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By Matthew Russell Lee, Photos, Periscope

UN GATE, September 2 – When the UN Security Council presidency for August was taken over by Poland's Joanna Wronecka, her 1 August 2019 press conference took place in a UN Press Briefing from which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has banned Inner City Press now for 425 days and counting. Poland has done nothing about it. They said they will hold an inter-active dialogue about Burundi, but let corrupt Guterres ban the media which most asks about the Burundi, and Cameroon. The ban continues. Guterres' UN sent this out:

"From: malu malu [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 4:23 PM
Subject: U.N. eAccreditation request for Matthew Lee Ref # M5413398 has been declined
To: Inner City Press:

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accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018."

  Now on September 2, "The Vice President met with the President of Poland Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland. The Vice President commended President Duda for hosting world leaders to honor the sacrifice of millions of lives in the fight against Nazism, and subsequently Soviet totalitarianism, at the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Outbreak of World War II.  The Vice President affirmed that the U.S.-Poland relationship has never been stronger. The Vice President highlighted the recent strengthening of our security relationship with the growing U.S. troop presence in Poland, which will bring further stability to the region, and applauded Poland’s leadership in NATO by meeting its commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense.    The Vice President announced that the United States looks forward to welcoming Poland as a member of the Visa Waiver Program in the coming weeks, as soon as all program requirements have been met. He also commended Poland’s efforts to increase its energy supply through partnerships with U.S. companies producing liquefied natural gas.  The leaders agreed that the development of 5G networks will bring economic benefits as well as security risks, and pledged to work closely together to advance implementation of the Prague Protocols on 5G Security to ensure that malign actors are kept out of developing our critical infrastructure."

  Jacek Czaputowicz, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, was at the UN on August 2 but no photos with or meeting with Antonio Guterres - who already left town without saying where, even as Press asks: totally corrupt, like at UNRWA.

   In the UN Security Council Yemen, another failure of Guterres, will be discussed on August 20; Somalia on August 21. Cameroon is lumped with UNOCA on August 14. The killings in Cameroon were not mentioned once in Poland's Press-less press confernce, Burundi only by an UNCA member travel agent sucking up to Kazakhstan. Yeah, free press at the UN.

  Syria has at least three meetings: August 14, 19 and 29. Poland will host a Big Lunch for Big Tony on August 23. Apparently he will head on a murky vacation trip before then. Poland as UNSC president should ensure the Press can cover its work. We'll have more on this. 

After whispers from the UN Security Council about a belated UNSC meeting on May 13, early on the morning of May 6 Inner City Press submitted written questions, this one to the UN Mission of Poland which has done nothing at all about Guterres' now 309 days of banning Inner City Press: "Press Q re Cameroon, any UNSC meeting, Polish Mission's position on that and continued banning of Inner City Press from entering UN -       nowyjork.onz.sekretariat [at] msz.gov.pl, bartlomiej.wybacz [at] msz.gov.pl, radoslaw.tyszkiewicz [at] msz.gov.pl - this is a Press request to the PolishMission as a member of the UN Security Council to be informed this morning of your Mission's knowledge of any upcoming UNSC meeting about Cameroon of any kind, including Any Other Business informal consultations, whether May 13 or any other date. Inner City Press wrote to you about this back in July 2018.     Also, what is your country's position on the situation there and what will / would it seek to accomplish at any UNSC meeting (and if there is no meeting, why not). Relatedly, please explain how it is legitimate for the UN to bar entry to Inner City Press after ousting it while it covered the 3 July 2018 Fifth (Budget) Committee then chaired by Cameroon, and asked about this situation and other under-performance by the UN. Inner City Press' most recent application for re-accreditation to enter and cover the UNSC stakeout, submitted on 15 April 2019, was denied without explanation on April 17. ("Greetings Matthew LEE from ICP     INNER CITY PRESS,  Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M66561081, has been declined.") What has your Mission does, or what will it do, about this?" Seven full days later, after UN noon briefings promoting Guterres' and Dujarric's current European junket, and still no answer - as the EU's PR to the UN tweets photos of himself with Biya's Tommo Monthe.... Back in a past September Ethiopia's Tekeda Alemu, Inner City Press asked Ambassador Alemu four questions, the answers to which sketch out the Ethopian government's worldview. Video here. In response to Inner City Press asking why Burundi, where even the UN says there is a risk of genocide, is not on his September Program of Work nor on the agenda of the Council's visit to Addis Ababa, Alemu said that you can't compare Burundi to Central African Republic, that Burundi has “strong state institutions.” But it is that very “strength,” which some say the country shares with Ethiopia, and with until recently military-ruled Myanmar about which Inner City Press also asked, that has led to the human rights violations. In this context, Inner City Press asked Alemu about the Oromo protests - and crackdown - in his country. He diplomatically chided Inner City Press for not having asked in private, saying that social media has played a dangerous role. On the other hand, when Inner City Press asked Alemu at the end about the murders of two UN experts Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, he replied that while the DR Congo is due to sovereignty the one to investigate the murders, the gruesome nature of the killings put a “great responsibility” on the DR Congo. We'l have more on this. Alamy photos here. Earlier on September 1 in Alemu's briefing to countries not on the Security Council, Bangladesh specifically asked that the Council remain seized of the situation in Myanmar. When Inner City Press asked Alemu about this, he said he still had to inform himself more about that situation. The Security Council is traveling to Addis from September 5 through 9, when alongside African Union consultations the Council's member will meet for an hour with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Alemu said. The Council will receive the “maiden briefings” late in the month of the new Under Secretaries General of OCHA and on Counter-Terrorism. There will be peacekeeping on September 20, during the High Level week of the UN General Assembly, and Yemen on September 26. But tellingly, there will not be Burundi. Watch this site.

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