By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 13
-- In an abruptly
closed lecture
by UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to the
Women's
International
Forum on
Friday
morning, Ban
said the UN's
forthcoming
report on
Syria will be
"overwhelming"
and will show
that chemical
weapons were
used, that
Assad has
committed many
crimes against
humanity and
will face
accountability.
UN
Video here,
from Minute
34:35.
"I
can't say this
publicly," Ban
said, until I
get the
report.
But he
DID say it,
putting the
bragging about
the report by
French foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
and UK
officials in a
new light.
Ban's
lecture to WIF
was listed in
the day's UN
Media Alert,
but when Inner
City Press
went to cover
it, the sign
said "closed."
On behalf of
the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access @FUNCA_info, Inner City Press
asked
for
an explanation
from the UN
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit and its
boss, Stephane
Dujarric. But
no explanation
came.
A UN
Television
staffer,
however, told
Inner City
Press to look
for the event
on in-house UN
EZTV, under
Conference
Room 2. And
there it was,
with Ban
saying things
about Syria
using chemical
weapons that
even he said
"I can't say
publicly." But
he did say it.
And now the
leaks become
clearer.
The
day before on
September 12,
Ban's
associate
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
refused to
confirm these
when Inner
City Press asked
at noon:
Inner
City Press:
not just Mr.
Araud, but
Laurent Fabius
said openly
that the
report should
come out
Monday and
that it will
implicate Mr.
[Bashar
al]-Assad. And
then Mr. Araud
said that
France, I
don’t know if
it was him,
was told this
by the
Secretary-General
last night. So
I am asking,
what I
e-mailed you,
he is a
Permanent
Representative
for France;
what does that
mean? Are you
saying it’s
not true?
Associate
Spokesperson
Haq: I don’t
know what
precisely he
has said. What
I can say is
that the
Secretary-General
has not
received the
report thus
far. We will
let you know
once the
report has
been received.
But I cannot
confirm what
day that will
be.
Inner
City Press:
Did he speak
to France last
night, as Mr.
Araud said?
Associate
Spokesperson:
He has been in
touch with a
wide number of
Member States…
Inner
City Press:
Did he speak
to Russia?
Associate
Spokesperson:
He has been in
touch with a
wide number of
Member States
over the
previous days
about the
crisis in
Syria, a wide
number of
Member States,
but in any
case, the
report has not
been received.
Later
in the
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
more formally,
in the spirit
of the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
for
disclosure:
Inner
City Press:
Because France
has said that
it heard from
the
Secretary-General
on the topic
of the report,
I would like
to make a
request that
you at least
disclose
whether Ban
Ki-moon talked
to all five
members of the
permanent
five. So I
just, that’s a
request.
Associate
Spokesperson:
He has been
speaking
sporadically
in recent days
with all of
the five
members, of
the five
permanent
members.
Inner
City Press:
But it’s
pretty
important.
Given what Mr.
Fabius said,
it’s pretty
important, I’m
just making
that request.
Now
with UK
officials
claiming even
more detailed
knowledge of
the report, it
becomes even
more
important. The
UK and France,
ostensibly
such fans of
the UN (if
only because
their Security
Council veto
rights magnify
their power)
are in fact
shredding its
credibility or
its claimed
impartiality.
The UN
Secretariat
has done this
itself, too --
given that
this UN issued
a report
exonerating
itself for
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, and
clings to that
even after the
scientists who
delivered the
false report
now disclaim
it, why should
the UN's
report on
chemical
weapons be
treated as a
sacred cow?
A
Nordic
Ambassador on
Thursday night
argued to
Inner City
Press that
Sellstrom is a
good man.
Fine. But if
it's not him
leaking, is it
Ban? Araud
said the
Secretary
General told
France. Watch
this site.
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