off on
his trip to China, Inner City Press
which has pursued the UN bribery
scandals of Ng Lap Seng and now the
China Energy Fund Committee asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on April 6 if Guterres will
address any of these issues during
his five days in the country.
Dujarric was dismissive, and ended
the briefing. Video here;
UN transcript
here and below. This cutting
off of public quesitons happened
after Guterres gave a private (self)
promotional interview to China's
state media Xinhua, touting the trip
and China as "absolutely essential"
on the North Korea nuclear issue.
Dujarric race off the podium made it
impossible to ask him for Guterres'
opinion on if the gifts given to Kim
Jong Un on his recent train trip to
China violated the UN's 1718
sanctions. Then again, the UN's own
World Intellectual Property
Organization helped on North Korea's
cyanide patents without telling the
1718 Committee, and Guterres has
been as hands-off with WIPO's Gurry
as he has been with UNAIDS' Michel
Sidibe on the sexual harassment and
retaliation scandal. We'll have more
on this. From the UN's April 6
transcript: Inner City Press: I
wanted to ask about the… the trip to
China by the
Secretary-General. You know,
as you know there's… there's one
being concluded and one still active
UN bribery cases pending in the
Southern District of New York.
Most recently…
Spokesman: I don't agree with
your characterization.
Inner
City Press:
They're both about bribing the
PGA. I guess you can say the
PGA is not really the UN, but…
Spokesman: Go ahead. Go
ahead.
Inner City Press: Okay.
So my question is since there seems
to be a pattern of… in two cases,
one was Ng Lap Seng, South-South
News, who Vivian Wang has now
pleaded guilty. The other is
the China Energy Fund Committee,
which remains in consultative status
with ECOSOC [Economic and Social
Council]. Is this an issue
that the Secretary-General, in
visiting the home base of both
operations, and both are alleged to
be Government connected?
Spokesman: The United Nations
has cooperated with the Southern
District here in New York in
whatever way we can in any and all
investigations. The legal
process here has played itself out
and is playing itself out, and as
for the accreditation of the ECOSOC
accreditation, as I've told you
numerous times, it's a member state
issue…". And then Dujarric ran off
the podium. We'll have more on this.
The UN has been targeting not only
Inner City Press for censorship, but
also its sources, for retaliation.
It
was reported and quoted here:
"Looks like UN is making efforts to
ID people who send stuff to media:
'Identified a computer used to print
an email that was later leaked to
Inner City Press, by correlating an
URL on the top of the leaked
document with Webmail & DHCP
logs.' Are they punishing
whistleblowers?"
Well,
yes. And the investigative Press.
On
March 14, Inner City Press asked UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about
the above-quoted and he said, since
the UN has confidential information
it can and does investigate leaks
and leakers. Video here.
But isn't that, in leaks to Inner City
Press ranging from Burundi to Cameroon
to cover ups to North Korea, going
after whistleblowers? Haq dodged, and
Inner City Press asked if a person who
leaked the memo to Kofi Annan about
impending genocide in Rwanda would be
investigated. Apparently yes - but Haq
again claimed that there is no
retaliation. What about Anders
Kompass, fired after releasing a
document bout French peacekeepers'
rapes in Central African Republic? Or
Miranda Brown? Or Emma Reilly? On
March 15, after asking Haq about
threats of retaliation made at and by
UNAIDS, Inner City Press asked what
type of leak the UN investigates, and
for whom. Haq said any kind the UN
wants, and ostensibly for member
states. Video here.
April
1, 2018
After UN
Guterres
Refused Press
Question on
UNAIDS #MeToo,
To Lisbon For
4 Days, Slow
UNITED NATIONS,
March 31 – For Antonio
Guterres' 15 months as UN Secretary General he has
gotten less and
less transparent, about
meetings and read-outs and
even where he is. At one
point for more than a week
his
spokespeople refused to
answer the Press on
where he was, finally
saying "Europe." On March
29, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' top
three spokespeople a simple
question: "where *is*
the Secretary General?
And where will he be,
each day prior to his
appearance Monday in
Geneva? Again,
has the Secretary
General or anyone in
his team spoken with
Michel Sidibe of
UNAIDS following the
reports of his threats
to staff who have come
forward with
harassment
complaints?" Past 4 PM
on March 30, despite
Guterres'
spokespeople putting
out a statement
from
him about Liberia,
no answer.
His absence was
noted at a
protest in front
of the UN, here
(and later at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
Gaza). More
than 17
hours after
the question
was asked, and
asked again,
finally this
from Guterres'
spokesperson:
"the SG
is in Lisbon." There -
was that so
difficult? The
question of
costs, of four
days in Lisbon
based
off an
appearance
Tuesday in
Geneva, amid
protests and
the Gaza
crisis and
inaction by UN
Headquarters
on sexual harassment
and
retaliation at
UNAIDS
and elsewhere
is another
question. And
there are
still other
questions left
unanswered,
for example
"what is the
UN's position,
and what has
the UN done,
about the
detention then
deportation of
Kenya
opposition
figure Miguna
Miguna, and
the beating of
journalists
covering it in
the Nairobi
airport?
Does
the UN have
anything more
to say about
Somalia's
complaint
about UAE's
deal with
Somaliland for
port and
military base,
other than
that it is a
bilateral
matter between
Somalia and
the UAE?"
We'll have
more on this.
On March 29
Guterres
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
question about
sexual
harassment
at UNAIDS,
about
which Inner
City Press
has been
asking the UN
all
year and which
will be on CNN
International
on March 30, while protesters
from Southern
Cameroons
/ Ambazonia
gather across
from the UN to
have their voices heard.
But where
IS Guterres?
We'll have
more on this. Only two
weeks ago
Guterres found yet
another reason to visit, with public
funds, his home in Lisbon. He
also investigates
whistleblower,
presumably for
retaliation, here.March
26, 2018
On
Cameroon, ICP
Asked
Nigeria's
Ambassador
About the 47
Taken, UN Not
Sure DSG Will
Raise
UNITED
NATIONS, March
22 -- The deference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
36-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity in
his
recent
crackdown,
continues. UN
Deputy
Secretary
General Amina
J. Mohammed
was in Abuja
as 47 people
were illegally
refouled to
Cameroon;
she has been
silent on
that, as on
continuing
restrictions
on the Press
in her UN. She
will be back
in Abuja on
March 23-24.
On March 22,
Inner City
Press asked
Nigeria's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Tijjani
Muhammad Bande
about the 47
people. Video
here.
He replied
that he cannot
answer, he
doesn't know
all the facts.
"I would need
information"
about it, he
said, "I am
looking for
verification."
Really?
Isn't it his
government,
even more than
(still) the
government of
Amija J.
Mohammed.
Still Tijjani
Muhammad Bande
UNlike Amina .
Mohammed at
least took the
question,
along with
Niger's
affable
Ambassador
Abdallah Wafy
and offered
some response.
Amina J.
Mohammed
hasn't
responded on
that, on the
CITES issues,
or on this.
On March 23
Inner City
Press asked
the Spokesman
for Antonio
"Golden
Statue"
Guterres and
Amina J.
"Rosewood"
Mohammed, UN
transcript here: Inner
City Press: at
the stakeout
yesterday, the
ambassador…
the Permanent
Representative
of Nigeria,
Tijjani
Muhammad
Bande, I asked
him about
these 47
people that
were sent back
to Cameroon,
that… that
UNHCR [Office
of the United
Nations High
Commissioner
for Refugees]
has said were
sent back, and
criticized.
He said he
doesn't have
any
information on
it. I'm
wondering,
given that the
Deputy
Secretary-General
is going to be
in Abuja, is
this one of
the issues
that she's
going to try
to get an
answer to?
Spokesman:
She had raised
it with
various
officials in
the past.
Inner
City
Press:
But now, the
Government is
taking they
don't know?
Spokesman:
I'm not aware
that she plans
to raise
it. If
anything
changes, I
will let you
know." What,
to SABC?
On March 19,
while
constrained
with a minder
and a roped in
cage, Inner
City Press
asked UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Prince
Zeid if he had
any updated
death count,
since he
stopped at 10.
Video here.
He replied he
needs to look
at the
statistics, I
can't recall,
the important
issue is to
have access.
Inner City
Press pointed
to the visit
or access of
UN envoy
Francois
Lounseny Fall
(who equated
secessionists
with
extremists,
justifying the
crackdown).
Zeid replied
"like in West
Papua, I am
asking for
access." But
not asking as
loudly as
elsewhere. March
19, 2018
As
Cameroon's
Biya Vows
Crackdown in
NW and SW
Regions, ICP
Asks UN,
Prober of
Press
UNITED
NATIONS, March
16 -- The deference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
36-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity in
his
recent
crackdown,
continues. The
UN has enabled
Biya in
equating Boko
Haram with the
restorationist
forces, as he
did in his
cabinet
meeting on
March 15 with
this line:
"Thanks to the
firm action of
our defense
and security
forces, we
have been able
to drastically
curb the
atrocities
perpetrated by
criminal
groups in the
Far North,
North-West and
South-West
Regions." The
violence in
the Far North
is entirely
different from
that in North-West
and South-West
Regions. But
it was the UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres'
envoy Francois
Lounceny Fall
who equated
separatists
with
extremists; it
was Guterres
who stopped by
Yaounde and
took Biya's
golden statue
back in
October. On
March 16,
Inner City
Press asked
Guterres'
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq, UN
transcript here: Inner
City Press:
since it's so
rare, I got
asked
today.
The President
of Cameroon,
Paul Biya,
held
In Other
Media e.g. Somalia,
Ghana,
Azerbaijan,
The
Gambia
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Inner City Archives 2006