Day
After UN
Protest of
Guinea
Killings, US
Statement,
$1.4 M to
Alpha Conde
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 29
-- Outside the
UN on September
28 afternoon,
there was a
protest of
impunity in
Guinea-Conakry,
complete with
photographs of
the killings
in 2009 in the
stadium and
since. Photo
here; 8-minute video here. Inner City
Press
conducted a
few
interviews;
participants
said they
hadn't been
made aware of
the visit to
the UN and
handshake with
Ban Ki-moon of
president
Alpha Conde.
He wasn't the
president in
2009, one
participant
said, but he
hasn't held
anyone
accountable. Click
here for
earlier
Inner City
Press
coverage, from
2013.
Strangely, some
have praised
Conde for his
response to
the 2009
killings, or
rapes. Who you
gonna believe,
when even the
US says this,
albeit on
September 29:
"Seven
years ago this
week, Guinea
suffered a
terrible
tragedy when
more than 150
civilians
participating
in peaceful
demonstrations
were brutally
massacred and
more than 100
were raped by
state security
forces.
Since then,
the Guinean
people have
worked to
establish a
more peaceful
and democratic
society, and
to seek
justice for
crimes
committed
during the
massacre.
The United
States
commends those
who have
bravely spoken
out about such
crimes and
Guinea’s
efforts to
hold those
responsible to
account.
We applaud the
efforts of the
United Nations
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
on Sexual
Violence in
Conflict for
her support to
the Government
of Guinea in
investigating
these
atrocities.
We encourage
the Government
of Guinea to
continue to
make progress
in the
investigation
of the stadium
massacre, and
the United
States remains
committed to
providing
support for
efforts to
establish
justice and
accountability
in
Guinea.
Today, as
tangible
evidence of
our
commitment,
the United
States
announced $1.4
million in
additional
funding to
partner with
the Guinean
Ministry of
Justice on an
Atrocity
Accountability
and
Reconciliation
Project.
Ensuring
accountability
for those who
are
responsible
for the
massacre will
help prevent
future
outbreaks of
political
violence in
Guinea,
provide
victims with a
measure of
justice,
strengthen
peace and
prosperity for
the Guinean
people, and
provide a
positive
example for
others across
the globe to
emulate."
We'll
have more on
this.
While
outgoing UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
described the
2016 UN
General
Assembly
debate as a
tribute to
multilateralism,
it ended
Monday
afternoon with
Indonesia
accusing the
Solomon
Islands of
ignorance and
using “trash
information”
about West
Papua.
India
and Pakistan
went two
rounds on
Kashmir;
Guatemala
replied to
Belize about a
territorial
dispute.
While
in Washington
US State
Department
deputy
spokesman Mark
Toner talked
on and about a
“Plan B” on
Syria, in the
UNGA hall Iran
said of the
United Arab
Emirates that
it bombs Yemen
and exports
extremists.
Ban
Ki-moon, who
spent the week
handing out
copies of his
vanity press
book
“Highlights of
the Tenure of
Ban Ki-moon,”
was already
out of town.
His
spokespeople
have yet to
provide a copy
of the book,
or to say who
was on the
panel that
“recommended”
to Ban that he
appoint his
own son in law
Siddharth
Chatterjee to
the top UN job
in Kenya.
Earlier
in the day,
Eritrea said,
“we have
suffered the
occupation of
our territory
in violation
of binding
international
arbitration.”
Then
it was over,
UN staff took
selfies and
jazz fusion
came up on the
UN sound
system. Inner
City Press,
which
live-streamed
Periscope of
this final
session, was
urged to move
on. But it is
covering the
UN, ever more
closely. Watch
this site.
Inner
City Press
went to cover
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
meeting with
Burundi, where
even UN
experts say
there is a
risk of
genocide. But
Ban's meeting
with the
country's
foreign
minister
lasted less
than 20
minute.
Afterward, Ban
stood chatting
with his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet,
waiting to
repeat the
process with
the president
of Guyana.
Inner City
Press stayed
upstairs for
the next few
photo ops,
held not in
Ban's
conference
room on the
38th floor,
where earlier
in the week it
first reported
on Ban handing
signed copies
of his vanity
press book
“Highlights of
the Tenure of
Ban Ki-moon”
to visiting
dignitaries,
but rather on
the near-empty
27th floor.
The previous
day on 27,
when Inner
City Press
live-streamed
Yemen's
president in
exile Hadi has
stumbled
and turned the
wrong way,
only to be
turned around
by Ban -
physically,
not on his
continued
calling for
airstrikes by
the Saudi led
Coalition - in
the shadows
were two
lobbyists from
Human Rights
Watch, one of
whom scurried
away when seen
by the press.
Does
it make Ban
feel better,
having these
token insiders
around while
he sells out
the children
of Yemen, or
phones it in
on Burundi?
Saturday there
was almost no
one on the
27th floor.
Even UNTV did
not film the photo
op with Kosovo
-- “they're
not a
country,” it
was said -- so
Inner City
Press went
back upstairs
to do it.
Ban
asked Inner
City Press,
“Working on a
Saturday?” Yes
- no thanks to
Ban Ki-moon
and his head
of “public
information”
Cristina
Gallach who
evicted Inner
City Press and
reduced its
accreditation
and access to
retaliate for
UN corruption
coverage.
In the less
than half full
GA Hall,
Burundi's
foreign
minister was
denying
genocide; the
day's session
ended ended
with rights of
reply by
Turkey
(against
Syria),
Indonesia (on
Papua) and two
rounds between
China and the
Philippines --
things are
heating up.
Inner
City Press was
told by
sources there
would be a
Security
Council
meeting about
Aleppo in
Syria on
Sunday.
Inquiries with
the
spokespeople
of the
Council's
president for
September, New
Zealand, did
not yield an
answer; later
the UN itself
announced an 11 am
meeting in the
Council
Chamber.
We'll be
there. Watch
this site.
As Ban
Ki-moon's time
at the UN
winds down and
he prepares
coyly to run
for President
in South
Korea, his
packaging of
his legacy has
become a
vanity amateur
operation.
Take
for example
the hard
cover book on
his conference
table when
he met
on September
18 with Donald
Tusk,
President,
European
Council and
Frans
Timmermans,
First
Vice-President,
European
Commission.
Inner City
Press
subsequently
went and saw
it give to
Poland, Chad
and it seems
clear (all)
others.
It is
called
“Highlights of
the tenure of
Ban Ki-moon,
2007-2016.”
Inner City
Press asks:
who wrote it?
Who paid for
it? Why was
this done?
What are the
contents?
Team
Ban has
refused to
show a copy to
the Press,
even though
we've
discovered it
is listed in
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
catalog as
finished in
August, for
sale for $45.
Click
here for photo
Inner City
Press tweeted.
For the next
meeting, with
Denmark's
Prime Minister
Lars Lokke
Rasmussen,
another copy
of the Ban
vanity book
was out, along
with a pen to
sign it.
By the
last meeting
of the day,
after Inner
City Press
tweeted then
first
published this
story, the
copy of the
book for UNASUR's
Ernesto Samper
Pizano was
covered
up with a file
by Ban's
staff. Is this
on the level?
In
the hall was
the office of
Nardos
Bekele-Thomas,
moved out of
the top job in
Kenya so Ban's
son in law
could occupy
it before Ban
leaves.
Legacy,
indeed....
The
Friday before
UN General
Assembly week
starts in
earnest,
reporters at
the UN were
told of some
of the
upcoming
meetings and
how, despite
restrictions,
to cover them.
Inner
City Press
asked the head
of the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach why
DPI says the
non-resident
correspondents,
the vast
majority of
journalists
covering the
UN, will be
placed in
basement
Conference
Room 1 where
no only food
and beverages
but even water
is not
allowed.
(In
Ban's
conference
room there is
water and,
we've noted at
his all-Korean
meeting, tea.)
Gallach's
reply cited to
“professionalism”
and rules,
both of which
she invoked
when she ousted
and then
evicted
Inner City
Press from the
UN earlier
this year.
Ironically,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric less
that an hour
later explained
having
violated the
rules (about
those without
cameras not
attending
photo ops) so
that South
Korean print
journalists
could witness
Ban's speech
to politicians
visiting from
Seoul.
The
UN's rules are
selectively
implied, in
this case to
censor.
On September
16, Inner City
Press asked
Gallach about
the
since-released
Office
of Internal
Oversight
Services audit,
which found
that her DPI
did not due
diligence on
events by Ng
Lap Seng
fundees.
Gallach said
that the
outside event
- the case in
Federal court
- is being
followed. So
Inner City
Press asked
for her
response to
testimony in
the case that
South South
News, which
unlike Inner
City Press the
rule-invoking
Gallach left
in its UN
office
despite or
because of it
not asking any
questions at
the UN, was
named as a
“conduit of
bribery.”
This, she did
not answer.
After the
briefing,
which included
film maker
Richard Curtis
whom Inner
City Press
asked about
the Next SG
race,
Gallach's
staffer asked
for further
information
about the
water(less)
issue.
Inner City
Press added
the exclusion
of
non-resident
correspondents
from access to
the UN's EZTV
which shows
more events
than the UN
webcast. See flier
here of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
also ejected
and sign torn
down under
Gallach. What
will change?
We'll see.
Watch this
site.
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