On
W Sahara, ICP Asks UN Why
Guterres Ignores AI on Rights,
Spox Declines to Explain
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 20 – In the run-up to
next week's UN Security
Council two-step on Western
Sahara, a consultation
followed two days later by a
vote, numerous diplomats have
asked Inner City Press why
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres is "so pro Moroccan,"
as one of them put it. The
perception is become
widespread. The answers
proffered include Guterres'
time as Prime Minister of
Portugal, with references to
prior Moroccan King Hassan II
and Abdellatif Youssoufi. On
April 20, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about Amnesty International urging
the inclusion of human rights
monitoring in the mandate of
the MINURSO mission, and why
Guterres ignored it as he
apparently ignores several
other human rights issues. From the UN
transcript: Inner City
Press: Amnesty International,
you may have heard of, has
issued a de… a call saying
that the UN Mission for the
Referendum in Western Sahara,
MINURSO, should have a human
rights monitoring
function. And I… I've
seen a copy. I'm not
sure if you can say what the
status of the
Secretary-General's report
is. Is it now
officially…?
Spokesman: Yeah, the
report… I would refer
you…
Inner
City Press:
I want to make sure…
Spokesman: I would refer
you to the report.
Inner
City
Press:
Since it… is it fair to say
that he's not recommending a
human rights monitoring
function? If so, how… how… why
not?
Spokesman: I think it's
fair to say that the report
speaks for itself.
Inner City Press:
Right. So he's not
recommending it?
Spokesman: You do the
analysis...
OK. And
then there's this: Moroccan
trolls, using Dujarric's (and
the now-gone Gallach's)
eviction of Inner City Press
for covering corruption like
this, that Inner City Press
"was sacked out from the #UN
because he was caught filming
a closed meeting." No, Inner
City Press said openly it
would film, and did, a meeting
in the UN Press Briefing Room
by a group that took dues
money from now indicted Ng Lap
Seng's bribery conduit. The
Moroccan state "media" at the
UN don't even ask questions.
Troll on. On April 19 as
Guterres held a rare Q&A
session, about Africa, his
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric had pre-selected
questions, many of them not
about Africa at all. The UN
Department of Public
Information under Guterres has
threatened
Inner City Press after a
frivolous complaint from the
Moroccan mission about photos
taken according to the rules
at the UN Security Council
stakeout, while DPI has given
multiple "Resident
Correspondent" badges to
Moroccan state media, some
moonlighting for the UN
itself, while restricting the
UNderdog Press. Meanwhile,
Inner City Press has learned,
the UN's decoloniziation
(C-24) committee is preparing
to visit the Tindouf refugee
camp. We'll have more on this.
While Guterres breezed by the
issue of Western Sahara on
Friday, April 7 as Morocco
tried to get the Press which
covers it further restricted,
Inner City Press was leaked
the email below, from the UN's
Kim Bolduc, amid reports of
Germany's Horst Kohler as new
Personal Envoy. While
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric refused to
comment on either,
here (contrary to his
Q&A last week about "Sex
in the City, here),
now Inner City Press has put
on Scribd the full text
of Guterres' first MINURSO
report such as it is, here.
But when Inner City Press
asked the UN's holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about both on April 10, he
wouldn't answer either
question. Video
here. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
on Western Sahara, you'd said
to wait for the report, but I
guess I just want to say, this
Kim Bolduc e-mail, which Inner
City Press published, was
directed to, like, many, many
people in UNHCR. So,
5I'm wondering what then, it
talks about a code cable for
Jean-Pierre Lacroix to go
forward and… and… and, you
know, re… bring all 17 people
back. So, I'm sort of
wondering, like, is it that
you know it, but she shouldn't
have written that first?
Is it…?
Spokesman: She's the
master of her e-mails.
She's obviously communicating
what she needs to communicate
with her… with her staff, and
the Secretary-General's
position will be made very
public and updated once the
report comes out in the next
day or so.
[Also:
Question:
Follow-up. There were
some reports also last week
that the Polisario have
threatened to shoot the
MINURSO peacekeepers if they
try to conduct ceasefire
patrols in the areas under
their control. What's
the Secretary-General think
about that and the integrity
of the peacekeeping mission
itself?
Spokesman: Well, it's
incumbent on all the parties
involved to respect the,
respect UN personnel in the
area, whether uniformed or, or
not, in the way they go about
their work on a mandate of the
Security Council.
Correspondent: I'm
sorry. Just a quick
follow-up. The Polisario
also reported that you have
prevented the MINURSO from
patrolling the El-Guerguerat
area after the Moroccan forces
have withdrawn from it…
Spokesman: I think it is
important that all the parties
ensure that MINURSO has full
freedom of movement.
Masood-ji.
Correspondent: Thank
you, Stéphane-ji. ]
Inner City
Press: Will he, by that
time, confirm or deny that
he's nominating Mr. Horst
Kobler as… or Köhler…?
Spokesman: As you know,
whenever we have a nomination
for a high-level person,
there's a lot of the rumours
prior. The Security
Council will have to be
consulted, and once all that
is done, we will announce it
officially and, no doubt, you
will have the information
before it is announced
officially.
Inner City Press: Just
finally, on both this and on
South Sudan, is it possible to
get Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix to
do a stakeout or some type of
Q&A…?
Spokesman: I'm sure Mr
Lacroix will be delighted to
come meet you as soon as it is
possible for him. Good
day.
Inner City Press: Can I
ask a Burundi question?
Spokesman: No.
We're done. Thank you.
This
is today's UN.
***
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