UNITED NATIONS,
March 26 – Back on March 14
after UK Prime Minster Theresa
wrote a "Dear Antonio" letter
to UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres about the poisoning in
Salisbury of Sergey Skripal and
his daughter, also injuring a
policeman, a UN Security Council
meeting was set for 3 pm, see
below. On March 26, the US White
House held an 8:30 am embargoed
call, announcing the expulsion
of 60 "intelligence officers"
and the closure of Russia's
Seattle consulate -- not for any
attack on any military
installation, they said. At the
UN, Inner City Press sought
comment from Russian Ambassador
Vassily Nebenzia, first with a
UN minder in front of the office
of the President of the General
Assembly - a minder the UN does
not require for other
correspondents - and then in the
afternoon, more succesfully,
outside of the UN. On Beekman
Place after a lunch of the UN
Security Council including Nikki
Haley (Inner City Press' photo
on Alamy here),
Inner City Press asked Nebenzia
if he'll raise it in the UN's
Committee on Relations with the
Host Country. He replied, By the
time we raised it there, they're
already gone. Video here.
Also at the UN, the new UK
Permanent Representative Karen
Pierce presented her credentials
last week (Inner City Press
coverage here,
including on Picasso / Matisse
and Guterres' Portuguese
things). We'll have more on
this. On March 14, UK Deputy
Ambassador Jonathan Allen read
from the letter and its points,
adding for example that "We have
not jumped to conclusions. We
have carried out a thorough,
careful investigation, which
continues. We are asking the
OPCW to independently verify the
nerve agent used. We have
offered Russia the chance to
explain. But Russia has refused.
We have therefore concluded that
the Russian state was involved."
Nikki Haley spoke, here,
including that "The Russians
complained recently that we
criticize them too much. If the
Russian government stopped using
chemical weapons to assassinate
its enemies; and if the Russian
government stopped helping its
Syrian ally to use chemical
weapons to kill Syrian children;
and if Russia cooperated with
the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
by turning over all information
related to this nerve agent, we
would stop talking about them.
We take no pleasure in having to
constantly criticize Russia, but
we need Russia to stop giving us
so many reasons to do so."
Here's some of what Russia's
Nebenzia said, as transcribed by
Inner City Press: The United
Kingdom requested that closed
consultations be held. We asked
the president of the Security
Council to change the format of
the meeting and change it from
closed consultations to an open
briefing. We did this because we
wanted to make sure that
everyone should see what is
happening here. We have the
letter which contains completely
irresponsible statements and
which it is even difficult for
me to comment on the vocabulary.
It contains threats to a
sovereign state, towards a
ermanent member of the Security
Council, which is at variance
with international law and 2.4
of the UN charter. I would like
to understand the following: do
our British colleagues
understand this? The first
question that we want to put is
this: why is it that the
representatives of the United
Kingdom are dragging this issue
into the Security Council? And
they ignore the procedures which
London, in line with their own
international commitments, has
to abide by. Namely involving
the specialized organizations.
We’re talking about the use of a
toxic chemical on British soil.
We see that the answer to this
is obvious. The reason this is
being dragged into the security
council is that they do
understand, the genuine experts
on chemical weapons are at the
Hague, and those experts will
not be convinced by their
arguments. In other words, they
are afraid of having a real,
genuine, professional discussion
of this topic. The Russian
Federation thinks it is
completely unacceptable to
launch unjustified accusations,
as contained in the letter from
Theresa May dated 13 of March to
the Secretary General of the UN.
It states that we had something
to do with the use of toxic
chemicals in Salisbury and
requested in 24 hours to admit
that we committed a crime. In
other words, confess. We do not
speak the language of
ultimatums. We do not use that
language with anyone. And we
will not allow to be spoken to
in that way either. But w are
polite, and on the 14th of March
we did send a note to the
foreign office where we
reaffirmed that we had nothing
to do with this incident, and
asked for the samples of the
substance being used, and asked
for a joint investigation. All
the more so since one of the
people impacted was a Russian
national. This was refused. A
hysterical atmosphere is being
created by London, and also
being completely
non-transparent. We saw today
the announcement that Russian
diplomats are being expelled and
bilateral relations are being
frozen. I want to ask my UK
colleague whether this applies
to the UN as well. We also saw
announcements about a prepared
cyvber-attack against Russia. We
would like to warn that this
will not remain without reaction
on our part. We are compelled to
make the following conclusion:
that the authorities of the UK
are interested in finding the
truth last. They are guided by
something else. They are losing
the propaganda ways of recent
years and they are trying to
influence the public, which is
very easy to influence and not
well educated. But this does not
have any facts other than the
unsubstantiated claim that there
is a Russian trace in all of
this. This is not the first time
Russian nationals in the UK have
their lives endangered. When
such instances are not
investigated or we are not
allowed to become acquainted
with such investigations. London
should first try and determine
what is happening on their
territory before going ahead and
accusing others, because that’s
what polite people do. We would
suggest to the British side to
immediately involve the
procedures in chapter 9.2 of the
convention on chemical weapons,
because it provides for requests
for explanation and providing
answers to the requesting state
as quickly as possible and no
later than 10 days after the
request was received. The
British colleagues do know about
that but they are in no hurry of
invoking the convention which
they’re party to. We demand that
material proof be provided of
the allegedly found Russian
trace in this high-resonance
event, without this stating that
there is incontrovertible truth
is not something that we can
take into account. Until now, we
have not seen anything besides
stating that this is highly
likely. In such a situation it
would be legitimate to approach
the technical secretariat of
OPCW and ask them to carry out
an independent laboratory
analysis of the chemicals that
the British authorities
have.Now, a few words about the
chemical side of this. In the
Russian Federation, no
scientific research or
development work [inaudible]
were carried out. Since the
beginning of the 1970s, a whole
litter of countries implemented
bookends (?) on creating new
types of chemical paralytic
agents, in particular in the
United states and in the Soviet
Union. This was called the X. In
line with a decree by the
president of the Russian
Federation, in 1992, the Soviet
developmental work in the area
of chemical weapons in Russia
were stopped. In 2017 the
Russian Federation completed the
destruction of all existing
stocks of chemical weapons. This
has been verified by the
relevant international entity,
namely the OPCW. The United
States has not, to dates,
destroyed their chemical
stockpile. In the 1990s,
[inaudible] some documentation
was taken out of our country.
The positive results that
they’ve obtained in the west are
classified but has been
confirmed in open sources, and
we do have the reference to
that. The identification of the
toxic substance used in the
incident is leaking out. The
most probably source origin are
the countries which have since
the end of the 90s been carrying
out intensive research on these
kinds of weapons, including the
UK. If the UK is so convinced
this is the gas, that means that
they have samples of this, and
they have the formula for this,
and they are capable of
manufacturing it. We are living
in a very special time. In front
of our eyes, incredible things
are happening. The process of
replacing the presumption of
innocence with the presumption
of guilt is taking place. Today,
ambassador Haley is an
experienced chemist. She stated
that she would talk today about
the crimes committed by Russia.
We have no further time, to
determine who is the guilty
party. No investigation is
needed. In the letter by the
prime minister of the UK, it is
stated that this is highly
likely. But even in this, you
have exceeded your reliable
ally. If the Soviet prosecutors
thought that confession was the
best kind of proof, well, now,
using the expression of Minister
Lavrov, what is the best kind of
proof is suspicion. It is no
longer necessary to show to the
Council test tubes with unknown
white substances. It is enough
to send a letter which contains
an egregious attitude towards a
sovereign state. And we are
witnessing the same when it
comes to Syria. Now Russia is
being pushed towards the number
of those who violate the
convention. Let me simply remind
you about the UK involvement in
the attacks on Yugoslavia, Iraq,
Libya. This led to numerous
suffering against civilians.
Don’t forget, the UK is well
known as state which uses
targeted assassinations by
drones. Hearing from you
invectives against us is
something that is odd. There is
no proof, which is all the more
odd. I can name a number of
countries who benefit a great
deal from this incident, and
accusing Russia of it. What
could be the motivation that the
Prime Minister of the UK could
have for the attempt on Sergei
Skribal, who after the
investigation, after he served
his sentence, then pardoned and
given over to the British was no
longer of any kind of threat to
my country. But, he is a perfect
victim, which could justify any
kind of lie, or dirt tarnishing
Russia. We have stated many a
time that anything along those
lines, any kind of provocation
or ceratin events could happen.
And today we are witnessing the
fact that the authorities of the
UK are consciously trying to
tarnish Russia, stooping to any
low. Arthur Conan Doyle, the
British classic, famous in his
country and very popular in
Russia, has a series of stories
about Sherlock Holmes. He has a
hapless character in those
stories, Inspector Lestrade from
Scotland Yard. He doesn’t have
the method of deduction, he’s
not particularly smart. His role
is to be the background for the
extraordinary detective powers
of Sherlock Holmes. Lestrade
latches on something that is on
the surface of a crime and is in
a hurry to provide banal
conclusions, only to be
overturned by Sherlock Holmes
who always finds what is behind
the crime and what is the motive
for it. Of course, I am not
trying to say that those who
work in Scotland Yard today are
not professional, but we could
all stand to benefit from having
a Sherlock Holmes with us today.
The collective inspector
Lestrade today are the high
level members of the UK
government, who are coming up
with egregious, superficial, and
unsupported accusations, which
have far-reaching consequences.
Russia calls upon the officials
of the UK to give up no the
practices which belong in the
19th century, give up on
ultimatums and threats and
unsupported accusations, give up
on colonial habits. Once again:
Russia had nothing to do with
this incident. The ultimatum
from London is something we
consider to be something we
cannot pay attention to. And we
expect – we consider null and
void and we expect that the UK
will act in strict adherence
with the convention of chemical
weapons and other international
instruments, including the
European convention on
assistance on criminal matters,
and will provide samples of
substances that the UK
investigation is referring to
for a joint investigation, since
you are saying that they are
Russian in origin. This is not
optional. This is a mandatory
requirement undr the convention.
We stand ready for such an
investigation. We have nothing
to fear; we have nothing to
hide. The mechanism for 9.2 of
the convention on chemical
weapons is something that we’ve
already mentioned. If the
explanations provided were
insufficient, then we can turn
to the governing body of the
OPCW. This is the only civilized
way of settling the issue. Since
we are being accused of
violating the convention without
any justification, there is no
other way out. And fruitless
dialogue with specialists in
this area is something we cannot
avoid. We are ready for open and
constructive discussion within
the framework of OPCW. We would
like to disseminate a draft
statement for the press which
sums up my statement and
emphasizes the fact that the
mechanisms in chapter 9 of the
chemical weapons conventions are
mentioned and we hope and expect
that all members of the Council
will support this. Thank you."
Then, "I’ve already said
everything I wanted to say in my
statement. I simply wanted to
underscore one thing. We didn’t
have a proper request in line
with the convention on chemical
weapons for which we are ready.
What we were given was a 24 hour
ultimatum. Once again let me
underscore that this is the
format in which we will not
respond to unsubstantiated
allegations which were launched
against us before any kind of
answer was received from us.
We're ready to cooperate with
the British government in order
to investigate this unfortunate
incident. I do not think that
anything I said earlier is in
contradiction with this
statement of mine.." Days after
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres close protection
security ordered
Inner City Press to stop
live-streaming on Periscope
during a photo opportunity in
which Guterres conveyed his
"very, very warm regards" to
Egypt's censoring strongman
Sisi, it has emerged that Sisi
had journalists arrested for
"filming without a license," see
below. Corruption and its cover
up occur in both places. Inner
City Press, while covering the
UN bribery scandal of Macau
based business man Ng Lap Seng
was evicted by the UN and
restricted still. Now on March 5
the Mission of Bangladesh, whose
previous Ambassador was shown at
Ng Lap Seng's trial to have been
in league with the scheme to
procure a false UN General
Assembly resolution for Ng's
Macau conference center, has an
event about "partnership," with
banks as sponsors including
Barclays Bank. Here's Inner City
Press' most recent reporting /
filing on Barclays nd its "the
Applications of Barclays PLC and
Barclays US Holdings Ltd.,
organized under the laws of the
Cayman Islands to acquire
Barclays Bank. It is noteworthy
that on the very final day of
the comment period of this
Barclays Bank Cayman Islands
application, the Federal Reserve
has announced “The Federal
Reserve Board on Friday
announced that it is seeking to
permanently bar Peter Little,
the former head of the foreign
exchange (FX) spot desk at
Barclays Bank PLC in New York,
from employment in the banking
industry and to impose a
$487,500 fine on him. Little is
alleged to have engaged in
unsafe and unsound practices by
using electronic chat rooms to
coordinate with traders at
competitor banks to influence FX
pricing benchmarks and by
engaging in manipulative
trading. Little is also alleged
to have failed to adequately
supervise subordinate traders at
Barclays who coordinated with
and disclosed confidential
information to competitors on
Little's behalf." Those problems
are about the institution, which
is here applying to interpose a
Cayman Islands subsidiary. Is
this to evade taxes? To evade
disclosure? Barclays is
associated with using tax
havens to avoid taxes: for
example in Ireland paying a mere
2%, versus a statutory rate of
12%. The compliance - or
“managerial resources” -
problems at Barclays go right to
the top: Barclays' Jes Staley
had to apologize for trying to
unmask a whistleblower.
For the record, there's also
this, attempt
to collect debt not owed... In
fact, the whole operation is in
question, militating for
hearings: “The U.K. Serious
Fraud Office’s charges against
Barclays, “in theory at least,
put the bank’s entire existence
at risk: if it is found guilty
its license could be revoked,”
the Wall Street Journal says.
That’s because the charges,
stemming from the bank’s secret
emergency fundraising from
Qatari investors during the
crisis of 2008, were made
against the bank’s operating
company, which holds its banking
license, not its holding
company. That’s an important
distinction.'" Barclays stands
to gain de-regulation in the
stealth provisions of S.2155
pending in Washington. And
Barclays has paid to be
celebrated inside the UN on
March 5. This as Guterres and
his "Global Communicator" have
purported to award investigative
Inner City Press' long time UN
work space to no-show Sisi media
Akbhar al Yom, whose long
retired UN correspondent Sanaa
Youssef has not asked a question
at the UN in a decade. In Egypt,
reporter Mai El-Sabagh and
cameraman Ahmad Mustafa, of
website Raseef22, were arrested
in Alexandria on February 28.
Police in the city's al-Attarin
neighborhood arrested the
journalists for allegedly
filming without a license. They
were reporting a story about a
tram. Reportedly, they are also
under investigation for
possessing "photographic tools."
Sisi and Guterres - warm regards
indeed - but no photographs!
Inner City Press was told that a
basis of its now two years of
restrictions and censorship in
the UN is its use of Periscope.
It is a position that the UN has
been unwilling to put in
writing, despite requests from September
2017 through January
2018, because it is so
clearly retaliatory. But Inner
City Press was told that its
live-streaming, from the 38th
floor to the third floor from
which it was evicted, is not
appreciated by UN officials who
themselves rarely use, and don't
understand, new media. The UN
cannot admit that it is for
critical coverage of Guterres,
failing for example on Cameroon,
or his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed
with her rosewood signature
scandal, that it remains evicted
and restricted. So they point to
a new technology, live-stream
video on Periscope, for which
the UN has not promulgated any
rules. Before streaming from the
third floor, Inner City Press
explicitly asked the Department
of Public Information to provide
an escort or minder and was told
it was not necessary. Those in
the chain at DPI include Hua
Jiang and Darren Farrant, who
don't tweet much less Periscope,
and Alison Smale whose last
tweet was about Chechnya, a week
ago, during a Security Council
meeting about Syria. This the
blind censoring those who see
and want others to see what is
happening in the UN. But today's
UN wants the Press to
self-censor in order to be
treated the same as no-show
no-question media like Sisi's
Akhbar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef,
awarded Inner City Press' office
and letting it sit empty. Inner
City Press has conveyed its
ongoing willingness to discuss
rules about broadcasts, rules
about media access - but it will
no longer access targeted
censorship favoring no-show
sycophants. On February 28 when
Guterres met Egypt's new
Ambassador Mohamed Fathi Ahmed
Edrees on February 28, Inner
City Press went through the UN's
tourist entrance and then UN
Security on the 37th floor to
cover it. Still, before Guterres
expressed his warm regards for
Sisi, who is arresting all
opponents, the UN Security
officer who has already checked
Inner City Press' microphone
told it it could not record
audio. This is censorship, and
it is ongoing
- they have not answered a
petition with thousands of
signatures. Meanwhile Guterres
and his Global Communicator
Alison Smale have purported to
assign Inner City Press' long
time UN work space to Sisi's no
show state media, Sanaa Youssef
of Akhbar al Yom. We'll have
more on this. Six days before
when Guterres met Ecuador's Vice
President María Alejandra Vicuña
on February 22 it was supposed
to be at 11:50 am. But another
Inner City Press arrived half an
hour before, by the time it was
allowed in at 11:44 am the
meeting was already underway.
There was no handshake,
and the Press was quickly
ushered out. With Guterres was a
single UN staffer: Katrin Hett.
On the elevator down from the
38th floor, UN Department of
Political Affairs deputy
Miroslav Jenca was just
arriving, and UN Photo missed
the shot again. This is a
pattern. The evening before on
February 21 when Guterres met
Cote d'Ivoire foreign minister
Marcel Amon-Tanoh on February
21, Guterres changed the time
twice. First from 5 pm to 6:40
pm - for this, notice was
provided - and then without
notice moving it up to 6:34 pm
such that both the Ivorian
photographer and even UN Photo
missed it. It seems Guterres is
only interested in accommodating
those who can help him - he has
been happy, for example, to have
the investigative Press
restricted for his entire
tenure, with no explanation of
what the rules are. No show
state media in, investigative
press, through the tourist
entrance, minders required. This
is "Big Tony's" United Nations,
do as I say, not as I do. Big
shots are getting over with
sexual harassment, while
directives go to underlings. The
Global Communicator Alison
Smale, censor in chief, is
involved. At the February 21,
restricted Inner City Press was
the only media which asked any
questions, on Justin Forsyth
multiple abuser, now at UNICEF,
about mis-statements about
immunity in India, another
no-answer on Tanzania. The only
media asking, and the only media
restricted by Guterres and
Smale. We'll have more on this.
Amon-Tanoh,
by the way,
spoke well in
the Security
Council,
before having
the time(s)
changed. Present
on the UN side were Katrin Hett
and Khassim Diagne, who's said
Paul Biya is doing a good job in
Cameroon - when Biya's been in
Geneva for four and a half
years, cumulatively. We'll have
more on this. Back on February 2
when Guterres before his
multiple junkets met Qatar's
Foreign Minister Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani, he had
with him his outgoing head of
Political Affairs, Jeffrey
Feltman. (Inner City Press
exclusively reported on January
25, in connection with Feltman's
US replacement in the post, Dina
Powell, here.
Now some say Powell turned the
post down, as so many have,
under Big Tony.) The Qatari
minister joked that his
Ambassador told him Feltman was
back from an interesting place -
presumably a reference to North
Korea, where Feltman wants to
score Guterres a high level
meeting, perhaps with Kim Jong
Un, in connection
with having accepted as a UN
Junior Professional Officer in
his Department the son of a DPRK
Workers Party official. Even
before Mohammed
bin
Abdulrahman Al
Thani had
finished
signing the UN
visitors'
book, Guterres
was indicating
that the Press
should leave,
saying
Shukran,
presumably to
the two
traveling
Qatar
photographer
and
videographer.
Earlier in the
day Guterres refused
Inner City
Press'
question if he
told the
International
Criminal Court
in advance of
his meeting
last weekend
with Darfur
genocide
indictee Omar
al Bashir.
Qatar has
played a role
in Darfur but
the topics
with Guterres
and Feltman
would
predictably
involve the
Gulf and the
blockade.
While Guterres
issues fewer
and fewer
read-outs,
will Qatar?
On February 1 when Guterres met
Guatemala's Foreign Minister
Sandra Erica Jovel Polanco,
there was a pre-meeting in
Guterres' office including,
Inner City Press witnessed, head
UN lawyer Miguel de Serpa
Soares. While Guterres gives
fewer and fewer read-out, and
even left his meeting with
Darfur genocide ICC indictee
Omar al Bashir last weekend
undisclosed until Inner City
Press asked about it, one
assumes on the agenda was the
stand-off with President Jimmy
Morales about the CICIG, see
August story here. But while
awaiting the Guatemala read-out
there is another question: when
did Guterres tell Miguel
de Serpa
Soares' OLA
about meeting
with indictee
Bashir, and
when did Miguel
de Serpa
Soares tell
the Office of
the ICC
prosecutor?
Inner City
Press has
asked the UN,
without
substantive
answer - just
as specific
detailed
questions to
Guterres, his
chief of
staff, deputy
and "Global
Communicator"
Alison Smale
have gone
entirely
unanswered.
(Inner City
Press checked
with Smale's
DPI just
before the
Guatemala
photo op).
We'll have
more on this.
The day before on January 31
when Guterres met his native
Portugal's Minister of Labour,
Solidarity and Social Security
José António Vieira da Silva, he
quickly ushered him into his
office, where he had been
laughing with his staffers
including Miguel Graca. José
António Vieira
da Silva
is linked to a Portuguese
inquiry into irregularities in
the payment and reimbursement
for travel; Guterres himself
often travels to Lisbon, not
disclosed by his spokesmen
unless Inner City Press asks,
and costs for example of
accompanying security
undisclosed. But while Correio
da Manhã reports on the
inquiry by the National
Anti-Corruption Unit into if
Rareissimas money was used for
the travel of Sónia Fertuzinhos
to Sweden, that publication is
not targeted by the Portuguese
government, much less required
to have minders. In Guterres'
UN, while Inner City Press
investigates the scandals of bribery
by Patrick Ho and CEFC China
Energy, rosewood signatures
by Guterres' Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed and diversion
of Kiswahili funds by Guterre's
"Global Communicator" alleged by
staff she is firing, Inner City
Press is confined ot minders and
cannot use its long time UN work
space, purportedly assigned to
an Egyptian state media which
has yet to ask a single question
and rarely comes in. It is not
known if Guterres wanted to be a
censor when he was Prime
Minister of Portugul. But atop
the UN, he seemingly happily
presides over censorship and the
targeting and restriction of
investigative Press. A petition,
here, was sent last week
to Guterres, Mohammed and Smale,
none of whom have as requested
confirmed receipt, much less
responded. Alamy photos here;
UN Photo was not present. We
note that Guterres over the
weekend met Darfur genocide
indictee Omar al Bashir and did
not disclose it until Inner City
Press asked,
has still refused to say if the
ICC Prosecutor was told in
advance, as required. Guterres
accepted a golden statue from
Cameroon's 35 year president in
October, and has yet to comment
on Biya's role in the
"refoulement" of 47 people from
Nigeria. We'll have more on
this. On January 30 when
Guterres formally accepted the
credentials of China's new
Permanent Representative Ma
Zhaoxu, he had
his Deputy
Amina J.
Mohammed with
him, and his
spokesman on
the way. In
the run-up,
Mohammed told
UN Political
Affairs
official
Miroslav Jenca
she'd seen
news of his
trip to
Lebanon and
gravely cited
economics.
She praised Ma
Zhhaoxu,
saying she'd
met him in
Geneva on
health. Then
Guterres joked
in the hall
about charging
$1000 dollars,
before
consenting to
the
credentials
ceremony,
Periscope
video here.
Alamy photos here.
The Press was
ushered out -
earlier,
Mohammed had
refused an
Inner City
Press question
about Cameroon
- and at the
elevator,
there was UN
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who
explicitly
refused to get
an answer from
Guterres about
legal
compliance.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on
January 22
when Guterres
met
Mali's Foreign Minister Tiéman
Hubert Coulibaly on January 22,
it was supposed to happen t 7
pm. But Guterres was still
talking in the ECOSOC chamber, a
meeting in advance of which
Inner City Press had tried to
ask him and his Deputy SG Amina
J. Mohammed a question at 3 pm.
Vine video here. They didn't
answer, and when Guterres
arrived past 7 pm on the 38th
floor, at first he forgot to do
the standard handshake (grip and
grin) with Coulibaly,
who has
replaced
Abdoulaye Diop
this year.
Alamy photo here;
Periscope
video here.
Then he told
Coulibaly that
his meeting in
ECOSOC was
supposed to
last two hours
but lasted
four, leaving
his program
knocked-over
(bouleverse).
Coulibaly did
a longer than
usual these
days entry in
the UN
visitors book,
then Inner
City Press,
the only
independent
media there,
was shepherded
out. Down on
the second
floor, Amina
J. Mohammed
and her
entourage were
heading up.
But still no
answer. Inner
City Press has
lodged a
formal request
with the
Department of
Public
Information -
or "Global
Communications"
as Alison
Smale called
it in the UN
Lobby at 6:20
pm - for an
end to
DPI/GC's
censorship and
restrictions
on the Press.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on January 19 when Guterres
met Jordan's Foreign Minister
Ayman H. Safadi, the meeting
began eight minutes before it
was scheduled. Inner City Press
has arrived early and was
screened by UN Security, which
asked, Is that camera on? While
not filming, it was on - which
alone allowed Inner City Press
to photograph the perfunctory
grip and grin handshake, photo here.
Afterward, since Guterres had
done the handshake without even
his own UN Photo staffer there,
Inner City Press was asked where
the Jordan mission can find the
photos. Well, here. It was
confirmed that on January 18, as
Inner City Press first reported,
Guterres held a dinner and
meeting, even negotiation, with
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov without putting it on his
UN public schedule, even
belatedly. Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric why and he called it a
"private dinner." Well, with
public funds, in the same UN
dining room where Guterres
complained to Gillian Tett of
the Financial Times about the
the fish and wine he was served.
This is today's UN. On January
18 when Guterres met new
Security Council member Kuwait's
Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah
Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, photo
here,
he had with him his chief of
staff and long time Middle East
hand, for the US and UN, Jeffrey
Feltman. Unlike at the just
prior photo op with South Korea,
for which Inner City Press was
the only media not a part of the
UN Department of Public
Information, for Kuwait there
were five cameramen, one of whom
recounted just flying to New
York from Kuwait via Paris, and
returning tomorrow via London.
Talk about climate change. In
Guterres' side dining room
plates for dinner were set up,
with name tags including the
Russian Ambassador Nebenzia -
the dinner presumably with and
for Foreign Minister Lavrov. But
it was not even listed on
Guterres' schedule. We'll have
more on this. Earlier, when
Guterres met South Korea's First
Vice Foreign Minister Lim
Sung-nam on
January 18, photo
here,
Periscope
video here,
accompanying
him was
Feltman, who
visited
Pyongyang last
year and, as
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported
yesterday, is
said by UN
staff to be
trying to set
up a similar
trip for
Guterres. Also
in on the meet
was the UN's
head of
disarmament,
Japan's Izumi
Nakamitsu.
Nuclear
weapons, you
might say,
were on the
table. But the
photo op was
fast and the
Press was
shepherded
out. Half
an hour earlier when Guterres
met Foreign Minister Erlan
Abdyldayev of the Kyrgyz
Republic a/k/a Kyrgyzstan, photo
here,
he was accompanied by one of his
rivals to have become SG, Natalia
Gherman.
Guterres put
her in charge
of the UN's
office for
Central Asia
and she's in
town, along
with the
region's
ministers, for
Kazakhstan's
back to back
Security
Council
meetings. (The
January 19
meeting about
Afghanistan,
it now seems,
will be
without the
Afghan foreign
minister).
Just outside
Guterres'
conference
room in a
large white
paper bag was
a gift from
Kazakhstan, in
a blue velvet
box. Will it
disappear
without
explanation
like the
golden statue
Guterres took
in October
from
Cameroon's
Paul
Biya?
Back on January 15 when Guterres
- without Natalia Gherman - met
Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz
Kamilov, he was instead
accompanied by the UN Department
of Political Affairs' Miroslav
Jenca, who used to head the UN's
office in Central Asia. The
affable Jenca, when boarding the
elevator on the 35th floor where
the "hot desking" (or
waste) at DPA was visible
(along with DPA's sometimes
Kenya official Roselyn Akombe),
joked You have more freedom than
I do and that he hoped his phone
would behave at this photo op.
Inner City Press quickly said
that no harm had been meant in
its previous reporting of a news
flash from Jenca's phone during
a photo op (though that report
might be behind Alison Smale's
Department of Public Information
issuing a Kafka-esque threat to
Inner City Press' accreditation,
here,
and keeping it out of its
office, with minders).
Press (UN) freedom, as we'll
cover in connection with another
visit later this week from the
region. After the very short
photo op, on the way out
Guterres' Fabrizio Hochschild
walked with Tony Banbury, who
did a review of the UN in Iraq,
completed in mid-November. And
now? We'll have more on all
this, including the seeming lack
of "hot desking" or imposition
of flexible workspace on
Guterres' 38th floor. Is it
another case of Do as I say, not
as I do? Earlier on January 15
when Guterres met Sigrid Kaag,
he joked before the Press was
ushered out that he could not
get used to her new role, as
Dutch minister, still seeing her
with the UN (from Lebanon to
Syria chemical weapons.) In
those UN roles, Kaag blocked
Inner City Press on Twitter.
Notably she stopped the blocking
as soon as she left the UN,
showing that the UN either
encourages or has fewer
disincentives to censorship than
the private sector. The
Netherlands is now on the
Security Council, but its
Permanent Representative was not
seen at Kaag's meeting with
Guterres. (He fairness, he is
just back from the Security
Council's weekend trip to
Afghanistan.) A minute before
his meeting with Kaag, Guterres
came in from his private dining
room. He had a listed 2 pm
meeting with Rodrigo Maia,
President, Brazilian Chamber of
Deputies, and after Kaag a 4 pm
meeting with Spyridon Flogaitis,
Director, European Public Law
Organization, both of them
Closed-Press. The latter was set
to be followed by Uzbekistan's
foreign minister Abdulaziz
Kamilov at 4:30 and then
Lebanon's post Judge Nawaf Salam
ambassador Amal Mudallali at 6
pm. Back on January 12 when
Guterres met with Norway's
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen
Søreide, it came the morning
after US President Donald
Trump's reported comments
contrasting Norway to "sh*thole"
countries. So Inner City Press
came to cover their meeting or
at least the photo op. On the
way, UN Security officers
repeatedly told Inner City Press
there would be a problem with
its practice of live-streaming
Periscope video, or more
specifically, audio. On the 37th
floor, Inner City Press pointed
out that UNTV runs audio. But
they're official, was the reply,
I'm only telling you what I've
been told to say. (Higher-ups
from the Department of Public
Information of Alison Smale have
issued Kafka-esque threats, here.) Still Inner
City Press was not stopped from
taking its microphone up to the
38th floor. The photo op began
almost immediately, Periscope
here, and Guterres after
shepherding Soreide from grin
and grin to sign-in book, sat at
his conference table and said,
"Thank you very much." It was
over. It was said that Soreide
would made remarks, perhaps
about Trump's comments but it
did not happen, at least in
Guterres' conference room.
Coming up as Inner City Press
was hurried out were Guterres'
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, and Guterres' adviser,
previously the French mission's
legal adviser, Tanguy Stehelin.
As of the time of the photo op,
the UN's only response had been
by lame-duck Human Rights
Commission Prince Zeid, who has
relatedly been quiet on the UN's
abuses in Haiti, and Nigeria's
abduction of leaders of Southern
Cameroons / Ambazonia. But
that's another story. Back on
December 18 when Guterres met
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert
Fico, he joked that Fico must
have stopped in to see the
President of the General
Assembly, fellow Slovak Miroslav
Lajcak. Less funny, but as yet
unacted on by Guterres, is the
November 20 indictment of
Senegal's former foreign
minister Cheikh Gadio, along
with Patrick Ho of China Energy
Fund Committee, in a case
alleging bribery of Lajcak's
predecessor as UN PGA Sam
Kutesa, as well as Chad's
Idriss Deby. Guterres has not
even initiated an audit in
response to this UN bribery
indictment. As to Fico, given
his recent statements on Libya,
one can only imagine what a read
out of his meeting with Guterres
would say. Guterres has stopped
issuing read-outs, another cut
back in transparency. On the way
up to the photo op, Inner City
Press witness several gift
distributors, from bottles of
liquor to envelopes, as well as
recently built partition walls
on the 30th floor being torn
down, in a classic example of UN
waste. (See Inner City Press
exclusive story, here.)
The UN under Guterres has become
even more corrupt, and less
transparent. Not only is the
investigative Press restricted,
more so than no show state media
like Egypt's Akhbar al Yom
(given Inner City Press' long
time office but not even present
for the day's vote on Egypt's
Jerusalem resolution) - on the
37th floor, UN Security made a
point of re-checking Inner City
Press' badge, then of closing
the door to the conference room
on 38 so that whoever was coming
out of Guterres' office could
not be seen. Who was it? Watch
this site. Back on November 9
when Guterres met Turkey's
PMBinali Yildirim, the Turkish
delegation brought their own
security officers to the photo
op. Periscope video here.
Guterres had finished a long
afternoon, calling Kenya's
Ambassador "sincerely unfair"
down in Conference Room 2, and
taking photos with UN Police
down in the basement. In between
he'd come up to meet Sri Lanka's
Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga, Chairperson of the
Office for National Unity and
Reconciliation a day after Inner
City Press asked about torture
by that country's army. Before
that, Jeffrey Feltman who has
played a role in the rift
between Guterres and Kenya was
in Guterres' office, then by the
elevators. Will there be a
memoir? After the Turkish photo
op, mixed results in the
International Court of Justice
voting. Lebanon's Nawaf Salam
won a seat, but India's Bhandari
and UK Greenwood will fight
another round on Monday. Only at
the UN. Back on November 7 when
Guterres met Argentina's
President Mauricio Macri on
November 7, Macri had come from
the site of the recent terrorist
attack on the West Side Highway
bike path. Guterres has just
returned from three days in
Lisbon, justified by a 15-minute
speech. In Guterres' team to
meet Macri was fellow Argentine
Virginia Gamba, previously on
Syria chemical weapons. Down in
the Security Council, her
successor Edmond Mulet was being
asked questions he didn't answer
(Inner City Press / Alamy photos
of Nikki Haley and Syria's
Ja'afari at the meeting, here.)
Somewhere on the 38th floor
Guterres' Deputy Amina Mohammed
was holding two meeting, while
her office (and Guterres'
spokespeople) never answered a
simple Press question for a copy
of a speech she gave at a
$25,000 a sponsor fundraiser.
Inner City Press, already
subject to a Kafka-esque
threat to accreditation by
Guterres' head of Global
Communications Alison Smale for
using Periscope during photo
op(s) on the 38th floor, was
surveilled as it prepared to
Periscope. Thus it missed what
others captured: Guterres'
personal back pad being put in
his chair, him walking by with
notes for the Macri meeting.
This is today's UN. On
November 3 Guterres
accepted the credentials of El
Salvador's new Ambassador Ruben
Armando Escalante Hasbun on
November 1, a successor to
Carlos Garcia who was exposed as
having helped money laundering
in the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe
UN bribery trial in July 2017.
Under Guterres, these practices
continue - in fact, Guterres has
become even less transparent.
For example, on November 3 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who
had just cut short Inner City
Press' questions about Guterres'
inaction on the killings by the
Cameroon government, these
questions: "is the Secretary
General having a one-on-one
lunch on 38th floor today? is it
with a journalist / editor? is
it on or off the record? why
isn't this lunch on the SG's
public schedule? is it with
Gillian Tett?" Dujarric's and
the UN's answer on this: "I have
nothing to say to the SG’s
schedule that’s not public." So
Guterres decides which meeting
are not public. Inner City Press
has asked: "On the lunch, the
question is WHY it is not
public. Can it be considered
"internal"?" Watch this site. On
October 31 Guterres met Human
Rights Council president Joaquin
Alexander Maza Martelli, saying
"Bienvenido" repeatedly before
ushering the Press to leave:
essentially, Adios. That's what
the Trump administration is
considering saying to the UN
Human Rights Council, now after
the election of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to the
Council. The UN Secretariat has
its own human rights problems.
Not only impunity for sexual
abuse by peacekeepers and
bringing cholera to Haiti, not
only praising and accepting gift
from human rights abusers like
Cameroon's Paul Biya, but also
for example disparate treatment
and retaliatory restrictions on
the investigative Press.
Guterres has not reversed this.
In fact, on October 20 his
Department of Public Information
under Alison Smale issued a
further threat to Inner City
Press' accreditation, citing an
undefined violation at a
stakeout just like that on
October 31. This threat comes
just as Inner City Press pursues
Team Gutereres inaction on the
killings in Cameroon. Guterres
met French foreign minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian on October
30, three days after he took an
award from Cameroon's
French-supported president Paul
Biya. Inner City Press came
early for the photo op but was
delayed, then hindered. . But
Inner City Press belatedly went,
and although DPI's Kafka-esque
theats made it suspend the
Periscope, it can report that
with Guterres were his pro-Biya
adviser Khassim Diagne, and
former French mission legal
adviser (an office in the orbit
of Beatrice Le Frapeur du
Hellen, Inner City Press scoop
here). Under DPI's censorship
orders, we'll wait to report
more, including on the push to
get the US to pay for the G5
Sahel force - except what was in
plain sight, Guterres' personal
back rest being installed in his
chair. Guterres met Spain's
Secretary of State Ildefonso
Castro López on October 16,
hours after Spain won a seat on
the UN Human Rights Council with
no mention of its crackdown in
Catalonia. Guterres has also
been scheduled to meet the
foreign minister of Togo Robert
Dussey just before, but that
meeting or at least photo op got
canceled, as did a stakeout by
Guterres that UNTV had been
setting up for in the morning.
As Inner City Press has
exclusively reported,
Guterres or his Global
Communications chief aim to make
this upcoming trip to Central
African Republic a litmus test
of how to present the UN in a
positive light - despite the
sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
We'll have covering, rather than
covering up, that. On October 12
Guterres belatedly swore in
three senior official on October
12: Vladimir Voronkov, USG for
Counter-Terrorism, Izumi
Nakamitsu, High Representative
for Disarmament, and Mark
Lowcock, Emergency Relief
Coordinator. Photos of each here.
Inner City Press arrived early
for the photo op, but found
itself in a long line with
tourists at the metal detectors
on 45th Street. Because it
covered UN bribery of John Ashe
and Ng Lap Seng, it was evicted
and now is slowed in entering,
confined to minders once in. But
up on the 38th floor the head of
UN Security greeted the incoming
trio, particularly the UN Relief
Chief. He was candid on Yemen;
Ms. Nakamitsu's
office only
sends out
information
selectively.
Jeffrey
Feltman was
not there,
apparently on
his way to
Myanmar. There
is still no non-interim Special
Adviser on Africa. We'll have
more on this. On October 9 Inner
City Press went to cover
Guterres' meeting with
Bangladesh's Finance Minister
Abul Maal Abdul Muhit. Present
for the meeting - the UN side,
notably, was all men, photo here
- was UN Elections. After being
quickly ushered out, in the
elevator down was Darrin Farrant
of the UN Department of Public
Information, who more than a
month ago when asked provide the
email address of his new boss,
Alison Smale. But petitions to
Smale about unjustifiable
restrictions on Press have gone
unanswered; some from Cameroon
have noted not only Smale
“inordinate” focus on her former
beat, Germany, on Catalonia, but
also her DPI's lawless
restrictions on the Press. She
was not present on October 12,
instead DPI was represented by
Maher "It's
all about you" Nasser, who
refused
to reverse his previous boss'
censorship when he was in
charge. On October 9 to stakeout
the General Assembly meeting
Inner City Press was required to
get a DPI escort, unlike other
no-show state media like Akhbar
al Yom which DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' office,
which sit empty. At the noon
briefing, Inner City Press asked
for a read out of the Bangladesh
meeting (four hours later, none
has been provided), and again
for a read out of the
Philippines meeting ten days
before on September 29. That day
at noon Guterres' spokesman,
when Inner City Press asked
whether there would be any
action on UN staff in Myanmar
describing retaliation by UN
Resident Coordinator Renata
Lok-Dessalien, said only that
Guterres stands behind
Lok-Dessalien. So much for
whistleblower protection. On
Cameroon, Guterres' belated
concern is not about killed
civilians, but "territorial
integrity." Then for a 2:45 pm
photo op of Guterres and
Philippines foreign minister
Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Inner
City Press arrived hte
prescribed half hour early. It
was screened and then told to
wait, even after 2:45 pm. When
it was allowed into the
conference room, the handshake
had already taken place.
Dujarric, seen on 37, had
earlier refused to answer Inner
City Press' questions about UN
Security surveillance camera(s)
over the UN media bullpen, or
safeguards on the use of the
footage. This is Guterres' UN.
After Guterres grip and grin
sessions on the UN's 27th floor
during UN General Assembly high
level week, his meetings and
photo ops on September 27 with
the foreign ministers of Eritrea
and Iran were back on the 38th
floor, with USg Jeff Feltman at
both meetings. Both countries
are subject to sanctions; Iran's
Javad Zarif was on his way to
speak at the Asia Society. He
entered jauntily.
But the UN is
getting more and more murky;
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric has refused to say how
NGO(s) purchasing an event in
the UN General Assembly Hall on
August 23 were vetted, even
after the Ng bribery verdict. On
August 18 Guterres said that the
UN's principles are those of
humanity; he made much of
Miroslv Jenca being from
Slovakia. Meanwhile his
spokesman wouldn't confirm that
Jenca's colleague Taye-Brook
Zerihoun is leaving, to be
replaced by Kenya's Monica Juma.
We'll have more on this. There
were: Gabon PR Michel Xavier
Biang, Lithuania PR Audra
Plepytë, Slovakia PR Michal
Mlynár, Slovenia PR Darja Bavdaž
Kuret, NZ PR Craig John Hawke,
Ireland PR Geraldine Byrne
Nason, PR, Ireland and
Francophonie PO Narjess Saidane.
On August 16 Guterres schmoozed
correspondents about Croatia and
his vacation; after a stakeout
in which he refused
to comment on the Ng Lap Seng
verdict, photos here,
he had a 4:30 pm photo op with
meeting with Serbian Foreign
Minister Ivica Dacic. Photos on
Alamy here;
Inner City Press Periscope here;
it was the only media there
other than a lone Serbian
cameraman. Guterres called Dacic
young and the latter replied
that he is 51. Then the press
was ushered out. Before Dacic
arrived, Guterres squired out a
duo who was not on his schedule.
As noted, a diplomat complained
Guterres is "just bringing in
people he knew in Geneva,
nothing new, no improvements."
On Press freedom, Inner City
Press must concur: it remains
restricted for covering now
convicted Ng Lap Seng's bribes;
the Egyptian state media the UN
is trying to give its office
wasn't even present for Egypt's
August 2 press conference, has
never asked a question. And on
transparency: the sources said
seven day, but when Inner City
Press asked Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric on
July 31, Dujarric said for two
week, Guterres will be "in
Europe." Periscope video here.
He is on leave, on vacation. On
August 1, Dujarric repeatedly
said the Secretary General
thinks this, feels that - and
Inner City Press asked, how do
you know? At briefings in
Washington reporters routinely
ask, did you speak with your
principle about X, Y or Z. But
the UN feels it doesn't have to
answer. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: in the answers
you were giving about the
Secretary-General believes this
on Venezuela, thinks this, can…
given what you have said
yesterday about his schedule, is
this based on, is this a DPA
statement, is it actually
something they run by him, how
does it work?
Spokesman: It works that
it comes out of my mouth.
That’s how it works. Next
question. Next question.
Yes, we will have more
questions. On July 31, Inner
City Press asked if there is any
press pool - no - and if
Dujarric will at least in the
future announce week-long
absences by Guterres in advance.
Dujarric did not say yes (he
did, however, repeat that claim
that the UN was the victim in
its corruption case, saying that
Yiping Zhou is gone. But what
about Navid Hanif, who went
to Macau? What about Meena
Sur, who helped
Ng? Both of them, and
others involved, are still in
the UN). This lack of
transparency stands in contrast
to the executive branch in
Washington and even New York
routinely disclosing travel
including vacation travel. But
the UN has no press protections
either - Guterres has been asked.
Meanwhile his spokespeople says
the UN should get paid for the
UNreformed corruption shown in
the Ng trial and verdict. We'll
have more on this. When UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on July 27 had a brief
meeting with Qatar's Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar
state media and other UN based
photographers went up. Alamy
photos here.
There were complaints how short
the handshake was; Inner City
Press noted that on the UN side
of the table were only four
people, all men, including
Jeffrey Feltman. Periscope video
here.
Guterres was scheduled to be at
another meeting in 25 minutes
time. So will the UN help solve
the stand-off in the Gulf? It
seems unlikely. The UN never
answered Inner City Press'
questions of if Feltman had
visited Saudi Arabia and if not,
why not. Back on July 19
Guterres.had a meeting and photo
op with Spain's Foreign Minister
Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo.
Inner City Press went to cover
it, Alamy photos here,
Periscope video here
including of whether Dastis
should write "una poema"
in the UN visitors' book. Inner
City Press barely arriving on
time due to the crowd of
tourists at the UN's visitors
entrance. It has been this way
since Spain's now-gone Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach had Inner City Press
evicted from and still
restricted at the UN after Inner
City Press asked
her about attending indicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng's South South Awards, and
allowing Ng fundees improper
events in the UN. Although
Guterres did not continue
Gallach's contract - she lobbied
to stay, but failed - her
negative impacts are still in
evidence. The Spanish Mission to
the UN, now off the Security
Council, likewise did nothing to
reign Gallach in. But surely
they are lobbying Guterres to
get another Under Secretary
General position, even as their
Fernando Arias Gonzalez runs
against six others to head the
Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons. We'll have
more on this. The day before on
July 18 Guterres had a meeting
and photo op with the Dominican
Republic's Foreign Minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado (Alamy
photos here,
Periscope video here);
it came one day after in the UN
bribery case against Ng Lap Seng
a video of then then-President
Leonel
Fernandez
Reyna visiting
South South
News near the
UN was
discussed.
That video is
here.
South South
News was a
bribery
conduit, its
funds used for
gambling by
Dominican
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Francis
Lorenzo in Las
Vegas and
Atlantic City
while the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
let SSN's
content into
UNTV archives
and let Ng
fundees have
impermissible
events in the
UN. On July
18, Guterres'
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
yes or no
questions
about South
South News and
the UN. After
the July 18
photo op,
Inner City
Press had
nowhere to
edit - for
seeking to
cover an event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room in
pursuing the
UN / SSN
corruption
story, Inner
City Press was
evicted and still
restricted.
And in the DR
there are
protests about
corruption. So
what did the
minister and
Guterres
discuss?
Haiti? These
days there are
no read-outs
at the UN.
On July 13 Guterres had a
meeting and photo op (Periscope
here)
with Estonia's President Kersti
Kaljulaid, listed in the
country's delegation was the
coordinator of its run for a
Security Council seat, Margus
Kolga, previously the country's
UN ambassador. Of the run, he
has said "there are very many
small nations. We are a small
nation which came out from under
occupation. We may serve as
example to them, that this is
possible and that a small nation
has another perspective on the
world which needs to be
represented at the council. Most
nations have spent far above the
million we intend to." At least
that is transparent. By
contrast, Guterres' UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric earlier on
July 13 refused
to answer Inner City
Press' questions about the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe (RIP) UN
bribery case, and even declined
to answer Inner City Press'
question about member states
asking (it)
whether Guterres will produce
any document on reform prior to
his July 22 retreat. So much for
We the Peoples. But hello in the
Security Council, it would seem,
Estonia. Dujarric has repeatedly
refused to provide a list of who
works on Guterres' 38th floor;
by eye Inner City Press noticed
former French Mission legal
adviser Tanguy Stehelin.
Seconded? Dujarric has not
answered. We'll have more on
this. On July 12 when Guterres
swore in six UN officials (some
of them simply being
re-shuffled), Inner City Press
went to cover it. While Guterres
swore in Olga Algayerova as
Executive Secretary of the UN
Economic Commission for Europe,
the mobile phone seemingly of
Miroslav Jenca went off with a
loud BBC news bulletin about
Donald Trump Jr and Russia.
Periscope video here.
Achim Steiner was installed as
head of the UN Development
Program, at the very time that
UNDP is losing control of the
Resident Coordinator system to
Gutteres' and Amina J.
Mohammed's Secretariat. More
seriously, when the Ng Lap Seng
/ John Ashe prosecution
continues in Federal court in
lower Manhattan, there are been
few reforms at the UN. There is
still a lack of transparency,
and business people buying their
way in a Ng did through the UN
Department of Public Information
under Cristina Gallach. As Inner
City Press covered it, Gallach
had Inner City Press evicted and
still restricted; the acting
head of DPI, Maher Nasser, has
done nothing to reverse it.
There is still no new Special
Adviser on Africa - Inner City
Press is told that an Angolan
turned it down - and the new
head of OCHA, Mark Lowcock,
doesn't start until September.
The UN must reform. Also sworn
in on July 12 were UN veteran
Jan Beagle,
Under-Secretary-General for
Management; able former Iraqi
Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim,
Executive Secretary of the UN
Economic and Social Commission
for Western Asia; Namvamanee
Ratna Patten,
Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General
on Sexual
Violence in
Conflict; JIM
veteran Virginia Gamba, as
Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children
and Armed Conflict (as Yemen was
the topic in the Security
Council.) On July 10 Guterres
has a photo op with Colombia's
Foreign Minister Maria Angela
Holguin Cuellar. It was supposed
to be in his office in UN
Headquarters at 4:30 pm. But on
little notice he moved it to his
- make that, the UN and the
public's - mansion on Sutton
Place and 57th Street, at 4 pm.
Inner City Press jumped on the
city bus up First Avenue,
broadcasting a Periscope video
about the change, when suddenly
it was urged
to stop broadcasting by a
board member of the UN
Correspondents Association,
which Guterres' deputy spoke
before last week and whose
former president Giampaolo
Pioli's Hampton's gratiuty-fest
the UN acting head of Public
Information Maher
Nasser attended, the UN
Censorship Alliance. This is
today's UN. Still, up on Sutton
Place UN Security brought up a
sniffing dog in a UN 4x4, and
two quick photos were allowed
before Guterres escorted Holguin
onto "his" elevator. Back
at the UN, the door to the UN
Security Council stakeout was
locked, and the turnstile where
targeting Inner City Press' ID
pass no longer works was guarded
by new UN Security who didn't
even recognize the UN minder.
Still, we got this
Periscope, despite UN censorship
which continues. Much later at
8:30 pm, Guterres' holdover
spokesman issued this.
Will there be reform?
On July 5 Guterres had as a
series of five credential photo
ops on July 5, Inner City Press
Periscoped all of them, with a
particular eye on Zambia and
Mauritania. Zambia's returning
Permanent Representative Lazarus
Kapambwe gave the greeting of
his president; one wondered if
in the ten minute closed door
meeting that followed the
continued lock-up of opposition
figure HH was raised. (Inner
City Press has repeatedly asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
about it, with only vague
generalities resulting).
Mauritania, Guterres called "un
pillier" (just as he ten minutes
later called Moldova a pillar) -
but did Western Sahara, on which
there has been no UN envoy for
some time, come up? Moldova's
past Permanent Representative
moved in the South South News
world of Ng Lap Seng, now on
trial for UN bribery, although
that may have been in his
"personal capacity." And last
was South Centre, which is
testifying this week to the
World Intellectual Property
Organization, whose director
Francis Gurry's retaliation and
patent work for North Korea
Guterres has apparently not
raised with him. Guterres was
slated to present reform plans
at 11 am, but in the Ecosoc
Chamber which evicted and
restricted Inner City Press is
required to seek a minder to
cover, unlike other less
interested media like Egypt's
state Akhbar al Yom. This is
today's - and now Guterres' -
UN. Inner City Press' Haiti
questions remain unanswered,
among with Cameroon, the Rif and
more. Guterres will hold a press
conference on June 20 - Inner
City Press asked his spokesman
to confirm all topics are on the
table. He said yes. We'll see.
Guterres swore in three new
officials on June 7, Inner City
Press went to the photo op
(photos here)
and small ceremony, which
included reclusive
head of UN Peacekeeping
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN's
head of Information Technology,
Atul Khare and Miroslav Jenca,
previously head of the UN's
office in Turkmenistan. It's to
there that Guterres tonight
takes off on his most recent
trip, amid crises in the Gulf
and elsewhere, UN failures in
Cameroon and Yemen, and
continuing Press censorship and
lack of reform. Guterres swore
in Ursula Mueller as Assistant
Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy
Emergency Relief Coordinator in
the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (she's
already been on the job for 100
days, she said); Fekitamoeloa
Katoa Utoikamanu on Tonga,
Under-Secretary-General and High
Representative for the Least
Developed Countries, Landlocked
Developing Countries and Small
Island Developing States; and
Alexander Zuev as Assistant
Secretary-General for Rule of
Law and Security Institutions.
With him, Guterres hearkened
back to his interview, and said
thank you in Russian. Periscope
video here.
As to the still unfilled
Department of Public Information
post vacated by corrupt
censor Cristina Gallach,
Inner City Press is informed of
interviewees currently based in
Paris and Geneva. It is not or
should not be a system run
without rules by the top person,
but rather one in which the
media have due process and
appeals rights, and retaliatory
action are reversed. Flier
here. Guterres will soon
by the flier: we'll be covering
it. The evening before on June 6
when Guterres did a photo
op (Periscope here) and
meeting with Gabon's Ali Bongo,
who along with his father Omar
have consecutively ruled Gabon
since 1967, it began a full 15
minutes late. Not because Bongo
was picking up another dubious
award on the sidelines of
the sometimes dubious Ocean
Conference (see
here), but because
Guterres had another, unlisted
visitor. It was, Inner City
Press saw, Saudi Arabia's
ambassador to the UN, presumably
about the standoff with Qatar.
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has repeatedly
said Guterres is not involved.
We'll have more on this. On
Bongo, he stayed upstairs for 45
minutes and then left with the
media he'd brought in, in a
caravan of vehicles with a
police escort. Periscope viewers
told Inner City Press Gabonese
were protesting Bongo, who they
call a killer, in front of the
Peninsula Hotel. Watch this
site. On June 5, Guterres met
with Fiji's Josaia Voreqe
Baininarama, there was a rare
attendee: Deputy Secretary
General Amina Mohammed. Perhaps
it was because Fiji is the
co-President, with Sweden, of
the Ocean Conference. Earlier on
June 5, Deputy Mohammed had been
listed as the briefer - and
presumably answerer - at a press
conference about a more than
1000 page UN book. But Mohammed
left; Inner City Press stayed
and asked a scientist who seemed
to say he'd been at a conference
in 1946 about fisheries
subsidies. Likewise, Baininarama left
the 1 pm stakeout in front of
the UN General Assembly before
he could be asked any questions.
This is also how Guterres did
it, speaking in the third person
about Cyprus, on Sunday evening.
It seems to be catching in his
UN. Back on May 30 when Guterres
met
with Romania's Foreign Minister
Teodor Melescanu, it was part of
Melescanu's campaign for his
country to win a two year term
on the UN Security Council, to
follow its six-month rotating
presidency of the European
Council in first half of 2019
(for which it is seeking a
bigger building in Brussels). Melescanu has most
recently, in Istanbul, defended
his country's delaying of
Turkish basketball player Enes
Kanter after he criticized Erdogan.
Melescanu
will
be in New York through June 3.
Guterres, after yet another trip
(this time for a G7
speech on Africa and
technology with no mention of
the Internet cut-off in
Cameroon), was back in New York,
NYU
earlier in the day, then with an
unscheduled or undisclosed
meeting with a Security Council
ambassador that ran past 7 pm.
In the meeting with Melescanu
were Tanguy Stehelin and
Fabrizio Hochschild, among
others. The UN's restrictions on
the Press, unlike on never
present Egyptian state media
Akhbar al Yom, continued. But on
the 38th floor there was
laughter. Last week Guterres met
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister
and was given an oil painting;
before that Guterres held a
meeting with his senior
management group since after a
two week trip he is in New York
for only three days, leaving
tomorrow. At the appointed time
for Azerbaijan, streaming out of
Guterres' conference room were
USg Jeff Feltman, Jean Pierre
Lacroix who declined
to answer Inner City
Press' question about France's
20+ year rule of UN
Peacekeeping, Oscar
Fernandez-Taranco, Fabrizio
Hochschild and others. Earlier
on May 24 Inner City Press asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric to "please
state if a David J Vennett is
now a/the principal advisor to
the SG, if so why he is not in
iSeek and how he was recruited
and hired and, again, please
provide a list of who works in /
or the Executive Office of the
Secretary General and whether
they are paid by the UN, by a UN
affiliate like UNOPS, or by a
country and is so which." There
was no answer. Dujarric
announced, "Tomorrow, the
Secretary-General will be
heading out of New York for
Italy to attend the G-7 meeting.
On Saturday, he will participate
in the outreach session of the
summit, which is taking place in
Taormina. The focus of the
discussion will be "Innovation
and Sustainable Development in
Africa." He will leave
Taormina Saturday afternoon."
Does it take from Thursday to
Saturday to get to Italy? Is
there a stop over on the way
back? What was in Guterres'
budget speech on May 24, a copy
of which Inner City Press requested?
Why was corrupt
censor Cristina Gallach
speaking in the General Assembly
Hall on May 24, and why has her
censorship continued, without
hearing or appeal? Back on May
22 when Guterres met
Slovenia's President Borut
Pahor, it was Guterres first
such meeting at UN Headquarters
in two weeks. In his first 141
days, Guterres is often on the
road, this time including London
and China and Geneva, maybe
Lisbon, while the promised
reforms at the UN are still not
easy to see. Pahor is running
for re-election and was to host
a reception later on May 22 for
Slovenia's 25th anniversary in
the UN, at the Intercontinental
Barclays. The country's
ambassadors at the UN and in
Washington are set to change,
the latter amid probably unfair
criticism that First Lady
Melania Trump's Slovenian roots
have led at last to Slovenia
distinguishing itself from
Slovakia (which is set to take
up the Presidency of the UN
General Assembly in September).
Guterres, too, needs to
distinguish himself from his
predecessor. On Yemen, holdover
envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
continues to oversee bombing and
now cholera, spun by holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric who
has also defended the UN's World
Intellectual Property
Organization's patent work for
sodium cyanide in North
Korea. On Press Freedom,
there are still no UN rules and
evictions
and restrictions remain in
place. Back on May 5 when
Guterres met with the Dominican
Republic's foreign minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado there
was an indicted elephant (not)
in the room: former Deputy
Permanent Representative of the
Dominican Republic to the UN
Francis Lorenzo, who has pleaded
guilty to bribery in the
UN through South
South News which he ran.
That case is moving toward
trial, but the UN has done
nothing in its wake - except
evict and still restrict Inner
City Press which covers that and
other corruption, including in
the January 2016 "incident"
the Department of Public
Information used and uses as a
pretext to confine Inner City
Press to minders. On May 5 the
Dominicans covering the photo op
were an energetic bunch, with
GoPro cameras taking photos out
the 38th floor windows that
Inner City Press was ordered not
to take. We asked: what issues
would Guterres raise? Would they
include next door Haiti, where
UN introduced cholera still
causes suffering? After the
meeting, the Dominican side
issued a read-out, the the UN
should do more concretely on
Haiti. So on May 9 Inner City
Press asked, UN transcript here,
Inner City Press: the
Secretary-General met with the
Foreign Minister of the
Dominican Republic on
Friday. And, since then
they’ve formally put out a
readout, and they’ve said that
they told… said that the UN
system should do more concretely
for Haiti, not just talk but
give money. And… and so I
guess I’m wondering, can you
give some UN side readout or
what…
Spokesman: I don’t have…
I don’t have a readout, but
I’ll see what I can get you.
But six
hours later when Guterr's
holdover spokesman Dujarric
left, no read-out had been
provided, none at all. We'll
stay on it. On May 3 when
Guterres did a photo op and
meeting with the "new"
Permanent Representative of
The Gambia on May 3, Guterres
welcomed him "as a democratic
country, we are proud to have
you in our ranks." Video here.
There was only one problem: it
was the same Ambassador who
had represented strongman
Jammeh, Mamadou Tangara. Inner
City Press had repeatedly asked
Guterres' also holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about Mamadou Tangara during
the time Jammeh tried to hang
on. Now Mamadou Tangara is
being feted as a
representative of democracy.
Did Guterres not know this? Or
was this quiet diplomacy? In
other photo ops on May 3,
World Press Freedom Day,
Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J
Mohammed came to attend the
one with new Nigeria rep
Tijjani Muhammad Band,
Periscope here,
but not Uganda's knowledgeable
Adonia Ayebare nor Seychelles'
Ronald Jean Jumeau. Back down
on the UN's second floor,
Inner City Press remains
confined to minders, even on
World Press Freedom day. We'll
have more on this. Back on
April 20, Guterres met
Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for
Foreign Trade and Development
Cooperation, Kingdom of the
Netherlands, on Guterres' side
of the table were four men and
one woman, Katrin Hett, who
asked one of the men who'd sat
next to Guterres to get up and
move. The previous evening as
Inner City Press rushed to
leave a Department of Public
Information event in the
General Assembly lobby before
the 7 pm censorship witching
hour imposed on it by DPI,
Inner City Press was told, in
a friendly way, to give more
positive coverage to Dutch
Sigrid Kaag, so the UN doesn't
remain a "patriarchy." It's a
good point, but Kaag like
failed Cameroon Resident
Coordinator (promoted by
Guterres) Najat Rochdi
probably shouldn't block
the press they don't like. On
April 20 on the 38th floor was
the Officer in Charge of DPI,
Maher Nasser, who has made no
substantive response to Inner
City Press' April 1 formal
request to end
the now 14 months of minders
and censorship for having
covered a meeting in the UN
Press Briefing Room in
connection with the Ng Lap
Seng / John Ashe UN
corruption case.
Guterres is 110 days in, and
what has changed? Not the
censorship and targeted
requirement of minders. On
April 18 when Guterres did photo
op and meeting with
Ukraine's deputy Foreign
Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya, his
close adviser Katrin Hett came
to tell the assembled staffers
they would not be needed, the
meeting would be held with
only four on each side in
Guterres' office overlooking
the East River and Queens.
Things are getting more and
more private: Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Duajrric
for example has twice refused
to answer Inner City Press if
as reported Guterres tried to
reach Cameroon's president of
decades Paul Biya, about the
cut off of the Internet there.
Others have noticed the rash
of German officials getting
jobs: Achim Steiner at UNDP
and prospectively Horst Kohler
on Western Sahara. But some
office on 38 now have blank
signs. Kyslytsya had just
given a right of reply in the
Security Council, about
Crimea. The mystery and
payback for Guterres getting
all of the Permanent Five
members of the Council on his
side to get elected has still
not be revealed. But earlier
on April 18, Inner City Press
which remains evicted from its
UN office and confined the UN
minders was told, by the
minders, that it cannot
even work at a table in the
UN lobby. This has been
raised, yes, to
the 38th floor. So they
know. There are no rules - a
topic, in another context,
that Kyslytsya raised
in the Security Council.
Back on April 10
when Guterres did a photo
op with the Club de
Madrid - World Leadership
Alliance including another
candidate for Secretary
General, Danilo Turk, it was
impossible not to wonder what
might have been. How might
other of the candidates fared?
What reforms, and reversal of
Ban Ki-moon mistakes from Yemen
and children and armed
conflict to censorship
might they have accomplished
or at least begun? The ex
heads of state barely fit into
the photo, Periscope video here, and
very little banter was heard
before the press was ushered
out. On the way in, Guterres
came amiably through the hall,
turning into the office of
Miguel Graca. But where is the
requested list of who works on
the 38th floor, and who pays
them? Is it true, as Inner
City Press has heard, that
Guterres has interviewed Achim
Steiner for UNDP? At the lower
profile Department of Public
Information, why hasn't the
Officer in Charge given any
substantive response to simple
requests before him, and
would any successor at least
have to commit to free press
due process rules? Why is the
holdover
spokesman allowed to refuse to answer the Press'
questions on Burundi, while engaging others about Sex and
the City? We'll have more on
this. After 100 days of
Antonio Guterres as UN
Secretary General, what has
been accomplished? Guterres
focused early on South Sudan,
but as Inner City Press reports
today on his 100th day,
the Salva Kiir forces are
using tanks near Wau while UN
Peacekeeping, still under
French control, says nothing
publicly. The Cyprus talks are
set to continue, but we've
heard that before. Yemen is as
bloody as ever, and Guterres
extended Ban Ki-moon's (or
Saudi Arabia's) envoy Ismail
Ould Cheikh Ahmed without even
getting him to make any
public financial disclosure.
Discrepancies
in Guterres own disclosure
filings between 2013 and 2016
have yet
to be explained by
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric. What has
changed? Not the Department of
Public Information's targeted
restrictions on Inner City
Press, able to cover meeting
on the UN's second floor only
with a minder, and sometimes
(as on the Rwanda genocide on
April 7) not
at all. Inner City Press
has filed a request
for reversal with DPI's
Officer in Charge, nine days
ago, with no substantive
response. New Inner City Press
song
here. We remain
constructive, eager to see
reforms occur and succeed. But
what has changed?
When
Guterres held a briefphoto
opportunity and meeting
with Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, it was
Guterres' first in a while,
after several rounds of
travel. And it was over
quickly: the media was told to
leave before a single word was
said. There were complaints
about that, and more
substantive complaints about a
lack of transparency. There
are no read-outs of meetings.
On April 5 Inner City Press
reported on inconsistencies
even in Guterres' own public
financial disclosures from
2016 and 2013 (his Yemen envoy
makes NO public disclosures).
On April 6 Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric declined
to offer any explanation
of the differences. As noted,
under Ban Ki-moon he had Inner
City Press thrown
out of the UN Press
Briefing Room and UN, where it
is still
restricted even as the
Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe UN
bribery case it was covering
is coming
to trial. Is the UN
reforming? Watch this site.
Back on
March 23 when Guterres met
UK Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson, unlike in other
recent meetings with the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
and Tajikistan,
there were women on Guterres'
side of the table (Periscope video here):
Katrin Hett and the Chief of
Staff, who had just met with
Alain Leroy, former head of
Peacekeeping now with the EU.
Also on Guterres' side of the
table was OCHA's Stephen
O'Brien, who greeted and was
greeted by Boris Johnson. Will
the UK, and separately
O'Brien, hold onto the OCHA
post? The emergence reported
by Inner City Press of
outgoing Dutch Labor Party
foreign minister Burt Koenders
as a candidate for UNDP, over
David Miliband, may help
O'Brien. But with budget cuts
looming, the increasing lack
of transparency in the UN
Secretariat's business is a
problem. And this: according
to at least one senior
official on the 38th floor on
March 23, Guterres "has no
interlocutor" in Washington,
to which we'll soon turn.
Watch this site.
As to
Boris Johnson, after four
pre-selected questions all on
the London attacks, Inner City
Press audibly asked about
Cameroon's Anglophone's
Internet cut, what the UK is
doing. We'll have more on this
too.
Back on March 15 when Guterres
met
with Bahrain's foreign
minister Shaikh Khalid Bin
Ahmed Al-Khalifa and a
delegation that appeared to
include that country's former
president of the General
Assembly, Guterres began by
apologizing for keeping them
waiting. Periscope video
here. His previous
appointment had been with a
delegation called "United
Cities and Local Governments."
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has met to
answer Inner City Press
clearly on why some meeting
and calls are not disclosed,
such as a call with the King
of Morocco
and a working lunch with
Michael Bloomberg, nor how
some media were handpicked
to memorialize Guterres' most
recent trip to Kenya and
Somalia. Video
here. If these happened,
as it has, in Washington there
would be an outcry. And
perhaps one is growing in
Turtle Bay.
Earlier on
March 15 in the UN's basement,
Bahrain human rights defender
Maryam Alkhawaja spoke. She
was not on the 38th floor;
Guterres' interlocutors at
Human Right Watch, after they
met with him, refused
to give any read-out of what
issues they raised. It seems
clear these did not include,
from the UN spokesman's
non-answers, that the cut-off
of the Internet by the
government in Cameroon's
Anglophone areas, now 57 days
and counting, nor the UN's censorship
and restriction
of the Press. We'll have more
on this.
On March
13, before the snow day in New
York, Guterres met another
Gulf foreign minister, United
Arab Emirates' Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
UAE Ambassador Lana Zaki
Nusseibeh asked of Guterres'
recent cultural moves in New
York City. After a pause,
Guterres cited art shows in
Chelsea and at the Frick. Not
mentioned at least at that
time was former UN official
Bernardino Leon, who
negotiated a job at the UAE
Diplomatic Academy while at
the same time representing the
UN in Libya, much less any
mention of Yemen. Will there
be a read out? There was no
read out of Guterres meeting
with Tanzania's foreign
minster Mahiga, about which
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric on March 13;
he also had no answer on Cameroon,
where the Anglophone areas
have had their Internet cut
off by the government for 56
days, almost contemporaneous
with Guterres' tenure of 72
days. We'll have more on this.
On March
10, Inner City Press was
blocked from covering a 38th
floor photo op others were
allowed to. No reasoning was
given, just as no
rule was cited when
Inner City Press was evicted
from the UN by the Department
of Public Information's Cristina
Gallach, and still remains
restricted to minders more
than a year later. Some
thought the era of a lawless
and censoring UN would be over
by now. When?
Back on
March 3, when Guterres met
with Gabon's FM Pacôme
Moubelet Boubeya on March 3,
it came before when the UN
called a two day trip by
Guterres to Kenya, from Sunday
to Thursday. Last Friday when
Inner City Press e-mailed
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric with the
simple question of where
Guterres was, Dujarric never
answered the e-mail.
When on Monday Inner City
Press asked in person in the
noon briefing, Dujarric said,
Portugal. And this time? Why
be murky?
That is
becoming a theme. Who is
working on the 38th floor? How
are they being paid? Inner
City Press asked and was
promised a chart, including a
list of who is "seconded" from
countries' mission. It has not
been provided. On March 3,
Dujarric who previously played
a role in Inner City Press'
eviction and continuing
restriction for covering the
Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case
refused to answer its last
question, saying "Tomorrow"
(which is Saturday) and "I'm
lazy." Video
here. And so it
goes.
Dujarric
told Inner City Press there
was no read-out of Guterres'
telephone call with Morocco's
King in the name of quiet
diplomacy. But why wasn't
Guterres' working lunch with
Michael Bloomberg put on his
schedule, as a meeting days
later with Gordon Brown was?
Both, Dujarric answered, are
still UN special advisers, as
apparently is Han Seoug-soo
despite being on the boards of
directors of UN bank Standard
Chartered and Doosan
Infracore, which sells
equipment to countries where
Han gives speeches as a UN
official.
Also this
week, Guterres' Deputy
Secretary General Amina
Mohammed arrived and within
two hours of being sworn in
did a four question stakeout.
Inner City Press asked
about the Green Bond of
Nigeria, and if she and
Guterres will work to make the
Security Council more
representative. UN reforms are
sorely needed. Is the pace
fast enough? Watch this site.
(Gabon was
at the UN on World Wildlife
Day. Inner City Press, still
restricted, was one of only
three media to ask questions
of CITES and Interpol, about
the illegal
trade of primates from
Guinea. The UN needs more
coverage, more access, not
less. This too much change.)
Back on February 21 when
Guterres met with Ukraine's
Foreign Minister Pavlo
Klimkin, Guterres joked that
having two UN flags and none
from Ukraine was "UN
chauvinism." Klimkin replied,
"It's the kind of chauvinism
we can tolerate. Otherwise..."
Periscope video here.
Earlier in
the day Guterres in the
Security Council expressed his
condolences at the death of
Russian Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin, saying he had been
flying back from Lisbon (and
Munich before that) when the
commander of the plane passed
a note that Churkin was dead.
Klimkin on the other hand
blocked draft a Presidential
Statement, and confirmed it at
a stakeout in which Inner City
Press asked if he would urge
Guterres to invoke Article 99
of the UN Charter more, to
raise issues.
While
Guterres has rightly scheduled
a press conference for
February 23 on South Sudan,
Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria,
those are on the Security
Council's agenda, the latter
in connection with Boko Haram.
The plight of the Rohingya in
Myanmar and Bangladesh, on the
other hand, is barely
mentioned by Council members.
Is this a test for Guterres?
On
transparency, too, Guterres
has opened the process for
finding new Under Secretaries
General of Management and
Public Information - the
departing one Cristina Gallach
evicted
Inner City Press from its
office which sits unused and restricts
it still, with no
hearing or appeal, for
covering the UN. That has yet
to be reversed, and it is
unclear if the USG position
for Humanitarian Affairs will
be opened to applications, as
UNDP has. Watch this site.
Back on
February 8 when Guterres held
a photo
opportunity and meeting
with Cote d'Ivoire Foreign
Minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh, on
the UN side of the table was
Tanguy Stehelin, until quite recently
the French Mission's legal
adviser.
That's how
it is in the UN, at least as
to Peacekeeping and former
French colonies. As Inner City
Press has exclusively
reported, now
"competing" to replace Herve
Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman
in a row atop UN Peacekeeping,
are Jean-Maurice Ripert, Jean
Pierre Lacroix and likely
winner Sylvie Bermann, now
Ambassador in London, previous
like Ladsous in Beijing. It's
the French Connection.
At this
photo op, after Amon-Tanoh's
long vistors' book signing, no
works were spoken until
Guterres' "merci." His
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, a
holdover from Ban Ki-moon and
Kofi Annan before that, has
stopped giving read-outs of
such meetings. His Office
called the end of day "lid"
with no reference to a
balance, and without answering
Inner City Press' question
from noon about Burundi. Yes,
it's the French Connection.
Still even
working from a small booth,
still evicted and restricted
by UN censor Cristina Gallach
after one year, for seeking to
cover an event in the UN Press
Briefing Room, Inner City
Press is hoping a more
transparent UN.
Back on February
3 the photo op with German
Foreign Minister Sigmar
Gabriel came less than an hour
after Guterres spokesman
declined to explain to Inner
City Press the lack of UN
read-outs of such meetings.
On
February 2, there was no
read-out of Guterres' long meeting
with Saudi Foreign Minister
Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir. Inner
City Press went to that and
was surprised to see that UN
Children and Armed Conflict
(CAAC) expert Leila Zerrougui
wasn't there.
When
Guterres' predecessor Ban
Ki-moon took the Saudi-led
Coalition off the CAAC annex
for killing children in Yemen,
it was said discussions would
continue about putting them
back on.
Then
Zerrougui told Inner City
Press she is leaving on March
31. Earlier on February 2
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' (and Ban's before
that) spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I understand from Leila
Zerrougui that she's leaving
31 March. And so I
wanted to ask you how this
impacts the supposed review of
putting the Saudi-led
Coalition back on that
list. Who's going to do
the review…?
Spokesman: The… the… the
office continues. The
mandate continues. And
there is a… an open vacancy on
the public website, but it
doesn't, it has, it doesn't
change the work of the office
or the mandate of that office.
Inner City Press: Will a
report be issued even if
there's not a person in place?
Spokesman: I think we
very much hope that a person
will be, will be in place by
then, and there's no reason to
think that the work of the
office and its mandate will
change.
At the
February 2 meeting, Zerrougui
was not there, but Dujarric
was, and Jeffrey Feltman whom
the Saudis greeted warmly and
one
of his team. Video
here.
Afterward
in the lobby after Jubeir
whispered to pro-Saudi media
Inner City Press asked quite
audibly if Children and Armed
Conflict and Yemen had come
up. There was no answer. Video
here. We'll have more on
this.
Sometimes
Guterres photo ops are more
illuminative, and on February
1 he answered
this Press question. On
February 3 he briefs the
Security Council on South
Sudan and Burundi and, we're
told, US immigration orders.
Then he meets Germany's
foreign minister Sigmar
Gabriel at 2:30 pm.
We'll be there.
On
February 1 Guterres had a photo
opportunity and meeting
with Igor Crnadak, Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Guterres said
the UN is worried by news of
the possibility of a
referendum. Periscope
video here, from Minute
2:51.
Before
that, Inner City Press was
ordered by UN Security to stop
or suspend its Periscope
broadcast, which it had begun
one minute before the meeting
time at 3:35. Periscope
here, 0:50, abruptly
cut-off.
Earlier on
February 1, Guterres to his
credit stopped and answered
Inner City Press' question on
if he plans to hire Louise
Arbour as migration adviser.
He said he'll first take the
proposal the UN's Advisory
Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions.
UN
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on January 31
declined to answer Inner City
Press' related questions
including if French Mission
legal adviser Tanguy Stehelin
is working in Guterres'
office.
On February 1,
Stehelin was one of Guterres'
team at the conference
table. Does he still
work at the French mission?
He's still listed there. We'll
have more on this:
transparency will help the UN.
On January 25 with French
Minister for Development and
Francophonie Jean-Marie Le
Guen, this latter said, "It's
almost a historic day." Periscope
video here, Tweeted
photo here.
Some
wondered if Le Guen might be
referred to the news the new
Administration in Washington
is considering a 40% cut in
its contributions to the UN,
with full cuts to parts of the
UN system accused of violating
human rights.
Thus far
Guterres has yet to hold a
press conference in UN
Headquarters, so it has not
been possible to ask him about
the cuts, or the seemingly
slow pace of transition and
reform so far.
Dubious Under
Secretaries General like
Frenchman Herve
Ladsous at Peacekeeping
and Spain's Cristina
Gallach for "Public
Information" remain in
place; deputy SG Amina
Mohammed will not begin until
at earliest March 2.
Still the
talk on the 38th floor was of
a new energy, of meetings well
into the evening, with
Guterres and his chief of
staff and others.
Inner City
Press intends to report in as
much detail as it can -- it is
still constrained
by Gallach's eviction
and pass-reduction order from
eleven months ago -- but on
January 25 the photo op was
send, by a "sign," before
Guterres said anything beyond
"Comment allez-vous."
Back on January
13 when Guterres met with
President Rafael Correa of
Ecuador, the new chair of the
Group of 77 and China, Correa
gave him a painting. Photo
here;Tweeted
video here. Then,
without words, the Press was
ushered off the 38th floor.
This differed
from Guterres' first four days
in office, when he invited the
press back in and urged his
counterparties to also speak
to “your media.”
While
Inner City Press has
exclusively reported this week
on Guterres-proposed changes,
such as combining the UN's
Rule of Law and Elections
units, UN holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has refused
to confirm or explain,
describing only "co-location."
But when
Inner City Press on January 13
asked for further information,
such as how many staff in UN
headquarters work on Mali,
there was no response.
We'll have more
on this - and on Dujarric's
continuig refusal to answer
UN-specified questions about
the January 10 unsealed
indictment of just-left
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's brother and nephew,
who was allowed to work at the
UN's landlord Colliers
International.
All of Inner City
Press' questions, including
about the UN's Office of
Internal Oversight Services,
were referred to Ban's
Seoul-based spokesman at a
phone number that is only a
telephone menu tree all in
Korean.
Guterres
held his second
and third photo
opportunities and
meetings as UN
Secretary General
on January 6, with
Japan's Deputy
Minister for
Foreign Affairs
Shinsuke Sugiyama
(Photos
here, Periscope
here) and
Greek Foreign
Minister Nikos
Kotzias (photos
here, Periscope
here.)
Slightly late to the first
meeting, Guterres cited the need
to prepare for the Astana
(Syria) and Paris (Palestine)
conferences.
Guterres
to his credit made a point of
saying a bit, in public, before
each meeting. With the Japanese
delegation he joked about a
dinner where at least “no one
vetoed the dessert” -- yet --
and with the Greeks, he joked
that their gifts, a book and
music CDs and a box, were too
heavy.
In this Guterres differed from
Ban Ki-moon, but not earlier in
the day when led around to take
selfies with the correspondents
the UN has not, like Inner City
Press, evicted from their
offices for covering UN
corruption, like the Ng Lap Seng
/ John Ashe bribery case. Video
here,story
here.
The Greek meeting followed one
on January 6 with Turkey's
Foreign Minister Mevlüt
Çavusoglu. Photo
here; video
here.
Beyond the pleasantries - and
there were more of these than in
the final days of Ban Ki-moon's
tenure - it was noteworthy
that along with the UN's Cyprus
envoy Espen Barth Eide, Ban's
Under Secretaries General
Feltman, Ladsous and O'Brien
were all there. The "P3 men,"
some call them. Would they be
switched not only for gender,
but nation? By year's end,
Feltman was still in; both
Ladsous and O'Brien had been
switched out, for men from
France and the UK... At
Guterres' UN it's always do as I
say, not as I do....
***
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