With
Syria
Rebel Jarba at
UN's Backdoor,
Ban's
Office Tells
ICP "Ask UNCA"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23
-- What is the
backdoor
through which
the Syria
rebels try to
get into the
United Nations
during this
General Debate
week?
The
answer is the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
which plans on
September
25 to host a faux
"UN briefing"
by "President
of the
Syrian
Coalition,"
the
Saudi-sponsored
figure Ahmad
al-Jarba.
UNCA's
Executive
Committee,
described by
some in the UN
as heavy with
"Gulf
and Western
media" such as
Reuters, CBS,
Al Arabiya and
Agence
France Presse,
previously
sponsored
Jarba in July,
and called it
a
"UN briefing."
Now, with no
pretense of
hearing from
another side,
or sponsoring
any non
Western backed
rebels, they
want
to do it
again.
Inner
City Press on
September 23
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky's
office to
explain
whether an
event in
UN Room S-310
with Jarba
could properly
be called a UN
briefing.
Ban's
spokesperson's
office
replied, "Your
question on
briefings in
Room S-310:
please direct
your question
to UNCA."
But
UNCA has yet
to explain,
for example,
documents
Inner City
Press
obtained
under the
US
Freedom of
Information
Act from
Voice of
America
and others
showing that
its first
vice
president,
Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters, gave
UN
accreditation
official
Stephane
Dujarric
an anti-Press
internal UNCA
document three minutes
after
promising not
to. Story
here, audio here,
document
here.
UNCA's
2013 president
Pamela Falk of
CBS, who sent
out both Jarba
invitations
only to those
who pay money
to UNCA, has
not explained
the
organization's
role in, well,
spying for the
UN.
Inner
City Press
quit UNCA and
co-founded the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info
-- and,
as the UN
works, soon
had its accreditation
threatened
with
suspension or
withdrawal for
merely hanging
a FUNCA sign
on
the door
of its shared
office, an
elevator
corridor away
from "UN
briefing" room
S-310.
Shouldn't
the
UN answer
about the use
of a UN room,
one story
above the
Security
Council, to
host a "UN
briefing" by a
Saudi-sponsored
rebel, the one
now dubbed as
"Jarbucks" or
perhaps better
as "JarBUNCA"?
Back
on July
26, Inner
City Press asked:
Inner
City
Press:
currently,
there is a
meeting in the
North Lawn
Building
of the Syrian
coalition with
members of the
Security
Council. I’ve
seen, although
it wasn’t sent
to me, a
notice of a
press
conference
in the UN
building by
the Syrian
Coalition in
room 310 of
the United
Nations, and I
wanted you to
describe what
this press
conference is.
Is it a UN
press
conference? Is
it only open
to individuals
who have
paid money in
order to
attend it? And
I saw one of
the speakers
described as
the Special
Representative
of the Syrian
Coalition to
the United
Nations, and I
wanted to
know, is there
such a thing?
Is
there official
representation
to the United
Nations by the
Syrian
opposition and
on what basis
does the UN
give a large
room to the UN
Correspondents
Association
for meetings
of this type,
which they
only
promote to
members that
pay them
money?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, I’ll
have to check
on that,
Matthew. I
don’t have the
information
with me, but
we’ll check on
that and
get back to
you.
Inner
City
Press: Okay,
I’d really
like an answer
soon, before
the
meeting takes
place would be
ideal.
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, we’re
going to try.
Neither
before
the meeting
nor as of this
writing on
September 23,
despite
repeated
further
requests, has
any answer
given by the
UN. Watch this
site.
, 
