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After
Ban Insulated
from Rape
& Lanka
Qs, UN Spox
Tweets GOP
Debate
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 17
-- When a
Press question
about UN
Peacekeepers'
rapes was
put to UN
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric
during a
Reddit "Ask
Me Anything"
on September
15, he declined
to answer
it, saying
such questions
are answered
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room.
But
Dujarric did
not allow the
questions to
be asked to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
September 16,
nor questions
about such
other UN (and
Ban) failures
as in Sri
Lanka.
(The
@UN_Spokesperson
did, however,
find time to tweet
about the
#GOPdebate
later on
September 16,
here.
While that
might be
deleted, Inner
City Press and
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
believe that
the output of
official
accounts
constitute a
public record,
and disagrees
with the
close-down or
censorship of
accounts which
preserved
deleted (UN)
diplomatic
tweets.)
With the UN
being less
than
successful in
mediating in Yemen
and Libya,
Syria and
South Sudan,
accused of
rapes in
Central
African
Republic and
killing 8,000
in Haiti with
cholera (after
40,000 died in
Sri
Lanka with
little
response from
the UN),
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
September 16
was asked,
What is your
legacy?
Neither
that question,
nor none of
the other 11
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
selected,
referred to
the rape
scandal, much
less deadly
cholera or the
Sri
Lanka report
released
earlier in the
day in Geneva,
after months
of delay and
supposed
concern by
Ban.
Inner
City Press
asked, before
the press
conference
ended and then
again before
Ban left the
room,
“Anything on
Sri Lanka?”
But there was
nothing. Ban's
spokesman
Dujarric
didn't even
allow
Inner City
Press to put a
question to UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who
covered up
rapes in DR
Congo,
Darfur and now
CAR.
Most
recently,
Ladsous linked
rapes to a
lack of
“R&R,”
rest and
relaxation, video here.
Dujarric
himself cut
off Inner City
Press
questions on
what Ladsous
said, and
declined to
answer on
Reddit in an
“Ask Me
Anything.” (He
didn't say
he'd ANSWER
everything,
one wag
pointed out.)
But
even beyond
the scandals,
Ban did not in
his opening
statement
mention
Somalia, or
CAR, or
Darfur; none
of the
questions
selected by
Dujarric was
about Africa.
(One wire
points out
Africa was
part of a
UN-at-70
question;
noted.)
Inner City
Press also
tried to ask
about Burundi
-- nothing -
and South
Sudan, on
which we are
preparing a
story.
It was
Voice of
America with
the “What is
your legacy”
question. Ban
said he'd
answer next
year. Inner
City Press
might answer
sooner. Watch
this site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
Feedback:
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UN, NY 10017 USA
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Other, earlier Inner City Press are
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