For
UN Counter-Terrorism, ICP's
Told, Russian Boss, Deputy &
Team from Egypt, Sinai Video
UNanswered
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Series
UNITED NATIONS,
April 26 – Sergey Kislyak was
slated for the new United
Nations counter-terrorism
Under Secretary General
position, sources told Inner
City Press as it published
on February 15 - but
then it became "unlikely."
Given his higher profile now,
the UN would be putting itself
and others in the spotlight
with such an appointment. Now
on April 26, Inner City Press
can report from sources that
while the top job is "still
slated for Russia," as one
source put it," the "deputy /
ASG and team will be from
Egypt." While Egypt certainly
has experience with terrorism,
what about practices such as
those depicted in the Sinai
video Inner City Press asked
the UN about on April 26? From
the UN transcript: Inner City
Press: the video from Egypt of
the army apparently executing
people captured in the Sinai,
and I’m wondering, in the time
since Friday, does the UN have
any more reaction to the
video? And did you feel
the same thing, that it
shouldn’t have been released,
given that it shows the death
of individuals? And is
what is shown a crime?
Spokesman Dujarric: We
have… I have no further
information on that
video. As a matter of
principle, as I think that
videos showing killings of
people should be handled
delicately. I think what
we’re talking about here is
the death of two staff members
in the Congo who were on work
for this Organization,
mandated by the Security
Council, and we very much hope
that the investigation will be
carried out thoroughly.
And when I have something else
to tell you on Egypt, I will
share it with you.
Nothing in
the two days since; today's UN
refuses to answer Press
questions about its "reforms,"
from Resident Coordinators to
gender to this. And the UN is
still trying to put and keep
Egyptian state media Akhbar al
Yom, whose long ago correspondent
Sanaa Youssef rarely comes in
and never asks questions, in
Inner City Press' long time
office, and restrict Inner
City Press to minders. Inner
City Press' sources tell it
that for the top CT post after
Kislyak there is another
candidate, also Russian:
Andrey Kurdskikh. The sudden
death of Russia's Ambassador
to the UN Vitaly Churkin, and
the likely retirement of
Russia's long-time
representative in the UN
Secretariat Dmitry Titov, will
necessitate other moves,
involving a current
spokesperson. We'll have more
on this.
At the UN
there has been talk since the
beginning of the year about
the new Under Secretary
General for Counter-Terrorism
position, but UN spokesman
Farhan Haq on February 15
refused to answer the most
basic question from Inner City
Press about it. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
the Under-Secretary-General
for counter-terrorism — many
people are speaking about the
position — is it something
that needs, like the SRSG
[Special Representative of the
Secretary-General] on
migration, any kind of
approval by ACABQ [Advisory
Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions], or
is it fully funded and ready
to go? What's the status
of USG counter-terrorism?
Deputy Spokesman
Haq: I would actually
have to see where we are with
that right now.
When Haq
left the UN for the day at
4:30 pm, he had not answered
Inner City Press' questions.
On March 3, the UN's lead,
also holdover, spokesman
Stephane Dujarric left the
briefing podium as Inner City
Press began asking a question,
saying he would answer
"tomorrow" - meaning Saturday,
adding "I'm lazy." This is
today's UN.
UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres has
extended the contract of
Obama-nominee Jeffrey Feltman,
as Inner City Press first
reported on January 27
(leading the UN Spokesman to
call it "despicable.")
It seems the US Mission is
comfortable - some add, for
now.
Also on
February 13 Guterres has put
atop UN Peacekeeping its fifth
Frenchman in a row,
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, whom
Inner City Press named
as one of three Francois
Hollande nominees on February
8.
Meanwhile news wire Reuters,
whose Stephen J. Adler vows to
cover Washington aggressively,
has done little but retype the
UN's press release, here
and here.
Reuters did not mention that
France has controlled UN
Peacekeeping for 20 years,
despite sexual abuse and
negligent sanitation scandals,
much less that Feltman was
Obama's nominee.
This is
not mentioned by AFP
either; a Google News search
10 hours after the UN's
announcement didn't even find
a Voice of America story on
Feltman. Why is the UN so
UNaccountable? We'll have more
on this.
Hollande
is soon to leave power; Obama
has already left. Do these
choices signify the claimed
meritocracy? Are they smart
for the UN? Has there been
enough House-cleaning? Seems
not.
There was a
female candidate for UN
Peacekeeping, also French, Sylvie
Bermann. While the UN
may claim, as it did in the
case of Salam
Fayyad, that they
consulted with the US about
Feltman, Inner City Press
predicts Feltman's extension,
like Fayyad, will bring
conflict. News, too. Watch
this site.
Antonio Guterres was chosen as
the UN's new Secretary General
in a closed-door process that
was paradoxically praised as
transparent. Forty two days
into his tenure, he is on a 12-day
trip to Saudi Arabia,
the UAE and Egypt, accompanied
and led by his predecessor's
(and Hillary Clinton's) Gulf
political adviser Jeffrey
Feltman. His holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric is
spinning
UN-friendly scribes with
quotes about how Guterres was
ostensibly
misled by US Ambassador
Nikki Haley. This is not
propitious.
Who is
traveling with Guterres?
Unlike many countries, it has
not been announced or
disclosed. But Inner City
Press, which Dujarric and the
UN's Cristina Gallach evicted
from the UN (and restrict
it still) understands
from sources it includes not
only Dujarric and Feltman but
also Feltman's "plant"
Katrin Hett. When Inner City
Press asked about her
position, Dujarric called
the question "despicable." Who
is running this show?
When Saudi
Arabia's foreign minister, in
his first meeting with
Guterres in the last nine
days, effusively greeted
Feltman, it should have set
off alarms. But it didn't.
What was the role of the UAE,
along with Feltman, in telling
Guterres to appoint Salam
Fayyad to the Libya envoy post
previously occupied by
Bernardino Leon, bought
by the UAE? Questions,
questions.
It is
reminiscent of one of Ban
Ki-moon's trips to Egypt, when
Mubarak asked him why there
were no Arabs in the UN
delegation. No, Ban said, we
have an Egyptian - as a
security guard. This story
long circulated among the Arab
heads of state the inept Ban
met with. We want Guterres to
be different - for the good of
the UN. Watch this site.
***
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