| In Rosewood
Scandal, CITES Says Check All
Nigeria Docs, ICP Asks, Amina J.
Mohammed Away
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
January 18 – The UN has dodged
Inner City Press questions for
more than two month about UN
Deputy Secretary General Amina
J. Mohammed signing thousands of
certificates for rosewood
already exported from Nigeria
and it seems Cameroon to China,
just before she took up her UN
position. Most recently, after
UN correspondents who tried to
help her evade the questions
declared she is being "vilified,"
the CITES meeting in Geneva
declined China's
open and Nigeria's more stealth
lobbying to close the case. Now
this week, "in response to the
dire rosewood crisis in West
Africa and particularly in
Nigeria, CITES informed its 183
member countries of exceptional
control measures." So Inner City
Press on January 18 asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner city Press: this week, the
Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species,
CITES, has written to its 183
member States saying that, based
on what I've previously been
asking you about, these Nigerian
rosewood certificates signed by
the Deputy Secretary-General,
that, henceforth, all rosewood
certificates issued… permits
issued by Nigeria will have to
be verified by the Secretariat
and that a special mission is
being sent to the country.
So, clearly, there's an ongoing
issue, and I just want… you'd
said throughout that the Deputy
Secretary-General answered all
questions; there's no questions
remaining. And I think
that this seems to indicate that
there are still some questions
pending. So, just as to
her own… not that… not the
overall issue, not… the… the…
the… the Environmental Ministry
in Nigeria, but her role and
knowledge when she signed the
4,000 certificates, do you now…
is it now possible that she'll…
I can… I'll give you written
questions, but will she answer
questions given the findings by
CITES…? Spokesman: Listen,
she's away. She'll be back
soon. Whenever… next
opportunity to speak to her,
you'll be able to ask her the
question. She has… through
us and in writing, she has
expressed her position on that
story and made it clear that she
followed the rules.
Whatever investigation or
whatever discussion there may be
between CITES and the Nigerian
Government, that's something you
need to follow up with either
one of those parties and not me.
Inner City Press: But it seems
like the reason that they're
saying that now all certificates
from Nigeria have to be checked
with them is that these
certificates, they believe, were
signed after the wood was
already in China, which means it
wasn't in compliance with the
rules. That's one of the
issues. I guess… I
don't understand how
she…Spokesman: I think
she's been very clear and very
transparent with the authorities
and with CITES." Really?
She hasn't answered a single
Inner City Press questions,
while playing her role along
with Dujarric and others in
keeping it restricted. More from
CITES: "From now on, all 'kosso'
rosewood permits issued by
Nigeria, the world’s largest
exporter of rosewood over the
past years, will have to be
verified by the Secretariat of
the Convention and a special
CITES mission will soon be sent
to the country...the CITES
Standing Committee discussed the
Nigerian rosewood trafficking
crisis during its meeting in
Geneva last month. The Committee
took a decision that was
validated by the Secretariat and
officially communicated to all
Parties of the Convention –
including almost all member
states of the United Nations –
on January 15, 2018... Millions
of rosewood logs were harvested
and exported illegally from
Nigeria when Amina J. Mohammed,
the current Deputy
Secretary-General of the United
Nation, was Minister of
Environment." And she still
hasn't answered Inner City
Press' questions, including now
on the abduction in Nigeria of Cameroon
Anglophone leaders in Abuja
while she was there. We'll have
more on this. On December 4
Inner City Press asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about this CITES decision. He
insisted that all questions have
been answered, and ended up by
running out of the UN briefing
room as Inner City Press asked
another question. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: You said that
she's going to be in Paris on
Friday, so I wanted to know,
one, is she coming back and then
going? The reason I ask is
that now there's been a decision
in the convention for the trade
in endangered species and the
case of the rosewood. I
had the impression from what
you'd said it was resolved
there. Nigeria had
responded. All the
questions were answered.
But in fact, they've ruled that
the case continues, and they
said that countries should not
rely on Nigerian certification…
I can read you the decision, if
you want. Spokesman: I
have no doubt on the
decision. Yes, she's
coming back here. She'll
be back in the office. She
should be back in the… excuse
me… in the office
tomorrow. What I do know
is that there's an ongoing
dialogue between CITES
[Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora] and the
Nigerian authorities. As
to the Deputy
Secretary-General's role, I
think I've answered the
questions, what I feel is rather
exhaustively and clearly to the
best of my ability. Inner
City
Press:
Well, can you ask her for a
comment on the decision?
The decision clearly implies…
Spokesman: I'm not sure
that is what it implies, and I
think questions having to do
with the management of forests
in Nigeria rest with the
Government of Nigeria. Inner
City Press: The questions
are about 4,000 certificates
that she signed and whether they
violated international
environmental law.
Spokesman: "We've answered
those questions." No. This
scandal will no go away, even if
as some predict Mohammed does.
Watch this site. The UN becomes
less transparent by the day. For
more than two weeks UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric had dodged and
refused questions from Inner
City Press about Deputy
Secretary General Amina J.
Mohammed signing 4,000
certificates for rosewood
illegal logged in Cameroon and
parts of Nigeria and already in
China. Now in the absence of
answers a cursory review of the
UN's so-called "public
disclosure" website finds that
Amina Mohammed nine months into
her tenure as Deputy SG has not
filed any disclosure: she is not
even listed. This stands in
contrast, for example, to the
UN's envoy to Afghanistan
Tadamichi Yamamoto, who signed
his Public Disclosure form on
October 23, 2017 (Residential
property, joint ownership,
Japan; Mortgage, Mitsui Sumitomo
Bank, Japan) and another of the
few Japanese UN high
officials, Izumi Nakamitsu
who signed
her Public Disclosure form on
January 18, 2017 (Two
residential properties, joint
ownership, Sweden; Mortgage,
Handelsbanken, jointly held,
Sweden). In other murky news,
after Secretary General Antonio
Guterres went to Lisbon for four
days (while spokesman Dujarric
refused Press requests to
disclosure the cost of that
trip, like Amina Mohammed's to Cape
Town), he will soon travel
to Japan, for a merely regional
health conference. We'll have
more on this. As to Mohammed,
the export to China of illegally
harvested rosewood, reported on
by Le Monde on November 3 with reference
to UN Deputy Secretary General
Amina J. Mohammed who signed the
certificates, also involves
"smuggling from Cameroon." See
EIA video, here.
This may put a new light on the
UN's inaction on the Cameroonian
government's killings and
Internet cut off in the
Anglophone zones. Cameroon's
Ambassador to the UN, while
saying he'd call upstairs to
ensure Inner City Press couldn't
go there any more (the UN's
Department of Public Information
did threaten Inner City Press'
accreditation for Periscope
broadcasting in connection with
photo ops on the 38th floor),
also bragged that the DSG's
opposition to separatism in
Biafra led to the same position
on Cameroon. And just as UN
envoy Chambas went and preached
One Nigeria, failing UN envoy
Francois Fall called Southern
Cameroons secessionists
"extremists," on DPI's UN Radio
no less. They say in journalism,
Follow the Money. But in this
case it may be, Follow the
Rosewood, or Kosso. In
terms of money: Joe Biden
appeared at the UN on November
3, and tables were sold
for up to $50,000. One might
think, after the proved
corruption of the UN in the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe trial for
events in this same Delegates
Dining Room, charging this kind
of money for sitting with
a “senior UN official” would be
a thing of the past. Or after
Antonio Guterres was questioned
after taking a golden statue
from Paul Biya, the 35-year
rules of Cameroon. But no. On
November 6, Deputy Secretary
General Amina J. Mohammed
appeared, took an award and gave
a speech at an event in
Washington for which $25,000
sponsorships were offered, here,
by a publication which covers
and is promoted by the UN (while
following up on November 9 on Le
Monde's November 3 story, no
mention of Cameroon.) On
November 9, Inner City Press
asked the UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press; as you know or
you or Farhan [Haq] had said,
she just recently received the
Diplomat of the Year Award from
Foreign Policy down in DC. Was
she aware of this story being in
preparation when she accepted
the award? Often, to receive the
award, you have to be
present. How long were the
discussions? Spokesman: I
think some of those questions
should be addressed to Foreign
Policy. She was fully
aware that the story was going
to come out when she received
the award." No Cameroon. Ban
Ki-moon allowed the corruption
of Ng Lap Seng, and Antonio
Guterres has done thing to
reverse it. In fact, Guterres
left through the same door Biden
came in, one hour before, using
public funds to fly to his home
in Lisbon, using a 15 minutes
speech there on Monday to
justify a three day UN paid
junket. And his spokesman
refused to answer questions,
even about his one on one
lunches on the 38th floor, where
Inner City Press' use of
Periscope during photo ops has
allowed Guterres' DPI under
Alison Smale to threaten its
accreditation. All of this takes
place while Guterres covers up
mass killing in Cameroon, and is
prepared to be sold himself, on
Wall Street no less. We'll have
more on this. On November 2,
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric announced that "on
Monday, the Secretary-General
will be in Lisbon to participate
in the Web Summit 2017, which
brings together the leaders of
key Internet companies with
officials from different
Governments. You are aware
of the attention the
Secretary-General has been
devoting to the uses of the
Internet." Really? Guterres was
silent for example when Cameroon
cut off the Internet for 94 days
this year; his Department of
Public Information has
threatened Inner City Press'
accreditation for unspecified
violation by live-streaming a
Guterres photo op using
Twitter's Periscope platform.
But why did Guterres take this
speaking gig, which it turns out
is for only 15 minutes at 7:25
pm on the evening of Monday,
November 6? Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, who refused to
state with whom Guterres had a
formal lunch meeting in the UN
dining room with UN funds on
November 3, where Guterres will
be on Saturday and Sunday.
Dujarric replied: "sg will be in
lisbon over the weekend." It
sure seems like that's why he
took the Lisbon speaking gig.
And in fact, even before 5 pm on
Friday, November 3, Guterres
left the UN with bodyguards, in
a three-car convoy. Who is
paying for all this? On October
27, after Guterres' spokespeople
stonewalled Inner City Press for
three days on his plans for a
grip and grin meeting in a
Cameroon airport with Paul Biya,
who has killed hundreds this
year as well as cutting the
Internet Guterres loves so much,
they also refused to say how
Guterres personal, or shall we
say Lisbon-focused, travel is
paid for, and how much it costs.
From the UN transcript: Inner
City Press: If he goes to
Lisbon, Portugal, does he take
UN security with him? In
which case, where do they stay,
and what are the costs?
How are they borne? Deputy
Spokesman: However he does
his stopovers, he does it at the
least cost to the UN. And
a lot of times, what that means
is traveling with a smaller
delegation, and it also means
traveling on commercial
flights. He does take
specific steps, and he's been
very conscientious over these
months of making sure that he
travels with as slim a
delegation as he has. Inner City
Press: My question is just who's
paying for his security if he
goes to Lisbon? And also
I'm aware that he sent some
people in advance to CAR.
They didn't travel with him, but
they were actually part of the
party. So is there an
attempt to bifurcate traveling
trips so that some people are
not considered to be traveling
with him. For example, the
UN photographer, I'm aware, went
days in advance. Why was
that?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
sometimes advance teams go out
when it's needed to do
that. For us, in terms of
the Department of Public
Information, there are many
times when it's useful for us to
send our media crews in advance
to get different coverage for
the sort of pieces and features
that they do. Inner City
Press: Can we just get the
cost? It's a straight
transparency question. Deputy
Spokesman: The costs of
travel are calculated over the
year and shared with the Member
States, and that's how we do
it. All right. Have
a good weekend, everyone."
Antonio sure will - on the
public dime. Back on July 29,
the day after guilty verdicts on
six counts of UN
bribery in the case of Ng
Lap Seng, UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres flew to Split
for a seven day vacation on the
Dalmatian islands, according to
sources there. Guterres'
spokespeople did not disclose
the travel or any week-long
absence to the press covering
the UN, at least not to the
Press evicted and still
restricted for covering Ng's
bribery. 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.
The 38th
floor apparently loves it.
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.
***
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