By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 1 -- The UN under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his head of Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous and his spokesperson Martin Nesirky hit a new low on August 1.
After refusing without explanation to disclose which units of the Congolese Army the UN is supporting, the only way to assess Ban's claimed Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, Nesirky refused to allow Inner City Press to ask any more questions. Video here.
Nesirky allowed two rounds of questions to numerous others, including for example Pamela Falk the 2013 president of the UN Correspondents Association. But even after providing UN spin about Ladsous' controversial contract for drones or UAVs, Nesirky refused Inner City Press any second round of questions.
On drones, Inner City Press has covered member states' concerns about Ladsous' proposal; several UN officials have asked Inner City Press to stop linking Ladsous to drones. On July 31 at the noon briefing, Inner City Press asked with whom Ladsous signed the drone contract. Nesirky said that was not public.
Twenty four hours later, rather than e-mailing the answer to Inner City Press as his Office does with others, Nesirky waited until the noon briefing to read out the name of the winner (Selex ES of Italy with its Falco drone) -- and then cut off Inner City Press' follow up questions.
On July 31, Inner City Press said it had a question about Mali, which Nesirky didn't allow. On August 1 he belatedly disclosed what Inner City Press has repeatedly asked: that Nigeria is pulling troops out of Ladsous' MINUSMA mission there.
Nesirky has still not provided simple answers to whether Ban's Cyprus envoy Alexander Downer has a conflict, running to head the South Australian Liberal Party. Inner City Press asked Nesirky's outgoing deputy Eduardo Del Buey about the UN giving a big room, S-310, to UNCA for briefing publicized only to those which pay it money, and why the Department of Public Information gave "P" Press pesses to UNCA interns, while threatening the accreditation of other journalists. Neither question has been answered. Watch this site.
