At
UN,
French
Obama Diss Report Led to Lebanese Press Ban, Collective Punishment
Alleged, Ongoing Blacklist Denied
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
5, updated Nov. 7 -- In
September a newspaper in Lebanon ran a quote from a
“Western diplomat” saying that even US President Barack Obama couldn't
stop the Special Tribunal on Lebanon investigating the bombing that
killed Rafiq Hariri, under a quote by French ambassador to the UN
Gerard Araud.
This set off a diplomatic chain reaction that resulted in
the French
Mission to the UN banning the Lebanese press from briefings and, at
least some sources
say, in the firing of the journalist.
According
to
multiple sources, and as partially confirmed by French Mission
spokesman Stephane Crouzat, when the Assafir newspaper in Lebanon
published without byline a reference to Obama not being able to
stop the STL, the French Mission immediately traced it to journalist
Khaled Dawoud, then employed by Al Jazeera but also reporting for
Assafir (sometimes spelled As Safir).
Two
results are
not in dispute: Mr. Dawoud, and also other Lebanese reporters, were
barred from subsequently briefings by Ambassador Araud. Additionally,
Mr. Dawoud's employment with Al Jazeera ended. At least three sources
affirm that the French diplomatic corps reached out to Al Jazeera.
Others say it was based on complaints and a power struggle with Al
Jazeera's Washington bureau chief.
Incontrovertibly
the
reporter Khalid Dawoud was told by Al Jazeera that his services
were no longer needed. The upshot, the sources say, is that a
country which claims to be for freedom of the press acted such that a
UN correspondent lost his job.
The
French
Mission, when asked by Inner City Press to comment for this story,
provided the following statement by spokesman Stephane Crouzat:
“Dear
Matthew,
In response to your questions: A Lebanese journalist
writing under a pseudonym did not respect the off the record rules.
France did not receive any complaint from the USA. French diplomats
did not call any news media in this regard. The French mission will
continue to work with all journalists who abide by the rules.”
Araud on Nov. 5, Lebanese press not shown
But
numerous
sources have told Inner City Press that other Lebanese reporters
beyond Mr. Daoud have been barred from French mission briefings; the
sources liken this to collective punishment. Some Lebanese reporters,
and this one, have been told they -- journalists
for Lebanese media -- are not on any ongoing blacklist.
We'll see. Watch this site.
Footnotes:
Ambassador
Gerard
Araud, as evidenced most recently by his
on
the record Q&A
with the press after the Security Council's November 5 session about
the STL, is among the more articulate and self depreciating
diplomats
at the UN.
But
press access issues at the French Mission to the UN
predate Araud's arrival, back at least to a visit by
President
Nicolas Sarkozy during which a “French passport only” briefing
was held in the UN press room.
While
there are rumors of Araud soon
leaving New York and the UN, one hopes the over-controlling and de
facto blacklists, the use of access for leverage, can stop.
It
should
also be noted that Dawoud never attributed the quote that even Obama can't stop the STL
to Araud, but rather to a "Western diplomat." The fault, if there is
one, may lie with the location of the quote in Assafir's wider story.
Update of November 7: While the
story was and is not about Mr Dawoud, out of journalistic comity we
publish the majority of the following letter:
Subject:
letter
re “At UN, French Obama Diss Report Led to Lebanese Press
Ban, Collective Punishment Alleged, Ongoing Blacklist Denied”
From: khaled dawoud
To: Inner City
Press
Date: Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 5:13 PM
As
you
know, the golden rule in our profession is: reporters make the
news, but should not be in the news. I will not dispute the two facts
you mentioned in the story: 1- I no longer work as Al-Jazeera Arabic
correspondent in New York, and 2- I did have a misunderstanding with
the French mission to the UN. In both cases, I do not want to get
into details, except to say that my departure from Al-Jazeera had
nothing whatsoever to do with the French mission in New York.
Al-Jazeera
decided
not to renew contract for purely administrative differences
that’s been going on for a while, and there was no relation at all
to a complaint from the French mission. I do freelance for Assafir,
and indeed there was misunderstanding with the French mission in New
York over a news report the paper published in September by its
correspondent in Paris, and not by me.
The
French mission were also
unhappy that I used some of what French Ambassador to the UN told a
group of reporters in a background briefing as a “Western
diplomat”, but they said that was mainly because they did not know
I freelance for Lebanon’s daily Assafir. I did not think this was a
big issue, but they are certainly entitled to their point of view. I
continue to maintain a professional relationship with the French
mission to the UN, and I believe French spokesman, Stephane Crouzat,
is trying to be as helpful as he could. I don’t like to be in the
news at all, and my job is to report the news.
Thank
you
very much,
Khaled
Dawoud
Correspondent
* * *
As
UN
Says
It
Probes New Darfur Attack, Silence from Council on Sudan Press
Crackdown
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November
3
-- With the UN speaking less and less on human
rights, the UNAMID peacekeeping mission in Darfur has provided fewer
and fewer reports about casualties
of
fighting
in the area, about
arrests and crackdowns on media.
On
November
3,
Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman
Martin Nesirky why UNAMID had nothing to say about days old reports
of a new attack on civilians in Tawila, leading to at least 18
casualties being taken to the hospital in El Fasher, UNAMID's
headquarters.
Some
three
hours
later, Nesirky's office confirmed, only over the loudspeaker
squawk
system in the UN press floor and not anywhere in writing, that UNAMID
is “aware of reports” of
the attack on Tawila and “is investigating them... there have been
other incidents recently.”
But
most
of these
incidents, UNAMID has had no comment on. Many observers opine that
UNAMID's silence emboldens the government and its proxies to step up
their attacks on civilians in Darfur.
The
UN
has still
not spoken on arrests by the Sudanese authorities in the Darfur IDP
camps, both Abu Shouk where the UN Security Council visited, and now
in Al Salaam in North Darfur, about which Inner City Press asked on
November 3.
Written
questions
directed to Nesirky's office on November 2
about UNAMID's selective reporting -- and not just
Humanitarian Coordinator Georg Charpentier's -- and about UN
conflicts of interest and UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari's mode of
transport have still not been answered.
IDPs in Tawila, protection of civilians not shown
At
the
Security
Council stakeout earlier on November 3, Inner City Press asked this
month's Council president Mark Lyall Grant of the UK, the lead
country on Darfur, if the Council planned any meeting, discussion or
action on the Government's radio station closure. On November 2, the
US State
Department's
spokesman
PJ Crowley, then Ambassador
Susan
Rice, spoke
and wrote
on the topic.
As
Ambassador
Rice entered the Council Wednesday morning for a Council meeting about
Ivory Coast, Inner City Press asked if the US would be asking for
Security Council action on this issue.
Lyall
Grant
later on Wednesday, after the meeting, told Inner City Press that
“as President of the Security Council, there are no plans to
discuss the issue specifically” although he said Sudan is “the
centerpiece of the British presidency” of the Council. He added
that in his national capacity, the UK regrets any restriction on free
press, especially at this “sensitive time.” Video here,
from
Minute
3:04.
France,
on
the
other hand, has at the UN had nearly nothing to say publicly about
Darfur, or
even the wider Sudan. Watch this site.
From
the
UN's
transcript
of
Tuesday, November 2:
Inner
CityPress:
Does
the
UN have any comment on these arrests of Darfur
human rights activists, both in Khartoum and in Darfur, the closing
of a radio station, and can it confirm that Georg Charpentier has
said that there should be none but an essential monitoring mission
sent out from now until February, as some in Darfur are saying?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
On
the last question, we’ll check. On the first,
likewise on the middle one about the radio station, we are aware of
those reports about the closing down of the radio station and the
reported arrests of some journalists. Clearly, we would urge the
authorities to ensure that journalists can carry out their work
freely.
Inner
City
Press:
Human
Rights Watch did a report on these arrests and the
activists, saying they note that UNAMID [African Union-United Nations
Hybrid Operation in Darfur] doesn’t report on human rights
conditions, and that Charpentier hasn’t put out a report on this
since November 2009. Why did the UN stop reporting on these topics
at this important time?
Spokesperson:
Well,
you
asked Ms. [Valerie] Amos that, and I think that she gave
you an answer. I don’t have anything to add to what she said last
time. Maybe there will be an update at some point from the Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but I don’t have that
at the moment.
Inner
City
Press:
Sorry,
I’m sorry…
Spokesperson:
Yes,
there
are other people who have questions.
Inner
City
Press:
I
understand, but the difficulty is that if we start at
12:15, it becomes tricky. But the human rights and the humanitarian
reporting are two separate issues. The humanitarian, I understand
that it’s a joint thing with the Government, but the human rights
reporting is something that just seems to have ceased, and some are
now saying that there’s a Joint Monitoring Assessment Centre [JMAC]
that in fact has reports of civilian deaths and doesn’t report them
to the public. Somehow they leak out to some, but… I guess I
wanted to ask you… it’s two separate things.
Spokesperson:
Let
me
find out, Matthew. Let me find out.
We're
still
waiting.
From
the
UN's
November
3
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
on
Sudan, I wanted to ask you two factual things. There
are reports that at least eight people injured in Tawilla, where
there is a peacekeeping base, have been taken to the hospital in El
Fasher. I haven’t seen anything by UNAMID [African Union-United
Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur]; I’m just wondering if it’s
possible to get… whether UNAMID can confirm that this attack took
place, who they think did it? There are also reports of the arrest
of the leader of a refugee camp, Al Salaam in North Darfur, by the
authorities. And I’m wondering, again … these things build up,
but whether UNAMID can confirm these two incidents, and also, if
these things are true, why these things are not being said in some
way by UNAMID? And I know you may say “ask them”, but I’ve
asked them and I’ve received nothing in return.
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
We
will
ask them. All right, thanks very much. Good
afternoon, everybody.
[The
Spokesperson
later
added
that we are aware of these reports and are
investigating them. UNAMID is concerned about heightened military
tensions on the ground. There have been other incidents recently.
UNAMID calls on all parties to refrain from the use of force.]
Watch
this
site.
, 
