UK MPs
Baldwin and
Burt Embrace
UN Smale's
Censorship
Amid Cameroon
Collusion
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR Letter
PFTracker
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, September 10 – As the
Cameroon
government of
36 year
President
Paul
Biya
slaughters
civilians in
the Anglophone
regions as well as in
the North, it
has
re-engaged Washington
lobbying firm
Squire Patton
Boggs, on a
retainer
of $100,000 per
quarter
plus
expenses, documents
show. The
UN belatedly
acknowledged
to Inner City
Press,
which UN Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres had
roughed up on
July 3 right
after it spoke
to Cameroon's
Ambassador Tommo
Monthe and on
which he and
UK USG Alison
Smale imposed a
lifetime ban on
August 17
profiled in
Press Freedom
Tracker US here,
that Guterres
met
with a
Cameroon
delegation on
July 11. Guterres'
spokesmen
have
repeatedly
refused to
answer Inner
City Press e-mailed
question
whether
Guterres was
aware his
meeting was
stage managed
by lobbyists
at Patton
Boggs, and
what was
discussed.
Inner City Press
asked the same and
more to the UK
Mission to the
UN,
president of
the UN
Security Council
for August, in
writing (below)
and verbally.
The UK
Mission has yet to answer
those
questions, or even
acknowledge
Inner City
Press' written
questions about
Yemen (where UK
bombs kill
children) and
Western Sahara.
But on August
29 they
were very
quick to
proudly
support the Press
censorship
order of
their
compatriot
Alison Smale.
Inner City
Press wrote to
Ambassador
Pierce, and verbally notified
her
deputy
Jonathan
Allen, that Smale
allowed no
due process or appeal.
This quickly
came back,
from Matt
Moody Spokesperson @UKUN_NewYork:
"Dear Matthew, I
am replying on
behalf of
Ambassador
Karen Pierce
to your email
to her of 29
August. As
you note in
your email,
the United
Nations
Under-Secretary-General
for Global
Communications
wrote to you
on 17 August
setting out
why the
Department of
Public
Information
has withdrawn
your media
accreditation. Media
accreditation
to the United
Nations is a
matter for the
Department of
Public
Information.
We refer you
to them."
This would
mean no oversight of
the UN. So
Inner City
Press wrote to
London - and
on
September 10
received this
shameful cover
up answer in
response:
"Dear Mr. Lee, Thank
you for your
emails of 26
August to the
Foreign &
Commonwealth
Office
Ministers
Harriett
Baldwin MP and
Alistair Burt
MP. I
have been
asked to reply
as Head of the
UN Political
Team. I
note that the
United
Kingdom’s
Mission to the
United Nations
in New York
replied to a
similar email
from you on 29
August,
regarding the
question of
your
accreditation
to the United
Nations. Media
accreditation
to the United
Nations is a
matter for the
UN’s
Department of
Public
Information.
We refer you
to them. Yours
sincerely, Justin
Bedford, UN
Political Team, Foreign
&
Commonwealth
Office." What
makes this buck - (or
Pound-) passing
all the worse is that
now Inner City
Press has
learned that
UN is telling
people the UK
has
supported and
even asked for
its banning of
Inner City Press. Inner City
Press has
immediately
replied to
these MPs,
"Dear Mr.
Bedford, MPs
Baldwin and
Burt - Thank
you for your
response but
it is woefully
inadequate.
First, it
would mean
that the UK
performs no
oversight over
the UN. Would
you refer a
question about
abuses by UN
Peacekeepers
to USG
Lacroix,
without more?
This is
particularly
inappropriate
when the USG
in question,
Alison Smale,
is a UK
national, as
was the ASG
who oversaw my
physical
ouster on 3
July 2018,
Christian
Saunders. But
to make it
clear: my
question, now
and with this
request, is
about the UK
Mission's role
in my banning
from the UN. I
am informed
that the UN
Secretariat is
telling people
that the UK
Mission
supports and
even has
requested my
banning. So I
am asking if
that is true,
appropriate
and consistent
with FCO's and
even the PM's
public
statements
including
about freedom
of the press. I
note Inner
City Press'
petition to
the ICO
because the
FCO did not
provide even
on document to
Inner City
Press about
Cameroon, even
a year after
its FOIA
request. Something
is going
wrong,
including at
the UK Mission
to the UN.
Isn't it the
MPs' job to
look into it? Awaiting
your
response."
Watch this
site. If
someone
raised to the
UK Mission or
FCO rapes by
UN
Peacekeepers,
would they refer
the matter to
USG of
Peacekeeping
Jean Pierre Lacroix?
Or is this deference
to the
obviously no
due process
censorship
order of Smale
because she is
British? Or
because the UK
supports,
benefits from
and seemingly
even called
for this
censorship of
the Press? What about
the British
Assistant
Secretary General
who oversaw
the roughing
up on July 3,
Christian Saunders,
previously
implicated in
UN procurement
corruption - was the
UK Mission
fine with
that? With
Justin Forsyth at
UNICEF and before?
The UK
Mission's /
Ambassador
Pierce's
response seems
to show that
there is no
oversight of
the UN by the
UK, at least
when a British
official is
the
wrong-doers,
or if the UK
Mission
(thinks it)
benefits. Follow
up questions
have
been sent to
the UK Mission
and Ambassador
Pierce,
including
"Please
describe your
and the
Mission's
communications
with British
USG Smale this
year,
including
prior to
her/the
directive to
DSS Lt Dobbins
to begin
physically
targeting me
any time after
7 pm, even if
there was a
Budget
Committee
meeting, or as
on June 22 a
speecch by the
SG?
Does the UK /
Mission /
Ambassador
Pierce believe
that there
should be
content
neutral
accreditation
and access
rules for
journalists at
the UN?
Does
the UK /
Mission /
Ambassador
Pierce believe
that a
journalist
should be
spoken to
before they
are physically
assaulted and
banned from
the UN?
Did you
know that the
March
"warning" was
a frivolous
complaint by
the Moroccan
mission, that
I couldn't use
my camera
phone at the
UNSC stakeout,
that even USG
Smale's MALU
told me it was
frivolous?
Did you know
USG Smale's
MALU told me I
did not
require an
escort or
minder to live
stream on the
fourth and
third floors?
They did.
Repeatedly.
You
"refer' me
back to this
Star Chamber
but as the
letter you
cite shows,
there is no
appeals
process?
Given
your topic
today in the
UNSC I am
banned from,
what does this
no due process
banning
without any
attempt to
address the
issues - like
that parking
lot which were
never raised
to me - say
about the
Secretariat's
and USG
Smale's
"mediation "
and conflict
prevention?
Does
the UK /
Mission /
Ambassador
Pierce believe
that a UN
investigation
or review of a
journalist
should involve
an opportunity
to be heard,
and specific
charges rather
than unnamed
accusers?
So do
you accept
this
censorship by
your
compatriot or
not?" Their
complicity on
the slaughter in
Cameroon,
particularly
in light of
Liam Fox
bragging about
UK-based New
Age's gas deal
with Biya, is
striking, and the failure
to answer
uncomfortable
- hostile? -
questions about
Pierce's meeting
with Biya's
lobbyists need looking into. We
have a FOIA
request in to
FCO on just this
topic. As some
British say:
Shocking, smacking
of the Star Chamber.
After
Guterres banned
Inner City
Press from entry from
July 3 onward,
in order to report
on the UN
Inner City
Press had to
seek answers
other than at
the UN Noon
Briefing and UN
Security
Council
stakeout
position, from
which Guterres
and Smale also banned
it. Inner
City Press
asks question
in front of
the UN
Delegates
Entrance, and
has gotten
about put
online
responses
from, among
others,
outgoing UN
Human Rights
Commissioner
Zeid,
Burundi's
Ambassador,
and on August
20, for
example, a diplomat
on the North
Korea
sanctions committee -- whose
Dutch chair
Karel van
Oosterom refused
to comment.
This
stakeout
is where Inner
City Press asks
questions only because
Guterres and
Smale have
banned it since
July 3. But in
her August 17
letter, Smale
justifies the
ban
imposed July 3
with this
post-July 3
interviews,
and says that
UNnamed
member states -
and somehow
correspondents -
have
complained.
Is that
the UK?
Inner
City Press has
submitted a
FOIA request, even as
the UK ICO
considers the
Foreign
and
Commonwealth
Office's redaction
of Yemen
documents
response to
Inner City
Press' request
a year ago,
and denial in
full on
Cameroon:
"This is
request under
the UK Freedom
of Information
act for the
following
records as
that term is
defined in
FOI, including
but not
limited to all
electronic
records,
emails,
text/SMS
message and
communications
in any form,
involving the
UK Mission to
the UN in New
York since
August 15,
2017 regarding
Cameroon
and/or
Southern
Cameroons and
all meeting
including Amb
Pierce's July
11 meeting
with
ministers, all
responses to
communications
received about
Cameroon
including but
not limited to
Inner City
Press'
communications
of
Feb 6, 2018
(verbal
question to
DPR Allen),
June 2018 to
Amb Pierce
about Liam Fox
and New Age's
deal with
Cameroon,
July 14, 2018
email to the
UK mission
about Cameroon
and UK USG
Alison Smale's
then
suspension of
Inner City
Press' access
to the UN
since July 3,
2018;
Aug 1, 2018,
reiterated
August
3:
written
question to
the UK
Mission, not
answered as of
Aug 21: "not
the agenda,
troublingly,
is the
situation in
Cameroon. Why
not? Amb
Pierce
disclosed in
yesterday's
Twitter
Q&A that
she “spoke to
a delegation
of Cameroon
ministers at
the UN on 11
July.” Did she
mean
government
ministers or
religious
ministers? If
the former,
who were they?
Which
departments?
And what was
it mean to say
“we were
watching the
situation
closely.” Does
this mean the
UK or the
Council? Is
there a role,
does the UK
think, for UN
envoy Francois
Lonseny Fall?
Or should
another
mediator be
assigned?"
August 7
written
questions to
Mission, also
not responded
to as of
August 21.
To
explain the
last part of
this request,
British
national and
head of UN
Dep't of
Public Info
Alison Smale
in issuing a
lifetime ban
to my on
August 17
wrote "“We
would also
note your
conduct at the
entrances of
the United
Nations
premises and
nearby,
including the
use of
profanities
and derogatory
assertions and
language
toward
individuals
accessing the
United
Nations, in
close
proximity to
them. Video /
live
broadcasts of
this are
frequently
published on
the Inner City
Press' website
and other
media
platforms.
This conduct
gives rise to
potential
safety
concerns for
Member State
diplomats...The
conduct
described
above has
generated
multiple
complaints to
the United
Nations from
Member
States."
Given
Ambassador
Jonathan
Allen's flat
refusal to
answer or even
acknowledge
the Cameroon
questions I
asked him at
the Delegates
Entrance
stakeout on
August 15,
this is a
request for
all record
that reflect
or are related
to any
communications
by the UN
Mission to the
UN about
questions or
comments
received at
the
stakeout(s).
Given the
situations in
Cameroon and
South
Cameroons, I
and Inner City
Press asked
for expedited
processes of
this request:
faster than
the 20 working
days provided
for. Please
note our
recent
complaint to
ICO about the
FCO's failure
to provide any
of the Cameron
records I
requested on
August 15,
2017." Watch
this site.
Inner
City Press
asked the UK
Mission's two
spokespeople
Matthew Moody
and
Amy.Quantrill: "On
July 31
Ambassador
Pierce stated
on Twitter
that she (and
presumably
others at the
UK mission)
had met on
July 11 with
Cameroonian
ministers. On
August 1, for
the Program of
Work press
conference I
was and am
banned from by
USG Alison
Smale and SG
Antonio
Guterres,
after being
roughed up by
UN Security
while covering
an event and a
meeting on
June 22 and
July 3, I
asked both of
you: 'Did
she mean
government
ministers or
religious
ministers? If
the former,
who were they?
Which
departments?'
I have yet to
receive an
answer,
including
after tweeting
substantial
the same
question to
Amb Allen
yesterday.
This time I am
addressing
this to
Stephen Hickey
as well. I
am requesting
an immediate
answer to
these Cameroon
questions: Name
the ministers
Amb Pierce met
with on July
11. State
whether Amb
Pierce or
anyone else at
the UK mission
was aware this
this Biya
administration
'tour'
July 11-20 was
stage managed
by DC-based
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs
(reflected on
documents
Inner City
Press has
published),
including US
ex-Amb Frank
Wisner. State
whether any
non-Cameroonians
were present
at the July 11
meeting and if
so, who they
were. State
whether Amb
Pierce has had
any meetings
with
Cameroonian
opposition or
Federalists or
separatists,
and if not,
why not. On
deadline.
Thanks you in
advance.
-Matthew."
Nothing still,
as of August
12.
Now Inner City
Press has
obtained the
Cameroon
government's
internal memo
about the
lobbying,
including of
Guterres and
what he said, and
this, regarding
the UK
Mission (the Cameroonians
mis-spelled
Pierce as
Perce) -- "They
appreciated
the initiative
of the Head of
State to send
this Mission
to the UN. The
move has
helped in a
better
understanding
of the
situation on
the ground,
instead of the
one-sided
information on
the social
media...
REMARKS AND
PERSPECTIVES
Maintain a
direct link
between our
Government and
the UN, by
constant
High-level
Missions.
Adopt and
adapt an
aggressive
Communication
strategy,
especially
with the
Anglo-Saxon
press.
Get our
Permanent
Mission all
documentation
to distribute
on a permanent
basis."
UNSG Guterres
said that the
("Anglo-Saxon")
media is
unfair to Paul
Biya's
Cameroun and
that he,
Guterres,
will help them in the
"propaganda
campaign."
Guterres said
he "will
contact
reasonable
people" and "counter
the daily
press briefs."
Guterres
has kept Inner
City Press
banned from
the UN and its
daily press
briefings for
40 days, with
the prospect
of a longer or
permanent ban
by his
conflicted, UK-national
Under
Secretary
General for
Global Communications
Alison Smale
(see yesterday's
Fox story here;
Smale refused
comment.)
Here's from
the Cameroon
government's
memo: "THE
DION
NGUTE/GHOGOMU
PAUL MISSION
REPORT
High Level
Mission to the
USA
(11 – 20 July
2018)
Delegation
Members:
H.E Dr DION
NGUTE Joseph,
Minister in
charge of
Missions at
the
Presidency,
H.E GHOGOMU
Paul MINGO,
Director of
the Prime
Minister’s
Cabinet,
H.E MBAYU
Felix,
Minister
Delegate to
MINREX, in
charge of the
Commonwealth,
Mr. CHINMOUN
Oumarou,
Director of
American and
Caribbean
Affairs at the
MINREX, and
Mme EYEMA
ELINGE Susan
epse EWUSI,
Research
Officer at the
Presidency....
NEW YORK
Meeting with:
H.E Antonio
Gutteres,
Secretary
General of the
UNO
The Delegation
was helped in
the
organization
of audiences
by the
Cameroon
Permanent
Representative
to the United
Nations, H.E
TOMMO MONTHE.
At each
audience, we
presented the
historical
background of
the
socio-political
crisis in the
North West and
South West
Regions of
Cameroon. We
also briefed
our hosts on
the current
situation in
the two
Regions, and
explained the
measures taken
by the
Government to
address the
crisis.
We insisted
that it was an
internal
crisis for
which the
Government had
mobilized all
necessary
security,
political,
social and
humanitarian
means for its
management. We
presented the
Government
Emergency
Humanitarian
Plan and
stated our
Government’s
expectations
from the UNO
and the
members of the
Security
Council.
For the SG/UN:
Cameroon is a
very important
and strategic
Country,
We have a very
wise and
intelligent
leader,
There is a
pattern of
inevitable
problems when
there is a
linguistic
minority,
The strategy
of radical
groups has
always been to
provoke, then
show the world
what the army
is doing,
The global
media is
Anglo-Saxon
dominated, so
that there is
a campaign to
show that the
English-speaking
minority is
being
maltreated,
We are losing
the
international
propaganda
campaign, but
he is
willing to
help. He will
contact
reasonable
people,
Cameroon
should however
counter the
daily press
briefs" --
And Guterres
has Inner City
Press banned
from the UN's
daily noon press
briefing, and
refuses to
answer written
questions
about these
meetings.
Meanwhile,
Guterres for
a year sought
to ingratiate
himself to Biya's
Ambassador
Tommo Monthe,
UN
Budget
Committee
chair whose
bureaucratic help
Guterres
wanted for example
for his
ill-gated
Global Service
Delivery
Mechanism
plan to
move UN
jobs from Geneva to
Budapest,
from New York
to Mexico
City, and from
Entebbe, Uganda
to Kenya. We'll
have more,
much more, on
this.
On
August 10,
with Inner
City Press
banned from
entering the
UN for the
38th day by UN
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres, the
Dutch
Mission to
the UN
and HRW
started
bragging about
a UN
Security Council
Presidential
Statement
which they
said embodied
deep concern. At first
banned
Inner City
Press, thanks
to Guterres
who took Biya's
golden statue
in
October 2017,
couldn't even
see the Statement:
it was not on
the Security
Council's
website
now run
by the (Dutch)
husband of
the chief of
staff of the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs'
Rosemary DiCarlo,
and was not
emailed out to
those not
(allowed) in
the UN. But by
mid afternoon
it came out: and it was
just a single
line, about
the "worrying
increase in violence
in the
north-west and
south-west
regions of
Cameroon." Why did
Human Rights
Watch make so
much of this,
after earlier
this year
telling
Inner City
Press - before
Antonio
"Golden
Statue" Guterres
banned it from
the UN - that
HRW omitted
Cameroon
from its 2018
World Report because it
didn't view it
as a top-90 problem? That's
here.
As Guterres
and his Alison
Smale and their stooges
try to keep
Inner City Press
out even
longer, we'll
have more on
this. After
twice asking
the Spokespeople
for UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres (from
the bus stop
outside the
UN Delegates'
Entrance since
Guterres
has banned
Inner City
Press since
July 3), UN Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq on
August 8
belatedly told
Inner City
Press, "On
your first
question, we
can confirm
that, on 11
July, a
high-level
Cameroonian
delegation was
dispatched to
UNHQ to brief
the
Secretary-General
on the efforts
carried out by
the Government
to address the
crisis in the
North-West and
South-West
regions. The
Secretary-General
stressed the
importance of
finding a
peaceful
resolution to
the crisis
through an
inclusive
dialogue and
reiterated the
UN’s readiness
to support
such efforts,
including the
provision of
humanitarian
assistance to
the affected
regions." But
Inner City
Press'
question was,
"On Cameroon
beyond the
questions you
have left
unanswered
from August 3
and August
6-1, please
state if
anyone in the
UN Secretariat
met with a
Cameroonian
government
delegation in
the US from
July 11 (whcn
they met UK
Ambassador
Pierce) to
July 20 and if
the UN was
aware that
this Biya
delegation's
lobbying trip
was stage
managed by the
DC-based
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs."
No answer on
this, nor on
August 10,
when Guterres'
Deputy Spokesman Haq
answered a past
question from
August 6,
on using and
paying for
Biya's troops:
"Regarding
your earlier
Cameroon
question,
here’s what we
have for you: "August
6-1: On
Cameroon,
important and
not answered -
please
immediately
confirm and
explain: “A
295-strong
Cameroonian
contingent
including four
doctors, will
be deployed in
the
intervening
weeks to the
Central
African
Republic
(CAR).They
will be part
of the United
Nations
Multidimensional
Integrated
Mission for
the
Stabilization
of CAR
(MINUSCA),
ministry of
Defense
sources in
Cameroon
disclosed on
Thursday.”
Given not only
this
military's
torching of
villages in
the Anglophone
areas but
summary
executions,
why is the UN
accepting this
deployment at
this time? How
much of the
money goes to
/ stays with
the Biya
government?
What vetting
has been done?
Does the UN
know the
identity of
the Cameroon
soldiers
recently shown
killing women
and children?
What assurance
does the UN
have these
soldiers will
not “serve”
the UN in
CAR?"
The 295-strong
Cameroonian
contingent
referred into
in the article
is not a new
deployment. It
is in fact a
rotation of
two
Cameroonian
Formed Police
Units (FPUs)
already
deployed in
MINUSCA.
In this
specific case,
the two
Cameroonian
FPUs will
finish their
tour of duty
by
mid-September,
will
substitute
them. As per
established
procedures,
all FPU
personnel
undergo
extensive
pre-deployment
training to
ensure they
understand the
rules,
regulations
and, standards
and values
expected of
personnel
deployed to UN
operations,
including
respect for
human rights.
With regard to
the vetting
process, the
Policy on
Human Rights
Screening of
United Nations
Personnel
places primary
responsibility
on Member
States to
ensure that
the personnel
they appoint
for deployment
have not been
involved in
violations.
All countries
contributing
uniformed
personnel to
UN
peacekeeping
operations
have primary
responsibility
for screening
individuals
and for
ensuring that
personnel they
nominate for
service have
not been
involved, by
act or
omission, in
violations of
international
humanitarian
law or human
rights law,
and have not
been
repatriated on
disciplinary
grounds from a
UN operation.
Contributing
countries have
to provide a
certification
to that effect
when they
nominate
personnel for
deployment.
The Policy
thus sets
forth
procedures to
strengthen the
ability of the
United Nations
to ensure that
its personnel
meet the
highest
standards of
efficiency,
competence and
integrity, and
to promote and
encourage
respect for
human rights,
in accordance
with the
United Nations
Charter. These
procedures
have notably
led to
strengthen
pre-deployment
screening and
certification
by
contributing
countries.
On your
question
regarding
payment,
countries
contributing
uniformed
personnel to
peacekeeping
operations are
reimbursed by
the UN at a
standard rate,
approved by
the General
Assembly, of
US$1,428 per
person per
month."
After
Guterres remained disturbingly
quiet
about Biya's
killing for a
full year, when Cameroon
was the chair
of the Budget
Committee
whose support
Guterres
wanted for his
proposal like
moving jobs
from Geneva to
Budapest,
New York to
Mexico City,
Entebbe to
Kenya? We'll
have more on
this. This
also means that the
July 11
meeting with Cameroonian
ministers
bragged about
by this
month's UN
Security
Council
president,
Karen Pierce of
the UK, was
actually in
connection
with a
lobbying trip
stage
managed by
Patton Boggs.
Inner City Press has
asked the
UK Mission,
see below,
and also on
the morning of
August 7
asked
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres'
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
before "his"
noon
briefing Inner
City Press
was banned
from for the
35th day in a
row. Guterres'
Haq never
answered
(though perhaps
relatedly
envoy Francois
Fall is
supposedly
going to
Cameroon). Now
Inner City
Press has
reviewed
Patton Boggs
long history
with Paul
Biya, as he
has become
more and more
brutal. It
began in 2004
with a letter
from Patton
Boggs' Joseph
Brand (still
involved in
2018) to Biya's
Pierre Moukoko
Mbonjo
for Peter
Mafany
Musonge, here.
We'll
have more on
this. UNanswered
as of August8
by Guterres'
team: "August
7-1: On
Cameroon
beyond the
questions you
have left
unanswered
from August 3
and August
6-1, please
state if
anyone in the
UN Secretariat
met with a
Cameroonian
government
delegation in
the US from
July 11 (whcn
they met UK
Ambassador
Pierce) to
July 20 and if
the UN was
aware that
this Biya
delegation's
lobbying trip
was stage
managed by the
DC-based
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs."
Neither Haq
nor the others
in Guterres'
team whom
Inner City Press
asked - Deputy SG
Amina J. Mohammed,
Eihab
Omaish, Alison
Smale and her
officer in
charge (of
censorship)
Hua Jiang
answered that
specific
question.
Instead Haq at the
briefing said
he trying
to "get
language"
about Guterres'
envoy Francois
Lounseny
Fall, who
equated secessionists
with extremists,
may go to the
country this
week. What,
some ask, for
Patton
Boggs? Inner
City Press
asked the UK
Mission's two
spokespeople
Matthew Moody
and
Amy.Quantrill: "Good
morning. This
is a formal
Press request
for an answer
I have sought
from the UK
Mission to the
UN since
August 1. On
July 31
Ambassador
Pierce stated
on Twitter
that she (and
presumably
others at the
UK mission)
had met on
July 11 with
Cameroonian
ministers.
On August 1,
for the
Program of
Work press
conference I
was and am
banned from by
USG Alison
Smale and SG
Antonio
Guterres,
after being
roughed up by
UN Security
while covering
an event and a
meeting on
June 22 and
July 3, I
asked both of
you:
"Did she mean
government
ministers or
religious
ministers? If
the former,
who were they?
Which
departments?
And what was
it mean to say
“we were
watching the
situation
closely.” Does
this mean the
UK or the
Council? Is
there a role,
does the UK
think, for UN
envoy Francois
Lonseny Fall?
Or should
another
mediator be
assigned?"
I have
yet to receive
an answer,
including
after tweeting
substantial
the same
question to
Amb Allen
yesterday. Nor
did I receive
any response
to my August 3
question to
you,
explicitly
your UK's
capacity of
President of
the UNSC,
about Yemen
and a Saudi
letter.
This time I am
addressing
this to
Stephen Hickey
as well.
(Hello).
I am
requesting an
immediate
answer to
these Cameroon
questions:
Name the
ministers Amb
Pierce met
with on July
11.
State whether
Amb Pierce or
anyone else at
the UK mission
was aware this
this Biya
administration
"tour" July
11-20 was
stage managed
by DC-based
lobbying firm
Patton Boggs
(reflected on
documents
Inner City
Press has this
morning
published),
including US
ex-Amb Frank
Wisner.
State
whether any
non-Cameroonians
were present
at the July 11
meeting and if
so, who they
were.
state whether
Amb Pierce has
had any
meetings with
Cameroonian
opposition or
Federalists or
separatists,
and if not,
why not.
Also,
as I asked on
August 1 in
advance of
these week's
UNSC meeting I
remained
banned from,
Last month
Sweden said at
the beginning
of the month
that it would
be seeking
agreed Press
Elements from
every
consultation.
Will the UK be
seeking Press
Elements from
this Western
Sahara
consultation?
And if not,
why not?
On
deadline.
Thanks you in
advance.
-Matthew."
Nothing.
The Patton
Boggs
FARA documents
show the agreement
is to run to
mid 2019,
long after
Biya's next
"election" in
October (also
made a
mockery of by
French
President
Emmanuel Macron
inviting Biya
to an event in
Paris as head
of state in November).
The
"confidential"
letter
agreement is
addressed by
Patton Boggs' Robert S.
Kapla to
Biya's Prime
Minister
Philemon Yang,
to be signed
by Ghogomu
Paul Mingo and
cites
Prof. Nkot.
It
says Joseph
Brand and "Ambassador
Frank
Wisner"
will work on
the Biya fileAfter
the abuses by
Cameroon's
security
forces have
been ignored
by the UN, as
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked about
them until being
banned from
the UN on July 3
and since, new
leaked videos show
summary executions
and manhandling
of prisoners. On
July 14 and 25
Inner
City Press
raised the
issue, and
that of the
UN's censorship
to
the French
Mission to
the UN, and also
directly to
Deputy
Ambassador
Anne Gueguen.
Nothing,
from France
and from the
Security
Council as a
whole, not
even an "Any
Other
Business" briefing,
with none as
yet foreseen
under August's
Security
Council
president the
UK, whose
Liam Fox
bragged of UK
New Age's
gas deal with
Biya; Inner
City Press
asked UK
Ambassador
Karen Pierce about
it here,
before Guterres'
Security's
ouster and
ongoing ban on
which the UK
has done
nothing. July 20
video here.
After
that, Pierce said on
Twitter
- while ignoring
Inner City Press'
question as her
mission has in
recent days,
also on
Yemen - that she
had met with
Cameroon
ministers on
July 11. Inner
City Press
asked the UK
Mission in writing
on August
1 to
explain: "Amb
Pierce
disclosed in
yesterday's
Twitter
Q&A that
she “spoke to
a delegation
of Cameroon
ministers at
the UN on 11
July.” Did she
mean
government
ministers or
religious
ministers? If
the former,
who were they?
Which
departments?
And what was
it mean to say
“we were
watching the
situation
closely.” Does
this mean the
UK or the
Council? Is
there a role,
does the UK
think, for UN
envoy Francois
Lonseny Fall?
Or should
another
mediator be
assigned?"
Nothing, still
no answer as of
noon on August 6 from
the UK
Mission.
(Inner
City Press'
later on
August 6
online question
to returned-toTwitter
Deputy
Ambassador Jonathan
Allen on this
has yet to be
replied to.) Instead,
Pierce said
the initiative
is with
Biya
and his
government.
Now it
emerges that
Paul Biya sent a
delegation of
five from
July 11 to 20,
to DC and New
York to
meet members
of the UN Security
Council. This
while UNSG
Antonio
Guterres had banned
from the UN
Inner City
Press, which has ask
him for more
than a year
about the slaughter
in Cameroon and
his inaction,
as he needed the support of
the Cameroonian
chair of the
UN Budget Committee.
New filing on
Guterres and conflict
of interest, here.
We'll
have more on
this -
and this: ghoulishly
in Cameroon,
where there
is supposed to
be an election
in October,
French
Ambassador
Gilles
Thibault, of
whom Inner City
Press has
asked French
Permanent
Representative
Francois
Delattre
before being
banned from
the UN since
July 3,
has invited
Paul Biya to an Emmanual
Macron "Peace" event, as
Cameroonian
head of
state.. in
November. We'll
have more on
this. On
August
1 in a
briefing Inner
City Press was
banned from
Pierce said
the initiative is
with the
President and
government of
Cameron - that
is, 36 year
ruler Paul
Biya. On
August
2 Inner
City Press emailed
Guterres'
spokesmen and
team
including Alison
Smale and
officer in
charge Hua Jiang, "On
Cameroon and
refugees from
Cameroon in
Nigeria, what
is the
comment,
response and
action if any
of the
Secretargy
General to the
deaths of
eight
Cameroonian
refugees in
Ikom, Cross
River who died
of fumes from
a generator in
their room?
What has the
SG done about
the conflict
and crisis in
the Anglophone
areas of
Cameroon since
his visit to
Younde in
October 2017?
What has he
done in the
last 12 days?"
Haq did not
email any
response back
before heading
out to lunch.
On his
way back
in, Inner City
Press
reiterated the
question and he just
walked
by, as did Hua Jiang,
schooled in
this with
UNMIS in Sudan
it seems, part
of the censorship,
minutes later.
Video here.
This is
today's UN.
***
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