By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, September 5 -- With the UN General Debate less than three weeks ago, the question of who will represent Guinea-Bissau became Inner City Press' focus on Thursday morning (alongside, of course, Syria).
Before a closed-door consultation of the UN Security Council on Guinea-Bissau, Inner City Press asked UN envoy (and Nobel Prize winner) Jose Ramos-Horta who would be coming to New York for the debate.
"The interim president," Ramos-Horta said. It was quiet outside the Security Council, with no other journalists present. It is considered more professional, apparently, to watch the G20 on television.
Inner City Press asked Cote d'Ivoire Permanent Representative Bamba about Guinea Bissau. He said hopefully that an interim minister might be allowed to address the Security Council, or its members.
It was suggested it is now a "more inclusive" government. But a representative of the Portuguese speaking group Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) exclusively told Inner City Press, "Not yet a legitimate one."
If a government is viewed as not legitimate by a sub-regional group, a credentials fight may follow.
Earlier this week the Free UN Coalition for Access@FUNCA_info put online the new speakers' list, and DGACM's cover letter. Qatar now has a spot in the first morning along with Barack Obama -- what will have happened in Syria by then? DR Congo's Joseph Kabila now has a spot on the second morning.
But it appears that now the Department of Public Information has finalized the elimination of media seats on the General Assembly floor -- a new low. Every constituency or "stakeholder" has to have more limited space. But now this UN tries to cut the media to NOTHING, and its Alliance says nothing. Access? Watch this site.
