UNITED NATIONS
GATE, December 10 – Amid
multiple reports that Zalmay
Khalilzad would emerge from
retirement to become US
Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo's Afghanistan envoy,
Inner City Press recently banned
from the UN after 10 years of
coverage, as it reports on
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' conflicts of
interesting for example on
Cameroon, looked back, see
below. Guterres Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric on August 27
said at his noon briefing that
Inner City Press is banned for
creating a "hostile
environment" for diplomats and
UN officials. How is that not
censorship? On December 10,
the UN Security Council which
Guterres still bars Inner City
Press from staking out after
159 days put out a Press
Statement beginning: "The
Members of the Security
Council welcomed the outcome
of the Geneva Conference on
Afghanistan on 27-28 November,
co-hosted by the government of
Afghanistan and the United
Nations, which renewed the
partnership and cooperation of
the government of Afghanistan
and the international
community for Afghanistan’s
peace, prosperity and
self-reliance midway through
the Transformation Decade
(2015-2024).
The Members of the Security
Council took note of the
review of the progress and
reform achieved so far under
the Self-Reliance through
Mutual Accountability
Framework (SMAF) and its
deliverables for 2017-2018,
noted the progress made on the
reform agenda, but expressed
concern that benchmarks on
anti-corruption, and on
elections with respect to its
technical conduct, had not
been met fully. The Members of
the Security Council welcomed
the adoption of the Geneva
Mutual Accountability
Framework (GMAF), which
outlines measurable reform
objectives and commitments for
the government of Afghanistan
and the international
community for 2019-2020, and
underlined that the
government’s delivery of the
mutually agreed commitments
will be key for sustained
international support." On
November 20, after UNSG
Guterres ignored Press
questions and got into his (or
you) Mercedes after a long
lunch, Periscope video here,
he put out a hard to take at
face value statement on
Afghanistan, below. Now on
December 2 from the US State
Department, this: "Special
Representative for Afghanistan
Reconciliation Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad will travel
to Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Russia, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Belgium, the
United Arab Emirates, and
Qatar with an interagency
delegation from December 2 –
20. He will meet with
Afghan government officials
and other interested parties
to support and facilitate an
inclusive peace process in
Afghanistan, empowering the
Afghan people to decide their
nation’s fate. Special
Representative Khalilzad will
be in communication with
President Ghani, Chief
Executive Abdullah, and other
Afghan stakeholders to
coordinate closely on efforts
to bring the Taliban to the
negotiating table with the
Afghan government and other
Afghans.
On his last trip to the region
in November, Special
Representative Khalilzad met
with men and women active in
civil society and peace
efforts, members of the media,
and other governmental and
non-governmental officials. He
stressed that all Afghans must
have a say in creating a
sustainable peace for
Afghanistan. The United
States remains committed to
supporting the Afghan people’s
desire for peace, and to
facilitating a political
settlement between the Afghan
government and the Taliban
that ensures Afghanistan never
serves as a platform for
international terrorism
again." Back in November,
Guterres said or had written
for him this: "The
Secretary-General strongly
condemns today’s attack
targeting Afghans gathered in
Kabul to celebrate a day of
special religious
significance. The
deliberate targeting of
civilians is a clear violation
of international humanitarian
law. Every effort should be
made to bring perpetrators to
justice.The Secretary-General
extends his deepest sympathy
and condolences to the
families of the victims and
the Government of
Afghanistan. He wishes a
speedy recovery to those
injured." Must have been some
lunch. Meanwhile former UN
offiical Helen Clark on 19
November 2018 criticized
Guterres' exclusion from the
UN, Vine here. But does
Guterres care? Can he hear,
inside his Mercedes? On
October 18, with Inner City
Press still banned from the UN
now for 107 days and counting
by Guterres, the UN Security
Council issued this: "The
members of the Security
Council condemned in the
strongest terms the attacks
that took place in Afghanistan
over the past weeks, including
in Jowzjan, Kunduz, Takhar,
Herat, Zabul, Farah and today
in Kandahar, resulting in
numerous casualties and many
injured, ahead of the
parliamentary elections in
Afghanistan on 20 October.
The members of the Security
Council expressed their
deepest sympathy and
condolences to the families of
the victims and to the
Government of Afghanistan and
they wished a speedy and full
recovery to those who were
injured.
The members of the Security
Council underscored the
importance of a secure
environment for conducting
elections and emphasized that
violence in any form, or the
threat thereof, intended to
disrupt the elections and
democratic process in
Afghanistan is unacceptable."
Thre American were injured and
the American commander in the
area was present at the
attack... On August 27, the UN
Security Council which at
least under UK presidency is
content to let Guterres pick
and chose which media can
enter and ask questions,
issued a statement beginning:
"The members of the Security
Council welcomed the
announcement by the Government
of Afghanistan on 19 August of
a second conditional ceasefire
with the Taliban from the
start of the Eid al-Adha
holiday.
The members of the Security
Council urged the Taliban to
reciprocate without delay.
They also reiterated their
call upon the Taliban to
accept the offer made by the
Afghan Government in February
this year to engage in direct
peace talks without any
preconditions and without the
threat of violence, with the
aim of an ultimate political
settlement that leads to
sustainable peace for the
people of Afghanistan.
The members of the Security
Council reiterated the
importance of an inclusive
Afghan-led and -owned peace
process for the long-term
prosperity and stability of
Afghanistan, and expressed
their full support for the
Afghan Government’s efforts to
that end.
The members of the Security
Council emphasised the
importance of holding
peaceful, inclusive, credible
and transparent parliamentary
elections on 20 October 2018
and presidential election on
20 April 2019." Looking back,
Khalilzad during as his time
as US Ambassador was always
accessible. Inner City Press
spoke with him many times
during the late night budget
meetings of example the type
Guterres and his spokesman
Stephane Dujarric had Inner
City Press roughed
up for covering on 3
July 2018. Here was from 21
December 2007: "Ban's
bodyguards loitered by the
Vienna cafe, standing at the
ready. The vacuum cleaners
began in Conference Room 5.
There was no turning back.
Down the hall came the
American flotilla: Permanent
Representative Zalmay
Khalilzad, Ambassadors
Alejandro Wolff and Mark
Wallace, accompanied by
Controller Warren Sach and the
Secretary of the Fifth
Committee. In the corner of
Conference Room 3 they
pow-wowed, as other delegates
tried to get in. They
discussed the U.S. political
ramifications of various ways
of voting on the budget. Leave
it to the experts, Khalilzad
said. But as written, we
cannot vote for the budget, he
told Inner City Press, as he
Googled past midnight."
Compare that to today, where
for covering the budget
meetings from the same
(expensively renovated) Vienna
Cafe, Guterres has you assaulted
- a crime scene - then
imposes a lifetime
ban. The UN is in
decline, even decay.
Four days after UN Security
officers led by UN Lieutenant
Ronald E. Dobbins pushed Inner
City Press' reporter out of
the UN during a speech by
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres, on June 26 Guterres
envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi
Yamomoto came to the Security
Council stakeout to take
questions. But of the entire
UN press corps, only Inner
City Press was there.
Guterres' deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq who had run out on
Inner City Press' questions
about the ouster the day
before told Yamamoto
leadingly, gesturing at the
UNTV microphone, "It's up to
you." Inner City Press
encouraged Yamamoto and he
came over. Periscope video here. On August 17,
Guterres' Global Communicator
Alison Smale issued a no due
process ruling
that Inner City Press is
banned from the UN - for life.
It is outrageous
and we'll have more on it. Now
on August 19, US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo has said,
"The United States welcomes
the announcement by the Afghan
government of a ceasefire
conditioned on Taliban
participation. This plan
responds to the clear and
continued call of the Afghan
people for peace.
The last ceasefire in
Afghanistan revealed the deep
desire of the Afghan people to
end the conflict, and we hope
another ceasefire will move
the country closer to
sustainable security.
The United States and our
international partners support
this initiative by the Afghan
people and the Afghan
government, and we call on the
Taliban to participate.
It is our hope, and that of
the international community,
that the Afghan people may
celebrate Eid al-Adha this
year in peace, free from fear.
The United States supports
President Ghani's offer for
comprehensive negotiations on
a mutually agreed agenda. ?We
remain ready to support,
facilitate, and participate in
direct negotiations between
the Afghan government and the
Taliban. There are no
obstacles to talks. It
is time for peace."
On August 15,
after Haq's boss Stephane
Dujarric and his boss Antonio
Gutteres had Inner City Press
more violently roughed up July
3 and banned 43 days since,
Dujarric back from a vacation
personally emailed out this
statement: "The Secretary
General conveys his
condolences to the families
who have suffered from the
recent Taliban attacks in
Ghazni.
The Secretary-General stresses
the urgent need for an
immediate ceasefire and the
opening of talks between the
parties to the conflict to
negotiate a sustainable peace.
The targeting of civilians and
of civilian facilities are
clear violations of
international humanitarian
law.
The warring parties must do
everything feasible to ensure
that no civilians are further
killed or injured by the
fighting, and must allow and
facilitate rapid and unimpeded
passage of humanitarian
assistance so that it can
reach Ghazni
The Secretary-General once
again stresses that there can
be no military solution to the
conflict in Afghanistan and
urgently calls for a peaceful
settlement of the conflict in
the interest of building a
more stable and prosperous
future for all Afghans.
Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman
for the Secretary-General, New
York, 15 August 2018."
Meawhile Dujarric and Haq,
despite false assurance by
ex-NYT Alison Smale, have
refused to answer at least 15
of Inner City Press' laste 17
questions. They are killing
the UN. Back in June Inner
City Press asked the hapless
SRSG if the UN will confirm
that up to 10,000 Afghan
security forces were killed in
2017. He replied that the UN
leaves it up to the military
to collect those numbers, but
said it might be that high.
Inner City Press asked about
the peace protesters who
marched from Helmand to
protest in front of the UN in
Kabul. Yamamoto called them
grassroots and fiercely
independent. Inner City Press
asked if he thinks they will
be a force in the slated
upcoming elections. We'll see.
At the UN on June 22 Inner
City Press was live-streaming
Periscope 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
Lieutenant Dobbins and told
that since it was just past 7
pm it had to leave the
building. Video here.
That is not
the rule, nor the practice.
But Inner City Press under
Guterres and his head of
Global Communications Alison
Smale has inexplicable been at
the "non-resident
correspondent" level lowered
from that of no-show state
media like Akbhar al Yom's
Sanaa Youssef, assigned Inner
City Press' long time office
despite rarely coming in and
not asking a question in ten
years.
While
Guterres and Smale have
created and encourage the
atmosphere for targeting the
Press, Dobbins had and has his
own reasons. Inner City Press
previously exclusively
reported on fraudulent
promotions in the UN
Department of Safety and
Security, beginning of series
here
with a leaked document
with Dobbins own name on it,
under the heading "Possible
Promotions... if Dobbins does
not want Canine / ERU."
Document here.
Since the publication, Dobbins
and a number of UN Security
officers have openly targeted
Inner City Press. This has
been raised in writing to
Smale (for eight months), for
almost 18 months to Guterres
and his deputy Amina J.
Mohammed, whose response has
been to evade questions on
Cameroon and now an ambiguous
smile while surrounded by UN
Security. On June 25 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq
about it, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
on Friday there was the Eid
event in which António
Guterres gave a speech, and I…
I want… I guess I want to put
this in a general way because
I don't understand it.
During the event, as the event
went on, I was required to
leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins
and the emergency response
unit. And it seemed
strange, because there were
many other non-resident
correspondents at the
event. So, I wanted to
know… to know, one, what are
the rules? Number two,
is it acceptable for a… a… UN
Security to… to single out and
target a specific
journalist? And I did…
and I ask this because I've
previously written a story
about promotions in DSS
[Department of Safety and
Security], including Mr.
Dobbins, and whatever that is,
what are the provisions in the
UN to make sure that security
cannot abuse its powers?
So those are… I… I… I'd like
you to answer that, and also
they didn't give their
names. The other
individuals refused to give
their names. Is that UN
policy?
Deputy Spokesman: UN
Security has their
policies. Your concerns
with them need to be addressed
to UN Security. I'm not
going to comment on your own
problems with UN
Security. Brenden, come
on up.
Inner
City Press: I
don't understand. This
happened at a speech by the
Secretary-General.
Deputy Spokesman: No,
I'm sorry, your security
issues are things you're going
to have to deal with.
Inner City Press: It's not a
security issue. It was
done in the name of the
Secretary-General. Is he
speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.
somewhere? Can you say where
the Secretary-General is
speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m
not going to argue with you on
this." There was more - video
here.
Even if Lt
Dobbins and his team and
commanders wanted to interpret
and twist the existing rules
in a way they are not enforced
against any other non-resident
correspondent at the UN, 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. 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.” Some Periscope video
here.
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.
***
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