As de
Mistura Starts
Syria Stress
Test, ICP Asks
Him of Yemen,
Criticism
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
24 -- When the
UN's Syria
envoy Staffan
de Mistura
came to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout on
April 24,
Inner City
Press asked
him if the Saudi-led
airstrikes on
Yemen changed
any of the
dynamics on
Syria.
In reply, de
Mistura told
Inner City
Press that "everything
in the region
these days is
connected." He
added that he
is focused on
Syria.
Inner
City Press
also asked de
Mistura about
criticism made
by his former
adviser Mouin
Rabbani on
Qatar's Al
Jazeera TV,
that Mistura
is out of his
depth and not
up for the task.
De
Mistura
replied, I will
not respond,
you would do
the same, if
one of your
ex-colleagues...
Inner City
Press asked
the question
because it
hadn't been
asked,
tellingly.
Dina
Kawar said
Mistura
“mentioned
what he will
do next month
in Geneva,
holding
separate
meetings with
the Syrian
parties,
representatives
of the civil
society and
regional and
international
actors. He
will provide
his assessment
to the
Secretary
General and
keep the
Security
Council
informed,”
Kawar said,
taking no
questions.
Staffan de
Mistura
emerged,
saying he
would take two
or three
questions. He
said, “the
only way is to
test, a stress
test,” a
phrase like
his previous
“freeze.” He
said, “by end
of June we
should be in
the position
to reassess
whether any
convergence on
substance and
report to the
Secretary
General.”
De Mistura
said, “This is
not Geneva
Three, this is
a series of
consultation,
one to one. We
can convene
and ask
everyone to
come and not
exclude
anyone.. Iran
is a member
country of the
UN, it is a
major play in
the region, it
has influence
in Syria. The
UN has the
right, and
will be
inviting
everyone.”
Unlike
Montreux, it
was observed
by... one wag.
Back on April
16, that the
Syrian
chemical
weapons victim
and doctor who
briefed the UN
Security
Council did so
behind closed
doors, with no
UN Television
coverage, was
a product of
the Council's
rules.
It was an
“Arria
formula”
meeting, which
was not be
listed in the
UN Journal or
even on the
blue
electronic
signs outside
it. (The sign
said the
meeting was
about
"nutrition.")
Afterward
chemical
weapons victim
Qusai Zakarya
took some
questions in
the hall,
before again
going behind
closed doors
of the UN
Censorship
Alliance, see
below.
Inner City
Press in this
public space
asked Qusai
Zakarya what
he thought of
UN envoy on
Syria Staffan
de Mistura.
Qusai
Zakarya said
replied to
Inner City
Press, "I
think Staffan
de Mistura is
a hypocrite. I
think his very
disgusting
attempt to
shine up the
image of the
regime is
exposed to the
Syrian poeple
and to a nlot
of members of
the
international
community. His
offer on
freezes was a
joke. If he
really cared
about saving
lives he would
have convinced
the regime to
stop using its
fire power. We
have a lot of
outrage
against his
attempts, the
deal he was
trying to
offer, it's
just another
false attempt
to shine up
the image of
the regime."
Inner City
Press asked
him if he
would meet
with any UN
official. “I
can't answer
that questio
right now,” he
said. Then the
convoy went to
the clubhouse
of the UN
Censorship
Alliance,
which had sent
notice only to
those who pay
it money:
"They will
have just
presented
their accounts
in front of
the UN
Security
Council at an
Arria-formula
meeting on
Syria Chemical
Weapons."
But why would
the doctors,
in holding a
supposed press
conference
afterward, not
do so in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
on UNTV, as
can be done by
any NGO or
individual as
long as
sponsored by a
member state?
Instead, the
sequel
show was also
behind closed
door, in the
UN Censorship
Alliance
(UNCA), not on
UNTV. This is
the same UNCA
which hosted
former Syrian
Coalition head
Ahmad al
Jarba,
allowing him
to claim he
had a “UN
press
briefing.”
It is a scam.
And so on
April 24 Inner
City Press
asked UN
spokesman
Dujarric if
Jarba's
successor,
after Hadi al
Bahra, Khaled
Khoja will
hold a Q&A
session in the
open UN Press
Briefing Room.
We'll see.
UNCA
and its board
members have,
for example,
sought to get
other
journalists
thrown out of
the UN, for
reporting on
the financial
relationship
of UNCA's then
and now
president
Giampaolo
Pioli with an
alleged war
criminal,
accepting rent
money from him
and later
agree to
screen his war
crimes denial
film inside
the UN, under
the UNCA
banner.
If one has a
case to make,
this is not
the place to
make it.
Even since its
outright
censorship
bid, the way
UNCA is run
gives less and
less
confidence. On
April 10, the
UN
Spokesperson's
Office
announced over
its public
address system
that "in a few
short moments
in the UNCA
room there
will be a
press
conference by
a State
Department
official."
But as Inner
City Press
immediately
reported, it
wasn't any
"press
conference" --
it was off the
record spin,
typical of
this UNCA now
known as the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance (the
invitation
they send to
those who pay
UNCA money is
below.)
Just
before 5 pm,
the UN
Spokesperson's
Office made a
second public
address system
announcement:
it was NOT a
press
conference,
but rather an
off the record
presentation
by the US
State
Department.
All
this in the
big room the
UN gives to
UNCA, its
Censorship
Alliance. Why
is the UN
involved in
this in any
way at all?
The
announcement
by UNCA
president
Giampaolo
Pioli, sent
only to those
who pay UNCA
money (then
forwarded to
Inner City
Press along
with messages
of shock and
disgust) said
"For
correspondents
interested in
an informal
off-the-record
meeting with
[the] Deputy
Director,
Media Hub of
the Americas,
U.S.
Department of
State Bureau
of Public
Affairs,
please join us
in the UNCA
Meeting Room,
Friday, April
10th at
3:30pm.
"The meeting
will be to
explain the
work of the
State
Department
Public Affairs
bureau that
works with
international
media, to
provide
assistance in
gaining better
access to
State
Department
officials and
information,
in addition to
presenting the
work done in
the Media Hub
of the
Americas where
the Director
is the State
Department
spokesperson
in Spanish and
Portuguese for
regional media
and Spain and
Portugal.
Thank you,
Giampaolo
Pioli
UNCA
President"
Pioli's
invite linked
to a
self-description
of this US
Bureau of
Public
Affairs, that
“PA/IME works
in close
collaboration
with State
Department and
interagency
colleagues to
create and
manage tools
to ensure
accurate
coverage of
U.S. foreign
policy by
major
international
media.”
UNCA
represents
only part of
the UN press
corps. This
writer, for
example, quit
the group
after
2012.
UNCA is said
by UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to receive
the first
question in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
“by tradition,”
even after UNCA's
Executive
Board
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN
for its reporting
about Sri
Lanka, UN
Peacekeeping
and
colonialism
(Herve Ladsous)
among other
topics.
UNCA
did nothing
when Ladsous
adopted the
policy of
refusing to
answer any
questions from
the
investigative
Press, and
having his
spokespeople
physically
grab the UNTV
microphone to
try to avoid
the questions
being heard.
Now UNCA wants
to facilitate
“accurate
coverage of
U.S. foreign
policy.” Does
it perform
this service
for other
countries?
Inner City
Press, like
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access which
it co-founded
after quitting
UNCA, is not
against
"accurate
coverage of US
foreign
policy." Last
month, Inner
City Press
asked the US
State
Department
about Yemen
(including
the decision not to
evacuate
Yemeni
Americans from
the country),
Cuba
(the US
restrictions
on its
diplomats at
the UN),
the Maldives,
Middle
East and
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
In each case,
Inner City
Press reported
the answers in
full, where
possible with
video.
But why
provide this
platform for
one country
and not
others?
Earlier on
April 10 UNCA
will have a
presentation
by a former US
CIA employee
who served in
Saipan, Korea,
Vietnam and
"Burma," as
the UNCA
notice puts
it.
What has happened
to this UNCA
under Pioli
and presumably
current
Executive
Committee
members from Reuters,
the US
Broadcast
Board of
Governors
and ANSA? And
how now can
the UN
continue to
“partner” with
UNCA,
exclusively,
using this
partial group
as a proxy for
the wider
press corps?
Earlier
on April 9,
when the UN
with little
notice
canceled its
question and
answer noon
briefing in
deference to a
"press
encounter"
with Ban
Ki-moon at
which Dujarric
handpicked the
questioners
and Ban
notably did
not call for a
halt or even
pause in
airstrikes on
Yemen, UNCA
said nothing.
(They will,
however, have
a "Prosecco
toast" with
Ban later in
the month.)
The
Free
UN Coalition
spoke up in criticism,
as here. We'll
have more on
and of this.
, 
