As
Egyptians
Push for Change, UN Ban Warns of
“Political Instability”
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 30 -- As in Egypt protests calling for Hosni Mubarak
to leave continue, UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon in Addis Ababa
was quoted that Egyptians
“have the right to express their visions,
in demonstrations, but all these should not lead to social
instability and political instability.”
Even
in front of
the empty
UN in New York, hundred chanted “Mubarak must go.” The
call is to end 30 years of rule under an emergency law allowing
censorship, even if that was deemed politically stable. Ban's
spokesman Martin Nesirky, asked Friday by the press if Ban thought
the emergency law should be eliminated, declined to answer the
question directly.
Midday
on January
30, Inner City Press queried Nesirky and his deputy Farhan Haq about
the status of the UN system's programs in Egypt, including a program
which NGOs have criticized “as ineffective, complaining that it has
BANned credible human [rights] lawyers from giving lectures to the
police because of their political opposition to the NDP, and
instead
invites MOI officials complicit in torture to give human rights
presentations.”
But five
hours later, there were no answers nor
acknowledgment of the questions about the UN in Egypt.
Even
Ban's quote
against political instability hadn't been distributed, perhaps
understandably, to the UN press list by his Public Information and
Spokesperson's office, which in the interim had sent the Press
anodyne “read outs” of Ban's meetings with Rwandan President Paul
Kagame and French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- with no mention of Egypt.
UN's Ban & Mubarak: united against "political instability" ?
With Kagame,
Ban
discussed only sexually based violence, and not counter reports of
genocide and war crimes in Eastern Congo.
With
Sarkozy, Ban
did not bring up Tunisia nor Egypt, but rather Lebanon, Haiti and
Cote d'Ivoire. The interest of the UN under Ban in democracy seems to
some to be limited to one country, and not extend to Tunisia, much
less Egypt (or Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria -- or Myanmar).
Watch this site.
* * *
As
in
NYC Police Guard UN Mission of Egypt, UNDP Banned Rights
Advocates
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 29 -- As protests continue in Egypt, even in New
York Egypt's Mission to the UN is guarded by police, some brought
down from The Bronx. Inside an otherwise empty UN, Inner City Press
fields
messages from the Egyptian diaspora responding to its reporting
earlier on Saturday, some pointing to UN system
complicity in Mubarak's repression.
Take
for example the UN Development Program's work with Egypt's police,
called BENAA, founded by Murabak's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to a UNDP
website yet
to be taken down as some have been, “media
and
Civil Society Organizations have been targeted, including the
crucial group of university students.”
But a Wikileaked
US embassy cable in a non-highlighted portion
admits that
“NGO contacts have
privately
criticized the UNDP project as ineffective, complaining that it has
banned credible human [rights] lawyers from giving lectures to the
police because of their political opposition to the NDP, and instead
invites MOI officials complicit in torture to give human rights
presentations.”
So
the UN system in
Egypt “BANned credible human lawyers from giving lectures to the
police because of their political opposition to the NDP, and instead
invites MOI officials complicit in torture.”
No
wonder then
that BAN Ki-moon is so silent on whether Mubarak's 30 year emergency
law allowing censorship should be eliminated.
Egypt UN Mission Jan 29, 9 pm, cops from 50th
Precinct, (c) MRLee
UNDP
Administrator Helen Clark, notably, was in Yemen earlier this month
praising the government, as if the protests there and in Tunisia and
elsewhere were not taking place.
There is more
to be said about the UN's system's work including with BENAA, which lists
as supporters the Ford Foundation, EU and members and others. Watch
this site.
* * *
Amid
Egyptian
Protests, UN Dormant, Ban Silent on Emergency Law
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 29 -- Chants of “Mubarak must go” echoed
Saturday against the white metal walls of the UN's temporary North
Lawn building on 1st Avenue in Manhattan. But the UN was empty.
Both
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his Deputy, Asha Rose Migiro were
out of town. And the UN system has had little to say or do about the
calls for an end of censorship and repression in Egypt.
Friday
in the UN's
noon press briefing, Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky was asked
if Ban thought that Egypt's 30 year old emergency law should go.
Nesirky said that "one of the ground principles of democracy is to
protect and ensure the freedom of speech of the people,"
but refused to directly comment on the emergency censorship law.
Earlier
this month,
Ban had
little to say about Tunisia. He did not send an envoy to the
country -- a decision taken, Inner City Press is informed by well
placed UN sources, on the advice of Ban's chief of staff and Myanmar
envoy Vijay Nambiar.
The
UN Security
Council did not meet on January 27 or 28, and has not scheduled any
meeting for January 31, the last day of Bosnia's quiet presidency.
US
President Barack Obama called Mubarak and talked to or at the press
for four minutes on Friday, but did not mention the UN, just as he
did not mention it and Darfur in his State of the Union speech
earlier in the week. -- all men -- but not Susan Rice, his Ambassador
to the UN.
On Saturday Obama held a meeting on Egypt with "his national
security team" which included eleven people
In
an interview
for CNN's show GPS with Fareed Zakaria, the prime minister of the
Permanent Security Council member United Kingdom David Cameron called
Mubarak a “friend of Britain... We’ve worked together over many
issues, not least the need to combat Islamic extremism.”
A
week ago and on
Saturday morning, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Nesirky when
Ban will act on the request by the UK, Mexico and others that he
replace Nambiar with a full time envoy to Myanmar.
Nesirky by
press
time did not answer that, nor a request for UN comment on Myanmar
affirming the disbanding of the political party of Burmese democracy
activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sat Jan 29 by empty UN, Ban comment on emergency law
not shown
And
so as people
take risks to oppose repression from Tunisia to Egypt and elsewhere
such as Yemen, the UN is increasingly silent, un-transparent,
marginalized. Saturday's chants echoed off empty UN buildings. How
long can this go on? Watch this site.
From
the
UN's
January 28 transcript:
Correspondent:
Egypt. Does the Secretary-General concur with Ms. Pillay that the
30-year-old emergency law should be lifted and then that
investigations should be conducted into the use of excessive force
and the reported deaths of five civilians participating in the
protests?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, clearly, it is obvious that where there are reports
of excessive use of force, that those reports should be investigated. I
think that is fairly clear. Yes?
Question:
My other question was concerning Ms. Pillay’s call for the end of
the state of emergency that legalizes censorship and enhances police
powers and so forth.
Spokesperson:
Well, the Secretary-General said very clearly this morning that he
believes that one of the ground principles of democracy is to protect
and ensure the freedom of speech of the people. And he also spoke
about the need for freedom of expression and association to be fully
respected. Yes?
Question:
Thank you. Is the Secretary-General worried of any kind of domino
effect, because of what has happened in Tunisia and what is going on
now in Egypt? Is he worried because the Arab world order is in
danger now?
Spokesperson:
He has made very clear… he has spoken today about Egypt, but not
just about Egypt. He spoke about Tunisia and Egypt and indeed
elsewhere. And the key point is that leaders in the region should
understand that it is an opportunity to address legitimate concerns
that the people in those countries have. And it is through dialogue
with the people that the leaders can better understand what the
people of those countries aspire to, what they wish for. And then
they will be better able to address the challenges that they all
face. But the key thing is that this should be done without violence
and through dialogue.
Question:
Has the Secretary-General taken note of the incarceration and house
arrest of Mr ElBaradei? Does he have anything to say about that?
Spokesperson:
I was asked a similar question just earlier, and the
Secretary-General is aware of the reports — and there are differing
reports out there. He is aware of the reports that there are, and if
I have anything further on this topic then I’d let you know a bit
later.
Watch
this site.
, 
