At
UN, Guterres Francophonie
Photo Op Called Historic Day,
Cuts Loom, Reform Needed, Energy
High
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
January 25 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres held
a photo opportunity and
meeting with French Minister
for Development and
Francophonie Jean-Marie Le
Guen on January 25, the latter
said, "It's almost a historic
day." Periscope
video here, Tweeted
photo here.
Some wondered
if Le Guen might be referred
to the news the new
Administration in Washington
is considering a 40% cut in
its contributions to the UN,
with full cuts to parts of the
UN system accused of violating
human rights.
Thus far
Guterres has yet to hold a
press conference in UN
Headquarters, so it has not
been possible to ask him about
the cuts, or the seemingly
slow pace of transition and
reform so far.
Dubious Under
Secretaries General like
Frenchman Herve
Ladsous at Peacekeeping
and Spain's Cristina
Gallach for "Public
Information" remain in
place; deputy SG Amina
Mohammed will not begin until
at earliest March 2.
Still the
talk on the 38th floor was of
a new energy, of meetings well
into the evening, with Guterres
and his chief of staff and
others.
Inner City
Press intends to report in as
much detail as it can -- it is
still constrained
by Gallach's eviction
and pass-reduction order from
eleven months ago -- but on
January 25 the photo op was
send, by a "sign," before
Guterres said anything beyond
"Comment allez-vous."
Back on January
13 when Guterres met with
President Rafael Correa of
Ecuador, the new chair of the
Group of 77 and China, Correa
gave him a painting. Photo
here; Tweeted
video here. Then,
without words, the Press was
ushered off the 38th floor.
This differed
from Guterres' first four days
in office, when he invited the
press back in and urged his
counterparties to also speak
to “your media.”
While
Inner City Press has
exclusively reported this week
on Guterres-proposed changes,
such as combining the UN's
Rule of Law and Elections
units, UN holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has refused
to confirm or explain,
describing only "co-location."
But when
Inner City Press on January 13
asked for further information,
such as how many staff in UN
headquarters work on Mali,
there was no response.
We'll have more
on this - and on Dujarric's
continuig refusal to answer
UN-specified questions about
the January 10 unsealed
indictment of just-left
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's brother and nephew,
who was allowed to work at the
UN's landlord Colliers
International.
All of Inner City
Press' questions, including
about the UN's Office of
Internal Oversight Services,
were referred to Ban's
Seoul-based spokesman at a
phone number that is only a
telephone menu tree all in
Korean.
Guterres
held his second
and third photo
opportunities and
meetings as UN
Secretary General
on January 6, with
Japan's Deputy
Minister for
Foreign Affairs
Shinsuke Sugiyama
(Photos
here, Periscope
here) and
Greek Foreign
Minister Nikos
Kotzias (photos
here, Periscope
here.)
Slightly late to the first
meeting, Guterres cited the need
to prepare for the Astana
(Syria) and Paris (Palestine)
conferences.
Guterres
to his credit made a point of
saying a bit, in public, before
each meeting. With the Japanese
delegation he joked about a
dinner where at least “no one
vetoed the dessert” -- yet --
and with the Greeks, he joked
that their gifts, a book and
music CDs and a box, were too
heavy.
In this Guterres differed from
Ban Ki-moon, but not earlier in
the day when led around to take
selfies with the correspondents
the UN has not, like Inner City
Press, evicted from their
offices for covering UN
corruption, like the Ng Lap Seng
/ John Ashe bribery case. Video
here, story
here.
The Greek meeting followed one
on January 6 with Turkey's
Foreign Minister Mevlüt
Çavusoglu. Photo
here; video
here.
Beyond the pleasantries - and
there were more of these than in
the final days of Ban Ki-moon's
tenure - it was noteworthy
that along with the UN's Cyprus
envoy Espen Barth Eide, Ban's
Under Secretaries General
Feltman, Ladsous and O'Brien
were all there. The "P3 men,"
some call them. Will they be
switched not only for gender,
but nation?
Guterres'
new chief of staff Maria Luiza
Ribeiro Viotti was there; his
Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed
won't formally begin until next
month. Will that trigger the end
of Ban Ki-moon's era of
censoring and restricting the
Press?
***
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