As
UNSC by Lake Chad, News Agency
of Nigeria Not Invited, Some
Abuses Ignored
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 5 – While UN Security
Council members visiting
Niger, 188th out of 188 on the
UN Development Index, is
certainly welcome, it is
noteworthy has is not being
addressed or even mentioned on
this trip.
Beyond the
omission, which some called
shameful, of the plight of Anglophones
in Cameroon -- the
Internet has been turned off
in their regions -- the common
denominator of France's
historical power relations
with, say, Chad and Niger was
omitted even from reporting
from inside the Council's
bubble.
It was
complained to the Free UN
Coalition for Access that the
UN didn't even inform the News
Agency of Nigeria that it
could go on the trip (but did
inform, for example, Voice
of America). Might NAN
have been more critical of
aspects of the trip? How will
this omission be addressed?
Inner City Press in the past
was informed of such trips,
and went on some, for example
to Chad
where then French Ambassador
Jean Maurice Ripert dissembled
about President Deby's
non-appearance, then
confronted Inner City Press
about its reporting, in the
airport in Kigali, Rwanda.
Now, following a retaliatory
eviction and continuing restriction
at the UN by Department of
Public Information chief Cristina
Gallach and spokesman Stephane Dujarric
for seeking to cover the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe UN
bribery case in the UN
Press Briefing Room on January
29, 2016, Inner City Press is
no longer informed or invited.
DPI under Gallach churns out
assemblages of canned quotes
and tweets as "stories,"
as from within the bubble.
We'll have more on this.
On a
previous Security Council trip
that included Sudan, Council
members spoke to the Press
about standing up to the
Sudanese government about abuses.
So what happened in Cameroon?
As
Security Council members
portrayed themselves meeting
with Cameroon's Paul Biya,
apparently without a word
about the protests by and incarceration
of Anglophones in the
country, Inner City Press
asked the UN about the
problem, video
here, UN Transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
yesterday, I'd asked you about
this letter from the former
Senate President of
Nigeria. The press in
Nigeria picked up on your
answer and said that no letter
has been received at
all. So, you said you
hadn't seen it. Does
that just mean that you
personally hadn't seen it, or
have you checked to see
whether the letter…?
Spokesman: We have not…
I have the not received any
confirmation that a letter has
been received. I can't
speak to whether or not a
letter was sent since we were,
apparently, if this letter
exists, the recipients.
As far as the recipients, as
of today, nothing has been
received.
Inner City Press: Since the
Security Council is in
Cameroon, I wanted to know
whether DPA [the Department of
Political Affairs] has taken
any notice of this protest in
the Anglophone areas of
Cameroon? Many people
have been arrested.
Eight journalists have been
detained in Cameroon. It
seems like the Security
Council's focus is entirely on
the Boko Haram aspect, but is
anyone in the UN system
concerned and trying to get
some answers?
Spokesman: We're
obviously following it, and
I'll see if I can get you
something further.
Eight
hours later, nothing. Nothing
at all. The UN's reflexive
evasion of Press question
reverberated on the Council's
next stop.
Nigeria's
former Senate President Ameh
Ebute wrote to the UN to urge
sanctions against Cameroon and
Chad. Inner City Press at the
March 2 UN noon briefing asked
the UN's holdover spokeman
Stephane Dujarric to comment
on Ebute's letter. Dujarric
said he hadn't seen it.
Now The
Guardian in Nigeria picks
up on Dujarric's
knee-jerk denial to Inner City
Press: "Mr Stephane Dujarric,
the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General, denied
knowledge of the letter... 'I
have not seen the letter.'"
For eight
billion U.S. dollars a year,
you'd think they could at
least read their mail. Watch
this site.
During the
Paris stopover, Council
members met with France's
replacement for Herve Ladsous
atop UN Peacekeeping,
Jean-Pierre Lacroix. Will
Lacroix addressed the
disparities in protection for
European and African
peacekeepers serving
ostensibly together in the
UN's Mali mission?
And in
Cameroon, will the dispute
between the French and English
speaking communities, and
harsh prison conditions for
the latter, be noted by the
Council? Watch this site.
The
day after UK Ambassador
Matthew Rycroft said while the
UK supports Martin Kobler as
long as he is UN envoy in
Libya, if he's to be replaced
it should be quickly given
momentum, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric to describe the
UN process and timelines. No
details were provided. Again,
typical.
With the United Kingdom taking
over the Presidency of the UN
Security Council for March,
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft on
March 1 took 20 questions from
the media. Inner City Press
asked him why the meetings on
Burundi on March 9 and on
Yemen on March 29 are both
closed door. Video
here.
On
Burundi, Rycroft referred to
France as the penholder. On
Yemen -- on which the UK holds
the pen -- he said sometimes
there is a benefit to a closed
door discussion. Fine: but
what's the problem with an
open briefing, then closed
consultations? The Free
UN Coalition for Access
will continue to pursue this.
On Yemen
Inner City Press also asked if
the UK's findings as it looks
into more than 250 incidents
of the Saudi led coalition
will be shared with the
Security Council. It remains
unclear.
At the end,
Inner City Press asked Rycroft
if Nick Kay is still a
candidate to be UN Envoy to
Libya. Rycroft said the UK
supports current envoy Martin
Kobler but if he is to be
changed, it should be fast,
there is momentum.
Rycroft
said that civil society will
be invited to participate in
the month's wrap up session, a
first. Boris Johnson will
chair the March 23 meeting on
South Sudan, and something on
Somalia later that day. We'll
have more on this.
***
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