As EU's Lambrinidis Brags of
France's Rights Record, Nothing on Cameroon,
Censorship Curfew
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Video,
1st
Person
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 20 –
When EU
Special
Representative
for Human
Rights Stavros
Lambrinidis held
"conversation"
at the EU's
offices in New
York on
February 20,
Inner City
Press thought
there would be
Q&A, to
ask for
example if
there is a
"penholder"
system within
the EU which
would explain
their silence,
like France,
on human
rights abuses
in Cameroon
and elsewhere.
But
Lambrinidis,
was in a reflective,
or
self-satisfied,
mood. He said
he's done a
great job in
the last five
years and
criticized
unnamed
countries for
using Europe's
freedoms to
come peddle
their
subsidized bad
ideas. He used
France as an
example of a
good human
rights record,
and emphasized
his Greek
roots, even throwing
in a reference
to ouzo. Inner
City Press has
to leave and
sprint back to
the UN by 7
pm, the censorship
curfew imposed
on it for two
years now for
reporting on
UN corruption.
(Moment here).
We'll have
more on this.
The deference
of the
UN system's
and many of
its member
states to
Cameroon's
corrupt
35-year
president Paul
Biya, and
their
complicity in
his
recent
crackdown,
continues. UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres
accepted
Biya's golden
statue in late
October 2017;
now in
February his
humanitarian
adviser Ursula
Muller goes to
Cameroon and
won't even
visit the
Anglophone
areas where
Biya,
disproportionately
in Geneva, is
killing
people. Inner
City Press on
February 20
asked
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
video here,
UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: I'd
asked you last
week, with
Ursula Mueller
heading to
Cameroon,
whether, in
fact, she
would go to
the Anglophone
areas.
One reason I'm
asking is,
since you were
here, a study
by the
Organized
Crime and
Corruption
Reporting
Project has
said that Paul
Biya of
Cameroon has
spent 4 and a
half years
during his
tenure in
Geneva, at a
cost of some
$200 million
to the country
that he's… up
to a third of
the year, he's
gone.
So, I wanted
to ask you
whether… given
that the
Secretary-General
took that
golden… the
golden statue
— and you
never did get
back on what
the gift
registry
number was —
where is
it? And
does he have
any second
thoughts given
this troubling
report of an
absentee rule…
Spokesman:
I have not
seen the
report.
I'm not going
to comment on
the coming and
goings of
Heads of
States,
whether
they're from
Security
Council
chambers or
from their own
country.
The… my
understanding
is that Ms.
Mueller will
not be going
to the
Anglophone
areas.
That's what I
was told.
Inner City
Press: Is
there a reason
for
that?
Because she
had a litany
of what she
considered the
problems of
the country,
and if you do
just a simple
news search,
you'll see
that this is
a…
Spokesman:
No, I
understand.
I'm sure the
overall
humanitarian
situation in
the country
will come up
in
discussions."
The overall
situation? The
new report
details Biya's
long stays
outside of the
country in
Geneva, while
his military
kills
Anglophones
and the
country
declines. Biya
has spent four
and a half
years in
Geneva, at a
cost of $65
million in
hotel fees and
$117 million
for chartered
private plane,
sometimes left
"on stand-by"
for weeks at a
time. The
report goes
one level
down: "One of
Biya’s closest
confidants,
Joseph Fouda,
a military
officer and
special
advisor, has
accompanied
him on at
least 86
trips,
amounting to
more than
three years of
travel since
1993. He
prefers a room
on a top floor
of the
Intercontinental.
Another close
confidant,
Martin Belinga
Eboutou, 78,
has spent
nearly three
years
travelling
with the
president
starting in
1987, when he
was Cameroon’s
ambassador to
Morocco. The
president
attempted to
buy a brand
new private
jet in 2004,
but his staff
reportedly cut
corners on the
deal, buying a
defective
plane covered
by a fresh
coat of paint
that nearly
crashed on its
first flight.
Since then,
the president
has chartered
at least
several
private
aircraft,
including a
luxury jet
formerly owned
by the
government of
Kazakhstan."
Still UN
Secretary
General,
himself a murky
first class
flyer,
smilingly took
Biya's golden
statue and has
done nothing;
his advisers
Khassim Diagne
and the
outgoing head
of Political
Affairs have
assured him of
Biya's bona
fides or the
wisdom of
doing...
nothing. The
UN has failed.
The UN refugee
agency UNHCR
in Abuja early
on January 30
told Inner
City Press
that it has as
yet no comment
on the blatant
forced
repatriation
or refoulement
to Cameroon of
Sisiku Ayuk
Tabe and 46
others while
it seeks
"explanations
through
official
channels."
(Later UNHCR
issued a short
statement.) On
January 31,
Inner City
Press again asked
UN Secretary
General
Antonio Guterres' Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, UN
transcript
here and
below. When
Inner City
Press on
February 8 put
the
refoulement
question to
Francois
Delattre, the
UN Ambassador
of France
which has
supported Paul
Biya's 36-year
rule, Delattre
replied that
"We always
have views but
no comment
from me at
this stage."
Video here.
That is
irresponsible
- or another
sign of
France's
responsibility
for what is
happening in
the region.
We'll have
more on this -
and now on
Germany. Angela
Merkel's
"personal
representative
for Africa" Gunter
Nooke
showed up in
Yaounde on
February 15
trying as he does
elsewhere to
drum up business. With
him was
Ambassador
Hans Dieter
Stell; there
was according
to CRTV "the
exchange of
gifts symbolic
of Cameroon's
legendary
hospitality."
Another golden
statue like
UNSG Guterres
took? At UN
headquarters,
as
Inner City Press
alone asked,
Germany's
Ambassador
procured a
publicly
funded post
for his wife
by merely
emailing
Guterres'
chief of
staff. Inner
City Press asked
Dujarric and his
deputy Haq -
no real answer
- while
the only other
question asked
about it was
how the
information
about the job
had leaked.
The media asking that
is given full
access to the
UN by the UN
Department of
Public
Information of
British Alison
Smale, a major
Germanophile
who
continues to
have Inner
City Press
restricted, its long
time work
space given to
a no-show
no-question
Egyptian state
media.
We'll have
more on this.
The
United Kingdom's silence about
the plight of Anglophone
residents of the former
British Southern Cameroons
persists even in the face of a
Freedom of Information Act
request from Inner City Press.
More than five
months ago on 15 August 2017
Inner City Press asked the UK
government for records
concerning Cameroon. After
repeatedly extending the time
to response, now the UK has
denied access to all
responsive records, letter here,
saying that "the release of
information relating to the
UK’s discussion on UN business
could harm our relations and
other member states of the
United Nations (UN)."
Here
on Patreon is the full denial
letter, from which Inner City
Press is preparing an appeal,
on Yemen as well - it has 40
working days.
This is shameful
- the UK is also exiting
transparency.
On February 6 in
front of the UN Security
Council, Inner City Press
asked the United Kingdom's
Deputy Ambassador Jonathan
Allen for the UK's comment on
Nigeria's forced repatriation
of 47 to Cameroon. From the UK
transcript: Inner City Press:
Nigeria did a forced
repatriation of 47 Cameroonian
leaders. The UNHCR said it was
illegal. The US has commented
on it. Does the UK have any
view? Amb Allen: I’m afraid I
wasn’t aware of that before.
I’ll have to get back to you
on the details." Video here.
At day's end, a UK Mission
spokesperson sent Inner City
Press a short comment, here.
As
Inner City
Press pursues
these
questions at
the UN, again
it remains restricted
to minders by
the head of
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
Alison Smale,
who it is
noted is
British - and
functionally a
censor. A
retaliator,
too? As noted,
Smale has not
explained why
Inner City
Press' long
time work
space is
assigned to
no-show,
no-question
Egyptian state
media Akhbar
al Youm.
On Cameroon
and Yemen, UK Denies Inner
City Press FOIA Request
After 170 Days, Preparing
to Appeal, 40 Work...
by Matthew
Russell Lee on Scribd
Meanwhile
the French government, which
claims at the UN and elsewhere
that human rights is in its
DNA, has ignored the
refoulement, limited its
condemnation instead, via Foreign
ministry
spokeswoman
Agnes Von der
Muhll, on "new
killings of law enforcement
officials that took place on 1
February in Cameroon."
In Yaounde,
France's Ambassador Gilles
Thibault is focusing, like
Reuters' ostensibly charitable
arm, on the cultivation of
pepper, see here.
This is colonialism.Are these
the relations that the UK
claims would be hurt by
complying with FOIA? Watch
this site.
***
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