UN
Is Asked of
Oromo Protests & Teddy
Afro by ICP As UNSC in
Addis, UN Says
Nothing
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photos
and video
UNITED NATIONS,
September 7 – With the UN
Security Council presidency
for September being taken over
by Ethiopia's Tekeda Alemu,
Inner City Press on September
1 asked Ambassador Alemu four
questions, including on
Burundi (on the Council's
agenda) and the Oromo
Protests, a major human
rights issue. Video
here.
Now with the
Security
Council in
Addis Ababa, Inner
City Press on
September 7
asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
human rights
issues there
and what the
UN is doing.
From the UN transcript:
Inner City
Press: With
the Security
Council now in
Addis Ababa, I
wanted to ask
you and maybe
you'll have
some or you
can get some…
some later,
what has… what
has been the
UN system's
involvement in
both the Oromo
protests and
in the
dispute, quite
deadly
dispute,
between the
Oromia region
and the Somali
region in the
country?
There are
allegations of
human rights
violations by
something
called the
Liyu
police.
Recently, the
Government has
banned the… an
album launch
or event by an
artist, Teddy
Afro.
There seems to
be a number of
the type of
issues that
the UN
comments on in
other
countries.
And I wanted
to know,
beyond a
comment, what
the UN, with
its presence
there,
actually does
about any of
these issues? Spokesman:
"First of all,
the UN's main
presence in
Ethiopia is as
a region
hub. I
mean, it's the
Economic
Commission for
Africa
(ECA).
It is not
meant as a
headquarters
for
Ethiopia.
That being
said, I will
check with our
colleagues if
we have any
guidance on
the latest
round of
events in
Ethiopia." Oh.
Back on September 1 when the
UN Department of Public
Information wrote up the press
conference, it did not even
MENTION Burundi, much less the
Oromo protests. See UN
document here.
What is wrong with UN DPI, a corrupt
UN Department which spends
$200 million a year in public
funds, but doe not even has
any rules, content neutral or
otherwise, on how it accredits
and/or restricts
the independent press which
covers the UN? Where is the
new head of DPI, Alison Smale?
Inner City Press has been told
she arrives on September 8. On
September 7, her fill in
allowed a heckler to shout
down Inner City Press' question
about Haiti cholera at a DPI
book event, here.
In response to Inner City
Press asking why Burundi,
where even the UN says there
is a risk of genocide, is not
on his September Program of
Work nor on the agenda of the
Council's visit to Addis
Ababa, Alemu on September 1 -
not covered by the UN - said
that you can't compare Burundi
to Central African Republic,
that Burundi has “strong state
institutions.” But it is that
very “strength,” which some
say the country shares with
Ethiopia, and with until
recently military-ruled
Myanmar about which Inner City
Press also asked, that has led
to the human rights
violations. In this context,
Inner City Press asked Alemu
about the Oromo protests - and
crackdown - in his country. He
diplomatically chided Inner
City Press for not having
asked in private, saying that
social media has played a
dangerous role. Meanwhile the
UN brags about its
(propaganda) social media
work. We'll have more on this.
Alamy photos here.
Earlier on September 1 in
Alemu's briefing to countries
not on the Security Council,
Bangladesh specifically asked
that the Council remain seized
of the situation in Myanmar.
When Inner City Press asked
Alemu about this, he said he
still had to inform himself
more about that situation. The
Security Council is traveling
to Addis from September 5
through 9, when alongside
African Union consultations
the Council's member will meet
for an hour with Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn,
Alemu said. The Council will
receive the “maiden briefings”
late in the month of the new
Under Secretaries General of
OCHA and on Counter-Terrorism.
There will be peacekeeping on
September 20, during the High
Level week of the UN General
Assembly, and Yemen on
September 26. But tellingly,
there will not be Burundi. And
when Alemu added Mali to a
September 5 meeting, despite
his answer to FUNCA, not all
media were told. Watch this
site.
***
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