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UNITED NATIONS,
December 10 – A week after UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres accepted a golden
statue from Cameroon's 35-year
president Paul Biya in Biya's
palace in Yaounde, there were
threats of prosecution against
people who refuse to celebrate
Biya's 35 years in power.
Photo of letter here.
So is this was Guterres
celebrates, under the Guterres
Doctrine? What is the
relation to the illegal lumber
exports signed off on by
Guterres' Deputy, Amina J.
Mohammed in the #RosewoodRacket?There
were threats to Inner City
Press' accreditation at the
UN, here.
And in Cameroon, worse - and
tellingly, the UN's partners
even find a way to report on
Biya's censorship without
naming the UN as complicit.
But the UN is complicit. After
Paul Biya detained Stonybrook
professor Patrice Nganang
after he reported from the
Anglophone zones, Inner City
Press twice asked the UN about
it, with only evasions, video
here.
Now requests are underway
in the US to Senators Schumer
and Booker. Inner City Press
will say on this. On December
7, Inner City Press asked UN
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq,
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: on
Cameroon? Stéphane
[Dujarric] had said the UN was
trying to figure out what
President Paul Biya has
said. Since that time,
there's said to be… many
people have left the region
where they were told that
they'll be viewed as
collaborators if they don't
leave. And now a writer,
Patrice Nganang, has been
disappeared from Douala
Airport. He's a
professor here at Stony Brook,
and he went and reported on
the Anglophone region and was
taken off his flight and
whatever. It seems to be
a pretty… Many people are
saying that somebody needs to
get involved. I wonder
if Mr. [Francois Lounceny]
Fall is aware of it. Has
the UN system taken note of
the disappearance of this
journalist? Deputy
Spokesman: Obviously
everyone who is in Cameroon or
traveling to Cameroon, if
there are any problems that
occur during their travels,
that needs to be investigated
thoroughly by the local
authorities. We
certainly hope and expect that
this particular person will be
found, and we're hopeful that
nothing untoward has
happened. But… Inner
City Press: What if the
authorities are at fault?
Deputy Spokesman: We'll
have to see what happens, but
first and foremost they need
to investigate what's
happened." The next day
December 8, Inner City Press
asked again, this time to
Guterres' lead spokesman
Dujarric, transcript here:
Inner City Press: I asked
yesterday Farhan [Haq] about
the Cameroonian Government’s
detention of a US based writer
and activist, Patrice Nganang,
and now it’s become… giving
that he sort of disappeared
off a plane, many groups
including PEN and various
press freedom groups are
speaking about it. I’m
wondering if the UN is using
any of its access for the
Cameroonian Government to ask
where this writer may have
been taken? Spokesman: "I will
check." Video here.
Hours later, nothing. Check
what? Now CPJ put out a statement,
not naming the UN where it is
so happy to have been
accredited that it said
NOTHING when the Press was
evicted and remains restricted;
also a story by Associated
Press, which has never at the
UN asked any question about
the abuses in Cameroon. Even
more telling, because a
two-step, Newsday ran an
initial story without
attribution or context that said,
"Farhan Haq, a spokesman for
UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres, said Thursday that
he hoped Nganang is safe but
did not say whether the UN
itself was aware of the
detention or whether it would
intervene." Photo here.
Then a subsequent versions
dropped the UN entirely, and
its responsibility. This is
how the UN of Guterres has
gotten as UNaccountable as it
is: it cultivates this type of
(non) coverage. We'll have
more on this. Upon Paul Biya's
return from the African Union
- EU summit in Abidjan he has
"declared war" on what he
calls secessionist terrorists
in Ambazonia or Southern
Cameroons. Inner City Press
asked the UN about it and UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
only said they are "still
looking at" or studying what
Biya said. Now orders have
been issued for civilians to
"relocate" and for business
people to stop working. See
order here.
This echoes what the UN's
Francois Fall said, on Alison
Smale's UN Radio no less, that
secessionists are extremists
and even Federalism is not on
the table. On December 4,
Inner City Press asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
Persicope video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: On Cameroon,
Friday you said that the UN is
still looking exactly at what
the president, Paul Biya,
said. What he said is
that… basically a crackdown in
the Anglophone areas.
Since that briefing, an order
issue telling people to
relocate, telling civilians
with no relation to the
standoff that they will be
viewed as secessionists and/or
terrorists. This issue,
this order is public, and it's
online. Also, a
journalist has faced death
threats for having testified
at a Human Rights Council
thing in Geneva about
minorities. So what I
wanted to know is have you
now, after this time, looked
exactly at what was said, and
what is the UN's comment on
the president's escalation…
his comments…?
Spokesman: I haven't
seen the order you referred to
myself. What is clear is
that we continue to urge all
parties that have grievances
to address those through legal
and peaceful dialogue and we
stand ready to help on
that. Obviously, it is
important that journalists or
anyone, as a matter of
principle, journalists or
anyone who speaks to the Human
Rights Council be able to do
so free of any
intimidation. Inner City
Press: Is it legitimate under
international law to order
civilians out of an area,
saying you'll be viewed as a
collaborator if you do not
leave? Spokesman: "I
will take a look. I have
not seen the specific order."
Hours later, nothing. In fact,
Dujarric ran out of the The UN
has thrown gasoline on this
conflict, far from engaging in
the preventative diplomacy
that Antonio Guterres, when
running for his post, said he
was about. In the UN, he and
his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed
have kept up Press
restrictions and censorship.
On December 1 Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about Biya's
comment. Dujarric said the UN
is still trying to study them
- it's not hard, they're on
YouTube, here
- and said the last time
Guterres spoke with Biya was
in October (that is, over the
golden statue). Now what? In
Bamenda, local journalist
Elvis McCarty (some say Elvis
Macarty) was reportedly
roughed up by Paul Biya's
security forces, the tools of
his journalistic trade
confiscated and/or broken,
with him being accused of
being a secessionist - or, as
the UN's Francois Fall has put
it, an "extremist." And while
Guterres and his envoy Failing
Fall purport to urge dialogue
in CameroUN on "the Anglophone
issue," when the issue was
raised in Parliament in
Yaounde, there was a walk-out.
some dialogue. Meanwhile the
Swiss government has responded
in a November 17 letter
obtained and published
by Inner City Press to issues
raised by Southern
Cameroonians there. On
November 21, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I
wanted to ask a question about
Cameroon. In the
south-west region, a video
emerged basically of
authorities ordering people
out of their cars and to walk
on their knees, very much to
humiliate them, etc. And
so, people… one, they've
wondered, like, what's the
status of the UN's call for
dialogue since they don't see
this as dialogue? And,
number two, they've seen that
the Swiss ambassador has said
publicly that he visited the
area and is very
concerned. So, the
question, I guess, I had is
whether François Fall, in his
various visits… has he
actually gone to those regions
of the country? Does he
have an intention to go?
Has he requested to go but
been rebuffed? How can
it be that the ambassador of a
country based in Yaoundé has
more… has greater access than
the UN… UNOCA [United Nations
Office in Central Africa]
representative?
Spokesman: "Well, Mr.
Fall works out his itinerary
with the authorities as he
can. Whenever we have
further travel for him… by him
to announce, we will." Well.
Meanwhile another part of the
UN system -- independent
experts whom the UN
Secretariat emphasizes are NOT
the UN -- has belatedly spoken
out where Guterres, Amina
"Rosewood" Mohammed and
Francois Fall have not. But
then Fall essentially undercut
the experts, focusing on
attacks on security forces
and... territorial integrity.
Here's from Failing Fall's
UNOCA: "The United Nations
Regional Office for Central
Africa (UNOCA) continues to
closely monitor the situation
in the North-West and
South-West Regions of
Cameroon... Mr. François
Louncény Fall seizes this
opportunity to recall the
commitment of the United
Nations to the territorial
integrity and unity of
Cameroon." On November 17,
Inner City Press asked Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, Tweeted video
here, UN transcript here: Inner
City Press: this François
[Louncény] Fall
statement. And the
reason I'm asking is that, as
you may know five experts of
Geneva-based special
rapporteurs, including on
freedom of expression, defense
of human right defenders and
others, issued a statement.
The statement is largely
focused on abuses by the
Government of Anglophones,
censorship, turning off social
media. They have a[n
artificially low] death
figure. They talk about
torture. I know that
they're not part of the UN
system. They do give
briefings in this room.
They are appointed by the
Human Rights Council.
What's the relationship
between human rights experts
saying the Government is
killing Anglophones and
François Fall saying territory
is important and gendarmes
have been killed? It seems
like they're two opposing
statements. Spokesman:
A, I don't think they're in
contradiction of each other,
and everybody has a different
role within the wide and
varied UN system. The
special rapporteurs, as you do
note, are independent from the
Secretariat and the
Secretary-General, appointed
by the Human Rights
Council. They are an
extremely important part of
the UN's human rights
mechanism and, as a matter of
principle, countries should
cooperate with these human
rights experts. I'm not
privy to their research or how
they get their
information. As I said,
they're independent. We
have over the past months,
expressed our concern at the
violence. We've
expressed our concern at the
lack of Internet access.
The basic message that Mr.
Fall and that the
Secretary-General have
reiterated is the fact that
the situation in these two
regions will best be addressed
by an inclusive and genuine
political dialogue. Inner City
Press: I want to ask one
follow-up. And I asked
you before, but I think you'll
see the need to actually
answer it now. Mr.
François Fall, in an interview
played on UN Radio, said that
secessionists are extremists
and that federalism, which
used to be the status of this
area, is off the table.
Number one, that's why people
don't see him as a credible
mediator, but more
importantly, the equation of
nonviolent secessionists with
extremists is exactly the
logic that the Government uses
to kill people from helicopter
gunships, so that's why I'm
asking you. It seems
like some of the problems that
the human rights experts are
criticizing are, in fact… I
don't want to say caused by
Mr. Fall's statement, but in
some way resonant with the
logic of… of saying that
anyone that says we should be
independent is an extremist
and should be shot at from a
helicopter. Spokesman:
"I don't agree with your
logic, and I don't think in
any way, shape, or form Mr.
Fall should be blamed for what
is going on in the country."
So why did Failing Fall equate
secessionists with extremists?
And how can he remain
Guterres' envoy to Cameroon?
Where is the golden statue?
Here is the Experts' full
text: "GENEVA (17 November
2017) - The Government of
Cameroon must engage
representatives of the
Anglophone population in a
meaningful political dialogue
and halt renewed violence in
the south-west and north-west,
where the country’s
English-speaking minority are
reportedly suffering worsening
human rights violations, a
group of UN experts has
warned. “We urge the
Government to adopt all
necessary measures consistent
with Cameroon’s human rights
obligations to end the cycle
of violence,” the experts said
in a joint statement. Up
to 17 people have reportedly
been killed, and dozens
wounded and arrested in
demonstrations in the
country’s Anglophone regions
since 1 October. The
experts are disturbed by
reports of a series of
measures taken by the national
authorities, including
curfews, a ban on public
meetings, and other
restrictions aimed at
preventing peaceful protests.
Excessive use of force by the
security services, injuries,
mass arrests, arbitrary
detentions, torture and other
ill-treatment have also been
reported. Freedom of
expression has been reportedly
limited by the blocking of
internet connections and of
access to social media
platforms such as Twitter,
WhatsApp and Facebook, which a
UN expert has previously
condemned. “These restrictions
must stop immediately, and the
Government must ensure a
thorough, impartial and
independent investigation into
all allegations of human
rights violations perpetrated
during and after the events of
1 October. The Government must
take effective measures to
prosecute and sanction all
those responsible for such
violations.” The appeal for
action comes nearly a year
after UN experts publicly
urged the Government to halt
violence against the
English-speaking minority,
following reports that
Anglophone protesters in Buea
and Bamenda had suffered undue
force. The experts also
denounced any use of violence
against members of the
security forces, after reports
that several were killed last
week. Since December
2016, the experts have
repeatedly raised concerns
directly with the Government
of Cameroon and continue to
monitor and seek clarification
of the alleged human rights
violations in the north-west
and south-west of the
country. Ms. Annalisa
Ciampi, Special Rapporteur on
the rights to freedom of
peaceful assembly and of
association; Mr. Michel
Forst, Special
Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights defenders; Mr.
José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez,
Chair-Rappourteur of the
Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention; Mr. David
Kaye, Special Rapporteur
on the promotion and
protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and
expression; Ms. Agnes
Callamard, Special Rapporteur
on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions; Mr.
Fernand de Varennes, Special
Rapporteur on minority
issues." What next? When will
the UN's Failing Fall go see
the Anglophone areas for
himself, or be replaced? As
Inner City Press asked
the UN about on November 16,
more than 46,000 people have
so far petitioned Guterres to
investigate and act on
Mohammed's actions with
respect (or disrespect) to
natural resources in rosewood
in Nigeria and Cameroon. But
as on Cameroon, Guterres
refuses so far to act.
Meanwhile in the South West
Region, there is a curfew and
demand to register and give
"weapons" to the government.
On November 13, Inner City
Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: over the
weekend, in Cameroon, in both
the northwest and southwest,
there was a collection
apparently in light of not
only armaments, rifles and
handguns, but even hoes and
cutlasses, it said, basically
a total disarmament and… and…
impinging on even farming work
by people. And I'm
wondering, given that François
Fall is… calls for a dialogue,
what… is the UN aware of
this? There are written
orders online that you can see
telling people to turn all of
these things in…
Spokesman: "I have
nothing on these reports as of
now." Nor six hours
later. On November 9,
Inner City Press asked UN
official Najat Rochdi, who was
the head of the UN system in
Cameroon until earlier this
year and is now its deputy in
the Central African Republic
where Guterres just visited
before Cameroon, if Guterres
had spoken to her at all about
Cameroon. No, she said, he had
wanted to optimize his time.
Video here.
So apparently Guterres gets
his information, and gold
statues, from Paul Biya, or
from Khassim Diagne, who was
part of Rochdi's system. It
is closed loop, and a
total failure. On November 8,
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric (drawing a response
of sorts, that "The
Anglophones have been doing
some shooting today"), UN
transcript
here: Inner City Press:
on Cameroon, I know that there
was a call by François
[Lounceny] Fall and, I guess,
the Secretary-General for
dialogue with the “Anglophone
regions”. It's reported
in the press in Yaoundé that
the Government has sought
international arrest warrants
for 15 Anglophone leaders, and
I'm wondering if that would be
viewed as consistent with this
call for dialogue and, if not,
if the UN has anything to say
about it. Spokesman
Dujarric: I don't have
any information on those
arrest warrants. We,
obviously, continue to call
for calm and reiterate the
availability of the UN to
support the search for a
lasting solution in the
Anglophone provinces.
And we call on the… also on
the authorities to ensure
maximum restraint by security
forces. Evelyn? Evelyn
Leopold: Yes. I think
the Anglophones did some
shooting today." Video here;
Leopold is retired from
Reuters, still demands first
questions at UN press
conferences "on behalf of the
United Nations Correspondents
Association," wihch will
charge money for an event with
Antonio Guterres in
mid-December - we will have
more on this. On November 7
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Duajrric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to
ask you two questions about
Cameroon. One is, since
the Secretary-General's visit,
one, there's a… there are
reports of a crackdown in a
place called Jakiri, where one
gendarme was killed, and now
basically everyone is being
told there will be collective
punishment unless a gun is
turned over. And I
wanted to know, is Mr.
[François Louncény] Fall… who…
after the visit, who's keeping
track of it? Also,
bigger picture maybe, the… the
Cross River State Governor in
Nigeria, Ben Ayade, has said
that the border has
essentially been closed for
people fleeing the Cameroon…
the anglophone region of
Cameroon, and I wanted to know
whether that's something that
either Mr. Fall or on the… you
know, UNHCR is aware of.
Spokesman: UNHCR, you
can check with them. I
will… I don't have anything
on… more on Cameroon. Inner
City Press: if Mr. Fall was
there on the trip… he wasn't
in the photograph with
the…Spokesman: He was
there. We already said
he was there. Inner City
Press: All right. So
what was the… was any plan
reached for continued work…?
Spokesman: If there's a
further visit that he's able
to make, we will announce it."
Nothing. On November 6,
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner
City Press:has to do with
Cameroon, where the
Secretary-General stopped, met
President [Paul] Biya.
Today, they're celebrating the
thirty-fifth anniversary of
his accession to power.
And a letter's emerged that
orders all Government
employees to participate in
the ceremony marking the
thirty-fifth year in power of
Paul Biya, saying, basically,
names should be provided, and
they will be punished for
not. Given… I guess I'm
just wondering, is the Sec…
was the Secretary-General,
when he stopped, when he took
this golden statue, what did…
was he aware of this?
What does he think of… is it…
is it permissible, from the
UN's point of view, for a
Government to order its civil
servants to mark the
thirty-fifth year in power of
a leader or face punishment,
or should this be
discouraged? And does he
have any comment on it? Deputy
Spokesman: Obviously,
people everywhere have the
right to freedom of movement,
freedom of expression, freedom
of assembly. Those
freedoms need to be respected
in all circumstances.
Regarding the gift, Stéphane
[Dujarric] made very clear to
you that's a standard protocol
gift — which happens in many
different countries and
contexts." The UN delivered a
threat
to Inner City Press to
“review” it accreditation on
October 20, using as its
pretext an undefined violation
with Periscope in UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' 38th
floor conference room, and
publishing audio from a UN
stakeout, citing Cameroon. On
October 31 at the UN Security
Council stakeout, Cameroon's
Ambassador approached Inner
City Press and issued his own
threat. Of the UN's 38th
floor, he demanded of Inner
City Press, "Who asked you to
go to 38? I'm going to call,
say for Matthew not to go
upstairs. You've started...
asking nasty questions." On
November 2, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about it,
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: a statement
made by Cameroon's Permanent
Representative to me at the
Security Council stakeout, in
a public area, saying, on 38,
"Who asked you to be up
there? I'm going to make
a call to make sure Matthew is
not up there anymore.
You ask nasty
questions." So my
question to you is, if a
Member State, in this case a
Member State that is subject
to questions, nasty or not,
were to call the 38th floor
and say, I want a particular
media to not be up there, why
are [they] up there — what
would be the response from the
38th floor? I ask
because I've gotten an
accreditation threat for being
up there. That's why
it’s strange… Spokesman:
Well, I think you're mixing…
you know, if an event is open
to the press, to the wider
press, then everybody is
welcome. We are not…
journalists here have to do
their job. There are
obviously restrictions placed,
depending on the event, but I
guess the answer would be
no. Thank you." This
from the UN Spokesman who
threw Inner City Press out of
the UN Press Briefing and then
from its office, keeping it
still restricted. This is
today's UN. But can Inner City
Press publish this threat,
meant to hinder or prevent
coverage of mass killing and
displacement of Anglophones,
without the UN's Department of
Public Information's
censorship machinery moving to
review its accreditation, or
using it as its rationale for
continuing to keep Inner City
Press from its long time
office, keep it restricted in
movement? DPI boss Alison
Smale said she saw the need to
respond to petitions to
restore Inner City Press to
its office and normal access -
then her Department issued its
October 20 threat. Now this.
Watch this site - audio here.
Be aware: the audio is from
Smale's own DPI. This UN has
become disgusting. The
UN official who signed the letter,
when Inner City Press went to
ask about the undefined
violation of live-streaming
Periscope video at a photo op
by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, had already
left, minutes after sending
the threat. What to make of
the letter's vague statement,
"filming and recording on the
38th floor are limited to
official photo opportunities,
and recording conversations of
others in the room is not
permitted. It has been brought
to our attention that you
breached that rule recently"?
It's not only vague as to
when, but absurd: once a
Periscope is authorized to
start streaming, it is
impossible to not record
someone who speaks loudly at
the photo op. This comes two
days after Inner City Press asked Guterres about the
UN inaction on threatened
genocide in Cameroon, and the
UN claimed
Guterres hadn't heard the
15-second long question.
Recently at a photo op,
Guterres' adviser on Cameroon
Khassim Diagne spoke loudly.
Inner City Press later reported,
based on sourcing, that Diagne
who was previously the
representative to Cameroon for
UNHCR,
the UN refugee agency Guterres
ran, speaks in favor of
Cameroon's government. Is this
letter a response to the
reporting? Is it retaliation?
Is it intimidation to stop
reporting on this threatened
genocide? We can't ask the
complainant, Maher Nasser:
after the threat was
delivered, he blocked Inner
City Pres on Twitter, here.
It also
comes after Alison Smale the
head of the Department of
Public Information which would
“review” Inner City Press'
accreditation has ignored threeseparatepetitions
from Inner City Press in the
six weeks she has been in the
job, urging her to remove
restrictions on Inner City
Press' reporting which hinder
its coverage of the UN's
performance in such crises as
Yemen,
Kenya,
Myanmar,
and the Central African
Republic where Guterres
travels next week, with
Smale's DPI saying its
coverage of the trip will be a
test of its public relations
ability. But the UN official
who triggered the complaint is
Maher Nasser, who filled in
for Smale before she arrived.
His complaint is that audio of
what he said to Inner City
Press as it staked out the
elevators in the UN lobby
openly recording, as it has
for example
with Cameroon's Ambassador
Tommo Monthe, here,
was similarly published.
A UN “Public Information”
official is complaining about
an article, and abusing his
position to threaten to review
Inner City Press'
accreditation. The UN has
previously been called
out for targeting Inner
City Press, and for having no
rules or due process.
But the UN is entirely
UNaccountable, impunity on
censorship as, bigger picture,
on the cholera it brought to
Haiti. And, it seems, Antonio
Guterres has not reformed or
reversed anything. This threat
is from an official involved
in the last round of
retaliation who told Inner
City Press on Twitter to be
less "negative" about the UN -
amid inaction on the mass
killing in Cameroon - and who
allowed pro-UN hecking of
Inner City Press' questions
about the cholera the UN
brought to Haiti and the Ng
Lap Seng /John Ashe UN bribery
scandal which resulted in six
guilty verdicts. We'll have
more on this.
***
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and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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