| On
Yemen, Kaag
Sees &
Says Hadi in
Riyadh Since
2015,
Griffiths Went
For Saudi
Interview
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Video,
1st
Person
UNITED NATIONS,
February 19 – Amid the
continued killing of civilians
in Yemen the UN Security
Council will met on February
27. In the run-up, Dutch
minister Sigrid Kaag, a former
UN official, met with Hadi. In
Dutch her tweet said Hadi has
been staying in Riyadh since
2015, but this was not in her
English tweet, photos here.
Meanwhile Inner City Press is
exclusively informed that the
new UN envoy on Yemen, Martin
Griffiths, had a try-out of
sorts with the Saudis before
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres rubber stamped him,
and that this try-out involved
a trip to Saudi Arabia and a
sort of interview. Inner City
Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about the process, whether
penholder the UK (which has
denied in full Inner City
Press' Freedom of Information
Act request about Yemen and
Cameroon after 170 days, see
below) nominated its national
Griffiths. While Dujarric
typically did not answer, the
better question it seems is
whether Saudi Arabia, despite
some obfuscation about wanting
an Arab envoy, nominated or
co-nominated him. We'll have
more on this. The United
Kingdom's murky role in the
killings in Yemen persist even
in the face of a Freedom of
Information Act request from
Inner City Press.
More than five
months ago on 15 August 2017
Inner City Press asked the UK
government for records
concerning Yemen. The UK sells
weapons to Saudi Arabia, and
has now implanted a UK citizen
as UN envoy on Yemen in the
person of Martin Griffiths
(Inner City Press story and
questions here.)
After repeatedly extending the
time to response, now the UK
has denied access to all
responsive records, letter here,
saying that "the release of
information relating to the
UK’s discussion on UN business
could harm our relations and
other member states of the
United Nations (UN)." And on
February 16, the UN belatedly
confirmed that British Martin
Griffiths is the man, and UK
Boris Johnson immediately
applauded (while withholding
all documents). Johnson said,
“I welcome the appointment of
Martin Griffiths to the role
of UN Special Envoy for Yemen.
Mr Griffiths brings a wealth
of experience from several
high profile UN positions in
the region, and is a leading
expert on international
mediation and conflict
resolution." At the UN noon
briefing on February 16 Inner
City Press asked about this
record, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: on Yemen now
that you've said that… that
Mr. Griffiths is the
one. I had asked you
before something about vetting
about his previous position at
the Centre for Humanitarian
Dialogue, where it's reported
at least that there was sort
of some fraud… missing money
at the end of his tenure and I
wanted to know two
things. One, whether
this was looked at, and two,
whether you can say, given
that the penholder now also
has… is… is the nationality of
the… of the… of the envoy, and
I ask this because
having… having FOIA-ed
[Freedom of Information Act]
the UK and been denied in
full, what was the role of the
penholder in… in nominating
Mr. Griffiths as the… as the
envoy? Spokesman: Mr.
Griffiths will serve as United
Nations staff member with all
the duties of independence
that that will… that brings
with it. So, Mr.
Griffiths is not there to
serve the purposes of the
United Kingdom or anyone
else. He's there to
represent the
Secretary-General and serve
the United Nations. The
nomination proposing Mr.
Griffiths to the Security
Council was made by the
Secretary-General. As
far as the first part of your
question, I think what you
raised, everybody was aware
of, and as far as I know, Mr.
Griffiths was never accused of
any wrongdoing personally, and
I know he will serve the
United Nations well, with
honour and with integrity."
We'll see.
Here
on Patreon is the full UK
denial letter, from which
Inner City Press is preparing
an appeal, on Cameroon as well
- it has 40 working days.
This is shameful
- the UK is also exiting
transparency.
As
Inner City
Press pursues
these
questions at
the UN, it
remains restricted
to minders by
the head of
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
Alison Smale,
who it is
noted is
British - and
functionally a
censor. A
retaliator,
too? Smale has
not explained
why Inner City
Press' long
time work
space is
assigned to
no-show,
no-question
Egyptian state
media Akhbar
al Youm.
***
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