As UN Bans
Inner City Press It E-Asks Spox Dujarric
of SG Covers Up WHO Covid 19 DRC UN Gym S
Sudan UN Racism Cameroon Saudi China
Fleming Bans Press 3000+ UNanswered
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
UN GATE / SDNY
COURT, April 15 – Inner
City Press on 5 July 2018 was
banned from entering the UN,
two day after it was
physically removed from
conducting interviews outside
meeting about the UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' $6.7
billion budget.
Then
Guterres' Department of Global
Communication, run by Melissa
Fleming, issued a letter
banning Inner City Press from
the UN - for life. With no due
process, no right of
appeal. Guterres has put
the UN in the US Press Freedom
Tracker, here. Guterres'
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
falsely promised on camera
that he would be answering
banned Inner City Press'
questions - but see below.
On April 15 before another
phoned-in UN noon briefing by
Stephane "French
Whine" Dujarric amid his
and Guterres' cover up
COVID-19's spread by the UN to
and in South Sudan with a
national staff bus without
social distancing, Inner City
Press submitted yet more
questions (blocked by
Dujarric's screener Florencia
Soto Nino on +1
917 226 7816
and Dujarric
himself on +1
917 622 7652)
including asking for an
immediate response about the
UN South Sudan transcript
leaked to it and the basis on
which it continues to be
lawlessly banned from entering
to ask questions in
person. On April 13
there was no answer from
Farhan Haq on +1 917 592 4591,
not even a confirmation of
receipt, as he entertained
questions from retirees in a
kitchen wearing the jacket of
an expensive private school, here
and here. Inner City Press
asked:
April
15-1: On the Coronavirus Covid-19, AGAIN
immediately provide SG Guterres' comment and
action on Inner City Press' exclusive that
UN Security, which Guterres and you used to
oust and ban Inner City Press, is violating
all New York City (and state) laws by
keeping their gym open, with up to three
officers using it at once, see
and on the admission in UNMISS Town
Hall transcript sent to banned Inner City
Press by disgusted staff that national staff
on UN bus had no social distancing, and
everything else in that transcript -
immediately.
On China, what is the SG doing about
that the Chinese government has begun to track
people through software that analyzes their
personal information. Individuals throughout
the country, including journalists, were
required to register for a QR code through
WeChat, a mobile messaging app, or AliPay, a
mobile wallet. Users are first prompted
to enter personal information, including their
Chinese ID number, phone number, residential
address, their place of work and where, when
and how one entered the region, as well as the
address of where they’re staying locally, and
the purpose of their trip.
What is the SG doing about the targeting
of Africans in China, documented on Instagram
and elsewhere? And comment on that Ugandan
opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi,
popularly known as Bobi Wine, says he has
partnered with an American businessman to
airlift Africans being mistreated in
China. This is after reports emerged of
hundreds of Africans evicted from their homes
and hotels in the Chinese city of Guangzhou
over fears the coronavirus was spreading in
African communities. What is the SG
doing is anything about Kenyans living in
China are still being evicted from their homes
despite a formal protest by Kenya's Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. Kenyans in China
Organisation said landlords are handing out
eviction notices in southern parts of the
country particularly in Guangzhou
On Cameroon, that COVID-19 scare hits
Kondengui prison as four inmates die, several
evacuated- An inmate named Innocent has
passed away. Innocent, another inmate says
died after he spent “almost two weeks lying in
the health centre in prison.” The
Anglophone from Sabga in the North West region
is one of four inmates to die in the facility
within 24 hours, a phenomenon other inmates
say is strange and scary. What is the SG's
response to dead bodies stored in prison
bathrooms in Cameroon that prisoners,
including political prisoners, are forced to
use? See, e.g., here.
On Western Sahara, on the continued
conditions of detention of Saharawi political
prisoners by Morocco. On the criticism
of Renata Lok Dessallien made by her new
"host country" and how she got that promotion,
given under performance on Rohingya; On
the US Congressional request for documents
from WHO, and why they - and the UN
Secretariat - have no FOIA procedure at
all; And, again, on WHO's Bruce Aylward
refusing to answer Taiwan question. And now to
that "the next appropriations bill, there's
not going to be any money for the WHO. I'm in
charge of the appropriations subcommittee. I'm
not going to support funding the WHO under its
current leadership. They've been deceptive.
They've been slow and they've been Chinese
apologists," [Senator Lindsay] Graham said.
Again, why was Gulbenkian (and thence CEFC
China Energy) omitted from SG's public
financial disclosures covering 2016? On Sri
Lanka's scam Covid-19 body chaired by
unelected, mass killing connected Basil
Rajapaksa?
On Zambia, what are the comments and actions
if any of SG Guterres and separately USG
Melissa Fleming on that on April 9, the
Independent Broadcasting Authority, Zambia’s
broadcasting regulator, cancelled Prime TV’s
license “in the interest of public safety,
security, peace, welfare or good order,”
according to a statement from the regulator.
The statement said that Prime TV must
surrender its license and cease broadcasting
immediately. On the same day, police arrived
at the outlet's office in Lusaka, the capital,
and forced staffers to leave the building and
barred them from returning, according to a
person with knowledge of the matter, who said
that employees had not been able to return as
of today. Prime TV, a popular television
station known for its critical coverage of the
government, had recently been covering the
COVID-19 pandemic.
On Saudi Arabia, what is the SG doing about
that thousands of undocumented Ethiopian
migrants are being deported from Saudi Arabia
amid efforts to contain the spread of the
deadly coronavirus pandemic. For
Ethiopian migrants working in Saudi Arabia
without the necessary permits, deportation is
an ever-present possibility. Since the
Saudi government began cracking down on what
it called "illegal expatriates" in 2017, tens
of thousands have been regularly sent back
home. After a two-week hiatus, Saudi’s
efforts to return the Ethiopian migrants have
resumed. More than 2,000 migrants
arrived in the capital Addis Ababa in the
first half of April with more expected in the
coming weeks.
On Mali, the head of the UN
peacekeeping mission in Mali
(MINUSMA) said Mali has
reported 56 confirmed cases of
COVID-19, including two in
MINUSMA - please provide more
information on these two, and
what safeguards the UN has
taken - and in South Sudan. On
Cameroon, that Biya has not
been seen since March 11.
Also on Cameroon,
that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and Co.
express fear of contrating
COVID 19 at Yaounde Principal
prison None of the
guards they say "have face
masks, gloves or other
personal protective equipment
and they move from one cell
room to another” ?
Belatedly provide SG comment
and action if any on that
President Paul Biya's silence
in the face of the coronavirus
crisis is causing controversy
in Cameroon. Why did Guterres
list Cameroon on his April 3
bragging, when Biya's Army
continues killing? The
inhabitants of Okoyong village
in Mamfe, South West region
are still mourning the brutal
killing of four boys by
government soldiers.
Sources say the boys were
pulled from a restaurant and
killed with live ammunition.?
On WHO's Bruce Aylward
blatantly avoiding question
about Taiwan and virus
response, which Inner City
Press asked USG Fleming about
online on March 28. On the
egregious State of Emergency
Law which poses a grave threat
to human rights in Cambodia?
On that in Uganda On March 25,
2020, the government banned
public transport and non-food
markets. Prior to that it had
closed all bars and instituted
a mandatory quarantine in
hotels for Ugandans returning
from high risk countries, for
which those in quarantine
initially had to pay for. The
government has also closed
public court hearings.
On March 30, President Yoweri
Museveni announced several
additional measures, including
a nighttime curfew, banning
the use of all privately-owned
vehicles, and closing shopping
malls and non-food stores for
14 days. The next day,
Richard Karemire, the Ugandan
army spokesman, announced that
the police, the army, and an
armed community-policing
paramilitary group called the
Local Defense Unit (LDU),
coordinated by the Ugandan
army, would conduct patrols to
help enforce the directive.
However, security forces have
used excessive force,
including beating, shooting,
and arbitrarily detaining
people across the
country. Please
immediately state why SG
Guterres did not ensure, or
apparently even inquire, if UN
staff and the families had
needed masks before in a
publicity stunt giving them
away to Penny A and the City's
UN office? Outraged
staff have asked banned Inner
City Press. And on the March
25 fundraiser, why is there no
disclosure of USG Melissa
Fleming among the most recent
public financial disclosures?
Why none for Mark Lowcock?
None for Henriette Fore? How
can the UN raise money on this
opaque basis? Please explain
the break down of the March 27
GA/ECOSOC/UNSC meeting
livestream, and how questions
were selected. "AGAIN:
please immediately state the
conditions and mitigation for
the lay off of all Delegates
Dining Room staff which Inner
City Press reported yesterday
after being contacted by staff
complaining there is no
mitigation of economic harm.
On Mali, what are the comments
and actions if any of SG
Guterres on that Mali held its
long-delayed parliamentary
election on Sunday despite an
insurgency in its central and
northern regions, concerns
about coronavirus and the
recent kidnapping of the main
opposition leader? On Burundi,
what are the comments and
action if any of SG Guterres
and USG Fleming on that
Burundian member of Parliament
Anglebert Ngendabanka
threatens to physically
eliminate (“crush the head”
according to his words)
journalists from the press?
What of that the World Health
Organisation (WHO) has not
shared with member states
information Taiwan has
provided on the coronavirus
including details on its cases
and prevention methods,
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said
on Monday (March 30),
ratcheting up its complaints?
And on that "Hong Kong’s
government said public
broadcaster RTHK breached its
charter by asking the World
Health Organization about
Taiwan’s membership, a move
democracy advocates criticized
as a new government effort to
muzzle the press. The
Commerce and Economic
Development Bureau said
Thursday that Radio Television
Hong Kong’s interview with WHO
official Bruce Aylward
violated the principle that
Taiwan belongs to “one China.”
A now-viral video of Aylward’s
awkward exchange with the RTHK
presenter put renewed focus on
China’s efforts to prevent
Taiwan from cooperating with
the global health agency
during the
pandemic.
What is SG Guterres'
comment and action if any of
China sinking the Vietnamese
fishing vessel?
April 7-1a: What
is the SG doing about that in
Tunisia, migrants in an
irregular situation residing
in the Ouardia reception and
orientation Centre, on Monday,
staged a strike protesting
living conditions in the
Centre? April 7-1a: On
the UN system's development
programs, what are the
responses of SG Guterres and
separately DSF Amina J.
Mohammed to the UK DFID letter
Inner City Press has published
that "UK DFID's Nick Dyer in
an April 1 letter to Steiner
obtained by Inner City
Press: "Examples of UNDP
reform behaviours reported by
DFID country included: • UNDP
making the transition for RCs
challenging – denying the RC
access to their vehicles etc
April 7-1b: What
are SG Guterres' comments and
actions if any on the
indictment of Maduro on drug
charges, and again what were
Gutterres' discussions with
Honduras president JOH, whose
brother has been convicted in
the SDNY of drug trafficking
(sentencing now set April 15
or May 15) and has himself
been alleged to be a
conspirator? What about the
money your office bragged
about from Honduras, given the
proof JOH took money from El
Chapo? Now in April, on
Twitter stating that ""Twitter
Safety @TwitterSafety We
discovered many inauthentic
accounts were accessing
Twitter from a single IP range
in Honduras, and heavily
Retweeting the President’s
account. We removed 3,104
accounts when it became clear
a staffer created the fake
accounts on the government’s
behalf"? Any comment on the
reported death of former
Honduras president (also
convicted of FIFA corruption)
Rafael Callejas? And the new
FIFA indictments in the EDNY
court in Brooklyn, with
respect to Qatar?
April 7-2: On
Cameroon, what are the
comments or actions if any of
SG Guterres after he took
credit for one group's
ceasefire in Southern Cameroon
on (1) the government not
being among 52 sign ons, and
(2) that Monday, two
civilians, a boy and a man
were shot at the Mile 12 area
in Bamenda by soldiers? Now,
specifically, that Njafect
Felix and Febkwi Henry have
been shot dead in Nwa, Donga
Mantung by Paul Biya's forces.
The soldiers surrounded the
entire village, harassed
civilians and extorted money
and valuables. The 2 killed
were accused of having
alliances with separatist
fighters? On that
inhabitants of Okoyong village
in Mamfe, South West region
are still mourning the brutal
killing of four boys by
government soldiers.
Sources say the boys were
pulled from a restaurant and
killed with live ammunition?
On that President Paul Biya's
silence in the face of the
coronavirus crisis is causing
controversy in Cameroon. It
was his Prime Minister who
announced measures to combat
the epidemic. Mr. Biya has not
yet spoken, unlike his
counterparts in neighboring
countries? on the holding of
an "election" in NW and SW
during this Coronavirus
crisis? Why did Guterres "take
note" of Guinea vote, but not
Cameroon? What is his comment
and action if any on that the
personal engagement of
President Paul Biya in the
fight against COVID-19 has
been questioned by most
Cameroonians who say he has
been very absent compared to
his colleagues accross the
Continent. President Paul Biya
apart from a recent tweet
during which he called on
citizens to be calm and
respect government’s measures,
has neither addressed the
issue nor disbursed financial
assistance promised by
government to effectively
fight COVID-19. Yet
again, immediately
disclose whose question was
cited by Stephane Dujarric in
the in-person noon briefing as
having been asked triggering
condemnation of one-death
bombing attributed, rightly or
wrongly, to non Paul Biya
forces? How is your approach
not propaganda, censorship and
a cover up of the Biya's
government's mass killings?
April 7-2a: On
China, what are the comments
and actions if any of SG
Guterres on that three Chinese
human rights lawyers, Mr. Ding
Jiaxi, Mr. Zhang Zhongshun and
Mr. Dai Zhenya, have been held
by authorities in a form of
detention called Residential
Surveillance in a Designated
Location (RSDL) since they
were arrested for attending an
informal weekend gathering in
the city of Xiamen. At the
gathering, they discussed the
situation of civil society and
politics in China with other
lawyers and activists? On that
Taiwan's foreign minister
Joseph Wu on Saturday slammed
the Hong Kong government for
threatening press freedom
after one of its officials
reprimanded a broadcaster for
an interview in which a World
Health Organization (WHO)
official was pressed on
Taiwan's
membership. "It's
a disgrace to see this is
happening to Hong Kong, a
place that used to shine as a
beacon of press freedom in
East Asia," Wu said?
April 7-3: On
Guinea, what are the comments
and actions of SG Guterres,
beyond "taking note," on that
opposition activists in Guinea
say at least 10 people have
been killed in street clashes
during Sunday's controversial
referendum on a new
constitution. Critics
said the vote was a ploy by
President Alpha Condé to stay
in power beyond his
mandate. The deaths
occurred in the capital,
Conakry, where police fired
tear gas to disperse
demonstrators.
Opposition supporters attacked
the police, burned polling
centres and destroyed voting
equipment. Mr Condé, 82,
insists the new constitution
will bring about positive
reforms, especially for
women. Many people say
they are worried about the
vote taking place during the
coronavirus outbreak.
April 7-3a: On
the DRC and total lack of
trust in the UN, what are the
comment and actions of SG
Guterres on reports that
"civilians in the eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) are resisting the
deployment of United Nations
peacekeepers despite imminent
attacks by rebel groups in the
region. The resistance
is the aftermath of a fallout
between residents in the town
of Beni and the UN Mission for
Stabilisation in the Congo
(MONUSCO). This after
residents accused the
peacekeepers of failure to
protect them from repeated
attacks"
April 7-3b: On
Qatar, what are the comments
and actions if any of SG
Guterres on that nine migrant
labourers working on the
stadiums for the 2022 World
Cup in Qatar died in 2019, the
“supreme committee” organising
the event has announced,
bringing the number of deaths
on World Cup projects to 34,
since construction began six
years ago. 31 of the
deaths, including the nine who
died last year, are classified
as “non-work related”, a term
the supreme committee uses to
describe deaths that largely
occur off the worksite, most
of which are attributed to
sudden and unexplained cardiac
or respiratory
failure.
April 7-4: On UN
bribery, again, what are the
comments or actions if any of
SG Guterres on the March 11
appellate argument by
convicted UN briber Patrick Ho
of CEFC China Energy in the 2d
Circuit Court of Appeals? Why
has SG Guterres not amended
his disclosure covering 2016
which omit payments from
Gulbenkian Foundation which
tried to sell its oil company
to CEFC? Separately, again,
why is there no disclosure of
USG Melissa Fleming among the
most recent public financial
disclosures? Why none for Mark
Lowcock? None for Henriette
Fore? How can the UN raise
money on this opaque
basis?
April 2-5: On
corruption and Angola, on
which you refused to answer
yesterday, what are the
comments and actions if any of
SG Guterres on the Luanda
Leaks exposure of Isabel dos
Santos of Angola, and as Inner
City Press has repeatedly
asked, what are his comments
and action on the repeated
retweeting of Isabel dos
Santos' denials by his close
staffer Aguinaldo Baptista?
After, for example, exposure
of the corrupt urban
development project near
Luanda for which some 3,000
families were driven from
their homes to make way for
the development? And now after
The Portuguese bank EuroBic
has announced it will end its
business relationship with
Africa's richest woman, Isabel
dos Santos.
April 2-6:
Immediately describe the role
of Angola and the dos Santos
family in the campaign of
Antonio Guterres to become
UNSG.
April 9-7: On UN
sexual exploitation and abuse
- alleged - as Inner City
Press requested before noon
briefing on April 9,
immediately provide all
if-asked / further information
immediately provide the
if-asked information about the
new sex abuse case data dumped
at 10 am on April 9, involving
sexual abuse by peacekeeper
from Mauritania in CAR, also
Cameroon in CAR, Pakistan in
Darfur, Tanzania in DRC,
and still UN rape in DRC by
Guatemala "peacekeeper," and
abuse by Senegal in Haiti, and
Gabon and Mauritania in CAR,
etc and as Inner City Press
asked in writing in 2019
without response, the if-asked
information for the report of
UN rape in Darfur data dumped
to Conduct and Discipline
website on the morning of
January 17 and the "if asked"
information about the two new
cases of sexual exploitation
in CAR by Cameroonian UN
"Police" that were put online
after 5 pm on December 30 (a
day when you refused to answer
7 questions including on
previous UN rapes), and the
(Dec 19) rape case by a UN
Volunteer in DRC in June 2019
- what nationality? What's
been done for the victim(s)?
and the Dec 9 sex abuse cases
in CAR by Gabon, DRC and
Morocco UN "peacekeepers, and
the Dec g about the
Office of the Special Envoy
for the Sahel, and the two
more November 26, 3 pm cases
of sexual exploitation in CAR
by Cameroon troops in
September 2019 (!)
April 6-8: On SG
Guterres' Town Hall in Geneva,
on which you refused Inner
City Press' Dec 20 question,
what is your summary of what
SG Guterres said given that
Inner City Press has now
publishing more of it? Please
explain SG Guterres' statement
that interns should not (ever)
be paid, and how this is not
create unfair advantage for
the most affluent?
April 6-9: As
previously and repeated asked,
where has UNSG Antonio
Guterres been for the past
week(s), and how much public
money has he spent? Is he
going directly to and from
Pakistan? Previously from
Addis? Or any stop overs? At
what cost? Now, immediately
disclose any and all costs to
the UN including UN Security
on the New York trip by
Catarina Vaz Pinto Guterres on
February 27 - March 1 (or
longer).
April 7-10: On
press freedom and COVID-19 and
Taiwan / China, what are the
comments and actions if any of
SG Guterres and separately USG
Melissa Fleming on that
Taiwan's foreign minister
Joseph Wuon Saturday slammed
the Hong Kong government for
threatening press freedom
after one of its officials
reprimanded a broadcaster for
an interview in which a World
Health Organization (WHO)
official was pressed on
Taiwan's
membership. "It's
a disgrace to see this is
happening to Hong Kong, a
place that used to shine as a
beacon of press freedom in
East Asia," Wu said..
More
here.
***
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