On Sri
Lanka, UN Bans
Answers to Qs,
Hosted by
Kohona's
Ex-Landlord,
No Q&A
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 5 --
Ban Ki-moon's
tenure as UN
Secretary
General became
embroiled in
one scandal
after another
in 2015 -- but
at his
“year-end”
press
conference he
refused to
answer a Press
question
directly on
it. Video
here and
embedded
below. Vine
here.
And on
January 4,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman a
basic follow
up question
about Sri
Lanka, which
the UN has
declined to
answer. From
the transcript,
video here:
Inner City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you something
on Sri Lanka,
which is that,
in the last
couple of
days, the
President
[Maithripala]
Sirisena has
said that
there's no
requirement of
a special
court for
events in
later stages
of the
conflict and
also has
announced some
parcels of
land to people
in the north,
but there
seems to be a
demand by the
Tamil National
Alliance that
the military
disoccupy
land, that…
private land
that it
continues to
be in.
What's the
UN's response
to that?
What's the
UN's, I guess,
involvement,
including
through the
peacebuilding
commissioner
and any other
way…
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
I'll have to
check… [cross
talk] I don't
have an
update.
I'll check.
UNCA
head Giampaolo
Pioli, who
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN
for accurately
reporting that
Pioli had
accepted rent
money from
Palitha
Kohona, Sri
Lanka's
ambassador,
then gave a
"UN screening"
on a war
crimes denial
film in the
Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium,
has issued
this, only to
those who pay
UNCA money,
leaked by a
disgusted UNCA
member:
"Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon
would like to
meet with UNCA
members and
all UN
correspondents
for the New
Year's visit
this
Wednesday, Jan
6th, 2016 from
10:35 to 10:50
am in the UNCA
room. It will
be an
opportunity
for him to say
a few words to
all of our
colleagues and
to exchange
his best
wishes. There
will not be a
Q&A
session but as
in every year
it is a great
occasion to be
together.
Please
attend."
Well,
no. Providing
a rah-rah
session with
no Q&A is
pathetic. And,
"all
correspondents"
will not enter
the UN
Corruption
Association,
which charges
money for
access to Ban.
But there are
questions,
including on
Sri Lanka.
We'll have
more on this.
Beyond
the
indictments of
the former
President of
the UN General
Assembly John
Ashe, Ng Lap
Seng, Sherri
Yang and
others, on
December 31
Inner City
Press asked
four of Ban's
spokespeople
questions
including:
"Regarding the
report on the
sexual abuse
in CAR and how
the UN handled
it, please
state the
identity of
the senior
officer in the
Executive
Office of the
Secretary
General do
which a
section of the
report is
devoted, or
explain why
your Office
will not
provide the
name, in terms
of
accountability.
"Please
confirm or
deny that
Andrew Gilmour
is seeking
employment
outside of the
EOSG, and
provide the
SG's view of
its senior
official
leaving or
seeking to
leave before
he does."
Ban's
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq,
while leaving
Inner City
Press
questions on
Burundi and
South Sudan
entirely
UNaddressed,
sent this:
From: Farhan
Haq [at]
un.org
Date: Thu, Dec
31, 2015 at
12:11 PM
Subject: Press
Qs in lieu of
a UN noon
briefing:
Burundi, S.
Sudan, Haiti,
EOSG, still SG
travel, UNOG,
Ohio, Ethiopia
/ free press;
still Jordan,
UNHQ, UN
scandals /
reforms,
Yemen; thanks
in advance
To: Matthew
Lee [at]
InnerCityPress.com
Cc: Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org, FUNCA
[at] funca.org
"Regarding
accountability
and the CAR
report, the
panel put out
the
information it
chose to
provide and we
have made
available the
entire report,
without any
redactions.
Follow-up
action is
being studied
at present.
"We have no
comment on
staff
movements.
Staff are free
to seek
employment
opportunities."
This
last would
appear to
apply to yet
another UN
scandal in
2015: envoy to
Libya
Bernardino
Leon
negotiating a
cushy job with
the United
Arab Emirates
while
purporting to
represent the
UN on Libya.
With
Ban off on a
"private"
visit to
Vienna,
tweeted by the
UN Office
there, the UN
has yet to
answer Inner
City Press'
simple
question about
the cost(s):
"With regard
to the
Secretary
General's
current trip
to Vienna,
tweeted by the
UN there, for
purposes of
transparency
including in
light of the
indictment of
ex-UNPGA John
Ashe and the
new PGA's
disclosures,
what are the
costs to the
UN budget, and
what are the
other costs
and who is
paying them?"
Ban's envoy to
Libya Bernardino
Leon was
exposed by
leaks as
having taken
instructions
and then a job
from the
United Arab
Emirates.
And Ban's head
of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve
Ladsous,
is listed in
UN Dispute
Tribunal
documents as
having tried
to cover up
child rapes in
Central
African
Republic by
peacekeepers
from his
native France.
Inner
City Press,
which Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric did
not call on
despite
calling two
separate times
on the same UN
Correspondents
Association
scribe, asked
audibly, “Do
you have any
update on the
John Ashe
indictment?
Bernardino
Leon? These
were major
developments
this year.” Vine here.
But Ban
refused to
answer the
question. He
walked out of
the briefing
room, shaking
hands scribes.
The press
conference
began with
Dujarric
setting aside
the first
question for
the head of
UNCA, who
thanked Ban
for attending
an event on
Wall Street for
which UNCA
charged $6,000
to sit with
Ban. This
is the UN
Corruption
Association.
A
question on or
to cover up
the sexual
abuse scandal
was arranged,
with Agence
France Presse
congratulating
Ban for this
response to
the sexual
abuse scandal.
(Senegalese
Babacar Gaye
was urged to
resign,
Ladsous who on
camera linked
the rapes to
“R&R," video here, remains in
place.)
Ban read out a
wan answer on
Burundi;
his deputy
spokeperson
refused an
Inner City
Press question
on Burundi at
the previous
day's noon
briefing.
We'll have
more on this.
Ban once
promised
monthly press
conference but
his last one
was three
months before,
then nine
months before
that. On
September 16
with the UN
being less
than
successful in
mediating in Yemen
and Libya,
Syria and
South Sudan,
accused of
rapes in
Central
African
Republic and
killing 8,000
in Haiti with
cholera (after
40,000 died in
Sri
Lanka with
little
response from
the UN),
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
asked, What is
your legacy?
Dujarric
himself cut
off Inner City
Press
questions on
what Ladsous
said, and
declined to
answer on
Reddit in an
“Ask Me
Anything.” (He
didn't say
he's ANSWER
everything,
one wag
pointed out.)
But
even beyond
the scandals,
Ban did not in
his opening
statement
mention
Somalia, or
CAR, or
Darfur; none
of the
questions
selected by
Dujarric was
about Africa.
(One wire
points out
Africa was
part of a
UN-at-70
question;
noted.)
Inner City
Press also
tried to ask
about Burundi
-- nothing -
and South
Sudan, on
which we are
preparing a
story.
It was
Voice of
America with
the “What is
your legacy”
question. Ban
said he'd
answer next
year. Inner
City Press
might answer
sooner. Watch
this site. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
