On
Paris Attacks,
French Mission
Bans Press
Coverage of UNSG
Condolences
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, November
17 --
With the UN
Security
Council yet to
take up the
Paris Attacks
meeting and
resolution
requested by
French
President
Francois
Hollande, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
announced that
Ban would sign
the condolence
book at the
French Mission
to the UN on
November 17.
After 2
pm, the UN
emailed out
“*SG PHOTO-OP
ADDED*” so
Inner City
Press went to
the French
Mission to
cover it.
In the lobby
of 245 East
47th Street,
also known as
One Dag, the
security
officer said
he would call
upstairs to
French
Mission, on
the 44th
floor, and get
the OK. The
guard handed
the photo to
Inner City
Press, which
explained why
it was here,
that the UN
has announced
this photo-op.
The guard took
the phone
back. Video
here.
“They say no,”
the guard
said. France
24 was
upstairs, and
others who did
not even
report on it.
Inner City
Press waited
in the lobby,
exchanging
pleasantries
with a half
dozen
diplomats
including the
Permanent
Representative
of Palau;
passers-by in
the One Dag
lobby included
the Permanent
Representative
of a country
France has
criticized
for,
ironically,
freedom of the
press. Video
here.
Ban Ki-moon
and French
Ambassador
Francois
Delattre came
down, accompanied
by Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric. The
UN convoy
pulled out
onto Second
Avenue. Later
Dujarric's
office would
send out Ban's
remarks -- Ban
refused the
only question
asked -- and
UNTV would
distribute
video of Ban
and Mrs. Ban
signing, even
shots of the
French
hand-picked
scribes in
attendance.
Would Charlie
Hebdo have
made the cut?
Back on
September
28, 2015, the
day of the UN
Peacekeeping
summit at the
UN, Inner City
Press managed
to ask French
President
Francois
Hollande about
alleged rapes
by French
troops in the
Central
African
Republic (CAR)
and about
French head of
UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
having linked
rapes to
“recreation”
and R&R. Video here.
Hollande
replied that
when French
troops are
charged -- as
they have
been, in CAR
-- France
pushes for
prosecutions,
but also due
process. Does
that explain
the one-year
delay in the
Sangaris CAR
case?
The question
was not taken.
Later on
September 28,
Inner City
Press went to
cover the High
Level Meeting
on
Peacekeeping,
and found
Ladsous
slouched in
his hair,
wanly
applauding
pledges then
glaring up at
the
photographers
booth where
Inner City
Press was.
Something is
very wrong at
the top of UN
Peacekeeping -
until it is
addressed, the
various
commitments
ring hollow.
A year
after French
President
Francois
Hollande tried
to privatize
the UN Press
Briefing Room
by having
non-French
journalists
removed, his
team on
September 27,
2015 adopted a
different
strategy for
the same
result. At
8:40 am the UN
said there
would be a
press
conference by
Hollande in
just five
minutes, at
8:45 am. Call
it innovation.
Apparently in
his press
conference,
Hollande had
many of the
seats in the
front of the
UN Press
Briefing Room
“reserved” -
because Brazil
cited this as
a precedent
for their
11:30 am press
conference by
Dilma Rousseff
(that's
another
story).
France,
returning with
Hollande for a
session
scheduled for
2:15 pm, again
tried to
control spaces
in the front
rows, as did
the old UN
Correspondents
Association,
which ejected
a visiting
journalist
from “its”
seat.
And
the question
for Hollande?
For Inner City
Press, it
would be what
actions have
been taken on
the French
soldiers
alleged to
have raped
children in
the Central
African
Republic.
Watch this
site.
Update:
After Hollande
came in, two
people who had
sat next to
Inner City
Press through
the entire
Japanese
briefing from
1:30 pm got
up, to give
their seat to
Laurent Fabuis
and Royale.
Then a lady
approached
Inner City
Press, in full
view of UN
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric, and
told Inner
City Press to
move, she's a
"minister."
Inner City
Press for the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access said
Non, je suis
journaliste,
je veux poser
ma question.
Meanwhile
Ban Ki-moon
said Peru's
President
Humala
regretted not
being present.
But he WAS
present, next
to Hollande.
Inner City
Press asked
Humala about
the Trans
Pacific
Partnership on
September 27:
watch this
site.
Back
on September
23, 2014 the
entourage of
French
President
Francois
Hollande
repeatedly
ordered the UN
accredited
Press to leave
the UN's
Press Briefing
Room.
A briefing by
Hollande had
been scheduled
for 11 am,
then was
canceled. But
at 10:55 am as
a previous
briefing about
climate change
was ending,
Inner City
Press was told
to leave the
room.
The question,
On whose
orders? was
not answered.
Instead a
woman in the
French
delegation
said the room
was
"reserved."
This is not a
restaurant,
Inner City
Press replied,
now on behalf
of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which
advocates for
the rights of
journalists
and for a
Freedom of
Information
Act covering
the UN.
Another member
of the French
delegation
said loudly,
"They'll take
away his
accreditation."
It was not
necessarily an
idle threat:
the UN
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric had
looked into
the room as
this happened.
Inner City
Press said, if
UN Media
Accreditation
-- or UN
Security --
tell me to
leave, I will.
But not
before. Video
here.
Meanwhile the
representative
of the old UN
Correspondents
Alliance
meekly left;
previously,
UNCA did
nothing when
previous
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard
Araud in
this room told
a Lebanese
reporter, "You
are not a
journalist,
you are an
agent."
After a time,
the woman from
Hollande's
entourage said
that the chief
of UN Media
Accreditation,
whom she made
a point of
saying she
knows well,
was not
answering the
phone. A
French
security guard
told Inner
City Press to
leave. But
this is not
their role, in
the UN
briefing room.
Finally the
French foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
and the new
Permanent
Representative
to the UN came
and sat in the
front room
with Inner
City Press and
FUNCA.
Hollande
appeared from
the doorway
Spokesman
Dujarric had
looked out of.
Hollande said
he had come
mostly about
climate
change, but
that a French
citizen had
been taken
hostage in
Algeria by a
group linked
with ISIL or
"Da'ech," as
he called the
group. He said
arms
deliveries
would
continue; he
noted the
previous
night's air
strikes, by
others, on
Syria.
Hollande said
he would meet
in the
afternoon with
the Syrian
Opposition
Coalition's
Hadi al Bahra,
who he called
the only
legitimate
leader of
Syria. Then he
left without
taking
questions.