UNITED NATIONS
GATE, December 24 – The UN of
SG Antonio Guterres is pro
strong man, with West Africa
being another example. On
December 6, the day after
Guterres like any dictator
moved from his Mercedes with
guards to a fancy dinner refusing
a Press questions about
corruption in his
organization, Inner City Press
submitted a Togo question in
writing to Guterres and his
spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, two week later
despite three promises by
Guterres' Global Communicator
Alison
Smale that such
questions would be answered,
there was no response. But in
Nigeria Buhari, described by
Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J.
Mohammed even while a UN
official as "my president,"
offered big praise to fellow
strong man Alpha Conde for
dubious work on Togo. At the
Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Muhammadu
Buhari said, “I
wish at this juncture, to pay
special tribute to His
Excellency, Alpha Conde,
President of the Republic of
Guinea, the ECOWAS facilitator
in the resolution of the
Togolese political crisis, for
tireless endeavors towards a
peaceful settlement." What
settlement? And watch out in
hotels in Nigeria - Buhari,
even with Amina J. Mohammed in
the country, may engage in
illegal detention and
refoulement...On the day of
the boycotted Togolese
election, December 20, Inner
City Press in writing asked
Guterres and his lead and also
deputy spokesman Farhan
Haq: "December 20-5:
Again on Togo, on which you
have refused to answer, what
is the SG's comment and action
today as some in the country
vote in legislative elections
that are being boycotted by
the main opposition after a
year of political upheaval
which saw demonstrators
demanding President Faure
Gnassingbe step down. A
coalition of 14 opposition
parties has said it will not
take part, citing
"irregularities" in
preparations for the vote and
calling for an overhaul of the
electoral commission... Ahead
today's parliamentary
elections, the opposition
called for 10 days of protests
to halt the ballot while
urging supporters to follow
them in a boycott.
evangelical, Presbyterian and
Methodist churches in Togo
called for the election to be
delayed for several months
because of concern about its
organization; on Friday night,
senior Muslim leaders also
called for a delay? Two
persons, including a child,
were shot and killed on
Saturday during clashes
between demonstrators and
police in some parts of Lomé?
On that Togo's government has
banned a series of planned
opposition protests, saying
the marches posed a security
risk. A coalition of 14
opposition parties announced
earlier this week that they
would boycott a parliamentary
election planned for 20
December and instead try to
stop the electoral process.
Coalition coordinator Brigitte
Adjamagbo Johnson told local
radio that there are no
grounds for the ban and they
intend carry on with the
protest? Again, what is the
SG's comment and action on
that the campaign for the
parliamentary elections starts
today in Togo. The election is
scheduled for December 20, but
the opposition has already
announced that it will not
participate. The opposition
also boycotted the National
Assembly last week, during
debates about the proposed
constitutional reform?" Four
hours later, no answer at all.
Today's UN is corrupt.
On November 28 before 9 am,
Inner City Press in writing
asked Guterres and this
spokesmen about Togo:
"November 28-12: On Togo, what
is the comment and action of
the SG and Chambas
(yesterday's DPI question
unanswered) on that the main
opposition coalition in Togo
said on Monday it will boycott
December 20 general elections
and call for further protests
over what it alleged was a
"fraudulent" poll. "We're not
going to give our blessing to
this masquerade being
prepared," a co-ordinator in
the coalition, Brigitte
Adjamagbo-Johnson, told local
radio?" But by the next day,
while another Inner City Press
question about Romania had
been responded to, if
mechanically, no answer from
the UN at all about Togo - as
about Gabon, whose weakened
strong man Ali Bongo has
reportedly left MBS' Riyahd
and, where else, Morocco. Call
it FrancAfrique. Gabon's
second generation rules Ali
Bongo is in a hospital in
Saudi Arabia, and in
Libreville Jean Ping who says
he was cheated out of the 2016
election has declared himself
president. The UN of Antonio
Guterres, who cavorts with and
covers up for long time
dictators like Cameroon's Paul
Biya and the Bongo family, has
typically been silent. So on
November 15 before a UN noon
briefing Guterres has banned
it from for the 134th day in a
row, Inner City Press emailed
this question to Guterres, his
Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed,
two spokesman and USG Alison
Smale who promised questions
will be answered: "November
15-4: On Gabon, what is the
SG's (and separately Mr Fall's
/ UNOCA's) comment and action
on the move that many consider
unconstitutional to continue
to leave unresolved the health
and governing status of Ali
Bongo? What is the UN's
understanding of if or when he
would return? What is the SG's
awareness and engagement, if
any, in this?" None of the
correspondents let into
Guterres' UN briefing asked
this, and hours later his
spokesman Dujarric back from a
week long junket in Tokyo had
not provided an answer to this
or any other question. Nor did
he a week before to this one:
"November 7-1: On Gabon, what
is the SG's / UN's knowledge
of and comment / action on the
disappearance of Ali Bongo for
two weeks, and the declaration
by Jean Ping, in the light of
controversies in the 2016
electoral process, that he is
president?" The question was
not asked at the (all male)
briefing; no answer was sent.
(Some of the growing crowd of
Guterres skeptics wonder if
his son Pedro Guimarães e Melo
De Oliveira Guterres, already
doing
business in Angola,
Namibia, Sao Tome and Cabo
Verde, might make a move into
Gabon - these's no way to know
this last, since there is no
disclosure, no answers, and
continued banning of the
Press). This is Guterres' UN
of censorship and cover up for
dictators. Guterres, just back
from Lisbon, is setting off
for Paris. Let French
troops deploy, seems to be the
thinking. It's a UN and
UN-world blind spot: Human
Rights Watch, for example,
omitted Gabon like Cameroon
and Togo from its 2018 "World"
Report, telling Inner City
Press these weren't viewed as
top-90 problems. Then Inner
City Press which pursued the
issued was roughed up by
Guterres' Security and has
been banned from the UN for
125 days and counting. No one
let into the UN briefing room
by Antonio Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric has asked
about Gabon. This is the UN of
Guterres, on which even from
the UN Delegates Gate
entrance, Inner City Press
will have more. For now we can
report that Cameroon's long
time UN Ambassador Tommo
Monthe, whose chairmanship of
the UN Budget Committee was
co-extensive which and
triggered Guterres' shameful
silence on his boss' slaughter
of Anglophones, told Inner
City Press, of also cheated
Cameroonian candidate Maurice
Kamto, "He's like Jean Ping."
And another Francophone on the
scene laughed. As the
crackdown in Cameroon by
36-year government of Paul
Biya has grown worse and worse
in 2017 and 2018 and Inner
City Press has repeatedly
asked why UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres only took a
golden statue from Biya in
October 2017, Guterres' UN
itself has cracked down, now
having banned Inner City Press
from entering the UN for 125
days and counting. Fox
News story here,
GAP blogs I
and II. Back
on 6 March
2018 before Guterres'
UN
Security had
roughed it up
and banned it,
Inner City
Press asked
Human Rights
Watch official
Jo Becker why the slaugher
in Cameroon
was not even
listed at a
Top-90 problem
in HRW's
2018
"World" report.
Becker told Inner
City Press that HRW has to
decide where to spend the
resources it receives, and
apparently didn't see Cameroon
as among the 90 countries
meriting a look in their
"World" report, nor Gabon or
Togo. Video here.
On July 19, with the UN
Censorship Alliance, HRW
belatedly and apparently to
try to raise funds off a
crisis it had ignored and
enabled held a briefing that
was truly disgusting. The
first question was given to a
Reuters reporter who has
repeatedly cut off Press
questions about Cameroon. Next
was UN Censorship Alliance
figure head saying why not
defer to the AU, which took a
golden statue. Then a Reuters
retiree; then a UN staffer
doubling as a UN resident
correspondent. It was truly
disgusting. We'll have more on
this. On July 19, with Inner
City Press banned from the UN
and, UNlike
for example the Government
Accountability Project, HRW at
best doing nothing about this
banning of the Press despite a
series of e-mails to its Ken
Roth, Sarah Whitsos and
Akshaya Kumar, HRW has told
some it will present with the
UN Censorship Alliance the
following, complete with moral
equivalence:
"Human Rights
Watch will release “‘These
Killings Can Be Stopped’:
Abuses by Government and
Separatist Groups in
Cameroon’s Anglophone
Regions,” a report based on an
April 2018 mission to the
country. Researchers conducted
82 interviews with victims and
witnesses of abuses and key
informants. Human Rights Watch
analyzed satellite images
showing recent
burning in 20 villages and
verified half a dozen videos
showing abuses or their
aftermath.
Since late 2016, activists
from Cameroon’s Anglophone
minority have been calling for
their region’s independence.
Violent repression of mostly
peaceful demonstrations by
government forces in 2016 and
2017 has led to an escalation
of the conflict. Anglophone
separatists have extorted,
kidnapped, and killed
civilians, and prevented
children from going to
school." The briefers are
listed as Jonathan Pedneault,
Mausi Segun, and the
aforementioned Akshaya Kumar,
Deputy UN Director, Human
Rights Watch. We'll have more
on this - and on the role of
another HRW official Louis
Charbonneau in having lobbied
Guterres' spokesman to get
Inner City Press ousted from
the UN, using his link with
this UN Censorship Alliance,
then getting Google to remove
his leaked lobbying from
Search as allegedly
copyrighted under the US
Digital Millennium Copyright
Act. See Lou Charbonneau's
DMCA filing, here.
This is shameful.
Back on
March 6, to make sure its
question was not
misunderstood, given the
answer, Inner City Press
waited as others from who had
skipped the press conference
came in to ask questions, then
showed Ms. Becker the report.
She said she had understood
the question. (She did not
explain why "Ashley" who
answered for HRW Press never
returned with this answer, nor
put Inner City Press back on
HRW's mailing lists). So who
makes these decisions for
Human Rights Watch?
HRW has refused
to provide any read-outs of
the issues it raises to
Guterres. Guterres is himself
far from transparent. On
February 28 his close
protection ordered Inner City
Press to stop
recording, in a photo op
session in which Guterres
conveyed his "very very warm
regards" to Egypt's Sisi.
Guterres' Secretariat has
assigned Inner City Press'
long time UN work space to a no-show
Sisi state media, Akhbar
al Yom. (HRW's UN lobbying
previous lobbied Guterres'
spokesman to throw Inner City
Press out of the UN, then got
his leaked
complaint to the UN removed
from Google Search by mis-characterizing
it as copyrighted). So what
will happen and be discussed
at 3:330? Watch this site.
When Inner City Press was sent
the link to the 660-page 2018
report by Human Rights Watch,
it turned to the Table of
Contents to read the section
on Cameroon, which it covers
even as the UN, for now to the
highest levels, covers up. But
Cameroon was not there,
between Cambodia and Canada.
Tweeted photo here.
Nor under its French spelling,
Cameroun. Nor the word
Anglophone, much less
Ambazonia. Nor 36-year ruler
Paul Biya. Nor were Togo or
Gabon mentioned, photo here.
Online HRW report, perhaps to
be changed, here.
Inner City Press on the
morning of January 22 asked
HRW's press operation the
following: "Hello. Searching
today the HRW 2018 Report for
Cameroon (as well as Togo and
Gabon, for example), not
finding them in the Table of
Contents (photo attached), nor
word-search. (Seems the two
references to Cameroon,
despite the crackdown there,
are both in the Nigeria
section). Can you please
explain, on deadline? Also,
for future reference, can you
please restore Inner City
Press, at this email address,
to HRW's press email list and
explain the previous deletion?
Finally, does HRW/Ken Roth
intend to meet with UNSG
Guterres in the first half of
2018? What issues would HRW
raise? What issues did HRW
raise in March 2017, and why
did it decline to state any of
them at the time?" The reply,
not a real response, was from
an Ashley without a last name,
promising a response from
"researchers" which, a day
later, has not come: "Hi
Matthew, Thank you for your
email. I’ve sent your request
to our researchers and will
keep you posted. Best,
Ashley." Later on January 22,
Inner City Press wrote again
to hrwpress [at] hrw.org,
"Hello - this morning on the
simple question why Cameroon,
Togo and Gabon are not in the
Table of Contents of HRW's
2018 Report, the reply was
'I’ve sent your request to our
researchers and will keep you
posted.' What is the answer?
Please advise." And...
nothing. In March 2017 after
Ken Roth and three of his
Human Rights Watch UN
lobbyists went to the UN for a
meeting on the 38th floor,
Inner City Press asked Roth
and his lobbyists, including
two former UN correspondents
Louis Charbonneau and Philippe
Bolopion, for a summary of
what HRW had raised. There was
no answer at all. Video
here. It was a typical
UN scene: a group promoting
principles outside of the UN
not pursuing them inside the
UN, in order to maintain
access and perceived
influence. Now having asked
online what it is missing, the
absence not only of Togo but
also Gabon has been noted.
We'll have more on this.
Human
Rights Watch speechifies about
accountability but has said
much less about the UN killing
10,000 Haitians with cholera,
or about the lack of
prosecutions for peacekeepers'
sexual abuse. The UN talks
about the rule of law but does
not abide by it.
HRW was informed in detail of
the UN's lack of due process
for the press - but has done
nothing. In fact, HRW's UN
lobbyist Louis Charbonneau at
least twice tried to get Inner
City Press thrown out of the
UN (see here,
obtained under FOIA),
one time misusing
the US Digital Millennium
Copyright Act to try to cover
up his lobbying of the UN to
get Inner City Press thrown
out, here.
One year
ago, covering the UN
corruption scandals which have
resulted in two sets of
indictments for bribery
involving the UN, Inner City
Press was ordered to leave the
UN Press Briefing Room by then
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane
Dujarric.
Other
correspondents were allowed to
stay in the briefing room,
which Dujarric had "lent"
them. But he insisted that
Inner City Press leave. Video
here.
Inner City
Press asked to see any
paperwork that the event was
closed; none was provided.
Inner City Press stated that
if a single UN Security
official asked it to leave, it
would. Finally one guard came
and said Dujarric wanted it to
leave.
Inner City
Press immediately left,
uploaded the already
live-streamed Periscope video,
and continued digging into the
corruption that's resulted in
the indictment for bribery and
money laundering of Ban
Ki-moon's brother Ban Ki Sang
and nephew Dennis Bahn.
But three
weeks afterward, without a
single conversation or
opportunity to be heard, Ban's
Under Secretary General for
Public Information Cristina
Gallach ordered Inner City
Press to leave the UN, after
ten years, on two hours
notice. Order
here.
This
was enforced, as Inner City
Press worked on its laptop at
the UN Security Council
stakeout, by eight UN Security
officers led by Deputy Chief
McNulty, who tore Inner City
Press accreditation badge off
its chest and said, "Now you
are a trespasser." Audio
here.
Inner City
Press was marched down the
escalator and around the UN
traffic circle, without even
its coat which was up in its
longtime office. It was pushed
out of the gate and its
laptop, in a bag, was thrown
on the sidewalk and damaged.
The next
work day when Inner City Press
arranged for a fellow
journalist to sign it in as a
guest so it could cover the
Security Council, UN Security
official Matthew Sullivan said
it was Banned from UN premises
worldwide. Audio
here.
After three days covering the
UN from the park in front in
the sleet, and articles like
this one, Inner City Press
re-entered with a
"non-resident correspondents"
pass - to which it is still,
more than a year later,
confined.
There has
been no UN opportunity for
appeal or reinstatement. After
having five boxes of Inner
City Press' investigative
files thrown
on the sidewalk in April,
Gallach is giving
its office to an
Egyptian state media Akhbar al
Yom which rarely comes in, a
correspondent Sanaa Youssef
who had yet to ask a single
question.
Her only claim is
that she was once, decades
ago, a president of the United
Nations Correspondents
Association, the group to
which Duajrric "lent" the UN
Press Briefing Room, without
notice or written record, on
January 29, 2016.
Even as the
scope of Ban Ki-moon's
corruption was exposed upon
his return to South Korea, here,
his successor Antonio Guterres
has yet to reverse this year
of censorship and no due
process. On January 6 Dujarric
and Gallach led him on a tour
of... the UN Correspondents
Association, which now wants
him again in their clubhouse.
(More on this to follow.)
On January
27 as Inner City Press moved
to cover Guterres at the UN's
Holocaust event, it was
targeted by UN Security and
told it could not proceed
without a minder, who did not
appear for over 15 minutes.
The
harassment continued through
the day, as Inner City Press
exposed more corruption,
including and the use of
military contingents involved
in war crimes in Herve
Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping.
All of this
must change. This is a scam,
and censorship. This is
hypocrisy at and in the UN. We
will have more on this.
***
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