| On
Burma US Concerned At Chin and
Rakhine Internet Cut Like One
Guterres in Cameroon Complicit
With
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UN GATE, April 1
– The UN's own report on its
systemic failure in protecting
civilians in Myanmar, as in
Cameroon, typically stopped
short of naming who was in
charge and who is responsible:
Antonio Guterres, Secretary
General since January 2017.
Then Guterres' head of
communications pimped out
refugees by publishing
personal identifying
information, while banning the
Press from covering the
September 2019 UNGA week.
Now on April 1 from
US State Department
spokesperson Morgan Ortagus,
this: "The United States is
deeply troubled by escalating
violence in northern Rakhine
State and Chin State, where
dozens have been killed and
thousands have been displaced
in recent months. We express
our deepest sympathies for all
those affected by the
violence, including the
hundreds of families whose
homes were recently destroyed.
We call on all parties to
cease fighting, take necessary
precautions to protect local
communities, and pursue
peaceful dialogue. For
decades, the United States has
partnered with those in Burma
in support of their democratic
aspirations and their pursuit
of peace and prosperity. Since
2012, we have funded
large-scale efforts at
decreasing violence, promoting
human rights, and finding
peace for all in Rakhine
State. After the onset of the
Rakhine State crisis in 2017,
the people of the United
States have given more than
$820 million to ease
humanitarian suffering of all
affected by the crisis and
find a way to resolve the
ongoing emergency. The
current situation is
exacerbated by ongoing
restrictions on humanitarian
and media access, and the
prolonged internet blackout,
which cut communities off from
lifesaving assistance and
vital information. Access to
humanitarian assistance and
information are all the more
important during the COVID-19
pandemic. We call on the
Government of Burma to allow
unhindered humanitarian access
and to restore internet
access. We also call on others
to provide additional
assistance and avoid actions
that would further destabilize
the region."
Meanwhile
on Cameroon, where Paul Biya
cut the Internet then gave
Guterres a golden statue and
UN Budget Committee favors as
chair in exchange for
Guterres' silence, some of
these groups let Guterres and
the UN off the hook, focus on
the underdogs' fight back and
even block on the Internet
those who question that (that
would be
Human Rights Watch).
On Myanmar
Inner City Press reported how
Guterres rejected warning from
his own senior staff about the
impending slaughter, so caught
up in outmoded infatuation
with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Inner City Press was in mid
2018 roughed up by Guterres'
Security and banned from the
UN since, 590 days and
counting. Its written
questions on Myanmar have been
ignored by Guterres and his
spokespeople, now including
Melissa Fleming, even while
still spokesperson for UNHCR.
It is shameful. Inner City
Press applied to all of them
to cover the September 2019
UNGA week, which it covered
for a decade. Then on Friday
August 30, her
MALU
issued a
one-line
denial of
access:
"Greetings
Matthew Lee
from Inner
City
Press,
Your media
accreditation
request, with
reference no:
M5413398, has
been declined
for the
following
reason: Media
accreditation
was withdrawn
on 17 August
2018."
Inner City
Press asked Guterres, and this
directly to Melissa Fleming on
August 21: "On the
repatriation of Rohingya from
Bangladesh to Myanmar set to
start on August 22, what is
the UN system's role? Why is
it going forward with a system
that will give returnees non
citizen, "Bengali" ID cards?
National Verification Cards
(NVCs), which do not confer
rights nor citizenship and,
through an NVC application
process, effectively identify
Rohingya as “Bengali” or more
generally as “foreigners.”
What has been the UN system's,
specifically UNHCR's, role in
this in the past? the
governments of Bangladesh and
Myanmar and the U.N. Office of
the High Commissioner for
Refugees forcibly repatriated
an estimated 250,000 Rohingya
refugees from Bangladesh to
northern Rakhine State, and
Myanmar began issuing
Temporary Resident Cards
(“White Cards”) to Rohingya,
which, like NVCs, did not
confer rights. What did
Guterres do on this while at
UNHCR?"
Still, no
answer at all from Fleming,
even as she virtue-signal
tweets. We will not relent.
On
April 20, 2019, two months
before Guterres had Inner City
Press targeted and then banned
590 days since, Inner City
Press asked Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq two
questions about Myanmar, the
Kachin and press freedom. From
the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: I
wanted to ask about
Myanmar. There's… not in
Rakhine State, but the Kachin
minority has put out a call
saying that, basically in… in…
in light of the increased
fighting, there are about
2,000 people that are… have
fled their villages and are
without any health care or
anything, and I'm wondering,
what… what… is the UN aware of
this? And what are they
doing about it?" The answer
was laughable, and Farhan Haq
now covers up UN peacekeepers'
rapes just as Stephane
Dujarric has been doing.
On April 17,
2019, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' Assistant SG Ursula
Mueller if during her five day
trip to Myanmar the issue of
the mandated envoy was even
broached. She said it was not.
(Her full briefing is archived
on UNTV, including Inner City
Press' question to her on the
UN's mis-handling of the
crackdown in Cameroon on
Anglophones). More here.
***
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