Tawakkol
Karman Tells
ICP Saleh Is
Not Clear,
Bahrain Must
Release Al
Kawaja
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 12, updated
-- As the UN
Security
Council
prepared to
adopt another
resolution on
Yemen, in the
General
Assembly lobby
Yemeni Nobel
Prize winner
Tawakkol
Karman and
three
colleagues
arrived.
One would
think,
especially on
the so-called
Arab Spring
countries,
that such
people could
easily come in
and speak.
But in this
instance, as
in October,
they had to be
signed in as
guests -- both
times, by
Inner City
Press -- and
speak at the
UN TV stakeout
in almost
guerrilla
style.
The
UN Security
took Tawakkol
Karman's
passport, and
asked how to
spell her
name. Another
Security
officer took
special
interest in
Inner City
Press' UN
pass, which
has been put
at issue for
reporting of
alleged war
criminals
and their
financial and
advisory
relationships
with "high" UN
personalities.
But
once at the
stakeout, the
press corp
there --
mostly
non-Japanese
reporters for
Japanese media
interested in
the morning's
first agenda
item, North
Korea -- was
welcoming,
buying
Tawakkol
Karman and her
colleague
Bushra cups of
tea and coming
to the
stakeout
albeit mostly
without
questions.
Inner
City Press
asked Tawakkol
Karman about
Ali Saleh's
and his
family's
continuing
role in Yemen,
and about work
she has
already told
Inner City
Press, off
camera, she is
doing on
Syria.
She
replied that
the Salehs,
particularly
Yaya, need to
be out of the
process; later
she told Inner
City Press
that the
immunity deal
Ali Saleh got
is crumbling.
On
Syria, on UN
TV -- if
they put the
video on
archive -- she
said that the
Security
Council should
united and
engage as they
did on Yemen.
Update:
Inner City
Press at noon
asked by the
Tawakkol
Karman video
was not on the
UN web site.
Later this
arrived: "Live
UN Webcast was
not
available this
morning,
because a
cable was
inadvertently
cut by a
construction
crew as part
of the
renovation."
As
Tawakkol
Karman spoke,
UK Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant waited
to the side, a
small smile on
his face. When
he came to the
microphone,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
getting the
Salehs out -
and whether
the same
immunity deal
might be
offered to
Bashar al
Assad as an
"inducement"
to leave
Syria, or if
things have
already gone
too far.
Lyall
Grant
indicated that
things have
gone too far.
He said the
Salehs should
take the
resolution
seriously. But
why?
UN
envoy Jamal
Benomar
confirmed that
he has met
with the
Houthis; he
enunciated
clearly what
is at least
the UN's
formal
position on
impunity: it
is against it.
But is Ban
Ki-moon, for
example on Sri
Lanka?
After
Benomar
finished,
Tawakkol
Karman and her
colleagues
went back to
get their
passports. A
UN Security
officer took
notes, as if
to file an
incident
report, and
told Inner
City Press
"everyone is
talking about
this." What -
signing a
Nobel Peace
Prize winner
in a a guest
is a crime?
Only at the
UN.
Tawakkol
Karman &
the author on
1st Ave, June
12, 2012, UN Pass not
shown
Inner
City Press
introduced
Tawakkol
Karman to the
head of UNAIDS
and the former
UN envoy on
sport, to a
staff member
of the
outgoing
President of
the General
Assembly, and
a diplomat of
the
post-Gaddafi
Libyan
mission.
Under
a gray sky on
First Avenue
and 43rd
Street, Inner
City Press
asked her
again about
Syria -- and
about Bahrain,
where she said
Mr. Al Kawaja
must be
released. We
will have
more,
including the
videos --
watch this
site.
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet
piece by this correspondent about Uganda's
Lord's Resistance Army. Click here
for an earlier Reuters
AlertNet piece about the Somali
National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust
fund. Video
Analysis here