Ban
Got
Syria's
Protest,
France's
Jarba-Fest
Going Forward
Was His
Answer
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 30
-- After UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
issued
a read out of
his meeting
with
Saudi-sponsored
Syria rebel
boss Ahmad al
Jarba on
Saturday,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
about Syria's
urgent letter
of four days
previous.
In
that
letter, a copy
of which
Inner City
Press provided
to Nesirky,
Syria said
that France's
September 26
session with
Jarba in the
UN's
ECOSOC Chamber
violated the
UN Charter.
Nesirky
replied
that "the
Secretary-General
met with Mr.
al-Jarba at
his
Residence this
evening with a
small number
of the
Secretary-General's
senior
advisers. The
Spokesperson
is not aware
of any letter
so far
from the
Syrian Mission
on the topic
you mention."
Inner
City Press
sent follow up
questions that
Nesirky did
not answer
that
day, or the
next. So on
Monday Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
about
the letter,
about why
Ban's meeting
with Jarba was
not even in
the UN
Media Alert,
and about
France's
September 26
Jarba-fest in
ECOSOC.
Nesirky
said
the meeting
was put
together
quickly and
was in Ban's
residence.
But, we
note, when
Ban met in his
-- well, the
UN's --
residence with
his Syria
chemical
weapons envoy
Ake Sellstrom,
he made sure
to have
UN Photo
there, to
flash the
front page of
Sellstrom's
report.
Then
Nesirky said
that yes, Ban
HAD received
Syria's
letter, and
that the
French meeting
going forward
was the
response.
Inner
City Press
asked if that
means that any
member state
can now hold
such a meeting
inside the UN,
declaring a
rebel in (or
out) of
another state
to be the sole
legitimate
representative
of the other
state's
people.
Nesirky
didn't
answer that.
But that's the
question. Some
say it's more
and
more clear
who Ban
Ki-moon works
for, he
doesn't even
try to hide it
anymore.
At
the same noon
briefing,
Nesirky
confirmed that
while his
office
solicited
expression of
interest from
journalists to
cover the UN
Security
Council's trip
to Africa's
Great Lakes
region, France
was
allowed to
hand-pick
which
journalists
would go.
Then
Nesirky cut
off and did
not allow
Inner City
Press' follow
up
question on
the legitimacy
of this,
saying others
didn't want to
hear
about Inner
City Press'
travel plans.
(He later
refused
without
explanation to
take an Inner
City Press
question about
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.)
When Ban's partner
and Alliance
the UN
Correspondents
Association
held a faux
"UN briefing"
by Jarba in
July,
Nesirky
refused to
answer how
that complied
with UN rules,
or the basis
on which the
UN gives UNCA
a big
clubhouse to
hold such
meetings
(which included
a Sri Lanka
goverment film
denying war
crimes.)
No substantive
answers -- but
a threat
by Ban's
Department of
Public
Information to
suspend or
withdraw the
accreditation
of Inner City
Press for
daring to hang the sign of the
new and
alternative
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info
on the door
of its shared
office,
when Ban's
UNCA has five
signs.
There's
more
to say, but
this is Ban's
UN. Watch this
site.
, 
