After
Cameroon Leak
Said PR Van
Oosterom
Thanked
Lobbyists WOB
Appeal Delayed
3 Weeks
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR Letter Denial
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, March 22 – As the
Cameroon
government of
36 year
President
Paul
Biya continues
slaughtering
civilians in
the Anglophone
regions as well as in
the North,
it
re-engaged Washington
lobbying firm
Squire Patton
Boggs, on a
retainer
of $100,000 per
quarter
plus
expenses, documents
show. The
UN belatedly
acknowledged
to Inner City
Press,
which UN Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres had
roughed up on
July 3 right
after it spoke
to Cameroon's
Ambassador Tommo
Monthe, that
Guterres met
with a
Cameroon
delegation on
July 11. Guterres'
spokesman
Farhan Haq has
four
times refused
to answer
Inner City Press e-mailed
question
whether
Guterres was
aware his
meeting was
stage managed
by lobbyists
at Patton
Boggs, and
what was
discussed.
While
suspended but
before the UN
outrageously
purported to
impose a
lifetime ban
on entry,
Inner City Press
asked the same and
more to the Dutch
Mission to the
UN, in
writing and in
person. (And had on
its "WOB"
appeal a
hearing,
albeit by Skype,
below, as now
Dutch
Ambassador
Karel von
Oosterom and his
Spokesman
refuse to
answer any
Inner City
Press
questions,
unlike other
UNSC
Ambassador,
November 19
video here.)
Now on
March
22,
this from The
Hague,
which a month
ago said the
documents
would be
provided by
the end of
that week:
"Dear Mr.
Lee,
Thank you for
your e-mail.
We are still
working on the
decision. The
delay is,
among other
things, due to
the fact that
the policy
officer
responsible
for the
handling of
your objection
has left the
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs.
Another policy
officer took
over the
handling of
your request,
and is working
hard to finish
the decision
as soon as
possible...
David
Stolwijk
Legal
adviser
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs /
Legal
Affairs
Department /
Netherlands
Law
Division."
Such
urgency amid
mass killings.
Back on
February 21: "Dear
Mr.
Lee,
By this e-mail
I would like
to inform you
on the
handling of
your notice of
objection.
Currently we
are finalizing
our decision
on your notice
of
objection.
We estimate
that we can
send you the
decision
(including
documents that
will be
partially
disclosed) at
the end of
next week...
Kind
regards,
David
Stolwijk
Legal
adviser
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs /
Legal
Affairs
Department /
Netherlands
Law Division."
Of course,
this is AFTER
the
Netherlands
has left the
Security
Council. Watch
this site... After
Guterres banned
Inner City
Press from entry from
July 3 onward,
in order to report
on the UN
Inner City
Press had to
seek answers
other than at
the UN Noon
Briefing and UN
Security
Council
stakeout
position, from
which Guterres
and Smale also banned
it. Inner
City Press
asks question
in front of
the UN
Delegates
Entrance, and
has gotten
about put
online
responses
from, among
others,
outgoing UN
Human Rights
Commissioner
Zeid,
Burundi's
Ambassador,
and on August
20, for
example, a diplomat
on the North
Korea
sanctions committee -- whose
Dutch chair
Karel van
Oosterom refused
to comment.
This
stakeout
is where Inner
City Press asks
questions only because
Guterres and
Smale have
banned it since
July 3. But in
her August 17
letter, Smale
justifies the
ban
imposed July 3
with this
post-July 3
interviews,
and says that
UNnamed
member states -
and somehow
correspondents -
have
complained.
Is that
Dutch
Ambassador
Karel van
Oosterom? Inner
City Press
submitted a
FOIA or WOB
request -
and now an
appealon which
there will be a
Skype hearing,
including
based on October 7
election
irregularities and the
denial's evasion on
Dutch role in
UN censorship
which now
includes a
secret barred
list which
violations
applicable
law, see
below.
First, the
request:
"This is
request under
the WOB /
Dutch Freedom
of Information
act for the
following
records as
that term is
defined in
WOB, including
but not
limited to all
electronic
records,
emails,
text/SMS
message and
communications
in any form,
involving the
Netherlands
Mission to the
UN in New York
since August
15, 2017
regarding
Cameroon
and/or
Southern
Cameroons and
all meeting
including Amb
van Oosterom's
July 11
meeting with
Cameroonian
ministers, all
responses to
communications
received about
Cameroon
including but
not limited to
Inner City
Press'
communications
of
July 14, 2018
to "Eybergen,
Bas van"
NYV@minbuza.nl
Frits.Kemperman [at] minbuza.nl,
NYV-COM@minbuza.nl, Oosterom
and Kaag
July 25, 2018
to the same
recipients;
and August 12,
2018 to the
same
recipients;
and multiple
verbal
questions to
your PR and
DPR since July
3.
To
explain the
last part of
this request,
the head of UN
Dep't of
Public Info
Alison Smale
in issuing a
lifetime ban
to my on
August 17
wrote "“We
would also
note your
conduct at the
entrances of
the United
Nations
premises and
nearby,
including the
use of
profanities
and derogatory
assertions and
language
toward
individuals
accessing the
United
Nations, in
close
proximity to
them. Video /
live
broadcasts of
this are
frequently
published on
the Inner City
Press' website
and other
media
platforms.
This conduct
gives rise to
potential
safety
concerns for
Member State
diplomats...The
conduct
described
above has
generated
multiple
complaints to
the United
Nations from
Member
States."
***
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