On
Cameroon, UN Cited Lonseny
Fall, ICP Asks Spox What Came
of Anglophone Trips, No Answer
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 7 – Amid the ongoing
abuse of Anglophones in
Cameroon, the Internet being
turned off for 51 day in their
regions, Inner City Press on
March 7 asked UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres'
spokesman, for the third time,
about what the Political
Affairs official Guterres
extended to April 1, 2018,
told the Press: that Francois
Lonseny Fall visited the
areas. Video
here. From the UN's March 7 transcript:
Inner City Press:
On Cameroon, I’d asked
Stéphane Dujarric, then I’d
asked you. Finally, Mr.
[Jeffrey] Feltman said Mr.
[Francois] Louncény Fall had
made two visits to the
area. Many people have
now asked online, what came of
those visits? Because
there was nothing put out by
the UN. When were the
visits made? Did Mr.
Louncény Fall express any
concern about the treatment of
Anglophones to President
[Paul] Biya’s
Government? And is there
some way to know what the
purpose of those visits were?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
we’ll check with his office
about whether they have an
update.
Six hours
later, nothing. Absolutely
nothing. On March 6, Inner
City Press asked the UN
Secretariat for the second
time about the issue. On March
3, lead spokesman Stephane
Dujarric told Inner City
Press, "We're obviously
following it, and I'll see if
I can get you something
further." But on March 6
Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq
had nothing further, just
generalities about a due
process that the UN itself
doesn't offer. But when
Inner City Press asked UN
official Jeffrey Feltman of
the Department of Political
Affairs, Feltman said that
Francois Lonseny Fall of UNOCA
has visited the regions twice.
To what end? We hope to have
more on this.
On March 5
asked Rupert Colville, the
spokesperson for UN High
Commission for Human Rights
Prince Zeid of Jordan,
questions including this:
"What is the UN system,
including the High
Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), doing about abuses
against the Anglophone
community in Cameroon, in the
Northwest and Southwest
regions where the Internet has
been cut for 49 days and
counting?"
Past noon
the following day, March 6,
still no response from
Colville or the OHCHR. Is this
acceptable?
While UN Security
Council members visiting
Niger, 188th out of 188 on the
UN Development Index, is
certainly welcome, it is
noteworthy has is not being
addressed or even publicly
mentioned on this trip.
Beyond the
omission, which some called
shameful, of the plight of Anglophones
in Cameroon -- the
Internet has been turned off
in their regions -- the common
denominator of France's
historical power relations
with, say, Chad and Niger was
omitted even from reporting
from inside the Council's
bubble.
It was
complained to the Free UN
Coalition for Access that the
UN didn't even inform the News
Agency of Nigeria that it
could go on the trip (but did
inform, for example, Voice
of America). Might NAN
have been more critical of
aspects of the trip? How will
this omission be addressed?
And while
a Security Council member has
responded to Inner City Press
that the issue was raised in
meetings, given that VOA,
invited and on the trip, did
not even mention it, one
wonders when, where and with
what seriousness it was
raised. We hope to have more
on that.
Inner City Press in the past
was informed of such trips,
and went on some, for example
to Chad
where then French Ambassador
Jean Maurice Ripert dissembled
about President Deby's
non-appearance, then
confronted Inner City Press
about its reporting, in the
airport in Kigali, Rwanda.
Now, following a retaliatory
eviction and continuing
restriction at the UN by
Department of Public
Information chief Cristina
Gallach and spokesman Stephane Dujarric
for seeking to cover the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe UN
bribery case in the UN
Press Briefing Room on January
29, 2016, Inner City Press is
no longer informed or invited.
DPI under Gallach churns out
assemblages of canned quotes
and tweets as "stories,"
as from within the bubble.
We'll have more on this.
On a
previous Security Council trip
that included Sudan, Council
members spoke to the Press
about standing up to the
Sudanese government about
abuses. So what happened in
Cameroon?
***
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