By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 21 -- How can a country with a long history of colonialism like France be allowed to decide which correspondents accompany and transcribe a trip through Africa on a UN plane?
This is what has happened for the upcoming Security Council trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia which Inner City Press first reported on ten days ago.
Inner City Press has been told by multiple sources that France was allowed to choose which journalists would go; its request seventeen hours ago for disclosure of those journalists selected for free travel in the UN plane has not complied with. But isn't it public money?
If the French government of Francois Hollande and Laurent Fabius wants to run a propaganda trip through Africa, they should use a French government plane, not the UN.
In fact, France used UN Peacekeeping, from Cote d'Ivoire through Mali through the Great Lakes, where it supported the Hutu government which led the killing of a million people in Rwanda.
Call this the Genocide Joyride, then. But who has France chosen to ride in the UN plane?
The fix was in from the beginning. Rather than tell all correspondents at once about the opportunity to accompany the trip -- Inner City Press accompanied just such a trip in 2010 -- this time the notice was sent out through the email of Pamela Falk the 2013 president of the UN Correspondents Association only to those which pay it money: less than ten percent of the journalists covering the UN General Assembly.
The UNCA Executive Committee allowed its member fromAgence France Presse, Tim Witcher, to initiate a proceeding against Inner City Press for its reporting on Herve Ladsous,the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping.
They then tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN, including UNCA first vice president Louis Charbonneau handing an internal UNCA document to the UN's chief of accreditation Stephane Dujarric.
(Charbonneau and Witcher were linked last week in MediaBistro to imposter Inner City Press social media accounts, the culmination of nine months of anonymous trolling link to UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance. Their anonymous comments complained Inner City Press is "pro-Rwanda" - explaining the trip decisions, and why Inner City Press will write rather than appeal.)
After Inner City Press and the new Free UN Coalition for Access (@FUNCA_info) complained, the notice of the trip was sent out to a larger group by the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But the fix was in.
After close of business on Friday, after twice confirming its desire to accompany the Security Council trip as it did in 2010, this following arrived:
From: Jerome Bernard [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: Security Council trip to Africa
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress [dot] com
Cc: Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info
Date: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: Security Council trip to Africa
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress [dot] com
Cc: Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info
Hi Matthew,
I am sorry but because of the very limited number of seats in the UN plane it won't be possible for you to travel with the Security Council for this trip to the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
I am sure there will be other opportunities for travel in the future.
Best regards,
Jerome Bernard
Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
Inner City Press less than an hour later asked the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General for a list of those journalists who France has selected. The list has not been provided.
Jerome Bernard, who will be accompanying the trip will supposedly tell reporters who France did not want on the trip what is happening. Right.
We will be reporting on this Genocide Joyride. Watch this site.
