|
On Cameroon, Inner
City Press Asked UN &
IMF in March 2017, IMF
Says Risk But UK, Not
Int'l
By Matthew
Russell Lee, More here
UNITED NATIONS,
December 26 – The UN Security
Council is going on a mission
to Cameroon but searching my
email I don't find any notice
of the trip much less an
invitation to cover it. I've
gone on previous Council
flights to Sudan and Cote
d'Ivoire, then one to Sri
Lanka where I fought with UN
officials and the corporate
media who service them. Now
I'm cut out.
Evicted along
with Inner City Press from
long time work space on the
third floor of the UN, I'm
working as a non-resident
correspondent in the bullpen,
no longer in the loop. But
I've heard of Biya's internet
cut in the Anglophone zones
and I ask the UN about it.
The spokesman for
played-out Secretary General
Antonio Guterres has dodged my
questions on March
2 and 3
and 4, so on March 5 I email
Geneva, the High Commissioner
on Human Rights: "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?"
It's a softball
question but there's nothing.
Silence in Geneva but ambush
in New York. UN Department of
Political Affairs chief
Jeffrey Feltman is holding a
rare press conference and I
ask him about Cameroon. He responds
that the Central African envoy
Francois Lonseny Fall is
going. While the spokesman the
next day has no
more info, it's a start. The
UN is aware. In fact, the UN
is complicit.
The next day I
discover that the UN's
Resident Coordinator in
Cameroon, Najat Rochdi of
Moroccco, blocks
Inner City Press on
Twitter. It's said she's
leaving soon to the Central
African Republic; I argue
that the selection of her
replacement should be a
transparent process, as does
the Free
UN Coalition for Access.
Then I ask the International
Monetary Fund, online, about
the Internet cut. They have a
response.
On
IMF site, here,
from 34:56. IMF
transcript:
"There is a question of
Cameroon, from Matthew Lee,
'please state the IMF's
awareness of civil unrest and
arrests in Northwest and
Southwest Cameroon, also known
as the Anglophone areas, and
their impact?' We are indeed
aware of the events in the
so-called Anglophone regions
of Cameroon. The macroeconomic
impact of any event that could
affect production and/or
consumption, is typically felt
with a certain lag. So, these
events started in November
last year, and thus are likely
to have not had a significant
impact on production in 2016.
For 2017, the risks to our
growth outlook include a
combination of external and
domestic factors, including
continuation of the
sociopolitical events in the
northwest and southwest
regions of Cameroon."
Alright, I
say - so there IS an economic
impact. But a few hours later...
More here
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2017 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
