UN
Spox Dujarric Refuses
2 Days to Answer ICP
on Cameroon, Rif, Gabon, UN
Corruption
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
June 14 – How low has the UN
Spokesperson's office sunk,
after lead Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric outright refused to
answer a Press question about
Burundi, while engaging in
extensive back and forth
during a noon briefing about
the Sex and the City show? On
June 12 and 13, Inner City
Press submitted to Dujarric
and his Deputy nine questions
- not a single one of which
was answered by June 14. There
was no explanation, including
when Inner City Press on the
morning of June 14 again
raised the nine questions
directly in person to
Dujarric. The questions
include: On CAR and Berberati,
please state when the UN
became aware of the situation
and the SEA risk. Inner City
Press is informed there as an
OIOS evaluation a full year
ago, and informed the then new
chief of the CDT about its
findings that the battalion at
issue ignored all orders on
SEA prevention, e.g. closed
perimeters, no civilians in
the camp. When did UN know,
and what did they do about it?
On the May 31 UNOCA report,
please state who WERE the
leaders Paul Biya was “willing
to dialogue with” either – the
ones in detention or the
interim ones, and please state
UNOCA's view of the 50 year
rule in Gabon of the Bongo
family, given that UNOCA was
established in Gabon in 2011.
On Morocco and Rif, give the
large demonstration in Rabat
over the weekend and use of
tear gas in Rif, at least 86
arrested, reiterating for
eighth time Inner City Press'
question: what is the SG's or
DPAs comment on this, to the
Moroccan authorities? And
again, please provide a list
of who works in / or the
Executive Office of the
Secretary General and whether
they are paid by the UN, by a
UN affiliate like UNOPS, or by
a country and is so which.
What if anything is the UN /
MONUSCO doing in the wake of
jail-break of 900 from
Kangbayi prison in North Kivu,
DRC? In Zambia, opposition
figure Hakainde Hichilema,
jailed for a traffic
infraction, has been moved to
a maximum security prison.
Given your Office's previous
answers on Zambia, what is the
UN / DPA saying or doing on
this?" Back on April 11 Inner
City Press asked Dujarric
about Zambia's arrest for
"treason" of the opposition
leader Hakainde Hichilema, and
about Ghana's ruling
party-affiliated Delta Force's
raid on the Kumasi Circuit
Court. Dujarric said he did
not know about the Ghana raid,
despite having read out praise
of Ghana's president moments
before. On Zambia, he had no
comment - and nothing by the
end of the day. From the UN
transcript: Inner City
Press: now that you've
mentioned Ghana, I wanted to
ask you, can you, do you have
any comment on the, the raid
on the Circuit Court in that
country by the Government
ruling-party-affiliated Delta
Force, and was this, this
seems to be a pretty big
thing. And is it in any
way, did it come up in any way
in… in the review of this, the
announcement that you made at
the beginning of the press
conference about Ghana?
Spokesman: The
Secretary-General spoke to the
President a few days
ago. I'll have to look
into the report you
mentioned. I hadn't seen
it.
Inner City Press: People in
human rights groups all over
the world…
Spokesman: I have no
doubt that… I just… haven't
seen it.
And by the
end of the day, nothing. What
is a spokesperson's job? It continued:
Inner City Press: In Zambia,
the main opposition leader,
Mr. Hichilema, has been
arrested by the Government on
treason charges. Is
there any, is DPA or any of
the various envoys of the UN…
Spokesman: I don't have
anything on that.
And
nothing by the end of the day.
This is today's UN. Back on
March 30 after the UN's noon
briefing with only three
questioners (and without still-restricted
Inner City Press), the
question again arose: what is
the bare minimum a
spokesperson should be
expected to do, for an
organization like the UN?
Should it include at least
providing some response to
Press questions submitted?
Despite only have to response
to the three questioner, two
hours after submission not one
of these, or outstanding
questions on Cameroon and
Western Sahara, was answered:
"These are four questions in
advance of the noon briefing,
to be answered at that time,
thanks in advance:
1) In Cambodia, opposition
leader Sam Rainsy has just
been sentenced to one year and
eight months in prison along
paying a fine to Hun Sen on
charges of “defamation.” This
coincides with the 20th
anniversary of the grenade
attack on a rally led by
Rainsy. What is the UN's
comment, and separately what
is it doing about this in
Cambodia? 2) On the DRC Congo:
1. Who found the bodies of
Sharp & Catalan? The UN or
the DRC authorities? 2. How
many bodies were found? Just
2, or 3? 3. Is the UN aware of
the status of Betu Tshintela?
Can the UN confirm that Betu's
body was found along with
Michael & Zaida? 4. How to
explain this discrepancy? 5.
Has the UN been to the site
where the bodies were found,
yes or no? 3) In light of
recent criticism that the UN
supports corrupt governments,
please explain / amplify the
UN's RC in Zimbabwe's
statement that “'Our role is
to support development in
Zimbabwe in partnership with
the government. We are behind
government' ... He said all
its efforts were done in
agreement with President
Robert Mugabe and his
government.” 4) Also, please
describe the vetting done in
connection with Sri Lanka
military deployments with UN
Peacekeeping missions in Mali
and elsewhere, given the UN's
own reports on military abuses
in Sri Lanka." We'll have more
on this.
On March 29, the UN was
providing two responses to
five Inner City Press
question, simply ignoring
questions on Cameroon,
corruption and Western Sahara?
Inner City Press on the
morning of March 29 asked the
UN's top three spokespeople
"questions in advance of the
noon briefing, to be answered
at that time: 1) What is the
Secretary General's comment on
Jordan rolling out the red
carpet for Sudan's Omar al
Bashir, subject to an ICC
arrest warrant for genocide?
2) Given that the UN Economic
Commission for Africa has had
to delay its meeting with
African finance ministers at
the Dakar meeting the 38th
floor is tracking due to
Morocco seeking to exclude the
Polisario, does the SG / DPA
think these developments move
the situation in Western
Sahara closer to a peaceful
solution and referendum? 3) In
one of two UN-related bribery
prosecutions in the US
District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
Ng Lap Seng's co-defendant
Jeff C. Yin is now engaged in
plea negotiations, as Ng Lap
Seng's trial draws near. Will
the UN be monitoring the trial
as to what it shows of UN
involvement, and what was done
regarding the DGACM official
who provided a falsified /
amended for “technical”
reasons document regarding the
proposed Macau convention
center? 4) Because UNanswered,
asking again: In Cameroon,
former UN legal adviser (in
UNAMA and elsewhere) Felix
Agbor Balla now, according to
a UK-based barristers'
organization, faces a military
trial with the death penalty
on the table for speaking out
about conditions in the
country's Anglophone areas,
where the Internet has been
cut for 71 days and counting.
Particularly given
Agbor-Balla's former position
as a UN legal expert, what is
not only the UN's comment, but
what is the UN doing to
attempt to ensure he receives
due process? Also, what about
the arrest of human rights
lawyer Robert Fon and his
transfer to Yaounde? Also,
yesterday your Office replied,
regarding the USG of DPI, “We
will announce arrivals and
departures as they occur.” Now
that your partner has arranged
a farewell for this USG for
March 30, what is the
rationale for your Office
refusing to confirm her
departure and the status of
recruiting a replacement? And
the unanswered questions
below."
To those
Inner City Press questions,
the UN Spokesman provided,
past 2:30 pm, only this --
"Regarding your question about
Omar al-Bashir, our position
on him remains
unchanged. We urge all
States, including the States
Parties to the Rome Statute of
the ICC, to abide by their
obligations. Regarding the
naming of senior officials, we
have announced two
appointments today (for the
Executive Director of WFP and
the High Commissioner for
Disarmament Affairs).
Other announcements will be
made in due course.
Regarding
Under-Secretary-General
Cristina Gallach, her position
will be filled by an
Officer-in-Charge upon her
departure while the process to
find a new
Under-Secretary-General for
Public Information continues."
So, nothing on Cameroon or
Morocco / Western Sahara /
ECA, nor other questions on UN
costs and corruption. We'll
have more on this.
Again, what
is the bare
minimum a
spokesperson
should be
expected to
do, for an
organization
like the UN? Should
it include, if a spokesperson
has no answer to a
journalist's questions at an
in-person briefing, e-mailing
an answer when it becomes
available? Not in today's UN
Spokesperson's office, at
least not for Inner City Press
which that Office evicted
from the UN Press Briefing
Room and then
the UN, and still
restricts. On March 7,
holdover Deputy Spokesperson
Haq wouldn't even explain why
he had not provided available
UN information,
video here. On March 6,
Inner City Press asked Deputy
Spokesman Farhan Haq about
Nepal. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City
Press: I know that the
UN used to have a mission in
Nepal, but there's been kind
of increasing problems in the
Madhesi and Tharu communities
there, including now today
people killed by security
forces. And it seems to
be politically there are
groups trying to
mobilize. So, I just
wondered, since the
Secretary-General talks about
preventative diplomacy, is the
UN actually looking at this
growing problem in
Nepal? And does it have
any idea of trying to somehow
get involved as well as
commenting on the killing of
unarmed individuals by the
security forces?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
of course, we want to make
sure that any excessive use of
force will be
investigated. Beyond
that, we're monitoring the
situation. If there's
anything further down the
line, we'll let you know at
that point.
"We'll let you know." Well,
the UN Office in Nepal put out
a statement that it is
"seriously concerned by the
escalation of tensions in the
lead-up to the local elections
announced for May," which
others (not in the UN) then
sent to Inner City Press. From
the UN's two holdover
spokesmen, nothing. On March
7, Inner City Press asked Haq
why he hadn't followed through
on his "if there's anything
further down the line, we'll
let you know" line. From the March 7
transcript:
Inner City
Press: yesterday I’d
asked you about Nepal, and you
said, you know, “I’ll get back
to you if something comes
out”. Something actually
did come out from the office
of Nepal. So I… maybe
you’ll read it from here, but,
like… wasn’t that… when you
say “I’m gonna get back to
you”, does it mean I’m going
to send you something if the
UN system provides the
information? Like, what
happened?
Deputy Spokesman: It
means exactly what it
means. We’ve been
dealing with each other for
years. You’ll get
answers down the line once we
get them.
Inner City Press: So do
you have… you’re unaware that
the office of Nepal has
actually put out a statement
about the incident I asked you
about yesterday, or do you
have that?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m
aware that they’ve put out a
statement. That was
after I was at the
briefing. If it was
before the briefing, we could
have mentioned it then.
Inner City Press: Right,
but since… between the two
briefings, like, once they put
it out.
Beckett.
Or Pinter. This is similar to
lead spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, when Inner City
Press asked last week about
the abuse of Anglophones in
Cameroon, not even asking or
providing a response from the
Department of Political
Affairs, whose Jeffrey Feltman
in a rare Q&A session on
March 6 said that ONUCA's
Francois Lonseny Fall had
visited the region. Lazy spox,
indeed. UNacceptable. We'll
have more on this.
Earlier (2016) here.
***
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