From
Egypt Sisi Comes To UN
Guterres Sleazefest Amid
Popular Protests Censoring
Like Big Tony
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR Letter
PFT Q&A
UN
GATE, Sept 21 –
After the "election" of Abdel
Fattah El-Sisi as Egypt's
president with 97% of the vote
amid fining of media like
Al-Masry Al-Youm and the
expulsion of journalists, the
spokesman for UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres on 2
April 2018 said,
"We were not involved in the
holding of the election, whether
in observing or offering
technical assistance as far as I
know. So, I will leave it
at that." This is the same UN -
and spokesman - which evicted
independent Inner City Press
(and now banned it after
assaulting it on July 3,
Fox News story
here,
GAP blogs I
and II,
and
put in its work place Sissi's
state media Akhbar al-Youm, in
the form of Sanaa Youssef a
former (1984) president of the
UN Correspondents Association
who hasn't asked a single
question of the UN in more than
ten years.
Now on September 21 Sisi
has come to New York even amid
growing protests at home of his
repression. "Big Tony" Guterres
is sure to embrace him, as
Guterred did
Guinea strongman Alpha Conde
on September 21. Guterres is
corrupt.
In late June with Guterres at
the G20 in Osaka meeting with
Sisi his spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, in his already then
increasingly bogus noon
briefings which sometimes for no
apparent reason include Sanaa
Youssef for more than a decade
not asking a single question,
refuses to answer Inner City
Press' questions on Egypt and
about Sisi's continuing
detention of journalists. Then
again, Guterres himself is a
continuing censor of Press. On
17 August 2018 Guterres through
Alison Smale banned
Inner City Press for life; on
August 27 his spokesman Stephane
Dujarric said
this was for "creating a hostile
environment" for diplomats.
Really?
Now this: "The
Secretary-General met today with
H.E. Mr Abdel Fattah Al Sisi,
President of the Arab Republic
of
Egypt.
The Secretary-General and
President Al Sisi discussed
regional matters, including the
Middle East Peace Process and
the situations in Libya, Syria
and
Yemen.
The Secretary-General commended
the African Union’s leadership
on implementing Agenda 2063 and
the 2030
Agenda.
On climate change, he thanked
Egypt for its efforts, together
with the United Kingdom, to lead
the coalition on adaptation and
resilience ahead of the
September Climate
Summit.
Osaka, Japan 29 June
2019." Guterres is turning the
UN into a coddler of dictators
and censors such as himself.
Back on September 25 Guterres
met Sisi and afterward gushed,
"The Secretary-General met with
H.E. Mr. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi,
President of the Arab Republic
of Egypt. The Secretary-General
and the President exchanged
views on a number of issues of
mutual interest, including
developments in Africa and the
Middle East region. The
Secretary-General congratulated
Egypt on a very effective
chairmanship of the G77." Not a
word on press freedom - not
surprising, since Guterres as it
turns out is a dictator on this
too. In the 47th Street protest
pens that day, supports of Morsi
and Sisi shouted at each other,
with Falun Dafa adherents
meditating in between, along
with a clown from Guatemala.
Inside the UN Guterres has
turned it into a circus - of
censorship. On September 17 four
UN rapporteurs for now publicly
silent on the UN's own no due
process censorship called on the
Human Rights Council to respond
to verdicts condemning 75
protesters to death and 47 to
life sentences in Egypt. On 8
September, a Cairo Criminal
Court confirmed the sentences
delivered at a mass trial in
July involving 739 people who
were convicted on charges of
illegal gathering, involvement
in violence and incitement to
break the law. The rights of the
accused to present evidence in
their defense were not
guaranteed as required by the
principle of fair trial.
The experts are Mr.
Michel Forst,
Special
Rapporteur on
the situation
of human
rights
defenders; Mr.
Clément
Nyaletsossi
Voulé, Special
Rapporteur on
the rights to
freedom of
peaceful
assembly and
of
association;
Mr. David
Kaye, Special
Rapporteur on
the promotion
and protection
of the right
to freedom of
opinion and
expression; Ms
Agnes
Callamard,
Special
Rapporteur on
extrajudicial,
summary or
arbitrary
executions;
Mr. Nils
Melzer,
Special
Rapporteur on
Torture and
Other Cruel,
Inhuman or
Degrading
Treatment or
Punishment..
And here's
what they
said: “As
a matter of priority, the
international community must act
to ensure international human
rights standards are applied."
We agree. And what about the UN
Secretariat? On September 9
still new UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Michelle
Bachelet, to whom the above has
been raised, issued this: "The
UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Michelle Bachelet said
today that she is extremely
concerned that an Egyptian
court’s confirmation of 75 death
sentences on Saturday did not
result from a fair trial, and
the sentences, if carried out,
would therefore amount to “a
gross and irreversible
miscarriage of justice”. She
also pointed to the stark
contrast between Egypt’s mass
trials and a recent law that
effectively grants members of
the security forces complete
immunity for crimes they may
have committed. The death
sentences were originally
imposed during a mass trial in
July in which a total of 739
people were convicted on charges
that stemmed from a Muslim
Brotherhood-led protest, in
August 2013, which was met with
a lethal military crackdown.
“The conduct of the trial in the
Cairo Criminal Court has been
widely criticized,” Bachelet
said. “And rightly so. The 739
people were tried en masse, and
were not permitted individual
legal representation before the
court. In addition, the accused
were not given the right to
present evidence in their
defence, and the Prosecution did
not provide sufficient evidence
to prove individual guilt. The
evident disregard of basic
rights of the accused places the
guilt of all those convicted in
serious doubt. In particular,
the 75 death sentences affirmed
yesterday, if implemented, would
represent a gross and
irreversible miscarriage of
justice. “I hope that the
Egyptian Court of Appeal will
review this verdict and ensure
that international standards of
justice are respected by setting
it aside,” she added.... In July
this year, the Egyptian
Parliament approved a law that
will effectively bestow immunity
from prosecution on security
force personnel for any offenses
committed in the course of duty
between 3 July 2013 – the date
the military overthrew the
Government of President
Morsi – and 10 January 2016. The
law permits the President to
designate a number of officers
as lifelong reserves, and grants
them the immunities and
privileges of a sitting
Government minister, including
diplomatic immunity when
traveling abroad. “Justice must
apply to all – no one should be
immune." Yes. But doesn't that
apply to Guterres who nominated
her as well? We'll see. In in a
small subset of that news, the
five year jail sentence passed
on Mahmoud Abdel Shakour Abou
Zeid, the photojournalist also
known as Shawkan, means he
should soon be free because he
has already spent five years in
preventive detention. He was
finally convicted at the end of
a mass trial with more than 700
fellow defendants. All this for
trying cover a massacre by the
security forces in Cairo’s Rabaa
Square on August 14, 2013 - as
noted by a stated borderless
freedom of the press group which
has said nothing about the UN
they love having roughed
up and still banning Inner
City Press, despite it being
repeatedly raised in reply to
Julie Bance. One can love the UN
so much it becomes a double
standard - we'll have more on
this. In Egypt the “cybercrime
law” that Sisi signed on August
18 legalizes and reinforces the
existing censorship and blocking
of websites and criminalizes
both those who operate sites and
those who use them, a group who
has yet to act on UN censorship
said. Under article 7 of this
law, Egypt’s authorities can now
legally block access to any
website that is deemed to
constitute “a threat to national
security” or to the “national
economy.” It legalizes a
well-established practice.
Hundreds of sites have already
been blocked in the past few
years, apparently on nothing
more than the orders of security
officials, and the authorities
have arrested several online
journalists and bloggers,
including a news website editor
and satirical bloggers. Even
visiting a banned website is now
punishable by a year in prison
while those who create or manage
a website that is subsequently
banned could be sentenced to two
years in prison. We'll have more
on this - and this: Cairo
national security prosecutor
ordered Mohammed Ibrahim Ezz, a
reporter for the daily newspaper
Al-Nahar, to be detained for 15
days on charges of belonging to
a banned group. Ezz was arrested
in the city of Tanta, north of
Cairo, on July 10; the
prosecutor will look into
renewing Ezz detention again on
August 5. The latest arrest
comes as photojournalist Mahmoud
Abou Zeid, a/k/a Shawkan, is
slated to appear in court to
hear a possible verdict on July
28. Shawkan has been jailed
since August 2013 and faces the
death penalty. On July 18, Inner
City Press
banned from
entering the
UN unlike the
no-question
Sissi (retired)
scribe Sanaa
Youssef in
writing asked
Dujarric and
his deputy
Farhan Haq,
"Given your
belated answer
yesterday on
Saudi King
Salman's
immunity
announcement,
and your now
stated policy,
please provide
comment today
on this:
“Senior
military
officers who
oversaw the
killing of
hundreds of
protesters in
Egypt after
the 2013 coup
that brought
President Sisi
to power are
to be given
immunity from
prosecution.'" To
which Haq
replied, "on
Egypt, we
reiterate our
basic
point:The
United Nations
does not
endorse
amnesties for
genocide, war
crimes, crimes
against
humanity or
gross
violations of
human rights."
Is that why Guterres
shook so
heartily with
Sissi,
and gave Inner
City
Press' work
space to Sissi's
retiree? We'll
have more on
this.
On July 17 Inner City Press
asked Haq and Dujarric, still
UNanswered on July 18: “Egypt's
parliament has approved a tough
new law to regulate social
media, raising fears that it
could curb dissent against
President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's
regime. The law states that
social media users who have more
than 5,000 followers could be
placed under the supervision of
Egypt's Supreme Council for
Media Regulations. The council
would be authorized to suspend
or block any personal account
which "publishes or broadcasts
fake news” - what is the comment
of the SG / UN?" The
noon briefing
Inner City
Press was
banned from
had few
questions,
none like
this; seven
hours later
Haq had not
provided any
written answer
or even
confirmation
of receipt.
The UN under
Guterres is
failing. On
July 7 the government behind
Guterres' and Smale's favorite
Akhbar al Yom sentenced a
Lebanese woman to eight years in
prison over "insulting
Egyptians" by complaining of
sexual harassment in a video she
posted online, and set July 29
as the date for her appeal. Mona
el-Mazbouh was charged with
"deliberately broadcasting false
rumors which aim to undermine
society and attack religions."
She posted a 10-minute video in
which she used profanities to
describe her vacation in Cairo
where she says she was sexually
harassed. The UN under Guterres,
as Inner City Press first
reported, rejected even a #MeToo
club at its offices in Vienna.
The Sissi government also pushed
back the sentencing of photo
journalist Shawkan or Mahmoud
Abu Zeid and more than 700
others to July 28, while moving
on a law to subject all social
media accounts with more than
5000 followers to monitoring and
immediate blocking for undefined
"fake news." It is lawless -
like Guterres' UN, which on June
22 deployed UN Security guards
who refused to give them names
while equipped with automatic
weapons to oust Inner City Press
from the UN during an Eid al
Fitr event at which Guterres
bragged about fasting in Mali. Video
here,
story here,
new
petition here.
Earlier
the Sisi government grabbed up
Hazem Abdel-Azim, a critic since
the
government
since he left
Sissi’s
campaign in
the 2014
elections. Hazem
Abdel-Azim was
taken from his home in a Cairo
suburb late Saturday on charges
of disseminating fake news (!)
and belonging to an outlawed
group. This follows the
detention of noted blogger Wael
Abbas. Abbas was seized on
accusations including
disseminating false news and
joining an outlawed group. He
was taken blindfolded
from
his home to an unknown location
and not allowed to contact his
lawyer. His YouTube channel was
shut in 2007, resulting in the
removal of hundreds of videos
depicting abuses by security
forces. In December, he posted
on Facebook that Twitter had
suspended his account without
providing any justification.
Last week they arrested labor
rights lawyer Haytham
Mohamedeen for
"belonging to an outlawed
group." (In the UN, the
Department of Public Information
before evicting Inner City Press
told it it would be ousted if it
did not remove the sign of the
Free UN Coalition for Access
from the door of its past (and
future?) office S-303, even as
the neighboring door carried and
carries Turkish government
paraphernalia. That threat, from
DPI's holdover Hua Jiang, cc-ed
to holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, is here).
In 2016, Mohamedeen was arrested
and later released over calling
for protests against Egypt's
transfer of two strategic Red
Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
(When Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman on May 23
about Saudi detaining women's
right activist, he spoke vaguely
about space for civil society.)
Apparently Sisi's Egypt is as
much for sale as the UN, to Ng
Lap Seng and more recently
Patrick Ho and their mutual
controller. An independent jury
for a UNESCO prize awarded it to
jailed Egyptian photo journalist
Mahmoud Abu Zeid a/k/a Shawkan,
about whom Inner City Press
asked Amnesty International at
the UN this month. The Egyptian
government, needless to say, has
criticized the award. This is
the Sisi government to which
Guterres sends his warm regards,
and to whose state media Akhbar
al Yom's Sanaa Youssef Guterres
and his Global Communicator
Alison Smale have purported to
assign Inner City Press' long
time work space in the UN. UNCA,
the only claim to UN fame of
Sanaa Youssef, has said nothing,
bungling forward this April 23
with a 5 pm wine event for a
novel seemingly entirely
unrelated to the UN by
Elizabeth Strout, "at the event
marking 'UN English Language
Day', Ms. Strout will be joined
by fiction writer Katherine Vaz
and poet, Major Jackson... with
a with a [sic] wine and cheese
reception beginning at 5:00 pm."
Then on April 24, ghoulishly an
event in their clubhouse for a
movement the UN's exclusion
of which from the public UNSC
stakeout UNCA, heavy with
Moroccan state media, said
nothing. We'll have more on
this. On April 4, again with
Akhbar al Youm's Saana Youssef
nowhere in sight much less
asking a question after a
decade, Inner City Press asked
UN spokesman Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: when you were
asked about the 97 per cent
election of President Sisi, you
said, 'We were not involved in
the holding of the election,
whether in observing or
technical assistance. So,
I'll leave it at that.' I wanted
to ask you, since then, one, a
newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm, has
been fined for its independent
coverage of the election.
And now a website, Masr
al-Arabia, has been raided by
the Government. So, beyond
your… what you said on Monday,
do you believe that… that… that…
that the way in which the press
was disallowed from covering
this cake-walk election complies
with the principles of António
Guterres and his open-press
ways?
Spokesman: I think the
Secretary-General, in the run-up
to the election, had expressed
his concern at the limited
political space in the country,
and that is a concern we
continue to have." Really. On
April 5 it emerged that Egyptian
prosecutors ordered the
editor-in-chief of Masr
al-Arabia, Adel
Sabry, be
detained for 15 days pending
investigations. A prosecutor in
Cairo’s Dokki district accused
Sabry of belonging to a
terrorist group, publishing
false news, using text and
visuals that contradict the
constitution, and inciting
demonstrations, according to
Eman Hamed, the defendant’s
lawyer. This is what today's UN
is siding with, in the form of
former UNCA President Sanaa
Youssef of Egyptian state media.
Back on February 28 when
Guterres met Egypt's new
Ambassador Mohamed Fathi Ahmed
Edrees on February 28, Inner
City Press went through the UN's
tourist entrance and then UN
Security on the 37th floor to
cover it. Still, before Guterres
expressed his warm regards for
Sisi, who is arresting all
opponents, the UN Security
officer who has already checked
Inner City Press' microphone
told it it could not record
audio, see below. Now on March
8, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric about Sisi's government
seeking the death penalty
against photo journalist
Shawkan, as relates to Guterres
warm regards. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: it was
pretty… pretty recently that the
Secretary-General sent his very,
very warm regards to President
[Abdelfattah al] Sisi of Egypt,
and so, in that re… in that
connection, I wanted to ask you,
the noted photographer, Mahmoud
Abou Zeid, also known as
Shawkan, has now been informed
that he faces the death
penalty. He's been in jail
for four and a half years.
It's kind of a cause
célèbre. And I wondered if
the Secretary-General, who has
these warm feelings, is this
something he might have a
comment on, a photojournalist
being… facing the death by
hanging? Spokesman: I will
check on that particular
case. The
Secretary-General stands firmly
against the death penalty.
And as for questions of the
ongoing climate in Egypt, I
think I answered that to Masood
two days ago, and my answer
stands." Masood-ji, Dujarric's
straight man for justification
of eviction of the Press, video
here.
This is censorship, and it
remains ongoing
- they have not answered a
petition with thousands of
signatures. Meanwhile Guterres
and his Global Communicator
Alison Smale have purported to
assign Inner City Press' long
time UN work space to Sisi's no
show state media, Sanaa Youssef
of Akhbar al Yom. We'll have
more on this. Six days before
when Guterres met Ecuador's Vice
President María Alejandra Vicuña
on February 22 it was supposed
to be at 11:50 am. But another
Inner City Press arrived half an
hour before, by the time it was
allowed in at 11:44 am the
meeting was already underway.
There was no handshake,
and the Press was quickly
ushered out. With Guterres was a
single UN staffer: Katrin Hett.
On the elevator down from the
38th floor, UN Department of
Political Affairs deputy
Miroslav Jenca was just
arriving, and UN Photo missed
the shot again. This is a
pattern. The evening before on
February 21 when Guterres met
Cote d'Ivoire foreign minister
Marcel Amon-Tanoh on February
21, Guterres changed the time
twice. First from 5 pm to 6:40
pm - for this, notice was
provided - and then without
notice moving it up to 6:34 pm
such that both the Ivorian
photographer and even UN Photo
missed it. It seems Guterres is
only interested in accommodating
those who can help him - he has
been happy, for example, to have
the investigative Press
restricted for his entire
tenure, with no explanation of
what the rules are. No show
state media in, investigative
press, through the tourist
entrance, minders required. This
is "Big Tony's" United Nations,
do as I say, not as I do. Big
shots are getting over with
sexual harassment, while
directives go to underlings. The
Global Communicator Alison
Smale, censor in chief, is
involved. At the February 21,
restricted Inner City Press was
the only media which asked any
questions, on Justin Forsyth
multiple abuser, now at UNICEF,
about mis-statements about
immunity in India, another
no-answer on Tanzania. The only
media asking, and the only media
restricted by Guterres and
Smale. We'll have more on this.
Amon-Tanoh,
by the way,
spoke well in
the Security
Council,
before having
the time(s)
changed. Present
on the UN side were Katrin Hett
and Khassim Diagne, who's said
Paul Biya is doing a good job in
Cameroon - when Biya's been in
Geneva for four and a half
years, cumulatively. We'll have
more on this. Back on February 2
when Guterres before his
multiple junkets met Qatar's
Foreign Minister Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani, he had
with him his outgoing head of
Political Affairs, Jeffrey
Feltman. (Inner City Press
exclusively reported on January
25, in connection with Feltman's
US replacement in the post, Dina
Powell, here.
Now some say Powell turned the
post down, as so many have,
under Big Tony.) The Qatari
minister joked that his
Ambassador told him Feltman was
back from an interesting place -
presumably a reference to North
Korea, where Feltman wants to
score Guterres a high level
meeting, perhaps with Kim Jong
Un, in connection
with having accepted as a UN
Junior Professional Officer in
his Department the son of a DPRK
Workers Party official. Even
before Mohammed
bin
Abdulrahman Al
Thani had
finished
signing the UN
visitors'
book, Guterres
was indicating
that the Press
should leave,
saying
Shukran,
presumably to
the two
traveling
Qatar
photographer
and
videographer.
Earlier in the
day Guterres refused
Inner City
Press'
question if he
told the
International
Criminal Court
in advance of
his meeting
last weekend
with Darfur
genocide
indictee Omar
al Bashir.
Qatar has
played a role
in Darfur but
the topics
with Guterres
and Feltman
would
predictably
involve the
Gulf and the
blockade.
While Guterres
issues fewer
and fewer
read-outs,
will Qatar?
On February 1 when Guterres met
Guatemala's Foreign Minister
Sandra Erica Jovel Polanco,
there was a pre-meeting in
Guterres' office including,
Inner City Press witnessed, head
UN lawyer Miguel de Serpa
Soares. While Guterres gives
fewer and fewer read-out, and
even left his meeting with
Darfur genocide ICC indictee
Omar al Bashir last weekend
undisclosed until Inner City
Press asked about it, one
assumes on the agenda was the
stand-off with President Jimmy
Morales about the CICIG, see
August story here. But while
awaiting the Guatemala read-out
there is another question: when
did Guterres tell Miguel
de Serpa
Soares' OLA
about meeting
with indictee
Bashir, and
when did Miguel
de Serpa
Soares tell
the Office of
the ICC
prosecutor?
Inner City
Press has
asked the UN,
without
substantive
answer - just
as specific
detailed
questions to
Guterres, his
chief of
staff, deputy
and "Global
Communicator"
Alison Smale
have gone
entirely
unanswered.
(Inner City
Press checked
with Smale's
DPI just
before the
Guatemala
photo op).
We'll have
more on this.
The day before on January 31
when Guterres met his native
Portugal's Minister of Labour,
Solidarity and Social Security
José António Vieira da Silva, he
quickly ushered him into his
office, where he had been
laughing with his staffers
including Miguel Graca. José
António Vieira
da Silva
is linked to a Portuguese
inquiry into irregularities in
the payment and reimbursement
for travel; Guterres himself
often travels to Lisbon, not
disclosed by his spokesmen
unless Inner City Press asks,
and costs for example of
accompanying security
undisclosed. But while Correio
da Manhã reports on the
inquiry by the National
Anti-Corruption Unit into if
Rareissimas money was used for
the travel of Sónia Fertuzinhos
to Sweden, that publication is
not targeted by the Portuguese
government, much less required
to have minders. In Guterres'
UN, while Inner City Press
investigates the scandals of bribery
by Patrick Ho and CEFC China
Energy, rosewood signatures
by Guterres' Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed and diversion
of Kiswahili funds by Guterre's
"Global Communicator" alleged by
staff she is firing, Inner City
Press is confined ot minders and
cannot use its long time UN work
space, purportedly assigned to
an Egyptian state media which
has yet to ask a single question
and rarely comes in. It is not
known if Guterres wanted to be a
censor when he was Prime
Minister of Portugul. But atop
the UN, he seemingly happily
presides over censorship and the
targeting and restriction of
investigative Press. A petition,
here, was sent last week
to Guterres, Mohammed and Smale,
none of whom have as requested
confirmed receipt, much less
responded. Alamy photos here;
UN Photo was not present. We
note that Guterres over the
weekend met Darfur genocide
indictee Omar al Bashir and did
not disclose it until Inner City
Press asked,
has still refused to say if the
ICC Prosecutor was told in
advance, as required. Guterres
accepted a golden statue from
Cameroon's 35 year president in
October, and has yet to comment
on Biya's role in the
"refoulement" of 47 people from
Nigeria. We'll have more on
this. On January 30 when
Guterres formally accepted the
credentials of China's new
Permanent Representative Ma
Zhaoxu, he had
his Deputy
Amina J.
Mohammed with
him, and his
spokesman on
the way. In
the run-up,
Mohammed told
UN Political
Affairs
official
Miroslav Jenca
she'd seen
news of his
trip to
Lebanon and
gravely cited
economics.
She praised Ma
Zhhaoxu,
saying she'd
met him in
Geneva on
health. Then
Guterres joked
in the hall
about charging
$1000 dollars,
before
consenting to
the
credentials
ceremony,
Periscope
video here.
Alamy photos here.
The Press was
ushered out -
earlier,
Mohammed had
refused an
Inner City
Press question
about Cameroon
- and at the
elevator,
there was UN
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who
explicitly
refused to get
an answer from
Guterres about
legal
compliance.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on
January 22
when Guterres
met
Mali's Foreign Minister Tiéman
Hubert Coulibaly on January 22,
it was supposed to happen t 7
pm. But Guterres was still
talking in the ECOSOC chamber, a
meeting in advance of which
Inner City Press had tried to
ask him and his Deputy SG Amina
J. Mohammed a question at 3 pm.
Vine video here. They didn't
answer, and when Guterres
arrived past 7 pm on the 38th
floor, at first he forgot to do
the standard handshake (grip and
grin) with Coulibaly,
who has
replaced
Abdoulaye Diop
this year.
Alamy photo here;
Periscope
video here.
Then he told
Coulibaly that
his meeting in
ECOSOC was
supposed to
last two hours
but lasted
four, leaving
his program
knocked-over
(bouleverse).
Coulibaly did
a longer than
usual these
days entry in
the UN
visitors book,
then Inner
City Press,
the only
independent
media there,
was shepherded
out. Down on
the second
floor, Amina
J. Mohammed
and her
entourage were
heading up.
But still no
answer. Inner
City Press has
lodged a
formal request
with the
Department of
Public
Information -
or "Global
Communications"
as Alison
Smale called
it in the UN
Lobby at 6:20
pm - for an
end to
DPI/GC's
censorship and
restrictions
on the Press.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on January 19 when Guterres
met Jordan's Foreign Minister
Ayman H. Safadi, the meeting
began eight minutes before it
was scheduled. Inner City Press
has arrived early and was
screened by UN Security, which
asked, Is that camera on? While
not filming, it was on - which
alone allowed Inner City Press
to photograph the perfunctory
grip and grin handshake, photo here.
Afterward, since Guterres had
done the handshake without even
his own UN Photo staffer there,
Inner City Press was asked where
the Jordan mission can find the
photos. Well, here. It was
confirmed that on January 18, as
Inner City Press first reported,
Guterres held a dinner and
meeting, even negotiation, with
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov without putting it on his
UN public schedule, even
belatedly. Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric why and he called it a
"private dinner." Well, with
public funds, in the same UN
dining room where Guterres
complained to Gillian Tett of
the Financial Times about the
the fish and wine he was served.
This is today's UN. On January
18 when Guterres met new
Security Council member Kuwait's
Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah
Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, photo
here,
he had with him his chief of
staff and long time Middle East
hand, for the US and UN, Jeffrey
Feltman. Unlike at the just
prior photo op with South Korea,
for which Inner City Press was
the only media not a part of the
UN Department of Public
Information, for Kuwait there
were five cameramen, one of whom
recounted just flying to New
York from Kuwait via Paris, and
returning tomorrow via London.
Talk about climate change. In
Guterres' side dining room
plates for dinner were set up,
with name tags including the
Russian Ambassador Nebenzia -
the dinner presumably with and
for Foreign Minister Lavrov. But
it was not even listed on
Guterres' schedule. We'll have
more on this. Earlier, when
Guterres met South Korea's First
Vice Foreign Minister Lim
Sung-nam on
January 18, photo
here,
Periscope
video here,
accompanying
him was
Feltman, who
visited
Pyongyang last
year and, as
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported
yesterday, is
said by UN
staff to be
trying to set
up a similar
trip for
Guterres. Also
in on the meet
was the UN's
head of
disarmament,
Japan's Izumi
Nakamitsu.
Nuclear
weapons, you
might say,
were on the
table. But the
photo op was
fast and the
Press was
shepherded
out. Half
an hour earlier when Guterres
met Foreign Minister Erlan
Abdyldayev of the Kyrgyz
Republic a/k/a Kyrgyzstan, photo
here,
he was accompanied by one of his
rivals to have become SG, Natalia
Gherman.
Guterres put
her in charge
of the UN's
office for
Central Asia
and she's in
town, along
with the
region's
ministers, for
Kazakhstan's
back to back
Security
Council
meetings. (The
January 19
meeting about
Afghanistan,
it now seems,
will be
without the
Afghan foreign
minister).
Just outside
Guterres'
conference
room in a
large white
paper bag was
a gift from
Kazakhstan, in
a blue velvet
box. Will it
disappear
without
explanation
like the
golden statue
Guterres took
in October
from
Cameroon's
Paul
Biya?
Back on January 15 when Guterres
- without Natalia Gherman - met
Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz
Kamilov, he was instead
accompanied by the UN Department
of Political Affairs' Miroslav
Jenca, who used to head the UN's
office in Central Asia. The
affable Jenca, when boarding the
elevator on the 35th floor where
the "hot desking" (or
waste) at DPA was visible
(along with DPA's sometimes
Kenya official Roselyn Akombe),
joked You have more freedom than
I do and that he hoped his phone
would behave at this photo op.
Inner City Press quickly said
that no harm had been meant in
its previous reporting of a news
flash from Jenca's phone during
a photo op (though that report
might be behind Alison Smale's
Department of Public Information
issuing a Kafka-esque threat to
Inner City Press' accreditation,
here,
and keeping it out of its
office, with minders).
Press (UN) freedom, as we'll
cover in connection with another
visit later this week from the
region. After the very short
photo op, on the way out
Guterres' Fabrizio Hochschild
walked with Tony Banbury, who
did a review of the UN in Iraq,
completed in mid-November. And
now? We'll have more on all
this, including the seeming lack
of "hot desking" or imposition
of flexible workspace on
Guterres' 38th floor. Is it
another case of Do as I say, not
as I do? Earlier on January 15
when Guterres met Sigrid Kaag,
he joked before the Press was
ushered out that he could not
get used to her new role, as
Dutch minister, still seeing her
with the UN (from Lebanon to
Syria chemical weapons.) In
those UN roles, Kaag blocked
Inner City Press on Twitter.
Notably she stopped the blocking
as soon as she left the UN,
showing that the UN either
encourages or has fewer
disincentives to censorship than
the private sector. The
Netherlands is now on the
Security Council, but its
Permanent Representative was not
seen at Kaag's meeting with
Guterres. (He fairness, he is
just back from the Security
Council's weekend trip to
Afghanistan.) A minute before
his meeting with Kaag, Guterres
came in from his private dining
room. He had a listed 2 pm
meeting with Rodrigo Maia,
President, Brazilian Chamber of
Deputies, and after Kaag a 4 pm
meeting with Spyridon Flogaitis,
Director, European Public Law
Organization, both of them
Closed-Press. The latter was set
to be followed by Uzbekistan's
foreign minister Abdulaziz
Kamilov at 4:30 and then
Lebanon's post Judge Nawaf Salam
ambassador Amal Mudallali at 6
pm. Back on January 12 when
Guterres met with Norway's
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen
Søreide, it came the morning
after US President Donald
Trump's reported comments
contrasting Norway to "sh*thole"
countries. So Inner City Press
came to cover their meeting or
at least the photo op. On the
way, UN Security officers
repeatedly told Inner City Press
there would be a problem with
its practice of live-streaming
Periscope video, or more
specifically, audio. On the 37th
floor, Inner City Press pointed
out that UNTV runs audio. But
they're official, was the reply,
I'm only telling you what I've
been told to say. (Higher-ups
from the Department of Public
Information of Alison Smale have
issued Kafka-esque threats, here.) Still Inner
City Press was not stopped from
taking its microphone up to the
38th floor. The photo op began
almost immediately, Periscope
here, and Guterres after
shepherding Soreide from grin
and grin to sign-in book, sat at
his conference table and said,
"Thank you very much." It was
over. It was said that Soreide
would made remarks, perhaps
about Trump's comments but it
did not happen, at least in
Guterres' conference room.
Coming up as Inner City Press
was hurried out were Guterres'
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, and Guterres' adviser,
previously the French mission's
legal adviser, Tanguy Stehelin.
As of the time of the photo op,
the UN's only response had been
by lame-duck Human Rights
Commission Prince Zeid, who has
relatedly been quiet on the UN's
abuses in Haiti, and Nigeria's
abduction of leaders of Southern
Cameroons / Ambazonia. But
that's another story. Back on
December 18 when Guterres met
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert
Fico, he joked that Fico must
have stopped in to see the
President of the General
Assembly, fellow Slovak Miroslav
Lajcak. Less funny, but as yet
unacted on by Guterres, is the
November 20 indictment of
Senegal's former foreign
minister Cheikh Gadio, along
with Patrick Ho of China Energy
Fund Committee, in a case
alleging bribery of Lajcak's
predecessor as UN PGA Sam
Kutesa, as well as Chad's
Idriss Deby. Guterres has not
even initiated an audit in
response to this UN bribery
indictment. As to Fico, given
his recent statements on Libya,
one can only imagine what a read
out of his meeting with Guterres
would say. Guterres has stopped
issuing read-outs, another cut
back in transparency. On the way
up to the photo op, Inner City
Press witness several gift
distributors, from bottles of
liquor to envelopes, as well as
recently built partition walls
on the 30th floor being torn
down, in a classic example of UN
waste. (See Inner City Press
exclusive story, here.)
The UN under Guterres has become
even more corrupt, and less
transparent. Not only is the
investigative Press restricted,
more so than no show state media
like Egypt's Akhbar al Yom
(given Inner City Press' long
time office but not even present
for the day's vote on Egypt's
Jerusalem resolution) - on the
37th floor, UN Security made a
point of re-checking Inner City
Press' badge, then of closing
the door to the conference room
on 38 so that whoever was coming
out of Guterres' office could
not be seen. Who was it? Watch
this site. Back on November 9
when Guterres met Turkey's
PMBinali Yildirim, the Turkish
delegation brought their own
security officers to the photo
op. Periscope video here.
Guterres had finished a long
afternoon, calling Kenya's
Ambassador "sincerely unfair"
down in Conference Room 2, and
taking photos with UN Police
down in the basement. In between
he'd come up to meet Sri Lanka's
Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga, Chairperson of the
Office for National Unity and
Reconciliation a day after Inner
City Press asked about torture
by that country's army. Before
that, Jeffrey Feltman who has
played a role in the rift
between Guterres and Kenya was
in Guterres' office, then by the
elevators. Will there be a
memoir? After the Turkish photo
op, mixed results in the
International Court of Justice
voting. Lebanon's Nawaf Salam
won a seat, but India's Bhandari
and UK Greenwood will fight
another round on Monday. Only at
the UN. Back on November 7 when
Guterres met Argentina's
President Mauricio Macri on
November 7, Macri had come from
the site of the recent terrorist
attack on the West Side Highway
bike path. Guterres has just
returned from three days in
Lisbon, justified by a 15-minute
speech. In Guterres' team to
meet Macri was fellow Argentine
Virginia Gamba, previously on
Syria chemical weapons. Down in
the Security Council, her
successor Edmond Mulet was being
asked questions he didn't answer
(Inner City Press / Alamy photos
of Nikki Haley and Syria's
Ja'afari at the meeting, here.)
Somewhere on the 38th floor
Guterres' Deputy Amina Mohammed
was holding two meeting, while
her office (and Guterres'
spokespeople) never answered a
simple Press question for a copy
of a speech she gave at a
$25,000 a sponsor fundraiser.
Inner City Press, already
subject to a Kafka-esque
threat to accreditation by
Guterres' head of Global
Communications Alison Smale for
using Periscope during photo
op(s) on the 38th floor, was
surveilled as it prepared to
Periscope. Thus it missed what
others captured: Guterres'
personal back pad being put in
his chair, him walking by with
notes for the Macri meeting.
This is today's UN. On
November 3 Guterres
accepted the credentials of El
Salvador's new Ambassador Ruben
Armando Escalante Hasbun on
November 1, a successor to
Carlos Garcia who was exposed as
having helped money laundering
in the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe
UN bribery trial in July 2017.
Under Guterres, these practices
continue - in fact, Guterres has
become even less transparent.
For example, on November 3 Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who
had just cut short Inner City
Press' questions about Guterres'
inaction on the killings by the
Cameroon government, these
questions: "is the Secretary
General having a one-on-one
lunch on 38th floor today? is it
with a journalist / editor? is
it on or off the record? why
isn't this lunch on the SG's
public schedule? is it with
Gillian Tett?" Dujarric's and
the UN's answer on this: "I have
nothing to say to the SG’s
schedule that’s not public." So
Guterres decides which meeting
are not public. Inner City Press
has asked: "On the lunch, the
question is WHY it is not
public. Can it be considered
"internal"?" Watch this site. On
October 31 Guterres met Human
Rights Council president Joaquin
Alexander Maza Martelli, saying
"Bienvenido" repeatedly before
ushering the Press to leave:
essentially, Adios. That's what
the Trump administration is
considering saying to the UN
Human Rights Council, now after
the election of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to the
Council. The UN Secretariat has
its own human rights problems.
Not only impunity for sexual
abuse by peacekeepers and
bringing cholera to Haiti, not
only praising and accepting gift
from human rights abusers like
Cameroon's Paul Biya, but also
for example disparate treatment
and retaliatory restrictions on
the investigative Press.
Guterres has not reversed this.
In fact, on October 20 his
Department of Public Information
under Alison Smale issued a
further threat to Inner City
Press' accreditation, citing an
undefined violation at a
stakeout just like that on
October 31. This threat comes
just as Inner City Press pursues
Team Gutereres inaction on the
killings in Cameroon. Guterres
met French foreign minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian on October
30, three days after he took an
award from Cameroon's
French-supported president Paul
Biya. Inner City Press came
early for the photo op but was
delayed, then hindered. . But
Inner City Press belatedly went,
and although DPI's Kafka-esque
theats made it suspend the
Periscope, it can report that
with Guterres were his pro-Biya
adviser Khassim Diagne, and
former French mission legal
adviser (an office in the orbit
of Beatrice Le Frapeur du
Hellen, Inner City Press scoop
here). Under DPI's censorship
orders, we'll wait to report
more, including on the push to
get the US to pay for the G5
Sahel force - except what was in
plain sight, Guterres' personal
back rest being installed in his
chair. Guterres met Spain's
Secretary of State Ildefonso
Castro López on October 16,
hours after Spain won a seat on
the UN Human Rights Council with
no mention of its crackdown in
Catalonia. Guterres has also
been scheduled to meet the
foreign minister of Togo Robert
Dussey just before, but that
meeting or at least photo op got
canceled, as did a stakeout by
Guterres that UNTV had been
setting up for in the morning.
As Inner City Press has
exclusively reported,
Guterres or his Global
Communications chief aim to make
this upcoming trip to Central
African Republic a litmus test
of how to present the UN in a
positive light - despite the
sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
We'll have covering, rather than
covering up, that. On October 12
Guterres belatedly swore in
three senior official on October
12: Vladimir Voronkov, USG for
Counter-Terrorism, Izumi
Nakamitsu, High Representative
for Disarmament, and Mark
Lowcock, Emergency Relief
Coordinator. Photos of each here.
Inner City Press arrived early
for the photo op, but found
itself in a long line with
tourists at the metal detectors
on 45th Street. Because it
covered UN bribery of John Ashe
and Ng Lap Seng, it was evicted
and now is slowed in entering,
confined to minders once in. But
up on the 38th floor the head of
UN Security greeted the incoming
trio, particularly the UN Relief
Chief. He was candid on Yemen;
Ms. Nakamitsu's
office only
sends out
information
selectively.
Jeffrey
Feltman was
not there,
apparently on
his way to
Myanmar. There
is still no non-interim Special
Adviser on Africa. We'll have
more on this. On October 9 Inner
City Press went to cover
Guterres' meeting with
Bangladesh's Finance Minister
Abul Maal Abdul Muhit. Present
for the meeting - the UN side,
notably, was all men, photo here
- was UN Elections. After being
quickly ushered out, in the
elevator down was Darrin Farrant
of the UN Department of Public
Information, who more than a
month ago when asked provide the
email address of his new boss,
Alison Smale. But petitions to
Smale about unjustifiable
restrictions on Press have gone
unanswered; some from Cameroon
have noted not only Smale
“inordinate” focus on her former
beat, Germany, on Catalonia, but
also her DPI's lawless
restrictions on the Press. She
was not present on October 12,
instead DPI was represented by
Maher "It's
all about you" Nasser, who
refused
to reverse his previous boss'
censorship when he was in
charge. On October 9 to stakeout
the General Assembly meeting
Inner City Press was required to
get a DPI escort, unlike other
no-show state media like Akhbar
al Yom which DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' office,
which sit empty. At the noon
briefing, Inner City Press asked
for a read out of the Bangladesh
meeting (four hours later, none
has been provided), and again
for a read out of the
Philippines meeting ten days
before on September 29. That day
at noon Guterres' spokesman,
when Inner City Press asked
whether there would be any
action on UN staff in Myanmar
describing retaliation by UN
Resident Coordinator Renata
Lok-Dessalien, said only that
Guterres stands behind
Lok-Dessalien. So much for
whistleblower protection. On
Cameroon, Guterres' belated
concern is not about killed
civilians, but "territorial
integrity."
On July 31, Inner City
Press asked if there is any
press pool - no - and if
Dujarric will at least in the
future announce week-long
absences by Guterres in advance.
Dujarric did not say yes (he
did, however, repeat that claim
that the UN was the victim in
its corruption case, saying that
Yiping Zhou is gone. But what
about Navid Hanif, who went
to Macau? What about Meena
Sur, who helped
Ng? Both of them, and
others involved, are still in
the UN).
On
July 13 Guterres had a meeting
and photo op (Periscope here)
with Estonia's President Kersti
Kaljulaid, listed in the
country's delegation was the
coordinator of its run for a
Security Council seat, Margus
Kolga, previously the country's
UN ambassador. Of the run, he
has said "there are very many
small nations. We are a small
nation which came out from under
occupation. We may serve as
example to them, that this is
possible and that a small nation
has another perspective on the
world which needs to be
represented at the council. Most
nations have spent far above the
million we intend to." At least
that is transparent. By
contrast, Guterres' UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric earlier on
July 13 refused
to answer Inner City
Press' questions about the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe (RIP) UN
bribery case, and even declined
to answer Inner City Press'
question about member states
asking (it)
whether Guterres will produce
any document on reform prior to
his July 22 retreat. So much for
We the Peoples. But hello in the
Security Council, it would seem,
Estonia. Dujarric has repeatedly
refused to provide a list of who
works on Guterres' 38th floor;
by eye Inner City Press noticed
former French Mission legal
adviser Tanguy Stehelin.
Seconded? Dujarric has not
answered. We'll have more on
this.
On July 5 Guterres had as
a series of five credential
photo ops on July 5, Inner City
Press Periscoped all of them,
with a particular eye on Zambia
and Mauritania. Zambia's
returning Permanent
Representative Lazarus Kapambwe
gave the greeting of his
president; one wondered if in
the ten minute closed door
meeting that followed the
continued lock-up of opposition
figure HH was raised. (Inner
City Press has repeatedly asked
Guterres' holdover spokesman
about it, with only vague
generalities resulting).
Mauritania, Guterres called "un
pillier" (just as he ten minutes
later called Moldova a pillar) -
but did Western Sahara, on which
there has been no UN envoy for
some time, come up? Moldova's
past Permanent Representative
moved in the South South News
world of Ng Lap Seng, now on
trial for UN bribery, although
that may have been in his
"personal capacity." And last
was South Centre, which is
testifying this week to the
World Intellectual Property
Organization, whose director
Francis Gurry's retaliation and
patent work for North Korea
Guterres has apparently not
raised with him. Guterres was
slated to present reform plans
at 11 am, but in the Ecosoc
Chamber which evicted and
restricted Inner City Press is
required to seek a minder to
cover, unlike other less
interested media like Egypt's
state Akhbar al Yom. This is
today's - and now Guterres' -
UN. Inner City Press' Haiti
questions remain unanswered,
among with Cameroon, the Rif and
more.
***
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