On Liberia, UN
Guterres Has Statement, No
Answer on Where He Is, Contempt
For Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 30 – UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, location
undisclosed, has issued a
statement on Liberia, a week
after President George
Weah, standing next to Guterres'
Deputy Amina J. Mohammed,
singled out a journalist as
"against me" after the
journalist asked Mohammed a
question about human rights.
From Mohammed, nothing. On March
30 from the UN, this: "The
Secretary-General welcomes the
successful conclusion of the
mandate of the United Nations
Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) on 30
March 2018. The
Secretary-General congratulates
the people and Government of
Liberia for their determination
to turn the page on crisis and
conflict. He commends the
Government’s continued efforts
to ensure sustained peace and
sustainable development in
Liberia." This was sent out at
7:30 am, by the same UN
Spokesperson's office which has
left unanswered for 10 hours and
counting questions including
this one from Inner City Press:
"where *is* the Secretary
General? And where will he be,
each day prior to his appearance
Monday in Geneva? Again, has the
Secretary General or anyone in
his team spoken with Michel
Sidibe of UNAIDS following the
reports of his threats to staff
who have come forward with
harassment complaints?"
Officials at even the local
level have to disclose where
they are. But the UN is
different - it thrives on lack
of accountability, while falsely
claiming zero tolerance. We'll
have more on this. Amina
Mohammed's Twitter feed, as she
headed from Monrovia to Abuja
where she she was first silent
on, then tried to help cover up
the government's illegal
refoulement of 47 to Cameroon,
said that "I met with President
@GeorgeWeahOff and conveyed the
@UN’s commitment to sustaining
peace, meaningful reconciliation
& sustainable development."
What about freedom of the press?
In the UN Mohammed has said
nothing while the Press which
has asked since November for an
explanation of her role in the
post- (or pre-) dating of CITES
certificates for endangered
rosewood already exported to
China has remained restricted to
minders, unlike other
correspondents, with no content
neutral rules for equal media
access. She has not responded to
multiple petitions
on the issue, and other
questions, to her office,
choosing instead softball
"questions" from friendly
media. Now this.
On March 26, Inner City Press
asked her and Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Farhan Haq, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: the Deputy,
when she was in… I have a
question of what she
accomplished in Abuja, but I
wanted to ask, when she was in
Liberia, there's a… a, at least
there, widely reported incident
in which President [George] Weah
specifically singled out a
journalist and said, you've
undermined the peace
process. And the
journalist raised a lot of
issues about it, and their…
their press freedom
organizations have written about
it. Since Amina J.
Mohammed was on the podium when
this took place, does she have
any response, or can you, in the
same way you did on procurement,
seek some response to her to the
targeting of a journalist
directly in front of her?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
the bottom line is that we want
to make sure that all media are
accorded their basic rights and
their freedom to do their work
without any harassment.
Inner
City Press:
But what was her actual response
to something that happened
actually right in front of her
rather than a generalized
statement?
Deputy Spokesman: This is
where I stand, and we always
make clear to all our
interlocutors the need to
respect press freedoms.
Inner City Press: Did she do
anything about this
incident? I'm asking…
that's what I'm asking about.
Deputy Spokesman: Like I
said, this is where we stand on
that." So she did nothing. What
a way to "stand." Back in
January in Egypt, Ahmed Shafik
who was deported from the UAE to
Cairo when it was reported he
would run for the Egyptian
presidency has announced that he
will not; his lawyers say the
Sisi government coerced him with
threats to drop out. When Inner
City Press asked the UN about
Shafik in December, when Deputy
Secretary General Amina J.
Mohammed was in Egypt "enjoying
the light show," the UN had no
comment. Now Mohammed is in
Abuja in "her" Nigeria right
when nine leaders pursued by
Cameroon's dictator Paul Biya
have been grabbed up, by
Nigerian security. She and the
UN have had nothing to say. To
this has the UN descended:
acquiescence and even complicity
in tyrants shutting down their
opposition. We'll have more on
this. On December 1 UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric who has
refused to answer Inner City
Press' rosewood questions
announced that Amina Mohammed
"will depart New York for Cairo
to hold consultations with
senior Egyptian Government
officials." So far, with no
read-outs at all from the UN,
there is only Egyptian
government propaganda, that
"Upon her arrival at Cairo
International Airport, she was
received by Assistant Foreign
Affairs Minister for African
Affairs Mohamed Idrees and the
UN Resident Coordinator to Egypt
Richard Dictus. The chairman of
Egyptian Tourism Promotion
Authority and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs invited Mohamed
to attend the sound and light
show at the Giza Pyramids which
she enjoyed greatly and noted in
the VIP Guest Book which the
General Manager of Sound and
Light invited her to sign."
That's it? Meanwhile the same
Egyptian state media that
Mohammed's and Alison Smale's UN
DPI retains in Inner City Press'
long-time UN workspace, Akhbar
al Yom, reports darkly that
Ahmed Shafik "is facing charges
of violating building
regulations and will be
investigated on the matter
within the coming hours,
state-run Akhbar Al-Youm
indicated on Sunday." Mohammed
favors this state media, and is
silent on the crackdown but
"enjoyed greatly" the sound and
light show. Next stop, rosewood
unresolved: Wall Street! First,
there was just this smiling
photo and caption: "Deputy
Secretary-General
@AminaJMohammed arrived
today in Cairo for a two-day
visit for a series of
consultations with Egyptian
senior officials on development
related issues." About what -
press freedom, with 400 websites
blocked and journalists in jail,
while her UN favors
Sisi's state media Akhbar al Yom
which rares comes in and never
asks questions? What about this
open letter to the UN about the
lack of press freedom in Egypt,
signed by groups including the
Adalah Center for Rights &
Freedoms, Alkarama Foundation,
ARTICLE 19, Committee for
Justice, Egyptian Coordination
of Rights and Freedoms, El Nadim
Center against Torture and
Violence, EuroMed Rights, Front
Line Defenders, Index on
Censorship, PEN International
and the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT)? What
about the upcoming elections?
Inner City Press asked about
Ahmed Shafik,
the insider in
exile
candidate
who'd said the
UAE wouldn't
let him go?
(Now he's
being
extradited or
deported BACK
to Egypt, as
another
candidate
Ahmed Konsowa
/ Qonsowah has
been summoned
for
prosecution.
And from the
UN's Amina J.
Mohammed?)
From the UN's
December 1 transcript:
Inner City
Press:
You had mentioned Egypt. I
wanted to know is… is the UN
aware of this claim by Ahmed
Shafiq, a potential presidential
candidate, saying he's in the
UAE [United Arab Emirates] and
was barred from going back?And
so there's one question.
The other one is, is this going
to become a way of
outreach? What triggers
the Deputy Secretary-General's
trip to Egypt at this time?
Spokesman: We've seen the
press reports. It's
unrelated to that specific
case. We're not going to…
yeah, so, I mean, the Deputy
Secretary-General's trip was
scheduled long ahead.
There are a lot of issues to be
discussed, notably on
development issues and, you
know, we'll brief you after her
trip. Inner City Press: Many of
the press freedom groups around
the world have already talked
about different people that are
in jail there. Do you
think that she will be raising…
Spokesman: I think… I
don't want to give out
pre-readouts of her meetings.
Inner City Press: And I want
just also on travel. I've
seen some… some… put together
some online clues and I wanted
to ask you if you can confirm
the Secretary-General is going
to be traveling to Japan in the
near future to a health
conference there?
Spokesman: "As you know,
once we're able to confirm
travel, we will. Often
other parties announce trips,
but until we announce it, it's
not official." Moments
later, Inner City Press asked
the UN AIDS representative who
was speaking about sexual
orientation and other
discrimination if Amina Mohammed
was going to raise that in
Egypt. He said Mohammed has not
spoken with his office about
these issues prior to her trip.
We'll have more on this: so far
there is nothing on Amina J.
Mohammed in Egypt. Mohammed's
failure to file financial public
disclosure stands in contrast,
for example, to the UN's envoy
to Afghanistan Tadamichi
Yamamoto, who signed
his Public Disclosure form on
October 23, 2017 (Residential
property, joint ownership,
Japan; Mortgage, Mitsui Sumitomo
Bank, Japan) and another of the
few Japanese UN high
officials, Izumi Nakamitsu
who signed
her Public Disclosure form on
January 18, 2017 (Two
residential properties, joint
ownership, Sweden; Mortgage,
Handelsbanken, jointly held,
Sweden). In other murky news,
after Secretary General Antonio
Guterres went to Lisbon for four
days (while spokesman Dujarric
refused Press requests to
disclosure the cost of that
trip, like Amina Mohammed's to Cape
Town), he will soon travel
to Japan, for a merely regional
health conference. We'll have
more on this. As to Mohammed,
the export to China of illegally
harvested rosewood, reported on
by Le Monde on November 3 with reference
to UN Deputy Secretary General
Amina J. Mohammed who signed the
certificates, also involves
"smuggling from Cameroon." See
EIA video, here.
This may put a new light on the
UN's inaction on the Cameroonian
government's killings and
Internet cut off in the
Anglophone zones. Cameroon's
Ambassador to the UN, while
saying he'd call upstairs to
ensure Inner City Press couldn't
go there any more (the UN's
Department of Public Information
did threaten Inner City Press'
accreditation for Periscope
broadcasting in connection with
photo ops on the 38th floor),
also bragged that the DSG's
opposition to separatism in
Biafra led to the same position
on Cameroon. And just as UN
envoy Chambas went and preached
One Nigeria, failing UN envoy
Francois Fall called Southern
Cameroons secessionists
"extremists," on DPI's UN Radio
no less. They say in journalism,
Follow the Money. But in this
case it may be, Follow the
Rosewood, or Kosso. In
terms of money: Joe Biden
appeared at the UN on November
3, and tables were sold
for up to $50,000. One might
think, after the proved
corruption of the UN in the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe trial for
events in this same Delegates
Dining Room, charging this kind
of money for sitting with
a “senior UN official” would be
a thing of the past. Or after
Antonio Guterres was questioned
after taking a golden statue
from Paul Biya, the 35-year
rules of Cameroon. But no. On
November 6, Deputy Secretary
General Amina J. Mohammed
appeared, took an award and gave
a speech at an event in
Washington for which $25,000
sponsorships were offered, here,
by a publication which covers
and is promoted by the UN (while
following up on November 9 on Le
Monde's November 3 story, no
mention of Cameroon.) On
November 9, Inner City Press
asked the UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press; as you know or
you or Farhan [Haq] had said,
she just recently received the
Diplomat of the Year Award from
Foreign Policy down in DC. Was
she aware of this story being in
preparation when she accepted
the award? Often, to receive the
award, you have to be
present. How long were the
discussions? Spokesman: I
think some of those questions
should be addressed to Foreign
Policy. She was fully
aware that the story was going
to come out when she received
the award." No Cameroon. Ban
Ki-moon allowed the corruption
of Ng Lap Seng, and Antonio
Guterres has done thing to
reverse it. In fact, Guterres
left through the same door Biden
came in, one hour before, using
public funds to fly to his home
in Lisbon, using a 15 minutes
speech there on Monday to
justify a three day UN paid
junket. And his spokesman
refused to answer questions,
even about his one on one
lunches on the 38th floor, where
Inner City Press' use of
Periscope during photo ops has
allowed Guterres' DPI under
Alison Smale to threaten its
accreditation. All of this takes
place while Guterres covers up
mass killing in Cameroon, and is
prepared to be sold himself, on
Wall Street no less. We'll have
more on this. On November 2,
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric announced that "on
Monday, the Secretary-General
will be in Lisbon to participate
in the Web Summit 2017, which
brings together the leaders of
key Internet companies with
officials from different
Governments. You are aware
of the attention the
Secretary-General has been
devoting to the uses of the
Internet." Really? Guterres was
silent for example when Cameroon
cut off the Internet for 94 days
this year; his Department of
Public Information has
threatened Inner City Press'
accreditation for unspecified
violation by live-streaming a
Guterres photo op using
Twitter's Periscope platform.
But why did Guterres take this
speaking gig, which it turns out
is for only 15 minutes at 7:25
pm on the evening of Monday,
November 6? Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, who refused to
state with whom Guterres had a
formal lunch meeting in the UN
dining room with UN funds on
November 3, where Guterres will
be on Saturday and Sunday.
Dujarric replied: "sg will be in
lisbon over the weekend." It
sure seems like that's why he
took the Lisbon speaking gig.
And in fact, even before 5 pm on
Friday, November 3, Guterres
left the UN with bodyguards, in
a three-car convoy. Who is
paying for all this? On October
27, after Guterres' spokespeople
stonewalled Inner City Press for
three days on his plans for a
grip and grin meeting in a
Cameroon airport with Paul Biya,
who has killed hundreds this
year as well as cutting the
Internet Guterres loves so much,
they also refused to say how
Guterres personal, or shall we
say Lisbon-focused, travel is
paid for, and how much it costs.
From the UN transcript: Inner
City Press: If he goes to
Lisbon, Portugal, does he take
UN security with him? In
which case, where do they stay,
and what are the costs?
How are they borne? Deputy
Spokesman: However he does
his stopovers, he does it at the
least cost to the UN. And
a lot of times, what that means
is traveling with a smaller
delegation, and it also means
traveling on commercial
flights. He does take
specific steps, and he's been
very conscientious over these
months of making sure that he
travels with as slim a
delegation as he has. Inner City
Press: My question is just who's
paying for his security if he
goes to Lisbon? And also
I'm aware that he sent some
people in advance to CAR.
They didn't travel with him, but
they were actually part of the
party. So is there an
attempt to bifurcate traveling
trips so that some people are
not considered to be traveling
with him. For example, the
UN photographer, I'm aware, went
days in advance. Why was
that?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
sometimes advance teams go out
when it's needed to do
that. For us, in terms of
the Department of Public
Information, there are many
times when it's useful for us to
send our media crews in advance
to get different coverage for
the sort of pieces and features
that they do. Inner City
Press: Can we just get the
cost? It's a straight
transparency question. Deputy
Spokesman: The costs of
travel are calculated over the
year and shared with the Member
States, and that's how we do
it. All right. Have
a good weekend, everyone."
Antonio sure will - on the
public dime. Back on July 29,
the day after guilty verdicts on
six counts of UN
bribery in the case of Ng
Lap Seng, UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres flew to Split
for a seven day vacation on the
Dalmatian islands, according to
sources there. Guterres'
spokespeople did not disclose
the travel or any week-long
absence to the press covering
the UN, at least not to the
Press evicted and still
restricted for covering Ng's
bribery. This lack of
transparency stands in contrast
to the executive branch in
Washington and even New York
routinely disclosing travel
including vacation travel. But
the UN has no press protections
either - Guterres has been asked.
Meanwhile his spokespeople says
the UN should get paid for the
UNreformed corruption shown in
the Ng trial and verdict. We'll
have more on this. When UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on July 27 had a brief
meeting with Qatar's Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar
state media and other UN based
photographers went up. Alamy
photos here.
There were complaints how short
the handshake was; Inner City
Press noted that on the UN side
of the table were only four
people, all men, including
Jeffrey Feltman. Periscope video
here.
Guterres was scheduled to be at
another meeting in 25 minutes
time. So will the UN help solve
the stand-off in the Gulf? It
seems unlikely. The UN never
answered Inner City Press'
questions of if Feltman had
visited Saudi Arabia and if not,
why not. Back on July 19
Guterres.had a meeting and photo
op with Spain's Foreign Minister
Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo.
Inner City Press went to cover
it, Alamy photos here,
Periscope video here
including of whether Dastis
should write "una poema"
in the UN visitors' book. Inner
City Press barely arriving on
time due to the crowd of
tourists at the UN's visitors
entrance. It has been this way
since Spain's now-gone Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach had Inner City Press
evicted from and still
restricted at the UN after Inner
City Press asked
her about attending indicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng's South South Awards, and
allowing Ng fundees improper
events in the UN. Although
Guterres did not continue
Gallach's contract - she lobbied
to stay, but failed - her
negative impacts are still in
evidence. The Spanish Mission to
the UN, now off the Security
Council, likewise did nothing to
reign Gallach in. But surely
they are lobbying Guterres to
get another Under Secretary
General position, even as their
Fernando Arias Gonzalez runs
against six others to head the
Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons. We'll have
more on this. The day before on
July 18 Guterres had a meeting
and photo op with the Dominican
Republic's Foreign Minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado (Alamy
photos here,
Periscope video here);
it came one day after in the UN
bribery case against Ng Lap Seng
a video of then then-President
Leonel
Fernandez
Reyna visiting
South South
News near the
UN was
discussed.
That video is
here.
South South
News was a
bribery
conduit, its
funds used for
gambling by
Dominican
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Francis
Lorenzo in Las
Vegas and
Atlantic City
while the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
let SSN's
content into
UNTV archives
and let Ng
fundees have
impermissible
events in the
UN. On July
18, Guterres'
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
yes or no
questions
about South
South News and
the UN. After
the July 18
photo op,
Inner City
Press had
nowhere to
edit - for
seeking to
cover an event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room in
pursuing the
UN / SSN
corruption
story, Inner
City Press was
evicted and still
restricted.
The 38th
floor apparently loves it.
On July 10 Guterres has a photo
op with Colombia's Foreign
Minister Maria Angela Holguin
Cuellar. It was supposed to be
in his office in UN Headquarters
at 4:30 pm. But on little notice
he moved it to his - make that,
the UN and the public's -
mansion on Sutton Place and 57th
Street, at 4 pm. Inner City
Press jumped on the city bus up
First Avenue, broadcasting a
Periscope video about the
change, when suddenly it was urged
to stop broadcasting by a
board member of the UN
Correspondents Association,
which Guterres' deputy spoke
before last week and whose
former president Giampaolo
Pioli's Hampton's gratiuty-fest
the UN acting head of Public
Information Maher
Nasser attended, the UN
Censorship Alliance. This is
today's UN. Still, up on Sutton
Place UN Security brought up a
sniffing dog in a UN 4x4, and
two quick photos were allowed
before Guterres escorted Holguin
onto "his" elevator. Back
at the UN, the door to the UN
Security Council stakeout was
locked, and the turnstile where
targeting Inner City Press' ID
pass no longer works was guarded
by new UN Security who didn't
even recognize the UN minder.
Still, we got this
Periscope, despite UN censorship
which continues.
***
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