When
UN Guterres Met Jordan's FM
Safadi, No UN Photo, Lavrov
"Private Dinner" UNdisclosed
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Photos, Periscope
UNITED NATIONS,
January 19 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres met
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman
H. Safadi on January 19, the
meeting began eight minutes
before it was scheduled. Inner
City Press has arrived early and
was screened by UN Security,
which asked, Is that camera on?
While not filming, it was on -
which alone allowed Inner City
Press to photograph the perfunctory
grip and grin handshake, photo here.
Afterward, since Guterres had
done the handshake without even
his own UN Photo staffer there,
Inner City Press was asked where
the Jordan mission can find the
photos. Well, here. It was
confirmed that on January 18, as
Inner City Press first reported,
Guterres held a dinner and
meeting, even negotiation, with
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov without putting it on his
UN public schedule, even
belatedly. Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric why and he called it a
"private dinner." Well, with
public funds, in the same UN
dining room where Guterres
complained to Gillian Tett of
the Financial Times about the
the fish and wine he was served.
This is today's UN. On January
18 when Guterres met new
Security Council member Kuwait's
Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah
Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, photo
here,
he had with him his chief of
staff and long time Middle East
hand, for the US and UN, Jeffrey
Feltman. Unlike at the just
prior photo op with South Korea,
for which Inner City Press was
the only media not a part of the
UN Department of Public
Information, for Kuwait there
were five cameramen, one of whom
recounted just flying to New
York from Kuwait via Paris, and
returning tomorrow via London.
Talk about climate change. In
Guterres' side dining room
plates for dinner were set up,
with name tags including the
Russian Ambassador Nebenzia -
the dinner presumably with and
for Foreign Minister Lavrov. But
it was not even listed on
Guterres' schedule. We'll have
more on this. Earlier, when
Guterres met South Korea's First
Vice Foreign Minister Lim
Sung-nam on
January 18, photo
here,
Periscope
video here,
accompanying
him was
Feltman, who
visited
Pyongyang last
year and, as
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported
yesterday, is
said by UN
staff to be
trying to set
up a similar
trip for
Guterres. Also
in on the meet
was the UN's
head of
disarmament,
Japan's Izumi
Nakamitsu.
Nuclear weapons,
you might say,
were on the
table. But the
photo op was
fast and the
Press was
shepherded out.
Half
an hour earlier when Guterres
met Foreign Minister Erlan
Abdyldayev of the Kyrgyz
Republic a/k/a Kyrgyzstan, photo
here,
he was accompanied by one of his
rivals to have become SG, Natalia
Gherman.
Guterres put
her in charge
of the UN's
office for
Central Asia
and she's in
town, along
with the
region's
ministers, for
Kazakhstan's
back to back
Security
Council
meetings. (The
January 19
meeting about
Afghanistan,
it now seems,
will be
without the
Afghan foreign
minister).
Just outside
Guterres'
conference
room in a
large white
paper bag was
a gift from
Kazakhstan, in
a blue velvet
box. Will it
disappear
without
explanation
like the
golden statue
Guterres took
in October
from
Cameroon's
Paul
Biya?
Back on January 15 when Guterres
- without Natalia Gherman - met
Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz
Kamilov, he was instead
accompanied by the UN Department
of Political Affairs' Miroslav
Jenca, who used to head the UN's
office in Central Asia. The
affable Jenca, when boarding the
elevator on the 35th floor where
the "hot desking" (or
waste) at DPA was visible
(along with DPA's sometimes
Kenya official Roselyn Akombe),
joked You have more freedom than
I do and that he hoped his phone
would behave at this photo op.
Inner City Press quickly said
that no harm had been meant in
its previous reporting of a news
flash from Jenca's phone during
a photo op (though that report
might be behind Alison Smale's
Department of Public Information
issuing a Kafka-esque threat to
Inner City Press' accreditation,
here,
and keeping it out of its
office, with minders).
Press (UN) freedom, as we'll
cover in connection with another
visit later this week from the
region. After the very short
photo op, on the way out
Guterres' Fabrizio Hochschild
walked with Tony Banbury, who
did a review of the UN in Iraq,
completed in mid-November. And
now? We'll have more on all
this, including the seeming lack
of "hot desking" or imposition
of flexible workspace on
Guterres' 38th floor. Is it
another case of Do as I say, not
as I do? Earlier on January 15
when Guterres met Sigrid Kaag,
he joked before the Press was
ushered out that he could not
get used to her new role, as
Dutch minister, still seeing her
with the UN (from Lebanon to
Syria chemical weapons.) In
those UN roles, Kaag blocked
Inner City Press on Twitter.
Notably she stopped the blocking
as soon as she left the UN,
showing that the UN either
encourages or has fewer
disincentives to censorship than
the private sector. The
Netherlands is now on the
Security Council, but its
Permanent Representative was not
seen at Kaag's meeting with
Guterres. (He fairness, he is
just back from the Security
Council's weekend trip to
Afghanistan.) A minute before
his meeting with Kaag, Guterres
came in from his private dining
room. He had a listed 2 pm
meeting with Rodrigo Maia,
President, Brazilian Chamber of
Deputies, and after Kaag a 4 pm
meeting with Spyridon Flogaitis,
Director, European Public Law
Organization, both of them
Closed-Press. The latter was set
to be followed by Uzbekistan's
foreign minister Abdulaziz
Kamilov at 4:30 and then
Lebanon's post Judge Nawaf Salam
ambassador Amal Mudallali at 6
pm. Back on January 12 when
Guterres met with Norway's
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen
Søreide, it came the morning
after US President Donald
Trump's reported comments
contrasting Norway to "sh*thole"
countries. So Inner City Press
came to cover their meeting or
at least the photo op. On the
way, UN Security officers
repeatedly told Inner City Press
there would be a problem with
its practice of live-streaming
Periscope video, or more
specifically, audio. On the 37th
floor, Inner City Press pointed
out that UNTV runs audio. But
they're official, was the reply,
I'm only telling you what I've
been told to say. (Higher-ups
from the Department of Public
Information of Alison Smale have
issued Kafka-esque threats, here.) Still Inner
City Press was not stopped from
taking its microphone up to the
38th floor. The photo op began
almost immediately, Periscope
here, and Guterres after
shepherding Soreide from grin
and grin to sign-in book, sat at
his conference table and said,
"Thank you very much." It was
over. It was said that Soreide
would made remarks, perhaps
about Trump's comments but it
did not happen, at least in
Guterres' conference room.
Coming up as Inner City Press
was hurried out were Guterres'
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, and Guterres' adviser,
previously the French mission's
legal adviser, Tanguy Stehelin.
As of the time of the photo op,
the UN's only response had been
by lame-duck Human Rights
Commission Prince Zeid, who has
relatedly been quiet on the UN's
abuses in Haiti, and Nigeria's
abduction of leaders of Southern
Cameroons / Ambazonia. But
that's another story. Back on
December 18 when Guterres met
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert
Fico, he joked that Fico must
have stopped in to see the
President of the General
Assembly, fellow Slovak Miroslav
Lajcak. Less funny, but as yet
unacted on by Guterres, is the
November 20 indictment of
Senegal's former foreign
minister Cheikh Gadio, along
with Patrick Ho of China Energy
Fund Committee, in a case
alleging bribery of Lajcak's
predecessor as UN PGA Sam
Kutesa, as well as Chad's
Idriss Deby. Guterres has not
even initiated an audit in
response to this UN bribery
indictment. As to Fico, given
his recent statements on Libya,
one can only imagine what a read
out of his meeting with Guterres
would say. Guterres has stopped
issuing read-outs, another cut
back in transparency. On the way
up to the photo op, Inner City
Press witness several gift
distributors, from bottles of
liquor to envelopes, as well as
recently built partition walls
on the 30th floor being torn
down, in a classic example of UN
waste. (See Inner City Press
exclusive story, here.)
The UN under Guterres has become
even more corrupt, and less
transparent. Not only is the
investigative Press restricted,
more so than no show state media
like Egypt's Akhbar al Yom
(given Inner City Press' long
time office but not even present
for the day's vote on Egypt's
Jerusalem resolution) - on the
37th floor, UN Security made a
point of re-checking Inner City
Press' badge, then of closing
the door to the conference room
on 38 so that whoever was coming
out of Guterres' office could
not be seen. Who was it? Watch
this site. Back on November 9
when Guterres met Turkey's
PMBinali Yildirim, the Turkish
delegation brought their own
security officers to the photo
op. Periscope video here.
Guterres had finished a long
afternoon, calling Kenya's
Ambassador "sincerely unfair"
down in Conference Room 2, and
taking photos with UN Police
down in the basement. In between
he'd come up to meet Sri Lanka's
Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga, Chairperson of the
Office for National Unity and
Reconciliation a day after Inner
City Press asked about torture
by that country's army. Before
that, Jeffrey Feltman who has
played a role in the rift
between Guterres and Kenya was
in Guterres' office, then by the
elevators. Will there be a
memoir? After the Turkish photo
op, mixed results in the
International Court of Justice
voting. Lebanon's Nawaf Salam
won a seat, but India's Bhandari
and UK Greenwood will fight
another round on Monday. Only at
the UN. Back on November 7 when
Guterres met Argentina's
President Mauricio Macri on
November 7, Macri had come from
the site of the recent terrorist
attack on the West Side Highway
bike path. Guterres has just
returned from three days in
Lisbon, justified by a 15-minute
speech. In Guterres' team to
meet Macri was fellow Argentine
Virginia Gamba, previously on
Syria chemical weapons. Down in
the Security Council, her
successor Edmond Mulet was being
asked questions he didn't answer
(Inner City Press / Alamy photos
of Nikki Haley and Syria's
Ja'afari at the meeting, here.)
Somewhere on the 38th floor
Guterres' Deputy Amina Mohammed
was holding two meeting, while
her office (and Guterres'
spokespeople) never answered a
simple Press question for a copy
of a speech she gave at a
$25,000 a sponsor fundraiser.
Inner City Press, already
subject to a Kafka-esque
threat to accreditation by
Guterres' head of Global
Communications Alison Smale for
using Periscope during photo
op(s) on the 38th floor, was
surveilled as it prepared to
Periscope. Thus it missed what
others captured: Guterres'
personal back pad being put in
his chair, him walking by with
notes for the Macri meeting.
This is today's UN. On
November 3 Guterres
accepted the credentials of El
Salvador's new Ambassador Ruben
Armando Escalante Hasbun on
November 1, a successor to
Carlos Garcia who was exposed as
having helped money laundering
in the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe
UN bribery trial in July 2017.
Under Guterres, these practices
continue - in fact, Guterres has
become even less transparent.
For example, on November 3 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who
had just cut short Inner City
Press' questions about Guterres'
inaction on the killings by the
Cameroon government, these
questions: "is the Secretary
General having a one-on-one
lunch on 38th floor today? is it
with a journalist / editor? is
it on or off the record? why
isn't this lunch on the SG's
public schedule? is it with
Gillian Tett?" Dujarric's and
the UN's answer on this: "I have
nothing to say to the SG’s
schedule that’s not public." So
Guterres decides which meeting
are not public. Inner City Press
has asked: "On the lunch, the
question is WHY it is not
public. Can it be considered
"internal"?" Watch this site. On
October 31 Guterres met Human
Rights Council president Joaquin
Alexander Maza Martelli, saying
"Bienvenido" repeatedly before
ushering the Press to leave:
essentially, Adios. That's what
the Trump administration is
considering saying to the UN
Human Rights Council, now after
the election of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to the
Council. The UN Secretariat has
its own human rights problems.
Not only impunity for sexual
abuse by peacekeepers and
bringing cholera to Haiti, not
only praising and accepting gift
from human rights abusers like
Cameroon's Paul Biya, but also
for example disparate treatment
and retaliatory restrictions on
the investigative Press.
Guterres has not reversed this.
In fact, on October 20 his
Department of Public Information
under Alison Smale issued a
further threat to Inner City
Press' accreditation, citing an
undefined violation at a
stakeout just like that on
October 31. This threat comes
just as Inner City Press pursues
Team Gutereres inaction on the
killings in Cameroon. Guterres
met French foreign minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian on October
30, three days after he took an
award from Cameroon's
French-supported president Paul
Biya. Inner City Press came
early for the photo op but was
delayed, then hindered. . But
Inner City Press belatedly went,
and although DPI's Kafka-esque
theats made it suspend the
Periscope, it can report that
with Guterres were his pro-Biya
adviser Khassim Diagne, and
former French mission legal
adviser (an office in the orbit
of Beatrice Le Frapeur du
Hellen, Inner City Press scoop
here). Under DPI's censorship
orders, we'll wait to report
more, including on the push to
get the US to pay for the G5
Sahel force - except what was in
plain sight, Guterres' personal
back rest being installed in his
chair. Guterres met Spain's
Secretary of State Ildefonso
Castro López on October 16,
hours after Spain won a seat on
the UN Human Rights Council with
no mention of its crackdown in
Catalonia. Guterres has also
been scheduled to meet the
foreign minister of Togo Robert
Dussey just before, but that
meeting or at least photo op got
canceled, as did a stakeout by
Guterres that UNTV had been
setting up for in the morning.
As Inner City Press has
exclusively reported,
Guterres or his Global
Communications chief aim to make
this upcoming trip to Central
African Republic a litmus test
of how to present the UN in a
positive light - despite the
sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
We'll have covering, rather than
covering up, that. On October 12
Guterres belatedly swore in
three senior official on October
12: Vladimir Voronkov, USG for
Counter-Terrorism, Izumi
Nakamitsu, High Representative
for Disarmament, and Mark
Lowcock, Emergency Relief
Coordinator. Photos of each here.
Inner City Press arrived early
for the photo op, but found
itself in a long line with
tourists at the metal detectors
on 45th Street. Because it
covered UN bribery of John Ashe
and Ng Lap Seng, it was evicted
and now is slowed in entering,
confined to minders once in. But
up on the 38th floor the head of
UN Security greeted the incoming
trio, particularly the UN Relief
Chief. He was candid on Yemen;
Ms. Nakamitsu's
office only
sends out
information
selectively.
Jeffrey
Feltman was
not there,
apparently on
his way to
Myanmar. There
is still no non-interim Special
Adviser on Africa. We'll have
more on this. On October 9 Inner
City Press went to cover
Guterres' meeting with
Bangladesh's Finance Minister
Abul Maal Abdul Muhit. Present
for the meeting - the UN side,
notably, was all men, photo here
- was UN Elections. After being
quickly ushered out, in the
elevator down was Darrin Farrant
of the UN Department of Public
Information, who more than a
month ago when asked provide the
email address of his new boss,
Alison Smale. But petitions to
Smale about unjustifiable
restrictions on Press have gone
unanswered; some from Cameroon
have noted not only Smale
“inordinate” focus on her former
beat, Germany, on Catalonia, but
also her DPI's lawless
restrictions on the Press. She
was not present on October 12,
instead DPI was represented by
Maher "It's
all about you" Nasser, who
refused
to reverse his previous boss'
censorship when he was in
charge. On October 9 to stakeout
the General Assembly meeting
Inner City Press was required to
get a DPI escort, unlike other
no-show state media like Akhbar
al Yom which DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' office,
which sit empty. At the noon
briefing, Inner City Press asked
for a read out of the Bangladesh
meeting (four hours later, none
has been provided), and again
for a read out of the
Philippines meeting ten days
before on September 29. That day
at noon Guterres' spokesman,
when Inner City Press asked
whether there would be any
action on UN staff in Myanmar
describing retaliation by UN
Resident Coordinator Renata
Lok-Dessalien, said only that
Guterres stands behind
Lok-Dessalien. So much for
whistleblower protection. On
Cameroon, Guterres' belated
concern is not about killed
civilians, but "territorial
integrity." Then for a 2:45 pm
photo op of Guterres and
Philippines foreign minister
Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Inner
City Press arrived hte
prescribed half hour early. It
was screened and then told to
wait, even after 2:45 pm. When
it was allowed into the
conference room, the handshake
had already taken place.
Dujarric, seen on 37, had
earlier refused to answer Inner
City Press' questions about UN
Security surveillance camera(s)
over the UN media bullpen, or
safeguards on the use of the
footage. This is Guterres' UN.
After Guterres grip and grin
sessions on the UN's 27th floor
during UN General Assembly high
level week, his meetings and
photo ops on September 27 with
the foreign ministers of Eritrea
and Iran were back on the 38th
floor, with USg Jeff Feltman at
both meetings. Both countries
are subject to sanctions; Iran's
Javad Zarif was on his way to
speak at the Asia Society. He
entered jauntily.
But the UN is
getting more and more murky;
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric has refused to say how
NGO(s) purchasing an event in
the UN General Assembly Hall on
August 23 were vetted, even
after the Ng bribery verdict. On
August 18 Guterres said that the
UN's principles are those of
humanity; he made much of
Miroslv Jenca being from
Slovakia. Meanwhile his
spokesman wouldn't confirm that
Jenca's colleague Taye-Brook
Zerihoun is leaving, to be
replaced by Kenya's Monica Juma.
We'll have more on this. There
were: Gabon PR Michel Xavier
Biang, Lithuania PR Audra
Plepytë, Slovakia PR Michal
Mlynár, Slovenia PR Darja Bavdaž
Kuret, NZ PR Craig John Hawke,
Ireland PR Geraldine Byrne
Nason, PR, Ireland and
Francophonie PO Narjess Saidane.
On August 16 Guterres schmoozed
correspondents about Croatia and
his vacation; after a stakeout
in which he refused
to comment on the Ng Lap Seng
verdict, photos here,
he had a 4:30 pm photo op with
meeting with Serbian Foreign
Minister Ivica Dacic. Photos on
Alamy here;
Inner City Press Periscope here;
it was the only media there
other than a lone Serbian
cameraman. Guterres called Dacic
young and the latter replied
that he is 51. Then the press
was ushered out. Before Dacic
arrived, Guterres squired out a
duo who was not on his schedule.
As noted, a diplomat complained
Guterres is "just bringing in
people he knew in Geneva,
nothing new, no improvements."
On Press freedom, Inner City
Press must concur: it remains
restricted for covering now
convicted Ng Lap Seng's bribes;
the Egyptian state media the UN
is trying to give its office
wasn't even present for Egypt's
August 2 press conference, has
never asked a question. And on
transparency: the sources said
seven day, but when Inner City
Press asked Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric on
July 31, Dujarric said for two
week, Guterres will be "in
Europe." Periscope video here.
He is on leave, on vacation. On
August 1, Dujarric repeatedly
said the Secretary General
thinks this, feels that - and
Inner City Press asked, how do
you know? At briefings in
Washington reporters routinely
ask, did you speak with your
principle about X, Y or Z. But
the UN feels it doesn't have to
answer. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: in the answers
you were giving about the
Secretary-General believes this
on Venezuela, thinks this, can…
given what you have said
yesterday about his schedule, is
this based on, is this a DPA
statement, is it actually
something they run by him, how
does it work?
Spokesman: It works that
it comes out of my mouth.
That’s how it works. Next
question. Next question.
Yes, we will have more
questions. On July 31, Inner
City Press asked if there is any
press pool - no - and if
Dujarric will at least in the
future announce week-long
absences by Guterres in advance.
Dujarric did not say yes (he
did, however, repeat that claim
that the UN was the victim in
its corruption case, saying that
Yiping Zhou is gone. But what
about Navid Hanif, who went
to Macau? What about Meena
Sur, who helped
Ng? Both of them, and
others involved, are still in
the UN). This lack of
transparency stands in contrast
to the executive branch in
Washington and even New York
routinely disclosing travel
including vacation travel. But
the UN has no press protections
either - Guterres has been asked.
Meanwhile his spokespeople says
the UN should get paid for the
UNreformed corruption shown in
the Ng trial and verdict. We'll
have more on this. When UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on July 27 had a brief
meeting with Qatar's Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar
state media and other UN based
photographers went up. Alamy
photos here.
There were complaints how short
the handshake was; Inner City
Press noted that on the UN side
of the table were only four
people, all men, including
Jeffrey Feltman. Periscope video
here.
Guterres was scheduled to be at
another meeting in 25 minutes
time. So will the UN help solve
the stand-off in the Gulf? It
seems unlikely. The UN never
answered Inner City Press'
questions of if Feltman had
visited Saudi Arabia and if not,
why not. Back on July 19
Guterres.had a meeting and photo
op with Spain's Foreign Minister
Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo.
Inner City Press went to cover
it, Alamy photos here,
Periscope video here
including of whether Dastis
should write "una poema"
in the UN visitors' book. Inner
City Press barely arriving on
time due to the crowd of
tourists at the UN's visitors
entrance. It has been this way
since Spain's now-gone Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach had Inner City Press
evicted from and still
restricted at the UN after Inner
City Press asked
her about attending indicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng's South South Awards, and
allowing Ng fundees improper
events in the UN. Although
Guterres did not continue
Gallach's contract - she lobbied
to stay, but failed - her
negative impacts are still in
evidence. The Spanish Mission to
the UN, now off the Security
Council, likewise did nothing to
reign Gallach in. But surely
they are lobbying Guterres to
get another Under Secretary
General position, even as their
Fernando Arias Gonzalez runs
against six others to head the
Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons. We'll have
more on this. The day before on
July 18 Guterres had a meeting
and photo op with the Dominican
Republic's Foreign Minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado (Alamy
photos here,
Periscope video here);
it came one day after in the UN
bribery case against Ng Lap Seng
a video of then then-President
Leonel
Fernandez
Reyna visiting
South South
News near the
UN was
discussed.
That video is
here.
South South
News was a
bribery
conduit, its
funds used for
gambling by
Dominican
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Francis
Lorenzo in Las
Vegas and
Atlantic City
while the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
let SSN's
content into
UNTV archives
and let Ng
fundees have
impermissible
events in the
UN. On July
18, Guterres'
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
yes or no
questions
about South
South News and
the UN. After
the July 18
photo op,
Inner City
Press had
nowhere to
edit - for
seeking to
cover an event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room in
pursuing the
UN / SSN
corruption
story, Inner
City Press was
evicted and still
restricted.
And in the DR
there are
protests about
corruption. So
what did the
minister and
Guterres
discuss?
Haiti? These
days there are
no read-outs
at the UN.
On July 13 Guterres had a
meeting and photo op (Periscope
here)
with Estonia's President Kersti
Kaljulaid, listed in the
country's delegation was the
coordinator of its run for a
Security Council seat, Margus
Kolga, previously the country's
UN ambassador. Of the run, he
has said "there are very many
small nations. We are a small
nation which came out from under
occupation. We may serve as
example to them, that this is
possible and that a small nation
has another perspective on the
world which needs to be
represented at the council. Most
nations have spent far above the
million we intend to." At least
that is transparent. By
contrast, Guterres' UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric earlier on
July 13 refused
to answer Inner City
Press' questions about the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe (RIP) UN
bribery case, and even declined
to answer Inner City Press'
question about member states
asking (it)
whether Guterres will produce
any document on reform prior to
his July 22 retreat. So much for
We the Peoples. But hello in the
Security Council, it would seem,
Estonia. Dujarric has repeatedly
refused to provide a list of who
works on Guterres' 38th floor;
by eye Inner City Press noticed
former French Mission legal
adviser Tanguy Stehelin.
Seconded? Dujarric has not
answered. We'll have more on
this. On July 12 when Guterres
swore in six UN officials (some
of them simply being
re-shuffled), Inner City Press
went to cover it. While Guterres
swore in Olga Algayerova as
Executive Secretary of the UN
Economic Commission for Europe,
the mobile phone seemingly of
Miroslav Jenca went off with a
loud BBC news bulletin about
Donald Trump Jr and Russia.
Periscope video here.
Achim Steiner was installed as
head of the UN Development
Program, at the very time that
UNDP is losing control of the
Resident Coordinator system to
Gutteres' and Amina J.
Mohammed's Secretariat. More
seriously, when the Ng Lap Seng
/ John Ashe prosecution
continues in Federal court in
lower Manhattan, there are been
few reforms at the UN. There is
still a lack of transparency,
and business people buying their
way in a Ng did through the UN
Department of Public Information
under Cristina Gallach. As Inner
City Press covered it, Gallach
had Inner City Press evicted and
still restricted; the acting
head of DPI, Maher Nasser, has
done nothing to reverse it.
There is still no new Special
Adviser on Africa - Inner City
Press is told that an Angolan
turned it down - and the new
head of OCHA, Mark Lowcock,
doesn't start until September.
The UN must reform. Also sworn
in on July 12 were UN veteran
Jan Beagle,
Under-Secretary-General for
Management; able former Iraqi
Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim,
Executive Secretary of the UN
Economic and Social Commission
for Western Asia; Namvamanee
Ratna Patten,
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
on Sexual
Violence in
Conflict; JIM
veteran Virginia Gamba, as
Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children
and Armed Conflict (as Yemen was
the topic in the Security
Council.) On July 10 Guterres
has a photo op with Colombia's
Foreign Minister Maria Angela
Holguin Cuellar. It was supposed
to be in his office in UN
Headquarters at 4:30 pm. But on
little notice he moved it to his
- make that, the UN and the
public's - mansion on Sutton
Place and 57th Street, at 4 pm.
Inner City Press jumped on the
city bus up First Avenue,
broadcasting a Periscope video
about the change, when suddenly
it was urged
to stop broadcasting by a
board member of the UN
Correspondents Association,
which Guterres' deputy spoke
before last week and whose
former president Giampaolo
Pioli's Hampton's gratiuty-fest
the UN acting head of Public
Information Maher
Nasser attended, the UN
Censorship Alliance. This is
today's UN. Still, up on Sutton
Place UN Security brought up a
sniffing dog in a UN 4x4, and
two quick photos were allowed
before Guterres escorted Holguin
onto "his" elevator. Back
at the UN, the door to the UN
Security Council stakeout was
locked, and the turnstile where
targeting Inner City Press' ID
pass no longer works was guarded
by new UN Security who didn't
even recognize the UN minder.
Still, we got this
Periscope, despite UN censorship
which continues. Much later at
8:30 pm, Guterres' holdover
spokesman issued this.
Will there be reform?
On July 5 Guterres had as a
series of five credential photo
ops on July 5, Inner City Press
Periscoped all of them, with a
particular eye on Zambia and
Mauritania. Zambia's returning
Permanent Representative Lazarus
Kapambwe gave the greeting of
his president; one wondered if
in the ten minute closed door
meeting that followed the
continued lock-up of opposition
figure HH was raised. (Inner
City Press has repeatedly asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
about it, with only vague
generalities resulting).
Mauritania, Guterres called "un
pillier" (just as he ten minutes
later called Moldova a pillar) -
but did Western Sahara, on which
there has been no UN envoy for
some time, come up? Moldova's
past Permanent Representative
moved in the South South News
world of Ng Lap Seng, now on
trial for UN bribery, although
that may have been in his
"personal capacity." And last
was South Centre, which is
testifying this week to the
World Intellectual Property
Organization, whose director
Francis Gurry's retaliation and
patent work for North Korea
Guterres has apparently not
raised with him. Guterres was
slated to present reform plans
at 11 am, but in the Ecosoc
Chamber which evicted and
restricted Inner City Press is
required to seek a minder to
cover, unlike other less
interested media like Egypt's
state Akhbar al Yom. This is
today's - and now Guterres' -
UN. Inner City Press' Haiti
questions remain unanswered,
among with Cameroon, the Rif and
more. Guterres will hold a press
conference on June 20 - Inner
City Press asked his spokesman
to confirm all topics are on the
table. He said yes. We'll see.
Guterres swore in three new
officials on June 7, Inner City
Press went to the photo op
(photos here)
and small ceremony, which
included reclusive
head of UN Peacekeeping
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN's
head of Information Technology,
Atul Khare and Miroslav Jenca,
previously head of the UN's
office in Turkmenistan. It's to
there that Guterres tonight
takes off on his most recent
trip, amid crises in the Gulf
and elsewhere, UN failures in
Cameroon and Yemen, and
continuing Press censorship and
lack of reform. Guterres swore
in Ursula Mueller as Assistant
Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy
Emergency Relief Coordinator in
the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (she's
already been on the job for 100
days, she said); Fekitamoeloa
Katoa Utoikamanu on Tonga,
Under-Secretary-General and High
Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked
Developing Countries and Small
Island Developing States; and
Alexander Zuev as Assistant
Secretary-General for Rule of
Law and Security Institutions.
With him, Guterres hearkened
back to his interview, and said
thank you in Russian. Periscope
video here.
As to the still unfilled
Department of Public Information
post vacated by corrupt
censor Cristina Gallach,
Inner City Press is informed of
interviewees currently based in
Paris and Geneva. It is not or
should not be a system run
without rules by the top person,
but rather one in which the
media have due process and
appeals rights, and retaliatory
action are reversed. Flier
here. Guterres will soon
by the flier: we'll be covering
it. The evening before on June 6
when Guterres did a photo
op (Periscope here) and
meeting with Gabon's Ali Bongo,
who along with his father Omar
have consecutively ruled Gabon
since 1967, it began a full 15
minutes late. Not because Bongo
was picking up another dubious
award on the sidelines of
the sometimes dubious Ocean
Conference (see
here), but because
Guterres had another, unlisted
visitor. It was, Inner City
Press saw, Saudi Arabia's
ambassador to the UN, presumably
about the standoff with Qatar.
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has repeatedly
said Guterres is not involved.
We'll have more on this. On
Bongo, he stayed upstairs for 45
minutes and then left with the
media he'd brought in, in a
caravan of vehicles with a
police escort. Periscope viewers
told Inner City Press Gabonese
were protesting Bongo, who they
call a killer, in front of the
Peninsula Hotel. Watch this
site. On June 5, Guterres met
with Fiji's Josaia Voreqe
Baininarama, there was a rare
attendee: Deputy Secretary
General Amina Mohammed. Perhaps
it was because Fiji is the
co-President, with Sweden, of
the Ocean Conference. Earlier on
June 5, Deputy Mohammed had been
listed as the briefer - and
presumably answerer - at a press
conference about a more than
1000 page UN book. But Mohammed
left; Inner City Press stayed
and asked a scientist who seemed
to say he'd been at a conference
in 1946 about fisheries
subsidies. Likewise, Baininarama left
the 1 pm stakeout in front of
the UN General Assembly before
he could be asked any questions.
This is also how Guterres did
it, speaking in the third person
about Cyprus, on Sunday evening.
It seems to be catching in his
UN. Back on May 30 when Guterres
met
with Romania's Foreign Minister
Teodor Melescanu, it was part of
Melescanu's campaign for his
country to win a two year term
on the UN Security Council, to
follow its six-month rotating
presidency of the European
Council in first half of 2019
(for which it is seeking a
bigger building in Brussels). Melescanu has most
recently, in Istanbul, defended
his country's delaying of
Turkish basketball player Enes
Kanter after he criticized Erdogan.
Melescanu
will
be in New York through June 3.
Guterres, after yet another trip
(this time for a G7
speech on Africa and
technology with no mention of
the Internet cut-off in
Cameroon), was back in New York,
NYU
earlier in the day, then with an
unscheduled or undisclosed
meeting with a Security Council
ambassador that ran past 7 pm.
In the meeting with Melescanu
were Tanguy Stehelin and
Fabrizio Hochschild, among
others. The UN's restrictions on
the Press, unlike on never
present Egyptian state media
Akhbar al Yom, continued. But on
the 38th floor there was
laughter. Last week Guterres met
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister
and was given an oil painting;
before that Guterres held a
meeting with his senior
management group since after a
two week trip he is in New York
for only three days, leaving
tomorrow. At the appointed time
for Azerbaijan, streaming out of
Guterres' conference room were
USg Jeff Feltman, Jean Pierre
Lacroix who declined
to answer Inner City
Press' question about France's
20+ year rule of UN
Peacekeeping, Oscar
Fernandez-Taranco, Fabrizio
Hochschild and others. Earlier
on May 24 Inner City Press asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric to "please
state if a David J Vennett is
now a/the principal advisor to
the SG, if so why he is not in
iSeek and how he was recruited
and hired and, again, please
provide a list of who works in /
or the Executive Office of the
Secretary General and whether
they are paid by the UN, by a UN
affiliate like UNOPS, or by a
country and is so which." There
was no answer. Dujarric
announced, "Tomorrow, the
Secretary-General will be
heading out of New York for
Italy to attend the G-7 meeting.
On Saturday, he will participate
in the outreach session of the
summit, which is taking place in
Taormina. The focus of the
discussion will be "Innovation
and Sustainable Development in
Africa." He will leave
Taormina Saturday afternoon."
Does it take from Thursday to
Saturday to get to Italy? Is
there a stop over on the way
back? What was in Guterres'
budget speech on May 24, a copy
of which Inner City Press requested?
Why was corrupt
censor Cristina Gallach
speaking in the General Assembly
Hall on May 24, and why has her
censorship continued, without
hearing or appeal? Back on May
22 when Guterres met
Slovenia's President Borut
Pahor, it was Guterres first
such meeting at UN Headquarters
in two weeks. In his first 141
days, Guterres is often on the
road, this time including London
and China and Geneva, maybe
Lisbon, while the promised
reforms at the UN are still not
easy to see. Pahor is running
for re-election and was to host
a reception later on May 22 for
Slovenia's 25th anniversary in
the UN, at the Intercontinental
Barclays. The country's
ambassadors at the UN and in
Washington are set to change,
the latter amid probably unfair
criticism that First Lady
Melania Trump's Slovenian roots
have led at last to Slovenia
distinguishing itself from
Slovakia (which is set to take
up the Presidency of the UN
General Assembly in September).
Guterres, too, needs to
distinguish himself from his
predecessor. On Yemen, holdover
envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
continues to oversee bombing and
now cholera, spun by holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric who
has also defended the UN's World
Intellectual Property
Organization's patent work for
sodium cyanide in North
Korea. On Press Freedom,
there are still no UN rules and
evictions
and restrictions remain in
place. Back on May 5 when
Guterres met with the Dominican
Republic's foreign minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado there
was an indicted elephant (not)
in the room: former Deputy
Permanent Representative of the
Dominican Republic to the UN
Francis Lorenzo, who has pleaded
guilty to bribery in the
UN through South
South News which he ran.
That case is moving toward
trial, but the UN has done
nothing in its wake - except
evict and still restrict Inner
City Press which covers that and
other corruption, including in
the January 2016 "incident"
the Department of Public
Information used and uses as a
pretext to confine Inner City
Press to minders. On May 5 the
Dominicans covering the photo op
were an energetic bunch, with
GoPro cameras taking photos out
the 38th floor windows that
Inner City Press was ordered not
to take. We asked: what issues
would Guterres raise? Would they
include next door Haiti, where
UN introduced cholera still
causes suffering? After the
meeting, the Dominican side
issued a read-out, the the UN
should do more concretely on
Haiti. So on May 9 Inner City
Press asked, UN transcript here,
Inner City Press: the
Secretary-General met with the
Foreign Minister of the
Dominican Republic on
Friday. And, since then
they’ve formally put out a
readout, and they’ve said that
they told… said that the UN
system should do more concretely
for Haiti, not just talk but
give money. And… and so I
guess I’m wondering, can you
give some UN side readout or
what…
Spokesman: I don’t have…
I don’t have a readout, but
I’ll see what I can get you.
But six
hours later when Guterr's
holdover spokesman Dujarric
left, no read-out had been
provided, none at all. We'll
stay on it. On May 3 when
Guterres did a photo op and
meeting with the "new"
Permanent Representative of
The Gambia on May 3, Guterres
welcomed him "as a democratic
country, we are proud to have
you in our ranks." Video here.
There was only one problem: it
was the same Ambassador who
had represented strongman
Jammeh, Mamadou Tangara. Inner
City Press had repeatedly asked
Guterres' also holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about Mamadou Tangara during
the time Jammeh tried to hang
on. Now Mamadou Tangara is
being feted as a
representative of democracy.
Did Guterres not know this? Or
was this quiet diplomacy? In
other photo ops on May 3,
World Press Freedom Day,
Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J
Mohammed came to attend the
one with new Nigeria rep
Tijjani Muhammad Band,
Periscope here,
but not Uganda's knowledgeable
Adonia Ayebare nor Seychelles'
Ronald Jean Jumeau. Back down
on the UN's second floor,
Inner City Press remains
confined to minders, even on
World Press Freedom day. We'll
have more on this. Back on
April 20, Guterres met
Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for
Foreign Trade and Development
Cooperation, Kingdom of the
Netherlands, on Guterres' side
of the table were four men and
one woman, Katrin Hett, who
asked one of the men who'd sat
next to Guterres to get up and
move. The previous evening as
Inner City Press rushed to
leave a Department of Public
Information event in the
General Assembly lobby before
the 7 pm censorship witching
hour imposed on it by DPI,
Inner City Press was told, in
a friendly way, to give more
positive coverage to Dutch
Sigrid Kaag, so the UN doesn't
remain a "patriarchy." It's a
good point, but Kaag like
failed Cameroon Resident
Coordinator (promoted by
Guterres) Najat Rochdi
probably shouldn't block
the press they don't like. On
April 20 on the 38th floor was
the Officer in Charge of DPI,
Maher Nasser, who has made no
substantive response to Inner
City Press' April 1 formal
request to end
the now 14 months of minders
and censorship for having
covered a meeting in the UN
Press Briefing Room in
connection with the Ng Lap
Seng / John Ashe UN
corruption case.
Guterres is 110 days in, and
what has changed? Not the
censorship and targeted
requirement of minders. On
April 18 when Guterres did photo
op and meeting with
Ukraine's deputy Foreign
Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, his
close adviser Katrin Hett came
to tell the assembled staffers
they would not be needed, the
meeting would be held with
only four on each side in
Guterres' office overlooking
the East River and Queens.
Things are getting more and
more private: Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Duajrric
for example has twice refused
to answer Inner City Press if
as reported Guterres tried to
reach Cameroon's president of
decades Paul Biya, about the
cut off of the Internet there.
Others have noticed the rash
of German officials getting
jobs: Achim Steiner at UNDP
and prospectively Horst Kohler
on Western Sahara. But some
office on 38 now have blank
signs. Kyslytsya had just
given a right of reply in the
Security Council, about
Crimea. The mystery and
payback for Guterres getting
all of the Permanent Five
members of the Council on his
side to get elected has still
not be revealed. But earlier
on April 18, Inner City Press
which remains evicted from its
UN office and confined the UN
minders was told, by the
minders, that it cannot
even work at a table in the
UN lobby. This has been
raised, yes, to
the 38th floor. So they
know. There are no rules - a
topic, in another context,
that Kyslytsya raised
in the Security Council.
Back on April 10
when Guterres did a photo
op with the Club de
Madrid - World Leadership
Alliance including another
candidate for Secretary
General, Danilo Turk, it was
impossible not to wonder what
might have been. How might
other of the candidates fared?
What reforms, and reversal of
Ban Ki-moon mistakes from Yemen
and children and armed
conflict to censorship
might they have accomplished
or at least begun? The ex
heads of state barely fit into
the photo, Periscope video here, and
very little banter was heard
before the press was ushered
out. On the way in, Guterres
came amiably through the hall,
turning into the office of
Miguel Graca. But where is the
requested list of who works on
the 38th floor, and who pays
them? Is it true, as Inner
City Press has heard, that
Guterres has interviewed Achim
Steiner for UNDP? At the lower
profile Department of Public
Information, why hasn't the
Officer in Charge given any
substantive response to simple
requests before him, and
would any successor at least
have to commit to free press
due process rules? Why is the
holdover
spokesman allowed to refuse to answer the Press'
questions on Burundi, while engaging others about Sex and
the City? We'll have more on
this. After 100 days of
Antonio Guterres as UN
Secretary General, what has
been accomplished? Guterres
focused early on South Sudan,
but as Inner City Press reports
today on his 100th day,
the Salva Kiir forces are
using tanks near Wau while UN
Peacekeeping, still under
French control, says nothing
publicly. The Cyprus talks are
set to continue, but we've
heard that before. Yemen is as
bloody as ever, and Guterres
extended Ban Ki-moon's (or
Saudi Arabia's) envoy Ismail
Ould Cheikh Ahmed without even
getting him to make any
public financial disclosure.
Discrepancies
in Guterres own disclosure
filings between 2013 and 2016
have yet
to be explained by
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric. What has
changed? Not the Department of
Public Information's targeted
restrictions on Inner City
Press, able to cover meeting
on the UN's second floor only
with a minder, and sometimes
(as on the Rwanda genocide on
April 7) not
at all. Inner City Press
has filed a request
for reversal with DPI's
Officer in Charge, nine days
ago, with no substantive
response. New Inner City Press
song
here. We remain
constructive, eager to see
reforms occur and succeed. But
what has changed?
When
Guterres held a brief
photo
opportunity and meeting
with Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, it was
Guterres' first in a while,
after several rounds of
travel. And it was over
quickly: the media was told to
leave before a single word was
said. There were complaints
about that, and more
substantive complaints about a
lack of transparency. There
are no read-outs of meetings.
On April 5 Inner City Press
reported on inconsistencies
even in Guterres' own public
financial disclosures from
2016 and 2013 (his Yemen envoy
makes NO public disclosures).
On April 6 Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric declined
to offer any explanation
of the differences. As noted,
under Ban Ki-moon he had Inner
City Press thrown
out of the UN Press
Briefing Room and UN, where it
is still
restricted even as the
Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe UN
bribery case it was covering
is coming
to trial. Is the UN
reforming? Watch this site.
Back on
March 23 when Guterres met
UK Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson, unlike in other
recent meetings with the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
and Tajikistan,
there were women on Guterres'
side of the table (Periscope video here):
Katrin Hett and the Chief of
Staff, who had just met with
Alain Leroy, former head of
Peacekeeping now with the EU.
Also on Guterres' side of the
table was OCHA's Stephen
O'Brien, who greeted and was
greeted by Boris Johnson. Will
the UK, and separately
O'Brien, hold onto the OCHA
post? The emergence reported
by Inner City Press of
outgoing Dutch Labor Party
foreign minister Burt Koenders
as a candidate for UNDP, over
David Miliband, may help
O'Brien. But with budget cuts
looming, the increasing lack
of transparency in the UN
Secretariat's business is a
problem. And this: according
to at least one senior
official on the 38th floor on
March 23, Guterres "has no
interlocutor" in Washington,
to which we'll soon turn.
Watch this site.
As to
Boris Johnson, after four
pre-selected questions all on
the London attacks, Inner City
Press audibly asked about
Cameroon's Anglophone's
Internet cut, what the UK is
doing. We'll have more on this
too.
Back on March 15 when Guterres
met
with Bahrain's foreign
minister Shaikh Khalid Bin
Ahmed Al-Khalifa and a
delegation that appeared to
include that country's former
president of the General
Assembly, Guterres began by
apologizing for keeping them
waiting. Periscope video
here. His previous
appointment had been with a
delegation called "United
Cities and Local Governments."
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has met to
answer Inner City Press
clearly on why some meeting
and calls are not disclosed,
such as a call with the King
of Morocco
and a working lunch with
Michael Bloomberg, nor how
some media were handpicked
to memorialize Guterres' most
recent trip to Kenya and
Somalia. Video
here. If these happened,
as it has, in Washington there
would be an outcry. And
perhaps one is growing in
Turtle Bay.
Earlier on
March 15 in the UN's basement,
Bahrain human rights defender
Maryam Alkhawaja spoke. She
was not on the 38th floor;
Guterres' interlocutors at
Human Right Watch, after they
met with him, refused
to give any read-out of what
issues they raised. It seems
clear these did not include,
from the UN spokesman's
non-answers, that the cut-off
of the Internet by the
government in Cameroon's
Anglophone areas, now 57 days
and counting, nor the UN's censorship
and restriction
of the Press. We'll have more
on this.
On March
13, before the snow day in New
York, Guterres met another
Gulf foreign minister, United
Arab Emirates' Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
UAE Ambassador Lana Zaki
Nusseibeh asked of Guterres'
recent cultural moves in New
York City. After a pause,
Guterres cited art shows in
Chelsea and at the Frick. Not
mentioned at least at that
time was former UN official
Bernardino Leon, who
negotiated a job at the UAE
Diplomatic Academy while at
the same time representing the
UN in Libya, much less any
mention of Yemen. Will there
be a read out? There was no
read out of Guterres meeting
with Tanzania's foreign
minster Mahiga, about which
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric on March 13;
he also had no answer on Cameroon,
where the Anglophone areas
have had their Internet cut
off by the government for 56
days, almost contemporaneous
with Guterres' tenure of 72
days. We'll have more on this.
On March
10, Inner City Press was
blocked from covering a 38th
floor photo op others were
allowed to. No reasoning was
given, just as no
rule was cited when
Inner City Press was evicted
from the UN by the Department
of Public Information's Cristina
Gallach, and still remains
restricted to minders more
than a year later. Some
thought the era of a lawless
and censoring UN would be over
by now. When?
Back on
March 3, when Guterres met
with Gabon's FM Pacôme
Moubelet Boubeya on March 3,
it came before when the UN
called a two day trip by
Guterres to Kenya, from Sunday
to Thursday. Last Friday when
Inner City Press e-mailed
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric with the
simple question of where
Guterres was, Dujarric never
answered the e-mail.
When on Monday Inner City
Press asked in person in the
noon briefing, Dujarric said,
Portugal. And this time? Why
be murky?
That is
becoming a theme. Who is
working on the 38th floor? How
are they being paid? Inner
City Press asked and was
promised a chart, including a
list of who is "seconded" from
countries' mission. It has not
been provided. On March 3,
Dujarric who previously played
a role in Inner City Press'
eviction and continuing
restriction for covering the
Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case
refused to answer its last
question, saying "Tomorrow"
(which is Saturday) and "I'm
lazy." Video
here. And so it
goes.
Dujarric
told Inner City Press there
was no read-out of Guterres'
telephone call with Morocco's
King in the name of quiet
diplomacy. But why wasn't
Guterres' working lunch with
Michael Bloomberg put on his
schedule, as a meeting days
later with Gordon Brown was?
Both, Dujarric answered, are
still UN special advisers, as
apparently is Han Seoug-soo
despite being on the boards of
directors of UN bank Standard
Chartered and Doosan
Infracore, which sells
equipment to countries where
Han gives speeches as a UN
official.
Also this
week, Guterres' Deputy
Secretary General Amina
Mohammed arrived and within
two hours of being sworn in
did a four question stakeout.
Inner City Press asked
about the Green Bond of
Nigeria, and if she and
Guterres will work to make the
Security Council more
representative. UN reforms are
sorely needed. Is the pace
fast enough? Watch this site.
(Gabon was
at the UN on World Wildlife
Day. Inner City Press, still
restricted, was one of only
three media to ask questions
of CITES and Interpol, about
the illegal
trade of primates from
Guinea. The UN needs more
coverage, more access, not
less. This too much change.)
Back on February 21 when
Guterres met with Ukraine's
Foreign Minister Pavlo
Klimkin, Guterres joked that
having two UN flags and none
from Ukraine was "UN
chauvinism." Klimkin replied,
"It's the kind of chauvinism
we can tolerate. Otherwise..."
Periscope video here.
Earlier in
the day Guterres in the
Security Council expressed his
condolences at the death of
Russian Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin, saying he had been
flying back from Lisbon (and
Munich before that) when the
commander of the plane passed
a note that Churkin was dead.
Klimkin on the other hand
blocked draft a Presidential
Statement, and confirmed it at
a stakeout in which Inner City
Press asked if he would urge
Guterres to invoke Article 99
of the UN Charter more, to
raise issues.
While
Guterres has rightly scheduled
a press conference for
February 23 on South Sudan,
Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria,
those are on the Security
Council's agenda, the latter
in connection with Boko Haram.
The plight of the Rohingya in
Myanmar and Bangladesh, on the
other hand, is barely
mentioned by Council members.
Is this a test for Guterres?
On
transparency, too, Guterres
has opened the process for
finding new Under Secretaries
General of Management and
Public Information - the
departing one Cristina Gallach
evicted
Inner City Press from its
office which sits unused and restricts
it still, with no
hearing or appeal, for
covering the UN. That has yet
to be reversed, and it is
unclear if the USG position
for Humanitarian Affairs will
be opened to applications, as
UNDP has. Watch this site.
Back on
February 8 when Guterres held
a photo
opportunity and meeting
with Cote d'Ivoire Foreign
Minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh, on
the UN side of the table was
Tanguy Stehelin, until quite recently
the French Mission's legal
adviser.
That's how
it is in the UN, at least as
to Peacekeeping and former
French colonies. As Inner City
Press has exclusively
reported, now
"competing" to replace Herve
Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman
in a row atop UN Peacekeeping,
are Jean-Maurice Ripert, Jean
Pierre Lacroix and likely
winner Sylvie Bermann, now
Ambassador in London, previous
like Ladsous in Beijing. It's
the French Connection.
At this
photo op, after Amon-Tanoh's
long vistors' book signing, no
works were spoken until
Guterres' "merci." His
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, a
holdover from Ban Ki-moon and
Kofi Annan before that, has
stopped giving read-outs of
such meetings. His Office
called the end of day "lid"
with no reference to a
balance, and without answering
Inner City Press' question
from noon about Burundi. Yes,
it's the French Connection.
Still even
working from a small booth,
still evicted and restricted
by UN censor Cristina Gallach
after one year, for seeking to
cover an event in the UN Press
Briefing Room, Inner City
Press is hoping a more
transparent UN.
Back on February
3 the photo op with German
Foreign Minister Sigmar
Gabriel came less than an hour
after Guterres spokesman
declined to explain to Inner
City Press the lack of UN
read-outs of such meetings.
On
February 2, there was no
read-out of Guterres' long meeting
with Saudi Foreign Minister
Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir. Inner
City Press went to that and
was surprised to see that UN
Children and Armed Conflict
(CAAC) expert Leila Zerrougui
wasn't there.
(Meanwhile
we note that at Sigmar
Gabriel's meeting, UN / DPA's
Katrin
Hett was there. Periscope
video here.)
When
Guterres' predecessor Ban
Ki-moon took the Saudi-led
Coalition off the CAAC annex
for killing children in Yemen,
it was said discussions would
continue about putting them
back on.
Then
Zerrougui told Inner City
Press she is leaving on March
31. Earlier on February 2
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' (and Ban's before
that) spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I understand from Leila
Zerrougui that she's leaving
31 March. And so I
wanted to ask you how this
impacts the supposed review of
putting the Saudi-led
Coalition back on that
list. Who's going to do
the review…?
Spokesman: The… the… the
office continues. The
mandate continues. And
there is a… an open vacancy on
the public website, but it
doesn't, it has, it doesn't
change the work of the office
or the mandate of that office.
Inner City Press: Will a
report be issued even if
there's not a person in place?
Spokesman: I think we
very much hope that a person
will be, will be in place by
then, and there's no reason to
think that the work of the
office and its mandate will
change.
At the
February 2 meeting, Zerrougui
was not there, but Dujarric
was, and Jeffrey Feltman whom
the Saudis greeted warmly and
one
of his team. Video
here.
Afterward
in the lobby after Jubeir
whispered to pro-Saudi media
Inner City Press asked quite
audibly if Children and Armed
Conflict and Yemen had come
up. There was no answer. Video
here. We'll have more on
this.
Sometimes
Guterres photo ops are more
illuminative, and on February
1 he answered
this Press question. On
February 3 he briefs the
Security Council on South
Sudan and Burundi and, we're
told, US immigration orders.
Then he meets Germany's
foreign minister Sigmar
Gabriel at 2:30 pm.
We'll be there.
On
February 1 Guterres had a photo
opportunity and meeting
with Igor Crnadak, Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Guterres said
the UN is worried by news of
the possibility of a
referendum. Periscope
video here, from Minute
2:51.
Before
that, Inner City Press was
ordered by UN Security to stop
or suspend its Periscope
broadcast, which it had begun
one minute before the meeting
time at 3:35. Periscope
here, 0:50, abruptly
cut-off.
Earlier on
February 1, Guterres to his
credit stopped and answered
Inner City Press' question on
if he plans to hire Louise
Arbour as migration adviser.
He said he'll first take the
proposal the UN's Advisory
Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions.
UN
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on January 31
declined to answer Inner City
Press' related questions
including if French Mission
legal adviser Tanguy Stehelin
is working in Guterres'
office.
On February 1,
Stehelin was one of Guterres'
team at the conference
table. Does he still
work at the French mission?
He's still listed there. We'll
have more on this:
transparency will help the UN.
On January 25 with French
Minister for Development and
Francophonie Jean-Marie Le
Guen, this 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. Would they be
switched not only for gender,
but nation? By year's end,
Feltman was still in; both
Ladsous and O'Brien had been
switched out, for men from
France and the UK... At
Guterres' UN it's always do as I
say, not as I do....
***
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