After UN
Cyprus Envoy Quits, ICP Asks UN What
Guterres Will Do Now, Penholder UK Allen
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photos
here
UNITED NATIONS,
August 15 – With the Cyprus
talks having collapsed at
Crans Montana and the Greek
Cypriot side saying it would
release detailed minutes of
the talks, UN envoy
Espen Barth Eide called it
quits. But the UN had not
announced it on August 3, so
Inner City Press asked, UN
transcript here
and below. On August 14, the
UN said "The Special Adviser
to the Secretary-General on
Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, has
officially requested to be
released from his
responsibilities as the
Special Adviser in order to
run in the upcoming
legislative elections in his
country, Norway." On August
15, Inner City Press asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: the
President of Cyprus said he's
going to be seeking, during
the General Assembly week, to…
to see if there's a UN role
going forward. And his
main quote that he gave was
that he believes that Turkey
is pursuing a settlement not
within UN parameters and "this
is something that the
Secretary-General must take
into account." And he
said that the next envoy, if
there is one, should be from
Europe. I'm just… in
terms of your response, is
there any UN role during the
upcoming General Assembly week
to try to get it back on
track? And does the
Secretary-General take note…
or take into account, as the
President of Cyprus has said,
various statements by Turkey
since it fell apart?
Spokesman: I think, on
terms of the next envoy, what
the office will look like, the
Secretary-General will make
his decision in due
course. As a matter of
principle, whenever an envoy
is named, it's obviously…
there's consultation with the
parties. We're never
going to put forward a name or
person that one or more of the
parties don't accept.
That's a matter of
principle. As I said to
your colleague, for… from our
point of view, the parties are
now in a period of
reflection. The
Secretary-General was clear in
his comments in Crans-Montana
that he remains available
should the parties come to
him. I'm sure that
Cyprus will be one of the many
issues that will be discussed
in the Secretary-General's
various bilaterals that he
will have during the General
Assembly.
Earlier on August 15, Inner
City Press asked Jonathan
Allen, the new Deputy
Permanent Representative of
the UK, UN Security Council
penholder on Cyprus, about the
issue, without answer. We'll
have more on this. On August
4, Inner City Press asked
more, transcript here:
Inner City Press: there are
reports… and I just wanted to…
to get you to either shoot
them down or not… of some
discussions by the SRSG
[Special Representative of the
Secretary-General] Elizabeth
Spehar, of the possible
pull-out or…
Spokesman: I will shoot
it down. The UN is not
leaving Cyprus. The UN
peacekeeping mission has a
mandate given to it by the
Security Council. That
mandate remains. The UN
is, will remain supporting the
Cyprus, the people of
Cyprus. And I think,
from what I understand, the…
the Special Representative
was… was misquoted.
Inner City Press Sure, but
bigger picture. If
António Guterres, one of the
things he said is that, one,
peacekeeping shouldn't be in
places where there is no peace
to keep or, presumably, like,
if there's now no peace
process, if, in fact, the UN
has said, well, the parties
don't seem to want to talk and
so we're not going to force
them to talk, what exactly is
the function of the mission at
this time in terms of peace?
Spokesman: The mission
is there to continue to
monitor the line between the
two… the two
communities. It's not a
matter of no peace to
keep. No one would ever
say that Cyprus is in a state
of war or conflict.
There is peace. What
we're looking for and what
we're… will continue to be
available to the Cypriot
parties is to help reach that…
that political
agreement. In the
meantime, the UN mission there
is staying on the ground.
Inner City Press: But,
if, in fact, there's peace and
there hasn't been a shot fired
in [inaudible] in some time,
how does this differ than for
the situation, for example, in
Haiti or Liberia or other
places…?
Spokesman: Well, I think
there's clearly, there… there
clearly remains, I think, in
the… in the eyes of the UN and
the eyes of the Security
Council, the need for a
peacekeeping mission, albeit a
small one relative to the
peacekeeping missions we have
in… in the four corners of the
earth, but there needs… the
need remains.
For below:
Inner City Press: Did you make
an announcement about Espen
Barth Eide?
Spokesman: I did not
make an announcement about…
Inner
City
Press: Can
you confirm he has formally
left his position? And
what is the
Secretary-General’s plan in
terms of filling it?
Spokesman: Mr., Mr Eide
is wrapping up his, his tenure
as the Special Adviser, and I
think he’s, he’s on his last,
his last visit to Cyprus,
meeting with the various
parties, thanking them for
their support. It’s a
farewell tour, if you’d
like. And he will
continue working on the file
from, from Oslo for now.
Inner
City
Press: Until
when?
Spokesman: There’s no
formal date yet set for his,
for his departure. I
mean, as you know, with what
happened in, in Switzerland,
as far as the UN is concerned,
all the Cypriot parties are
going through a, a time of
reflection. And so
that’s where we are in the
process.
Inner City Press: But I just,
because there’s… there’s a
quote by Mr Eide. He
said, “What I… what I’m saying
and I think the leaders agree
with, I’m not speaking on
their behalf, but it’s my
sense that there’s a shared
understanding it will not be
resurrected by the UN.” So, I
wanted to know…
Spokesman: That’s in
line with what the
Secretary-General has said,
which is the UN remains
available to the
parties. The good
offices remain available,
should they come back to
him. It’s a time of
reflection for the Cypriot
parties, so I think there’s no
contradiction at all in, in
what he said and what the
Secretary-General previously
said.
Inner City Press on July 27
asked UK Ambassador Matthew
Rycroft at a four question
Security Council stakeout
about the talks and minutes.
Rycroft answered that it is
not a time for a blame game
and that he wouldn't engage in
one. Then when the UK Mission
to the UN sent out a
transcript of Rycroft's press
encounter, every questions and
answer was included - except
the one with Inner City Press
about Cyprus. Here
is the question the UK
omitted, in the UNTV video
(from 2:40) which even the UN
said was on Syria and Cyprus.
The UK is the Security Council
penholder on Cyprus, as it is
on Yemen and Somalia; the
omission or even censorship is
inappropriate. While Inner
City Press has held off
reporting on the UK Mission's
media strategy, out of
respect, it seems this is not
reciprocated. While Inner City
Press can report fine without
background spin, on its eviction
and continuing restriction's
relation to this, we'll have
more. For now we note the
omission is particularly
striking in that the UK is
bringing its representative to
the Cyprus talks, Jonathan
Allen, to the UN as its new
Deputy Permanent
Representative. We'll have
more on this. With ENI and
Total moving forward on
natural gas, on July 11 Inner
City Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about it.
Typically, the UN had no
comment. On July 27, Inner
City Press asked Dujarric's
deputy Farhan Haq about the
proposal by the Turkish
Cypriot side to "re-open"
three villages, reportedly as
a firs step to re-openning
Varosha. Video here,
from Minute 4. UN Spokesman
Haq twice said that the UN
would welcome any "confidence
building measures." Inner City
Press asked, what if the Greek
Cypriot side is opposed?
Cyprus Mail picked up Haq's
answer to Inner City Press, here.
We'll have more on this. On
July 26, Inner City Press
asked Haq about Cyprus saying
it will release its detailed
minutes of that last five hour
meeting in Crans Montana: what
does Guterres think of that?
Haq called it "hypothetical"
and said the UN intends to
keep its secrets. And, Inner
City Press notes, non-secrets.
On July 27, Inner City Press
asked UK Ambassador Matthew
Rycroft about releasing the
Crans Montana minutes. He said
it is not a time for blame
games; the UK mission did not
include the exchange in its
transcript of the press
encounter. When Inner City
Press asked Dujarric's deputy
Farhan Haq on July 17, he had
a prepared statement, below.
On July 18, Inner City Press
asked the UN "Good Offices,"
Espen Barth Eide, to clarify
whether the call was for
Cyprus (and Total and ENI) to
pause their work, or for
Turkey to stop talking about
it. He said he understood the
question but would not go
further. When Inner City Press
asked him, as a "When Actually
Employed" UN official, how
much time he expects to be
putting in, he said for now
there is no process. It seems
he would not be opposed to
making public the dates and
amounts of When Actually
Employed payments, which would
not only represent
transparency in public
spending, but show the parties
when their process is
moribund. Would other UN "When
Actually Employed" envoys do
the same? We'll have more on
this. On July 17 Haq said
this: "Concerning the issue of
gas exploration, we're
monitoring developments
closely. It's not generally
for the Secretary General or
for the UN Secretariat to
interpret the rights of member
states under the treaties to
which they are party or under
general international law. We
trust that the relevant
countries would avoid raising
unnecessary tensions around
the issue of exploration of
hydrocarbons and seek a
solution to their differences
through dialogue." Cyprus'
president Anastasiades
says
UN envoy Eide was unrealistic,
and there will be no delay as
the gas moves: "Our
energy plans
have not
changed. It is
a right that
is being
exercised by
the Republic
of Cyprus
which requires
neither
advertising
nor
provocation,"
Anastasiades
said. Of Eide,
Anastasiades
said "he
had the failing of believing
that what he wanted to happen
was happening. He had the
impression that everything was
almost solved. That’s the
sense he gave out and I warned
him about it.”Haq said
Guterres supports Eide's work.
Watch this site. From the UN's
July 11 transcript:
Inner City Press: on Cyprus,
since the collapse, failure or
suspension of the talks,
Cyprus has announced that they
intend to go forward this week
with natural gas drilling with
Total and ENI. And
Turkey has made a statement
that this would be an
irresponsible move. I
guess the threat is against
the companies, not Cyprus
itself. But, does the UN
or the Special Envoy have a
view of whether this should go
forward this week?
Spokesman: I don't have
anything on that for
you. I will try to get
you an answer later today.
By
noon the next day July 12,
nothing. So Inner City Press
asked again, with a twist: UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: on Cyprus,
beyond… I'd asked you
yesterday if there's any view
of… of the beginning of gas
moves by the end of the week,
but also… I forgot… I mean, I
wanted to ask you this.
The President of Cyprus has
set three conditions, he says,
for any resumption of talks,
including, like, time-bound
agreement for the removal of
all troops, various things
that it seems like were
clearly not agreed in
Switzerland. What is…
what's the Secretary General's
thinking at this point of an
in… a continued UN role on the
talks and of these gas moves
this week?
Spokesman: You know,
it's clear that the positions
of the various parties in
Crans Montana were still… the
difference is wide enough that
the conference had to be
closed. The
Secretary-General said it
himself: The UN remains
willing and available and at
the disposal of the parties
willing to come to an
agreement, and our
facilitating role
stands. Mr. [Espen
Barth] Eide will be here, I
believe, before the end of
month. He will be
briefing the Security
Council. And we'll,
obviously, have… we have to
think about the next steps and
the parties also. I
think it's a time of
reflection for all the
parties.
Inner City Press: By then, Eni
and Total will be in… in
action on this gas issue.
Spokesman: I don't have
any particular comment on that
except to say that, obviously,
we would want to see… we would
not want to see any incidents,
and we're obviously concerned
about the ongoing tensions in
that area.
Before UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' first fly-by the
Cyprus talks in Crans Montana
in Switzerland, Inner City
Press repeatedly asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric who long
Guterres would stay at the
talks, and where he would be
from July 1 to July 5 --
without answer. After
Guterres, after one day at the
UN Headquarters, went back the
talks failed, the UN said. On
July 7, the US State
Department said "The United
States is disappointed the
Conference on Cyprus in Crans
Montana, Switzerland, has
closed without an agreement.
We express gratitude and
respect for the hard work by
all parties and for the United
Nations’ facilitation. The
United States will continue to
support efforts to reunify the
island as a bizonal,
bicommunal federation, which
would benefit all Cypriots."
Inner City Press asked
Dujarric about the failure of
the UN "Good Offices;" he said
it is under review. This is
today's UN: little headway on
preventative diplomacy, from
its Cameroon cover-up to this,
absurdly short "press
conferences," disinterested
correspondents partying with
those they're supposed to
watchdog. On the evening of
July 6 inside the UN in New
York, before Guterres'
admission, media other than
Inner City Press came also to
see if Guterres' spokesman
Dujarric was in -- he'd left
with bicycle helmet. This was
seen as significant, worth
covering, that there would be
no more "news" for the
evening. Then the failure, the
censorship, amid
ghoulish-in-context partying.
The UN said, "The Conference
on Cyprus ended in the early
hours of Friday 7 July, 2017,
after days of intensive
negotiations. The UN
Secretary-General, Antonio
Guterres, appeared before the
press at 2:20 am to express
his disappointment that the
intensive diplomatic efforts
over the last eight days in
the Swiss resort town of Crans
Montana had not yielded an
agreement for the future of
the Mediterranean
island. He said that he
was "deeply sorry" to
inform the media that "despite
the very strong commitment of
the Greek Cypriot and Turkish
Cypriot communities, the
guarantor power, the European
Union and the United Nations
Cyprus team, the Conference on
Cyprus was concluded without
an agreement being
reached.” In response to
a question, the
Secretary-General said that it
was still possible that "other
initiatives" could yield
results for the long-standing
conflict between the
communities, and that the
United Nations continues to be
available to facilitate the
process. He also thanked the
Swiss government for its
generosity and commitment to
the Conference. FOOTAGE
AND SOUND OF THE UN
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT
ARE AVAILABLE" - but not to
evicted and restricted Inner
City Press, as Guterres'
deputy partied with those
responsible. Inner City Press
on July 6 asked UK Ambassador
Matthew Rycroft, from the UK
transcript: Inner City Press:
On Cyprus, the
Secretary-General’s back at
the talks. I’m wondering,
what’s your understanding of
where they stand? Turkey
seemed to say ‘if it’s not
done, this is the last time’.
What’s your understanding of
this?
I very much welcome the energy
and input that the
Secretary-General personally
has made to the Cyprus talks.
He was there on
Friday-Saturday; he’s there
again today as you say. He is
straining every muscle to get
these talks over the line.
This is a historic
opportunity. There is still
some distance between the
parties; we’re doing
everything that we can as a
guarantor in Cyprus as well.
Video here;
this was picked up word for
word, without identifying the
question(er), by the Cyprus
Mail, here.
Inner City Press on July 1 and
July 2 again asked both
Dujarric and his deputy Farhan
Haq, who on the morning of
July 2 (after Guterres already
left Switzerland) replied, "We
will issue a note on the SG's
travels once we have something
ready." Inner City Press'
question had been, "Where is
the Secretary General?" It's a
simple question that the
administrations in Washington,
New York's City Hall and
elsewhere know they would have
to answer. But today's UN is
so unaccountable,
is so not held accountable,
that Dujarric twice dodged the
question and has now himself
disappeared, not unlike the
Cyprus talks (UN) common
document, not answering. Now
the UN has yet to release
Guterres' July 3 remarks on
climate, hours after wire
services reported them; the UN
has online only Guterres'
canned remarks to the Tehran
conference on Sand and
Dust Storms. Dust in the wind.
Now "Following a meeting with
UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres on Monday, Portuguese
Foreign Minister Augusto
Santos Silva said the incident
was 'very serious' and that
'every possible effort is
being made to recover the
stolen equipment'" - that is,
a large quantity of grenades
and arms "missing" from
Tancos. Earlier on July 3 the
UN belatedly announced,
referring to a Tidewater event
which the Portuguese media already
linked to Guterres, that "The
Secretary-General is in
Lisbon, Portugal, today.
On Monday he will deliver the
keynote address at the
Tidewater conference, which
for decades has been a forum
for strategic discussions
among ministers and heads of
major bilateral and
multilateral aid
agencies. This year's
session is focused on shaping
a development architecture fit
for the 2030 Agenda. On the
sidelines of the event, he is
also scheduled to meet with
the Secretary-General of the
Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development,
Angel Gurria, and the
President of the European Bank
for Reconstruction and
Development, Suma Chakrabarti.
The Secretary-General will
also meet today with the
Foreign Minister of Portugal,
Augusto Santos Silva.
The Secretary-General will be
back in New York on Tuesday
evening." Was that so hard?
Wasn't it known in advance?
Why so defensive? And why not
answer the other questions?
Inner City Press asked, "1)
Where is the Secretary
General? 2) When is his reform
“retreat” with member states?
Some delegates say
July 15, others July 22-23; it
should be public. 3) Of the
two new sexual exploitation
and abuse complaints on the
website, please explain why
the one in Haiti
is being investigated by OIOS,
while the most recently listed
one in CAR is not." No answer
at all on Haiti / UN sexual
abuse, or Guterres' reforms.
Dujarris is supposed to be
Guterres' spokesman, not Aleem
Siddique. Where is the
Secretary General of the
United Nations? As Inner City
Press reported on June
30, many member states
are mystified by the slow pace
and even scheduling of
Guterres' supposed reform
plan. As to We the Peoples and
the Press, censorship continues.
In an otherwise empty UN on
the evening of June 4, Cyprus
talks or attempts to talk
ended at 11 pm, with Secretary
General Antonio Guterres
announcing in the third person
that talks would continue "in
June," then taking no
questions. Nor did those he
met with take questions,
including Inner City Press'
audible question about
hydrocarbons. Guterres headed
to the Cyprus talks in
Switzerland on June 29-30, to
only be back in New York on
July 5. Now it's reported that
Guterres left the talks in
Switzerland on July 1 - but no
word from the UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, whom Inner
City Press twice asked where
Guterres would be between July
1 and July 5. If Trump or De
Blasio did this, there would
be an outcry. Inner City Press
emailed the obvious question
to Dujarric - while noting
that he and his (tag)
team refused
to answer any of Inner City
Press' nine questions,
including on Morocco's Rif,
Cameroon and UN corruption,
from June 12-13. We'll have
more on this. On June 30,
Inner City Press asked Guterres'
holdover
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
the delay
in reform,
and where
Guterres will
be from July 1
to 5. From the
UN transcript:
Inner City
Press: what
was said going
to be the
reform, the
reform of the
development
system of the
UN, I thought
it was going
to be done in
June.
But I'm
finding it's
now 30
June.
So, has a
written
proposal been
made?
Spokesman:
The
Secretary-General
will brief the
Member States
on Wednesday
in the
morning.
He will brief
ECOSOC
[Economic and
Social
Council] and
outline his
vision for the
reform of the
UN's
development
system.
And that will
be a public
meeting.
Inner City
Press:
You'd said
yesterday
that, you
know, wait for
him to get to
Switzerland
before saying
what his next
moves are.
What are his
next moves
between now
and Wednesday?
Spokesman:
Right now,
he's focusing
on the
discussions in
Crans-Montana.
So I don't
want to
preempt when
he will leave
the
discussions as
they're still
ongoing.
On July 1,
Dujarric
issued a
statement that
"last night, a
clear
understanding
emerged of the
essential
elements of a
package that
might lead to
a
comprehensive
settlement in
Cyprus. The
Conference on
Cyprus
continues at
the political
level this
morning. The
Secretary-General
remains fully
engaged in
these efforts
to deliver a
comprehensive
settlement to
the people of
Cyprus." Full
engaged from
where?
On June 29, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric UN transcript here: Inner
City Press: the
Secretary-General at the
Cyprus talks, are they going
on over the weekend? How
many days does he plan to
participate in them?
Spokesman: Let’s get him
there, and then we can talk
about when he leaves.
Inner City Press: Will
we talk about it?
Spokesman: Go
ahead. Next question?
No,
this is the question. "When
Actually Employed" envoy Espen
Barth Eide was present but did
not take questions on June
4. Now on June 9, the
spokesman for Guterres (now on
a week long Central Asian
junket) has issued this: "The
Special Adviser is preparing
this document based on
conversations with all the
conference participants. It
will be prepared before the
conference, in order to help
guide the discussions on
security and guarantees"
and "In line with the
statement issued following the
meeting of the
Secretary-General with the
Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr.
Mustafa Akinci, and the Greek
Cypriot leader, Mr. Nicos
Anastasiades, in New York on 4
June, and following
consultations with all
participants, the Conference
on Cyprus will reconvene in
Geneva on 28 June 2017. The
Conference on Cyprus will
reconvene at the political
level under the auspices of
the Secretary-General, with
the participation of Mr.
Anastasiades and Mr. Akinci,
as well as Greece, Turkey and
the United Kingdom as
guarantor powers, and in the
presence of the European Union
as an observer." On June 5,
with one hour's notice, Eide
was the guest at a truncated
UN noon briefing. Inner City
Press asked Eide about the
hydrocarbons issue, and how
many days he works and gets
paid. He said twenty day a
week, correcting that to
money, and said that
hydrocarbons barely came up in
the meeting. At least he
answered the question - later
on June 5 when Inner City
Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Dujarric how many
days Yemen envoy IOCA works,
and if he will disclose for
Burundi envoy Michel Kafando,
Dujarric cut the question off
- despite the fact that When
Actually Employed envoy
disclosed less - while
indulging Moroccan state media
three rounds of questions. On
Sunday while Inner City Press
arrived at 6:30, and was in
the conference room well
before 7, even the photo
started more than 10 minutes
late. Downstairs, Cyprus
President Nicos Anastasiades
said he wasn't "here for a
blame game." Video here.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa
Akinci said that one side was
imposing pre-conditions. Video
here.
Upstairs, in came UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres,
who'd remained silent
for 18 hours on the London
Bridge attacks, accompanied by
his equally UNresponsive
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
Jeffrey Feltman and Katrin
Hett and Espen Barth Eide.
There was the three-way
handshake, Alamy Live News photos
here; Periscope video here.
To the side, a dinner setting
was on a table facing out
toward First Avenue. A
stakeout afterward was
scheduled. Would the latter
include Eide? After the UN's
envoy on Cyprus, whom UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
said was full time, said he
has no current plans to return
to Cyprus, Inner City Press on
May 31 asked Dujarric: Inner
City Press: I wanted to
ask you about Cyprus. I'm sure
you've seen the President of
Cyprus has said that Mr.
[Espen Barth] Eide was out of
line in speaking about
hydrocarbons as exploration as
a risk, and then mostly I
wanted to ask you about this
quote by the… the… by the
spokes, Aleem Siddique, saying
that Mr. Eide has no pl… no
current plans to return to the
island. So I just wanted
to know, where do things stand
from the Secretary-General's
point of view on this… this
thing that was thought to be
coming to a conclusion?
And also just about Mr. Eide,
is he "when actually
employed?" When he says
he's not going back, is he
still working on the
case? Where does he work
[inaudible] work?
Spokesman: Mr. Eide
continues in his role.
I'm not going to comment on
whatever comments were made on
the hydrocarbons.
Inner City Press: Is he
a full-time envoy?
Spokesman: Yeah, he is,
as far as I know. If
he's not, I'll correct… the
record will be corrected, but
I believe he is.
Update: now
in the UN transcript
there's this: "[He later added
that Mr. Eide is on a “when
actually employed” contract.]"
Added to who? Perhaps Dujarric
announced it over his public
address system piped into the
office the UN gives to
(Dujarric) friendly
journalists. But Dujarric
evicted Inner City Press from
the UN Press Briefing Room and
from Inner City Press' long
time times office S-303 (see
paragraphs 9-10, here);
he keeps Inner City Press
restricted. He did not email
this correction to Inner City
Press. On June 1 Inner City
Press asked him, UN transcript
here:
I'd asked you yesterday about
Espen Barth Eide, and I did
see your correct… your
amplification that he's "when
actually employed". So,
I wanted to know, in these
cases where there are envoys
that are "when actually
employed"… and this is… it's
not… is it possible to know,
just in the last… without
getting into the specifics of
his diplomacy, in… in the
course of the last 365 days,
how many days has he… has he…
and I'm saying it because it's
public money, so I… I know
there's a balance. Can
you get that number?
Spokesman: I… we can
see. I don't know if
it's tabulated at the end of
the year or when they're
tabulated if there's…
Inner City Press:
However it's tabulated.
Spokesman: Yeah.
All right.
Seven
hours later, nothing. The UN
is corrupt. After Cyprus
President Nicos
Anastasiades met with UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on March 22, Inner
City Press asked him about a
meeting later in the day, with
ExxonMobil. Anastasiades said
it was on topics related to
the contracts to be signed on
April 5. Video
here. An hour later,
Inner City Press asked UN
spokesman Farhan Haq about
Cyprus. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City
Press: On UNFICYP
[United Nations Peacekeeping
Force in Cyprus], I wanted to
ask… it's been said from here
that there… I guess UNFICYP or
people here at Headquarters
are looking at two
issues: one, the Chief
Financial Officer becoming a
Cypriot citizen, seemingly in
violation of the status of
for… status of mission
agreement; and also the… the…
the filmed stealing of watches
by UNFICYP personnel.
Particularly, on the latter,
where it seems like it's on
video, what's actually been
done since this video emerged?
Deputy Spokesman: You've
heard what we've had to say
about both of those
questions. I don't have
anything further to say at
this point. Once there's
an update, we'll provide it.
Question: Is there a
timeline?
Deputy Spokesman: Once
we're done with the process,
we'll let you know. And
if that's it...
Haq never
sent any update to Inner City
Press, which got confirmation
of the meeting from the
schedule of UNTV. Perhaps Haq
"squawked" the answer to Inner
City Press' questions to the
in-house audio system that
works only for those with
office, from which Haq, his
boss Stephane
Dujarric and Cristina
Gallach got Inner City
Press evicted for seeking
to cover the corruption
of Ban Ki-moon, Ng Lap Sang
and his fundees. This is
today's UN.
Amid delay of the
UN's Cyprus talks, Inner City
Press on February 21 asked
about the delay and the case
of the "Chief Financial
Officer of UNFICYP [United
Nations Peacekeeping Force in
Cyprus who] has been recently
granted citizenship of
Cyprus.... is there any policy
on host countries of
peacekeeping missions giving
citizenship to internationals
that are based there?"
UN Deputy
Spokesman Farhan Haq replied,
"I'm not aware of someone from
UNFICYP taking Cypriot
nationality, but I'll check on
that." There is more, below.
And on February 28, about
another incident, Inner City
Press asked the UN, transcript
here and below. A week
later, having been provided no
update on the UN's
"investigation" of clear video
of its personnel stealing
watches, Inner City Press
asked again. From the UN's
March 7 transcript:
Inner City Press;
on Cyprus, you’ve said that
there are two things… you or
Stéphane [Dujarric] had said
there are two things being
investigated by the UN system,
one being the chief financial
officer having become a
citizen of Cyprus in
contravention, some say, of
the Status of Forces Agreement
and also the stealing of
watches, the films… apparent
stealing of watches by UNFICYP
(United Nations Peacekeeping
Force in Cyprus)
peacekeepers. So I
wanted to know, since it…
apparently, the only way to
get it is to ask again, what
is the status of those two
investigations, particularly
the filming of peacekeepers
taking watches out of a watch
store? Has anything
actually occurred since then?
Deputy Spokesman:
No. I mean, the
mission’s investigating the
veracity of the allegations,
and it will take prompt and
appropriate action if UNFICYP
personnel have been found to
have committed any
wrongdoing. But that is…
that investigation is
proceeding. Regarding
the other case, the competent
UN offices are reviewing it to
confirm its compatibility with
applicable UN rules.
Inner City Press:
another question on
Cyprus. I know that
you'd said that the [Husein
Moussa] thing is somehow being
reviewed. There's now a
story and a video of UNFICYP
[United Nations Peacekeeping
Force in Cyprus] peacekeepers
stealing a watch on the
Turkish Cypriot side.
And they named the individuals
and that the article says that
there is a legal proceeding,
which I assume has to be a UN…
since they are UN
peacekeepers. Are you
aware of this incident?
Spokesman: Yeah, no, the
Mission is very much aware of
the report. They've
launched an investigation to
look at the veracity of the
allegations. And,
obviously, should this be
found to be true, they will
take prompt action against any
personnel to have found [to
have committed]
wrongdoing. We would
expect UN personnel, whether
it's Headquarters or in the
field, to act with the highest
level of standards and
conduct.
Inner City Press. There seems
to be a spate of allegations
currently about the
Mission. Do you think
the Mission is either worse
run than other missions or…
Why is this all happening now?
Spokesman: No. We have
no… I have no doubt about the
excellent administration of
the mission. As to
whether or not it's an
orchestrated campaign or why
it's happening now, that's
really not for me to
analyze.
Really. On
Febuary 26, five days after UN
lead spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on February 24 ran
out of the UN Press Briefing
Room as Inner City Press asked
about UN Peacekeeping (and the
lack
of UN due process for
journalists) and declined
written questions after
that, we have this exclusive
report.
The CFO of
UNFICYP is named Husein
Moussa. Complaints about his
have been lodged against him
since at latest May 2016 in
e-mails and attachments UN
Under Secretary Generals Atul
Khare, Jeffrey Feltman and
Herve Ladsous, among others.
Inner City Press is
exclusively publishing the
contents of a May 6, 2016
email leaked to it, here,
and a series of attachments
about Husein's Moussa's lack
of academic verification, here,
including in Annex 3 a 2014
"follow on the academic
verification for Mr. Moussa...
not yet cleared."
Beyond
violating the Status of Forces
Agreement between the UN and
Cyprus by obtaining Cypriot
citizenship, Moussa is charged
in the May 2016 email with
using UN vehicles after-hours
and a variety of other
irregularities: "Husein
Moussa, the Chief Finance and
Budget Officer, continuously
and freely used the UN owned
vehicle throughout his
assignment to UNFICYP, i.e.,
since 2002." (So much for Ban
Ki-moon's supposed mobility
policy.)
Also that
"Husein Moussa had mentioned
to a friend of his that the
information about his
university degree he had
provided in his PHP was not
true... If the brushing of
this case under the carpets
continues, I will refer the
details to the international
media for another UN scandal
they will publish with great
pleasure."
Now that
this has happened, and the
UN's two holdover spokesmen
have refused to provide basic
answers and even run out of
the briefing room and ignore
written questions, it has
become an issue in the Cyprus
talks, one of the few possibly
fruitful UN diplomatic efforts
in the past decade. Corruption
and scapegoating makes today's
UN even less able to be fit
for purpose.
Then no answers, UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric running out of
the briefing room amid Inner
City Press questions and refusing
its written questions
since, while continuing the restrictions
on Inner City Press'
journalistic access at the UN
imposed in early 2016.
UNfailing.
***
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