SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 4 – When the
International Monetary Fund
held its biweekly embargoed
press briefing on November 4,
Inner City Press asked about
Ethiopia and Tigray, Chad and
its Glencore debt, and the
IMF's status with Zambia.
Spokesperson Gerry Rice
responded on each. Podcast here.
Short video of Q&As on
Twitter here.
IMF video here,
transcript forthcoming.
Answering on Inner City Press
on Ethiopia, as the
UN won't, Rice for the
IMF said it is "difficult to
move forward with program
activities" at the moment. Can
you say, Tigray?
Amnesty
International can. From AI on
November 9, published by Inner
City Press at embargo time,
this: "Sixteen women from the
town of Nifas Mewcha in
Ethiopia’s Amhara region told
Amnesty International they
were raped by fighters from
the Tigray People’s Liberation
Front (TPLF) during the
group’s attack on the town in
mid-August
2021.
"Survivors
described being raped at
gunpoint, robbed, and
subjected to physical and
verbal assaults by TPLF
fighters, who also destroyed
and looted medical facilities
in the town. Fourteen of the
16 women Amnesty International
interviewed said they were
gang
raped.
The TPLF took control of Nifas
Mewcha, in Amhara’s Gaint
District, for nine days
between August 12 and 21,
2021, as part of an ongoing
offensive into parts of the
Amhara and Afar regions.
Regional government officials
told Amnesty International
that more than 70 women
reported to authorities that
they were raped in Nifas
Mewcha during this period."
See also this
additional release from
Amnesty following escalations,
including the Ethiopian
government’s sweeping new
emergency powers and
declaration of a state of
emergency.
Back on September
16 Inner City Press asked Rice
about crypto-currency
legislation in
Ukraine and
again El
Salvador,
about the coup
in Guinea and
the role of
the Venezuela
talks in
Mexico on
release of the
SDRs. YouTube
of IMF video here.
Full transcript here.
Inner City Press
asked, "
what is the IMF's view of
Ukraine's move to regulate
crypto-currency? Also, the new
legislation proposed in
Panama, and the implementation
of the El Salvador Bitcoin as
legal tender bill?" When
called on, Inner City Press
added that Ukraine would use
nuclear reactors' output for
mining.
Rice cited
an upcoming virtual mission to
Ukraine later this month, and
said that on El Salvador, the
talks are under Article 4, not
for a program, as least at
this point.
On the Guinea
coup, on which
the UN of
Antonio
Guterres has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions, to
the IMF Inner
City Press
asked, "
After the coup
in Guinea,
what has
changed in the
IMF's approach
to the
country? What
have been the
contacts of
the IMF in
Guinea
recently? Same
question on
Myanmar, and
Afghanistan."
Rice said the
IMF is
"watching"
Guinea, after
citing
previous
support to the
country for
COVID
response.
How can the
UN get away with not
answering, and actively
blocking, these questions? The
IMF will go to Guterres' UNGA
week, which is thumbing its
nose at NYC with no
vaccination requirement. We'll
have more on this.
Back on January 8
Inner City Press asked the
IMF's Helge Berger, Mission
Chief, about China's so-called
Belt and Road Initiative:
"Your Article IV report cites
China's "overseas lending
projects" amid "rising
geopolitical tensions and
economic and trade frictions."
How does the IMF think that
rising debt levels among
African countries, and
increased skepticism about the
"Belt and Road" will impact or
be addressed going forward?
-Matthew Russell Lee, Inner
City Press. Video here.
(An aside: Inner
City Press has
reported on
the CEFC China
Energy Fund
Committee's
activities in
Chad and
Uganda and in
the UN, on
which the UN is
UNresponsive.)
Other questions
included
China's digital
currency (Inner
City Press also reports
on
crypto-currency
cases in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York and
elsewhere).
Berger said
when used
overseas an
issue is that
residents
could start
using another
country's
currency, if
it is easier.
We'll have more
on this.
***
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