UNITED NATIONS, October 27 – When Inner City Press asked the UN three days in a row about Secretary General Antonio Guterres holding a four-hour stop-over visit to Cameroon and meeting Paul Biya, each time the UN refused to confirm, saying it would answer when it had something to say. Video here. Then Antonio Guterres who praised Biya on September 22 after he had killing hundreds of Anglophones has spoon-fed the story to Agence France Presse - still praising Biya. Even then, the UN didn't simply e-mail Inner City Press the belated response. It slipped it in Guterres' partial public schedule, and read it out to start the noon briefing. Then Inner City Press asked how it is that Guterres claims he will be able to access the situation in Anglophone areas during four hours in the airport in Yaounde, some part of that with Paul Biya. Spokesman Farhan Haq, who had dodged the stop-over question for three days, now said that Francois Fall will be with Guterres. Well, here on UN Radio is Francois Fall calling anyone who wants secession an "extremist," audio here at 1:40. Guterres is traveling with and advised by pro-Biya Khassim Diagne. So where, Inner City Press asked, is Guterres going AFTER this Yaounde - Paris leg? Haq wouldn't say. Inner City Press asked, Lisbon? If so, who's paying to take UN Security there? Haq didn't answer, saying that Guterres travels with a small party. Inner City Press asked how many people, like the UN Photographer sent before Guterres to CAR, travel separately, to make the party look smaller, or because Guterres is anti-social? No answer. No answer on disciplining Renner Onana, criticized in the UN's own report on sexual abuse in CAR. This despite claims of accountability, transparency, zero tolerance. We'll have more on this. AFP channeled: "We are going to be able to assess the recent evolution of (the situation of) the anglophone community," Guterres told AFP... 'It's a meeting that I deeply appreciate,' Guterres said, adding that it reflected Cameroon's 'great interest' in working 'positively' in the region. What, by killing hundreds of people? Now Inner City Press publishes this direct quote from Cameroon's Ambassador to the UN, making it clear that his country views this as nothing more than a stop-over, in advance of more blithe travel by Guterres in early 2018: "He is taking a flight from Bangui. It is just a stop over. He will be in Cameroon next year. Remember that the UNSC 2249, asked him to conduct high level mission in Lake Chad region. And this question of G5 Sahel. Next year he will visit, the say first trimester of 2018. On 27th, he will have a stop-over. There is a weekly flight." The UN, via Alison Smale's DPI's threat to review Inner City Press' accreditation - while still restricting it - for undefined audio "violations" is, in effect, helping to cover up the UN's failure and duplicity on Cameroon. All in a day's work. This was raised to Guterres without response. We'll have more on this. Accompanying Guterres on his trip is his pro-Biya adviser Khassim Diagne; spinning the trip from headquarters, while issuing accreditation threats to and restricting Inner City Press, is Alison Smale. Also along is holdover lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who has dodged dozens of Cameroon questions from Inner City Press and had it thrown out of the UN Press Briefing Room. Call it the dream-team of spin and selecting favoring of some media like AFP. Amid the killings by Cameroon's Paul Biya government, Inner City Press on October 18 asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, "there have been hundreds of people killed there. Your envoy, François [Louncény] Fall, has said he was going to go but hasn't gone. People are extremely concerned. And I'm just wondering, are we missing something? Are you preventing conflict in this instance or, or what is the UN doing?" Video here. Guterres did not answer that part of the question. On October 19 UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres told him he had not heard Inner City Press' Cameroon question. On October 23, after Guterres' UN threatened Inner City Press' accreditation, even while with the minder the UN requires for Inner City Press but not other less-present correspondents, Inner City Press learned from diplomats and Guterres-skeptic UN officials (the list is growing) about his current trip. Guterres, who Inner City Press is told is traveling with Khassim Diagne, will be in Yaounde on October 27 -- but it's a mere stop over on an Air France flight from CAR to Paris, with two hours in Yaounde, from 7 to 9 pm. Inner City Press is informed that Paul Biya, in part as a proof of life, may go to the airport. So on October 24 Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq about this and an imprisoned activist, UN transcript here: and below. Haq didn't confirm it then, in effect tried to cut off the question on October 25 then when it was asked again, refused to answer it, while claiming Guterres is working on freedom of information while the UN refuses to say for example if Renner Onana, named in the UN's own report on sexual abuse in CAR, is still there, with a promotion, meeting with other Guterres advisers. Inner City Press also asked about a Southern Cameroons petitioner being taken off the speakers list in the UN's Fourth (Decolonization) Committee, reporting on which is being hindered by DPI Alison Smale's October 20 threat to accreditation. We'll have more on this. From the October 24 transcript: Inner City Press: some were saying that the Secretary-General, on 27 October, will be in Cameroon for two hours in the evening on an Air France flight that goes from Bangui to Yaoundé and then to Paris and that the President, Paul Biya, might meet him at the airport. And I wanted to know if you could confirm that and also if the UN has done anything regarding the case of Nasako Besingi, who is a high-profile environmental and Anglophone activist who's been jailed since 25 September, and various groups have now spoken out, and I'm wondering, has the UN done anything to… to have this entirely nonviolent activist released? Deputy Spokesman: Well, that's several questions. On the last of those, we have been raising our concerns about all detained activists, and we'll continue to do so. Regarding the Secretary-General's travel plans, there's no other trip to announce at this point.
