UN
Spokesman Nesirky Claims Right to “Lose It” & Go Berserky, Limits
& Resents Questions, Rules, "It's My Briefing"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 22 -- After eight months as UN Spokesperson, Martin
Nesirky on August 21 propounded his view of his role. “There are no
rules,” he told the Press. “It's my briefing and I can do what I
want.”
Inner
City Press,
increasingly left to the end of the briefing so that no follow up
questions are possible, proposed to formalize a rule that each
correspondent be allowed to ask a question in a first round, then a
second round, and so forth.
“There are no
rules,” Nesirky said again. “You dominate that f**king briefing
every day of the week. You ask any question you like, as many times
as you like. Don't tell me who can or cannot ask questions.”
Each
weekday for
years now, the UN has held a noon briefing. It is a journalist's job
to ask questions, including those that people impacted by the UN
would like to ask if they could, and to follow up until an answer is
given.
Inner
City Press asked why Nesirky was and is so angry about
questions being asked, and why he has refused, for example, to answer
questions Inner City Press put to him by e-mail two weeks ago.
“I have the
right to lose it sometimes,” Nesirky said. The reference appears to
have been to a previous Inner City Press story in
April 2010 abouti Nesirky blowing up at
-- going Berserky on -- other journalists in connection with the
Bhutto murder investigation report, after which Nesirky screamed at
Inner City Press, “I was a journalist longer than you have been a
journalist!”
When
met outside
of the UN, Nesirky has been perfectly polite, and engaging
conversationalist. But Nesirky is the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon and
accompanies him on trips, including meetings with leaders like Omar
al Bashir of Sudan, Mahinda
Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka and Than Shwe of
Myanmar.
If
Nesirky
cannot even keep his cool while speaking with the Press in the
basement of UN headquarters, what will he do in meetings with Bashir,
Than Shwe or Rajapaksa?
Already under
Nesirky, the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General has
been barred from consultations of the Security Council. Nesirky has
claimed that he is working behind the scenes to get restored his
office's access, which was the case for years before his arrival. But
nothing has been accomplished, and UN correspondents get less and
less information.
UN's Ban with Nesirky behind, Berserky outbursts not shown
While some
sessions are better than others, Nesirky has several times announced,
"only one more question," then refused to say why he called an end to
the briefing. A number of long time correspondents have diagnosed
Nesirky in a downward spiral and have expressed concern, not only for
the UN and news about it, but also for Nesirky himself.
Now,
Nesirky has
loudly proclaimed that there are no rules, that he feels he can call
on or not call on whichever journalists he prefers, and that he
resents those who ask questions. Is this appropriate for the UN, a
public body? Watch this site.
* * *
As
Sudan
Expels
UN Officials from Darfur for Rape Detection, UN Silent,
Menkerios One Year & Out, Gration's Khartoum Jaunt
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August
18 -- As in West Darfur UN officials are being
expelled for distributing rape detection equipment and collecting
signatures on an anti-hunger petition, the UN in New York insists on
saying nothing, trying desperately to ingratiate itself to Sudanese
authorities.
After
a
spokesman
for
the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization confirmed the expulsion
of its official for circulating the petition on hunger, Inner City
Press asked the Spokesman for Ban Ki-moon about this, and the
expulsion of other UN officials for conducting research into rape in
Darfur. Video here,
from
Minute 17:41.
Nesirky
insisted,
contrary
to the FAO confirmation, that the UN has “still
received no official notification,” is still speaking with the
government and “can't say any more.”
But
doesn't this
reflect a split of the UN Secretariat from from FAO, which confirms
the expulsions? Nesirky pointed back at his own answer, that he
“can't say anymore.” Can't or won't?
Ironically,
Nesirky
moderated
an August 6 press conference by Margot Wallstrom,
the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual
Violence in Conflict, at which Ms. Wallstrom said that Sudan would be
a major focus of her offices since rape by “men in uniform” is
widespread there. Video here.
How
can the UN
work on the issue of rape in Sudan it is lets its personnel be
expelled for distributing rape detection equipment, and then refuses
to defend them or even speak about the case?
UN's Ban and Wallstrom on rape, comment on Sudan
expulsions not shown
Inner
City
Press
also asked if the UN is facilitating or helping the visit to Sudan by
US Envoy Scott Gration. While some said
with this trip Gration would
be addressing his perceived disinterested in Darfur, now this trip
is
reported to be mostly about the North - South conflict and the
referendum.
So
who in the UN
would be facilitating his trip -- Haile Menkerios, the head of the UN
Misssion in Sudan? Earlier this week, Inner City Press asked
Nesirky's acting deputy Farhan Haq to confirm that Menkerios only
went to Sudan begrudgingly, with a deal to come back to New York and
his Department of Political Affairs job in at most one year.
Video here,
near
end.
That is
the informal understanding, Haq said. What does this say about the
UN's commitment to protecting civilians in Sudan?
Another
joke
making
that rounds is that while Sudan may throw out the UNAMID mission, it
would allow UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to stay. Others say Gambari,
despite all odds, may have his eye on the top post in his native
Nigeria. We'll see.
, 
