Day
After ICP
Asked UN of
Sudan Ouster,
Reuters Runs
Answer With No
Credit
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow Up on
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 25, more
here --
Amid charges
that the UN in
Sudan,
including
Herve Ladsous'
UN
Peacekeeping
in Darfur, has
colluded with
the
authorities in
Khartoum to
cover up rapes
and killing,
now the UN's
Resident
Coordinator
Ali Al Za'tari
has been
ordered to
leave Sudan by
January 2,
Inner City
Press first
reported
earlier today.
On December
24, Inner City
Press
similarly exclusively
reported
and then asked
UN Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
UNDP Country
Director
Yvonne Helle
being ordered
out of Sudan,
citing her and
Al-Za'tari's
e-mails. Video
here.
A full day
after that,
Reuters
reported on
Helle's ouster
-- typically,
for Reuters, with
no credit
to the Press'
prior
exclusive
story.
(Reuters' UN
bureau chief
has said he
has a policy
of not
crediting
Inner City
Press'
exclusive, and
has gone to
far as to
censor,
Sudan-style,
his "for the
record"
anti-Press
complains to
the UN, click
here for that,
via EFF's
ChillingEffect.org).
Now,
after UN
Spokesman
Dujarric issued
two statements
on the
afternoon and
evening
of December 25
responsive to
the question
Inner City
Press asked at
the December
24 noon
briefing,
Reuters has
run a piece
with no fewer
than eight journalists
listed, and of
course no credit.
This is policy,
untransparenty
(when Inner
City Press
asked top
Reuters brass
including Stephen
J. Adler for
Reuters policy
on crediting,
none was
provided.)
But
eight
journalists?
The
above-referenced
Reuters UN
bureau chief,
it must be
noted, under
his own byline
sought to
exonerate
Ladsous,
reporting
without
context
complaints
made to
Ladsous about
another UN
staff member,
without
mentioning
Ladsous' own
role in
covering up
rapes in the
DR Congo and
now Darfur.
Reuters has
not reported
the complaints
against
Ladsous, even
as a Permanent
Three mission
on the
Security
Council has
confirmed to
Inner City
Press its
receipt of the
letter.
On December
24, Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
Sudan
having just
similarly
"PNG-ed"
or declared
persona
non-grata the
Sudan Country
Director of
the UN
Development
Program Yvonne
Helle, with
Za'tari barely
pushing back
against the
government.
Dujarric said
that host
countries'
ordered to PNG
a UN staff
member are
treated
seriously and
should be sent
to, and
considered and
acted on by,
Ban's
Secretariat in
New York. But
Dujarric in
the 18 hours
after Inner
City Press
asked about
Helle has not
returned with
any
information or
answer. Then
Reuters
published its
story, with no
credit.
On the
Christmas
holiday in New
York and with
UN
Headquarters
and the UN
Security
Council
closed,
Za'tari has
sent out this
e-mail, which
Inner City
Press obtained
and published
here:
From:
Ali Al-Za'tari
[at] undp.org
Date: December
25, 2014 at
12:55:04 PM
GMT+3
To: UNCT1
Sudan, UNCT2
Sudan, UNCT3
Sudan, UNDP
Sudan
Subject: I am
Leaving
Dear
all,
I regret to
inform you
that the
government had
requested me
today to leave
Sudan. I will
do so on 2
January. Best.
ali
ali al-za'tari
UN RC/HC
UNDP RR
Khartoum -
SUDAN
UNCT is the UN
Country Team,
which as RC
(Resident
Coordinatory)
Za'tari is or
has been in
charge of.
Sudan PNG-ing
even Za'tari,
who has been
so
accommodating,
leads Inner
City Press'
sources in
Sudan to
surmise that
the government
of
International
Criminal Court
indictee Omar
al Bashir is
"just going
for it," after
having told UN
Peacekeeping
to start
preparing to
leave.
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous has
helped cover
up rapes in
Darfur;
Ladsous met
with Bashir
without ever
explaining or
answering
Press
questions why.
Now what will
Ban and
Ladsous, who 123
non-government
organizations
and Sudan
experts have
asked Ban to
fire, do?
What will the
UN Security
Council, of
which a
Permanent
Member has
confirmed to
Inner City
Press having
received the
"fire Ladsous"
letter from
the NGOs, do?
Watch this
site.
On
December 24
Yvonne Helle
said, in an
e-mail
obtained by
Inner City
Press, "The
Government of
Sudan has
informed Ali
[Al-Za'tari]
that I am no
longer welcome
in Sudan and
have been
asked to leave
by Monday. You
can imagine
the state of
shock I am
in... As you
all know, I
loved working
and living in
Sudan. Given
the timing it
will be
impossible to
say goodbye to
alll of you in
person, so
herewith my
heartfelt
goodbye to you
in writing."
Ali Al-Za'tari
is the UN's
"Resident
Coordinator"
in Sudan;
whistleblowers
tell Inner
City Press he
has "simply
accepted this
as usual... It
will become a
regular thing
as long as he
is so
concerned to
please
internal
security
instead of
standing up
for the
Sudanese
people."
An hour after
Yvonne Helle's
message,
Al-Za'tari
wrote, "As you
have read in
Yvonne's
message, a
government
decision was
made and
formally
delivered
regarding
Yvonne's stay
in Sudan... I
will miss
Yvonne as a
leader of
thought and
creativity."
It is not only
UNDP that
gives in so
easily to the
authorities in
Khartoum.
Amid the cover
up of rapes in
Darfur by UN
Peacekeeping,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
met with
Sudan's
International
Criminal Court
- indicted
president Omar
al Bashir
without ever
explaining
why, 123
non-governmental
organizations
and human
rights experts
and activists
have called
for Ladsous to
be fired. Ladsous video here, Vine
here.
Inner City
Press has
obtained the
letter and
published it.
The
above-referenced
Reuters UN
bureau chief,
it must be
noted, under
his own byline
sought to
exonerate
Ladsous,
reporting
without
context
complaints
made to
Ladsous about
another UN
staff member,
without
mentioning
Ladsous' own
role in
covering up
rapes in the
DR Congo and
now Darfur.
Reuters has
not reported
the complaints
against
Ladsous, even
as a Permanent
Three mission
on the
Security
Council has
confirmed to
Inner City
Press its
receipt of the
letter.
At the UN's
December 22
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to
confirm
receiving and
then provide
responsive
comment on the
letter. Video
here,
including
sample Ladsous
"walk away" on
April 23, 2014
about his
cover up in
South Sudan.
This follows
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon taking
no questions
about Darfur
or Sudan
during his
December 17
press
conference (at
which, as
noted by the Free UN Coalition for Access, Ban seemed
to have the
content of
questions in
advance.)
Nor did Ban
answer Inner
City Press'
request for an
update at the
Darfur rapes
at the end of
his December
22 media
stake-out.
The letter is
copied to the
presidents /
prime
minister,
foreign
ministers and
UN ambassadors
of the US, UK
and France.
How will they
respond,
particularly
France which
installed
Ladsous atop
UN
Peacekeeping
after their
first
selection,
Jerome
Bonnafont, was
rejected at
the last
minute by the
UN? And how
might this new
outspokenness
of NGOs impact
attempts to
install Andrew
Lansley atop
the UN Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs?
The letter
says, "The
result has
been a vastly
expensive and
discredited UN
mission, led
by Herve
Ladsous, who
consistently
and
deliberately
diminishes the
scale of the
conflict in
Darfur,
thereby
enabling
Khartoum’s
crimes to
flourish,
whilst the
international
community
congratulates
itself on
improved
circumstances
in Darfur."
The letter's
final
paragraph
begins, "At the
very least
Herve Ladsous
should not
continue his
role at the UN
DPKO."
Watch this
site.
, 
