UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 29 – As the UN promotes its flagship General Assembly High Level Week it is not fully disclosing the new anti-Press rules it has unveiled without notice this summer. The promoting pagesays "All accredited media are required to abide by the access guidelines" - but the linked to guidelines don't mention that a journalist can be roughed up by UN Security for covering a Budget Committee meeting, or a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, if his or her questions aren't liked.
The real rules under Guterres and his head of Accreditation Alison Smale are, Don't ask hard questions to, or create a "hostile environment" for, the member states they like or need, like France and the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and even Cameroon, since it's chaired the UN Budget Committee. Definitely don't asked about UN corruption, whether it's China Energy Fund Committee bribery pending in the US Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, or the failure of Smaleand French head of Peacekeeping Jean-Pierre Lacroix to make public financial disclosure. Bonus heads-up: don't go into the UN parking lot, even if your UN badge open that door and a senior UN official invites you.
In the Kafkaesque world of Antonio Guterres, who has used public funds 14 times to route himself through his real home in Lisbon, being in the parking lot is grounds for a lifetime ban from the UN. As is going to check if Guterres is or is not present for weeks at a time in the $60 million publicly funded mansion he lives it. It's a big no-no to cover that. But Inner City Press, roughed up on June 22 and July 3 by Guterres' Security and banned since, will cover this GA anyway it must. More nitty gritty, be cautious of the assurance of Smale's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit. Without (yet) naming them, out of respect, if they tell you something is permitted, you cannot believe them. Smale might ban you for life for precisely what her MALU authorized, like Inner City Press was told it could live-stream on the fourth and third floors without escort, then was thrown out ostensibly on that ground. If a member state like Morocco gets Smale's DPI to email you a complaint, even if they tell you they know it is frivolous - as they did with Inner City Press - do not believe them. Smale and Guterres will use the frivolous complaint to ban you for life, especially if it is from a state like Morocco which Guterres wants to ingratiate himself to because they host the upcoming conference on migration and refugees, Guterres' signature issue except when it is refugees from Cameroon in Nigeria (refouled) or from Burundi in Tanzania (natch). Basically, you need to be a sycophant to Guterres - there are many insiders who will show you how, if you can stomach it. To be continued. Here's the UN's schedule, followed by Inner City Press' exclusive on Trump: 18 September: Opening of the 73rd Session of the General Assembly (Preliminary agenda / President for 73rd session)
24 September: Nelson Mandela Peace Summit
24 September: High-level meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
25 September: Opening of the General Debate (provisional speakers list)
25 September: High-level meeting on action for peacekeeping
26 September: International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
26 September: High-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis
27 September: High-level meeting to undertake a comprehensive review of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
24 September: Nelson Mandela Peace Summit
24 September: High-level meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
25 September: Opening of the General Debate (provisional speakers list)
25 September: High-level meeting on action for peacekeeping
26 September: International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
26 September: High-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis
27 September: High-level meeting to undertake a comprehensive review of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
As exclusively first reported by banned Inner City Presson August 24, on September 24, US President Trump will host his "big UN event, this time on the world drug situation," a source not with the US Mission told Inner City Press on August 24 as it staked-out the UN Delegates Entrance questioning diplomats as it has for the 52 days it has been banned from the UN - ironically, for its style of questioning. Another source told Inner City Press that the US circulating a draft outcome to the political coordinators all of member states, not just those on the Security Council. This source - ironically a pro-UN source who still leaks to Inner City Press after the UN banned it for life -- exclusively told Inner City Press of"pushback" that is coming. As the afternoon of August 24 progressed, while other information came in, as to the US Mission to the UN across the street there were peripheral developments. As Inner City Press reported on August 23, on the Periscope live-streaming platform which the UN cited in imposing its lifetime ban, the portrait of Mike Pompeo belatedly went up in the lobby of the Mission. On August 24 starting around 3:30 some USUN personnel boarded a chartered bus with coolers and in Jets and Giants (LT 56) jerseys, presumably to got to the Meadowlands in New Jersey and see a pre-season NFL game. Would anyone take a knee? In the bus stop Inner City Press works in it formally notified the two top US Missio spokespeople that its 52 day ban has had no due process and should be reversed at latest by September 5, the deadline for the UNGA week on which Inner City Press is reporting. The same was conveyed, and more, to former USUN Deputy Permanent Representative David Pressman, who to his and their credit bantered with the Mission's security officers. He's with the Clooney Foundation for Justice and the Boies law firm. Inner City Press asked, not joking, want to sue the UN on press freedom (and non assault) grounds? He said it might be a conflict given his previous jobs - though the UN's decision maker or letter signing Alison Smale ignored her own conflicts of interest - but he could, it would seem, find someone. Even a recent mother. For now, we report on Trump's upcoming event. Watch this site. With the UN General Assembly High Level week coming up next month, the UN of anti-Press Secretary General Antonio Guterres is still moving to push further away from the action the visiting media that he and Under Secretary General Alison Smale, in their lawless way, allow in. Now this UN dynamic duo have not surprisingly gotten buy in fro the insiders they give offices to and use to censor others, those who don't need the tent but rather complain about the air conditioning and TV reception in their offices. For years the so-called Media Center has been in Conference Room 1. But this year Guterres and Smale still want to put it even further away -- now in a tent. Typically, they are trying to blame their anti-press policies on member states. But this is the duo which had Inner City Press roughed up by their Security - twice - and banned for 52 days and counting. They are censors, and hypocrites (see Smale's ex NYT myopic hand-wringing, here.) On August 17 Smale issued a ghoulish no due process ruling purporting to ban Inner City Press for life, which has put the UN into the Press Freedom Tracker. Back Oon August 8, Inner City Press during the noon briefing it is banned from 43 days and counting emailed the spokesperson for President of the General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak: "Hello. Since I am still banned from the UN noon briefing, I am e-mailing you this question during your August 8 briefing: What does the PGA think and do about the moves to push the media even further away from CR 1 during High Level week?" The spokesman Brenden Varma to his credit replied, just after the briefing, "For the President, it is important that journalists are able to do their work and cover the general debate. As for the logistics, that is a matter for the UN Secretariat." Subsequent to that, Guterres' and Smale's partner in censorship UNCA made much of getting the same quotes, afterward, in a briefing they help keep others excluded from, as in an outside tent. The fact that this "United Nations Correspondents Association" is a censorship tool used by the UN is made clear not only by the fact they are desparate to get Antonio Guterres to raise them money on Wall Street in December but that Smale's Hua Jiang, before DPI and Guterres had Inner City Press roughed up and banned, told it it would be thrown out for merely darely to post a sign of the alternative Free UN Coalition for Access onthe office (for) now given to a no-show no-question Egyptian state media retired correspondent who was president of the UN Correspondents Association in... 1984. We'll have more on this. Here's how their Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq spun on August 7, annotated in brackets: we are actually trying as best as we can to get suitable working accommodations for the large numbers of journalists who come here to cover the General Assembly. As you know, every year, we have a challenge trying to find such accommodation, but over time, it works out that we get good space… working space for all the travelling journalists. This year, the complication is that some of the Member States have made clear that Conference Room 1, which sometimes has been used, will be used for their own meetings involving their visiting Heads of State and Government. So, we’re trying to get an alternative space, but we’re well aware that some of the options that have been bandied about are not workable because they would entail tremendous logistical difficulties for reporters to cover events. So, we’re working hard, including with the various other departments who deal with arrangements for the General Assembly session. And we’ll try to get the best available working space that we can get. [The bus stop?] the Department of Public Information (DPI), do not believe that any demands from Member States should override the demands from the journalists who are coming in. [Ha.] There are several States, partly because there are several different events on the key days at the start of the week that will require a large number of seats, and so there’s only a certain number of conference rooms that will accommodate those." We'll have more on this - still banned - and on this: as the Cameroon government of 36 year President Paul Biya slaughters civilians in the Anglophone regions as well as in the North, it has re-engaged Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs, on a retainer of $100,000 per quarter plus expenses, documents show. This means that the July 11 meeting with Cameroonian ministers bragged about by this month's UN Security Council president, Karen Pierce of the UK, was actually in connection with a lobbying trip stage managed by Patton Boggs. Inner City Press has asked the UK Mission, see below, and also on the morning of August 7 asked Secretary General Antonio Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq before "his" noon briefing Inner City Press was banned from for the 35th day in a row. Guterres' Haq never answered (though perhaps relatedly envoy Francois Fall is supposedly going to Cameroon). Now Inner City Press has reviewed Patton Boggs long history with Paul Biya, as he has become more and more brutal. It began in 2004 with a letter from Patton Boggs' Joseph Brand (still involved in 2018) to Biya's Pierre MoukokoMbonjo for Peter Mafany Musonge, here. We'll have more on this. UNanswered as of August8 by Guterres' team: "August 7-1: On Cameroon beyond the questions you have left unanswered from August 3 and August 6-1, please state if anyone in the UN Secretariat met with a Cameroonian government delegation in the US from July 11 (whcn they met UK Ambassador Pierce) to July 20 and if the UN was aware that this Biya delegation's lobbying trip was stage managed by the DC-based lobbying firm Patton Boggs." Neither Haq nor the others in Guterres' team whom Inner City Press asked - Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed, Eihab Omaish, Alison Smale and her officer in charge (of censorship) Hua Jiang answered that specific question. Instead Haq at the briefing said he trying to "get language" about Guterres' envoy Francois Lounseny Fall, who equated secessionists with extremists, may go to the country this week. What, some ask, for Patton Boggs? Inner City Press asked the UK Mission's two spokespeople Matthew Moody and Amy.Quantrill: "Good morning. This is a formal Press request for an answer I have sought from the UK Mission to the UN since August 1. On July 31 Ambassador Pierce stated on Twitter that she (and presumably others at the UK mission) had met on July 11 with Cameroonian ministers.
On August 1, for the Program of Work press conference I was and am banned from by USG Alison Smale and SG Antonio Guterres, after being roughed up by UN Security while covering an event and a meeting on June 22 and July 3, I asked both of you:
"Did she mean government ministers or religious ministers? If the former, who were they? Which departments? And what was it mean to say “we were watching the situation closely.” Does this mean the UK or the Council? Is there a role, does the UK think, for UN envoy Francois Lonseny Fall? Or should another mediator be assigned?"
I have yet to receive an answer, including after tweeting substantial the same question to Amb Allen yesterday. Nor did I receive any response to my August 3 question to you, explicitly your UK's capacity of President of the UNSC, about Yemen and a Saudi letter.
This time I am addressing this to Stephen Hickey as well. (Hello).
I am requesting an immediate answer to these Cameroon questions:
Name the ministers Amb Pierce met with on July 11.
State whether Amb Pierce or anyone else at the UK mission was aware this this Biya administration "tour" July 11-20 was stage managed by DC-based lobbying firm Patton Boggs (reflected on documents Inner City Press has this morning published), including US ex-Amb Frank Wisner.
State whether any non-Cameroonians were present at the July 11 meeting and if so, who they were.
state whether Amb Pierce has had any meetings with Cameroonian opposition or Federalists or separatists, and if not, why not.
Also, as I asked on August 1 in advance of these week's UNSC meeting I remained banned from,
Last month Sweden said at the beginning of the month that it would be seeking agreed Press Elements from every consultation. Will the UK be seeking Press Elements from this Western Sahara consultation? And if not, why not?
On deadline. Thanks you in advance. -Matthew." Nothing.
On August 1, for the Program of Work press conference I was and am banned from by USG Alison Smale and SG Antonio Guterres, after being roughed up by UN Security while covering an event and a meeting on June 22 and July 3, I asked both of you:
"Did she mean government ministers or religious ministers? If the former, who were they? Which departments? And what was it mean to say “we were watching the situation closely.” Does this mean the UK or the Council? Is there a role, does the UK think, for UN envoy Francois Lonseny Fall? Or should another mediator be assigned?"
I have yet to receive an answer, including after tweeting substantial the same question to Amb Allen yesterday. Nor did I receive any response to my August 3 question to you, explicitly your UK's capacity of President of the UNSC, about Yemen and a Saudi letter.
This time I am addressing this to Stephen Hickey as well. (Hello).
I am requesting an immediate answer to these Cameroon questions:
Name the ministers Amb Pierce met with on July 11.
State whether Amb Pierce or anyone else at the UK mission was aware this this Biya administration "tour" July 11-20 was stage managed by DC-based lobbying firm Patton Boggs (reflected on documents Inner City Press has this morning published), including US ex-Amb Frank Wisner.
State whether any non-Cameroonians were present at the July 11 meeting and if so, who they were.
state whether Amb Pierce has had any meetings with Cameroonian opposition or Federalists or separatists, and if not, why not.
Also, as I asked on August 1 in advance of these week's UNSC meeting I remained banned from,
Last month Sweden said at the beginning of the month that it would be seeking agreed Press Elements from every consultation. Will the UK be seeking Press Elements from this Western Sahara consultation? And if not, why not?
On deadline. Thanks you in advance. -Matthew." Nothing.
The documents show the agreement is to run to mid 2019, long after Biya's next "election" in October (also made amockery of by French President Emmanuel Macron inviting Biya to an event in Paris as head of state in November). The "confidential" letter agreement is addressed by Patton Boggs' Robert S. Kapla to Biya's Prime Minister Philemon Yang, to be signed by Ghogomu Paul Mingo and cites Prof. Nkot. It says Joseph Brand and "Ambassador Frank Wisner" will work on the Biya fileAfter the abuses by Cameroon's security forces have been ignored by the UN, as Inner City Press has repeatedly asked about them until being banned from the UN on July 3 and since, new leaked videos show summary executions and manhandling of prisoners. On July 14 and 25 Inner City Press raised the issue, and that of the UN's censorship
to the French Mission to the UN, and also directly to Deputy Ambassador Anne Gueguen. Nothing, fromFrance and from the Security Council as a whole, not even an "Any Other Business" briefing, with none as yet foreseen under August's Security Council president the UK, whose Liam Fox bragged of UK New Age's gas deal with Biya; Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Karen Pierce about it here, before Guterres' Security's ouster and ongoing ban on which the UK has done nothing. July 20 video here. After that, Pierce said on Twitter - while ignoring Inner City Press' question as her mission has in recent days, also on Yemen - that she had met with Cameroon ministers on July 11. Inner City Press asked the UK Mission in writing on August 1 to explain: "Amb Pierce disclosed in yesterday's Twitter Q&A that she “spoke to a delegation of Cameroon ministers at the UN on 11 July.” Did she mean government ministers or religious ministers? If the former, who were they? Which departments? And what was it mean to say “we were watching the situation closely.” Does this mean the UK or the Council? Is there a role, does the UK think, for UN envoy Francois Lonseny Fall? Or should another mediator be assigned?" Nothing, still no answer as of noon on August 6 from the UK Mission. (Inner City Press' later on August 6 online question to returned-toTwitter Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Allen on this has yet to be replied to.) Instead, Pierce said the initiative is with Biya and his government. Now it emerges that Paul Biya sent a delegation of five from July 11 to 20, to DC and New York to meet members of the UN Security Council. This while UNSG Antonio Guterres had banned from the UN Inner City Press, which has ask him for more than a year about the slaughter in Cameroon and his inaction, as he needed thesupport of the Cameroonian chair of the UN Budget Committee. New filing on Guterres and conflict of interest, here. We'll have more on this - and this: ghoulishly in Cameroon, where there is supposed to be an election in October, French Ambassador Gilles Thibault, of whom Inner City Press has asked French Permanent Representative Francois Delattre before being banned from the UN since July 3, has invited Paul Biya to an Emmanual Macron "Peace" event, as Cameroonian head of state.. in November. We'll have more on this. On August 1 in a briefing Inner City Press was banned from Pierce said the initiative is with the President and government of Cameron - that is, 36 year ruler Paul Biya. On August 2 Inner City Press emailed Guterres' spokesmen and team including Alison Smale and officer in charge Hua Jiang, "On Cameroon and refugees from Cameroon in Nigeria, what is the comment, response and action if any of the Secretargy General to the deaths of eight Cameroonian refugees in Ikom, Cross River who died of fumes from a generator in their room? What has the SG done about the conflict and crisis in the Anglophone areas of Cameroon since his visit to Younde in October 2017? What has he done in the last 12 days?" Haq did not email any response back before heading out to lunch. On his way back in, Inner City Press reiterated the question and he just walked by, as didHua Jiang, schooled in this with UNMIS in Sudan it seems, part of the censorship, minutes later. Video here. This is today's UN.
On July 30 Guterres' sleazy basis for roughing up and banning Inner City Press for 27 days and counting was reported in the Columbia Journalist Review: Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric has gone further, in an article published July 30 by the Columbia Journalism Review. Dujarric - who Inner City Press directed to the CJR reporter to - is quoted that " Lee Periscoped while shouting, 'Fuck you!' repeatedly. (Lee says he was complaining that Dujarrac had given the Al Jazeera crew a private interview, and excluded him.) 'He creates an atmosphere of incivility within our working environment,'Dujarrac says." This is a lie. Inner City Press on June 19 when Dujarric gave a "private briefing" to Al Jazeera about Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo announcing the US pull out from the UN Human Right Council said in the hall that is was a "sleazefest." After closing the door of the focus booth it has been confined to work in for two years by Dujarric, and long after the Al Jazeera trio including James Bayes and Whitney Hurst were done, said on Periscope, F-You. Periscope video - still online during this 27 day "investigation" - here. So Dujarric is a censor, justifying the beating up and banning of a journalist for something he broadcast in a soundproof booth to his audience. This is disgusting, all the more so because as Inner City Press reported on July 20, Dujarric told an interlocutor on June 20, before the two beat-downs of Inner City Press, that things would be worse for it. Guterres and Dujarric and it seems Smale are.. thugs. Disgusting. On Cameroon, the CJR article quotes Inner City Press:“The UN is in bed with the government there; they don’t report on human rights violations." Entirely true. Now as the Mayor of Buea, Ekema Patrick, prohibitsan Anglophone confab that even the Biya's government pretends to support, if only as window-dressing comes news of the ravage not only of Cameroon's people (on whose fate Guterres' UN has shown its position) but also its environment, about which he and his Deputy purport to care. "Sudcam, a subsidiary of Singapore rubber firm, Halcyon Agri, is responsible for devastating forest clearance in Cameroon, resulting in dispossession of community lands and other impacts on human rights. Greenpeace Africa says the Sudcam Cameroon concessions overlap with the customary land of forest-dependent communities, including the indigenous Baka people and its acquisition amounts to land grabbing. “It’s pathetic that the Cameroonian government still accommodates the threatening activities of Sudcam. Indigenous community settlements inside the concession have been completely destroyed without a resettlement plan or compensation. This is a clear violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People,” said Sylvie Djacbou, Greenpeace Africa Forest Campaigner.The Sudcam rubber project is directly adjacent to and identified as a new and serious threat to the Dja Faunal Reserve, a Unesco World Heritage Site that is home to 14 species of primate and megafauna like elephants, buffalos, giant pangolins and bongo antelopes." The story, sadly, has it all: UNDRIP being disrespected, UNESCO like Guterres and his Deputy doing nothing (and both censoring the Press). We'll have more on this. Inner City Press has, even while banned from the UN by Secretary General Antonio Guterres who took Biya's golden statue, asked a number of non-Security Council UN member states for their position on convening a meeting in the General Assembly as has been doneregarding other countries; watch this space. As to Italy Inner City Press sent a formal request to the Italian spokesperson who told it that, Giovanni Davoli, and elsewhere including the Mission's official email address in UN Protocol's Blue Book, info.italyun [at] ester.it, as well as press.italyun [at] esteri.it: "Hello - This is a request for your Italian Mission's and Ambassador comment on the human rights abuses by the Cameroon army and security forces, not only in the Anglophone areas (which I have been asking about in the UN since early 2017) but now also in the north, video linked to in Inner City Press here, as verified by Amnesty International, here. Since the UN Security Council has not even taken up the issue in an Any Other Business briefing, with blockage by former colonial powers France and the UK, which recently bragged of a UK firm's natural gas deal with the Cameroonian government, this is also to know whether your Mission - which is still technically on the Security Council but not much seen, even before Inner City Press was banned since July 3 for covering the UN Budget -- would support General Assembly action on these Cameroon and regional issues, under Uniting for Peace or otherwise.
I am asking these questions in writing now because I have been banned since July 3 from entering the UN and could not ask them inside the UN building.
This notifies your Mission that I have been banned from the UN since at latest July 5, with no due process. See, The Independent (UK), July 12, 2018, “UN 'roughs up and bans' investigative reporter long considered thorn in side of world body officials, Mr Lee has written about UN in connection to Haiti, Burundi, Sri Lanka and other nations." As your Mission knows, Italian journalist Giampaoli Pioli lobbied to get Inner City Press thrown out... What is your Mission's response to that, and this aftermath? The ban ongoing since July 3, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told The Independent, is based on two “incidents.” As captured on Periscope video one of which is featured it The Independent story, these incidents actually consist of my having been roughed by by UN Security led by Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins, first while covering an Eid al Fitr speech by the Secretary General on June 22 then, shirt torn and armed twisted, computer damaged, on July 3 while I covered the Fifth Committee meetings on the Peacekeeping budget. Video here. I am told there is an investigation but so far,all I've seen in twenty days “covering” the UN from outside the UN gates, has been a one-hour interview by UN Security in the basement of the UNITAR building."
We'll have more on this, on other formal requesting including to incoming Security Council members - and on this: The Mission of the UK, which speaks a lot about human rights but whose Ambassador Karen Pierce on July 20, eleven days before she takes over Presidency of the UN Security Council, entirely ignored Press questions about Cameroon and the UN's banning of Inner City Press, video here, on the morning of July 16 told Inner City Press, "Hi Matthew, Thanks for your email – I will get back to you on your request on Cameroon shortly." Inner City Press immediately replied, "Thanks for response, I'm awaiting answer(s), fyi I remain banned from the UN and UNSC, which this morning meets about Libya, which I cover. I right now am trying to cover that meeting, the Trump Putin presser and then the noon briefing, from just outside the UN's Delegates' Entrance gate on 45th Street. All this for covering the UN Budget Cttee meeting on July 3, by the decision it seems of USG DPI Smale, [on information and belief] a British national, one of the few UK USGs. Additional videos have been coming out in Cameroon, since the New Age deal, and President Biya's announcement he is running yet again. Thanks." But two days later, nothing. Here's what was sent to the UKMission, and its Political Coordinator and the two spokespeople for Permanent Representative Karen Pierce and Deputy PR Jonathan Allen, four days ago: "Hello - This is a request for your Mission's comment on the human rights abuses by the Cameroon army and security forces, not only in the Anglophone areas (which I have asked about before) but now also in the north, video linked to in Inner City Press, here,as verified by Amnesty International, here.
Given that the Security Council has supported these Cameroonian forces, and as I have asked before given the UK's role in the former British Southern Cameroons, the FCO's denial in full of my FOIA request about Cameroon and Liam Fox's recent statements about UK-based New Age's natural gas contract with the Biya government, this is a request for comment on deadline including on whether your Mission will now seek and/or support a Security Council meeting on these abuses, and if not, why not.
I am asking these questions in writing now because I was banned all week from entering the UN and could not ask them at the Security Council stakeout.
This notifies your Mission, as I did yesterday your Mission's Stephen Hickey (cc-ed here) who kindly stopped to hear of my situation, that I have been banned from the UN since at latest July 5, with no due process. See, The Independent (UK), July 12, 2018, 'UN "roughs up and bans" investigative reporter long considered thorn in side of world body officials, Mr Lee has written about UN in connection to Haiti, Burundi, Sri Lanka and other nations.'" Later on July 18, after publication of the above, came this from the UK Mission: "Hi Matthew, Please find below the answers on your questions on Cameroon.
The Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, issued a statement on Cameroon today:
'Commenting on the recent video circulating in Cameroon of men wearing military-style uniforms executing two women and two children, Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin said:
The United Kingdom is deeply concerned by the images circulating in Cameroon of the horrific killings of four women and children by perpetrators in military-style clothing, including allegations that those responsible may be members of the Cameroonian armed forces.
I welcome President Biya’s decision to open an urgent investigation. Those responsible must face justice for their appalling actions - there is no justification for these actions.'
Given that the Security Council has supported these Cameroonian forces, and as I have asked before given the UK's role in the former British Southern Cameroons, the FCO's denial in full of my FOIA request about Cameroon and Liam Fox's recent statements about UK-based New Age's natural gas contract with the Biya government, this is a request for comment on deadline including on whether your Mission will now seek and/or support a Security Council meeting on these abuses, and if not, why not.
I am asking these questions in writing now because I was banned all week from entering the UN and could not ask them at the Security Council stakeout.
This notifies your Mission, as I did yesterday your Mission's Stephen Hickey (cc-ed here) who kindly stopped to hear of my situation, that I have been banned from the UN since at latest July 5, with no due process. See, The Independent (UK), July 12, 2018, 'UN "roughs up and bans" investigative reporter long considered thorn in side of world body officials, Mr Lee has written about UN in connection to Haiti, Burundi, Sri Lanka and other nations.'" Later on July 18, after publication of the above, came this from the UK Mission: "Hi Matthew, Please find below the answers on your questions on Cameroon.
The Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, issued a statement on Cameroon today:
'Commenting on the recent video circulating in Cameroon of men wearing military-style uniforms executing two women and two children, Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin said:
The United Kingdom is deeply concerned by the images circulating in Cameroon of the horrific killings of four women and children by perpetrators in military-style clothing, including allegations that those responsible may be members of the Cameroonian armed forces.
I welcome President Biya’s decision to open an urgent investigation. Those responsible must face justice for their appalling actions - there is no justification for these actions.'
We continue to monitor the situation closely and the UK, as all security council members, holds the right to raise this at the security council if deemed appropriate." Inner City Press immediately published and replied, "Thanks for this, have used it. Remain interested and concerned about the other question I asked on July 15." UK Ambassador Pierce, clearly (for now) not. And UK Alison Smale, having banned Inner City Press on false pretenses, has begun a three week vacation running into the UK's month as President of the Security Council. We'll have more on this. On July 17, with Inner City Press still banned from the UN for covering the UN budget (Fox News story here, GAP blogs I and II), Antonio Guterres' enovy Mohammed Ibn Chambas blithely told the Security Council, "The demarcation of the Cameroon-Nigeria border and the pillar construction continue to face challenges due to insecurity in areas affected by thepresence of Boko Haram and unrest in the English-speaking regions ofCameroon. Nevertheless, pillar construction is expected to resume at the end of the rainy season." What about Biya's killings? Inner City Press is banned from entering and asking Chambas questions when he purports to take then at the UN Security Council stakeout. So it emailed this, to Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, Alison Smale, and the Ambassador, Deputy Ambassador and spokesperson ofthe Mission of Sweden, president of the Security Council for July: "These are questions Inner City Press would like to ask UNOWAS SRSG Chambas at his stakeout, from which I am banned since covering the UN Budget Committee meeting on July 3 and being roughed up by UN Security despite having a right to cover the meeting:
I understand that Chambas told the Security Council that the demarcation of the Cameroon-Nigeria border and the pillar construction continue to face challenges due to insecurity in areas affected by the presence of Boko Haram and unrest in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Nevertheless, pillar construction is expected to resume at the end of the rainy season.”
What is the basis of the SRSG's “expectation”? Statements by the government of Paul Biya?
Is the problem in the “English speaking regions” one of unrest, or of targeting killings and the burning and looting of villages by Paul Biya's forces?
What inquiry had Chambas or his colleagues in the UN system made into the fate of the 47 people illegally refouled from Nigeria to Cameroon?
I am sending these questions now and asking that they be put to Chambas at the stakeout, on UNTV, since I am UNjustly banned by the UN, two weeks and counting. Please confirm receipt." Haq wrote back, "Receipt confirmed." But when the stakeout, including Skoog, occurred not only were Inner City Press questions not asked - no one asked any questions. Before Skoog began, a UN staffer was heard to say on the hot mic that Inner City Press "will never be let back in" the UN - despite the claimed "investigation" of Inner City Press being roughed up and ousted while covering a UN Budget Committee meeting it had every right to cover. Smale and Team Guterres have received detailed questions from the Government Accountability Project. Watch this site.
I understand that Chambas told the Security Council that the demarcation of the Cameroon-Nigeria border and the pillar construction continue to face challenges due to insecurity in areas affected by the presence of Boko Haram and unrest in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Nevertheless, pillar construction is expected to resume at the end of the rainy season.”
What is the basis of the SRSG's “expectation”? Statements by the government of Paul Biya?
Is the problem in the “English speaking regions” one of unrest, or of targeting killings and the burning and looting of villages by Paul Biya's forces?
What inquiry had Chambas or his colleagues in the UN system made into the fate of the 47 people illegally refouled from Nigeria to Cameroon?
I am sending these questions now and asking that they be put to Chambas at the stakeout, on UNTV, since I am UNjustly banned by the UN, two weeks and counting. Please confirm receipt." Haq wrote back, "Receipt confirmed." But when the stakeout, including Skoog, occurred not only were Inner City Press questions not asked - no one asked any questions. Before Skoog began, a UN staffer was heard to say on the hot mic that Inner City Press "will never be let back in" the UN - despite the claimed "investigation" of Inner City Press being roughed up and ousted while covering a UN Budget Committee meeting it had every right to cover. Smale and Team Guterres have received detailed questions from the Government Accountability Project. Watch this site.
On July 14 Inner City Press wrote to the US Mission: "Dear Ambassador Haley - sorry to bother you with this but as a journalist unjustly banned from the UN for the past week, see also Fox News, here: This is a request for your / USUN's comment on the human rights abuses by the Cameroon army and security forces, not only in the Anglophone areas (which I have asked about before) but now also in the north, video linked to here, as verified by Amnesty International. Given that the Security Council has supported these Cameroonian forces, and given what I understand to have been a meeting in USUN with Aaron Banks and others this past week, which I was invited to cover by the participants who showed me your letter to Rep. Yvette Clark, this is a request for comment on deadline including on whether your Mission will now seek and/or support a Security Council meeting on these abuses, and if not, why not. I am asking these questions in writing now because I was banned all week from entering the UN and could not ask them at the Security Council stakeout. This notifies your Mission that I have been banned from the UN since at latest July 5, with no due process. See, The Independent (UK), July 12, 2018, “UN 'roughs up and bans' investigative reporter long considered thorn in side of world body officials, Mr Lee has written about UN in connection to Haiti, Burundi, Sri Lanka and other nations." With no response from USUN, and disdain from the Political Coordinator and a rueful smile from the Legal Adviser, on July 16 as Inner City Press covered the first of at least two UN bribery cases in the SDNY in Lower Manhattan, from DC this came out: "The United States is gravely concerned over the recent video depicting men wearing military-style uniforms executing two women and two children, one an infant. International media, Amnesty International, and Cameroonian human rights organizations attribute the actions portrayed in the video to the Cameroonian military. We call on the Government of Cameroon to investigate thoroughly and transparently the events depicted in the video, make its findings public, and if Cameroonian military personnel were involved in this atrocity, hold them accountable.
All countries, including Cameroon, must uphold their international and national commitments and obligations to protect the human rights of their residents and promote accountability." We'll have more on this - Secretary Mike Pompeo is expected in New York on Friday, July 20. Shouldn't this censorship be solved by then? Watch this site. Inner City Press also wrote it the UN Mission of France, Paul Biya's long time supporter and enabler has not. Here's what was sent to them, including through france [at] franceonu.org, more then two days ago: "Dear Ambassador Gueguen,, Ms Bree, others: This is a request for your Mission's comment on the human rights abuses by the Cameroon army and security forces, not only in the Anglophone areas (which I have asked about before) but now also in the north, video linked to here, as verified by Amnesty International, here. Given that the Security Council has supported these Cameroonian forces, and given France's role in Cameroon and the region, this is a request for comment on deadline including on whether your Mission will now seek and/or support a Security Council meeting on these abuses, and if not, why not.
I am asking these questions in writing now because I was banned all week from entering the UN and could not ask them at the Security Council stakeout.
This notifies your Mission that I have been banned from the UN since at latest July 5, with no due process. See, The Independent (UK), July 12, 2018, “UN 'roughs up and bans' investigative reporter long considered thorn in side of world body officials, Mr Lee has written about UN in connection to Haiti, Burundi, Sri Lanka and other nations” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/matthew-lee-un-attacks-reporter-journalist-inner-city-press-a8445081.html." And nothing, despite the French rhetoric about human rights and freedom of the press. We'll have more on this.
All countries, including Cameroon, must uphold their international and national commitments and obligations to protect the human rights of their residents and promote accountability." We'll have more on this - Secretary Mike Pompeo is expected in New York on Friday, July 20. Shouldn't this censorship be solved by then? Watch this site. Inner City Press also wrote it the UN Mission of France, Paul Biya's long time supporter and enabler has not. Here's what was sent to them, including through france [at] franceonu.org, more then two days ago: "Dear Ambassador Gueguen,, Ms Bree, others: This is a request for your Mission's comment on the human rights abuses by the Cameroon army and security forces, not only in the Anglophone areas (which I have asked about before) but now also in the north, video linked to here, as verified by Amnesty International, here. Given that the Security Council has supported these Cameroonian forces, and given France's role in Cameroon and the region, this is a request for comment on deadline including on whether your Mission will now seek and/or support a Security Council meeting on these abuses, and if not, why not.
I am asking these questions in writing now because I was banned all week from entering the UN and could not ask them at the Security Council stakeout.
This notifies your Mission that I have been banned from the UN since at latest July 5, with no due process. See, The Independent (UK), July 12, 2018, “UN 'roughs up and bans' investigative reporter long considered thorn in side of world body officials, Mr Lee has written about UN in connection to Haiti, Burundi, Sri Lanka and other nations” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/matthew-lee-un-attacks-reporter-journalist-inner-city-press-a8445081.html." And nothing, despite the French rhetoric about human rights and freedom of the press. We'll have more on this.
On Saturday July 14, after Inner City Press' e-mail inquiry to Swedish Mission personnel including Permanent Representativee Olof B. Skoog and his deputy Carlo Skau, the Mission's spokesperson Lisa Laskaridis proactively replied, "Thank you for your email and concern. We continue to follow the situation in Cameroon very closely, and we are in touch with the U.N. and other partners. We have stressed the importance of national dialogue and the need for the U.N. to have access. I will also contact Ms. Smale" - Alison Smale, the Under Secretary General for Global Communications who has declined to answer Inner City Press' seven e-mails since September 2017 and 5000+ signature petition. We'll have more on this.
As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres prepared to hold on July 12 his first press conference in UN Headquarters since January, he so much wanted to avoid questions on his failings like that in Cameroon that he had his UN Security rough up and oust Inner City Press and his bureaucracy ban it from the building. There was, as picked by Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric (who told The Independent the idea that Inner City Press has been targeted is "ridiculous"), no question about Cameroon. And still no answer to Inner City Press' written question - on the morning of July 11, Inner City Press asked three Guterres spokespeople, his deputy, his chief of staff and his British head of Communications Alison Smale questions including "There is a widely shared video of Cameroonian troops summarily executing civilians, including women and infants. What is Antonio Guterres' response to this?" While providing a cursory answer to a question Inner City Press submitted about the killing of civilians in Haiti - essentially a reference to another organization's position - these six UN officials did not even acknowledge the Cameroon question. And that remains true two days later, so Inner City Press on July 13 asked again: "Two full days ago I asked your Office about the video of Cameroon soldiers executing women and infants. You have still not answered. Now that Amnesty International has verified the video, what has the UN done about it? What will the UN do? Relatedly, what is the UN's comment on “Cameroon's President Paul Biya has announced that he will be a candidate in the 7 October presidential election that would, if he wins, extend his 35-year-rule. Biya tweeted 'I am willing to respond positively to your overwhelming calls. I will stand as your candidate in the upcoming presidential election'" Inner City Press asked other questions, including about its being banned, that Haq has still not answered. On Cameroon, he returned with this pablum: "On Cameroon, we can say the following now: We are aware of the video circulating on social media and welcome the announcement by the Government of Cameroon to open an investigation into the matter. We urge the Government to swiftly and transparently conduct the announced investigation." Wait - UN Security's self-investigation of physically assaulting and ousting Inner City Press from covering the UN Budget Committee meeting on Guterres' proposals is neither swift - it's been ten days, a single sham interview - nor transparent. Inner City Press asked, without answer: "who is responsible for deciding, between 10 pm July 3 when I was assaulted by UN DSS Lt Dobbins and another UNnamed, and 10 am on July 5, that I was and am banned from entering the UN? Who participated in this decision? Your office yesterday told The Independent (UK) that “a review ha[s] been launched into the manner in which Mr Lee had been removed and his future accreditation.” How my accreditation should suffer for having been assaulted by Lt Dobbins and unnamed colleagues, for the second time in 11 days, is a mystery or worse. But please state how it is possible for DSS to investigate itself in this matter. What provisions does the UN have when abuse BY UN Security officers is alleged, and how does it impact for example their New York and other gun permits?" We'll have more on all of this. Guterres lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who will again be hand picking the questions and questioners present at noon on July 12, told another reporter on July 11 that Inner City Press' “status is being reviewed. My understanding is that he will be having discussions with various parts of this administration, and then we'll keep you updated, and I'm sure he will keep you updated. His credentials and pass have been suspended, pending review." Video here.This is all based on Inner City Press having been unjustly, and increasingly violently, ousted from the UN on June 22 (during a Guterres speech bragging about Mali) and July 3, during consideration of Guterres' budget and reforms, with mixed results.Amnesty International (which recently under counted Anglophone deaths in Cameroon, blocked the Press which asked and has done nothing, despite requests, about the ban) has verified the video: "An investigation by Amnesty International experts has gathered credible evidence that it was Cameroonian soldiers depicted in a video carrying out the horrific extrajudicial executions of two women and two young children. While an investigation has now been announced, the Ministry of Communication earlier dismissed video footage of the killings as “fake news”.
Extensive analysis of the weapons, dialogue and uniforms that feature in the video, paired with digital verification techniques and testimonies taken from the ground, all strongly suggest that the perpetrators of the executions are Cameroonian soldiers....
The video shows the soldiers using Galil and Kalashnikov-style rifles. While AK-type weapons are common, the Galil, the weapon specifically used in the execution, is comparatively rare and distinctive. The Small Arms Survey lists the Galil as only “occasional” in sub-Saharan Africa among governments, and as unknown among non-state actors. The only force in the area carrying Galil’s are a small subset of the Cameroon Army.
Both the weapons and uniforms of the soldiers in the video are indicative of the Cameroon army, and display patterns consistent with a number of possible units, including regular infantry and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), the special forces of the Cameroonian army.
The person filming the video specifically identifies two members of the group as soldiers. The first is a second-rank soldier (soldat de deuxième grade) who he names as “Cobra”, the second a Master Corporal (caporal chef) who is named as “Tchotcho”. These names mean that the group can be identified.
The Master Corporal’s uniform is a tiger stripe pattern that is standard among Cameroon regular army. The other soldiers are wearing black shirts and green-and-black woodland pants. While the Ministry of Communication claims that the mixed and casual nature of the uniforms indicates a lack of authenticity, Amnesty investigators have found the opposite. Mixed and partial uniforms are common among army personnel, especially in remote areas where this incident took place. Soldiers in the Far North region wearing casual flip flops and T-shirts, as well as a mix of tiger stripe print and woodland print, can be clearly seen in videos previously verified by Amnesty International.
The soldiers are followed by about 10 people whom the sources consulted said are most likely members of the local vigilantes’ committee (because they carry light weapons such as clubs and machetes) from the nearby village. According to Amnesty International’s analysts, the video was likely filmed in the Mayo Tsanaga area in the Far North region of Cameroon. The vegetation is generally consistent and matches other footage from the area. Terrace cultivations, as visible in the video, are found in Mayo Tsanaga. The rocks, the mountains and the low-growing shrubs (locally known as “tchaski”) can also be found in Mayo Tsanaga. There is a military base located in Mozogo in this region." And from the UN, silence and censorship. Since Inner City Press alone has asked Guterres and his spokesman dozens of questions about the killings by Cameroon's government, it seems clear the goal of banning Inner City Press is to avoid those questions. What about the China Energy Fund Committee scandal of UN bribery of Presidents of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa - with whom Guterres still deals - and Vuk Jeremic? No one else asked. And what about Guterres' “Global Service Delivery Mechanism” plan, to fire American UN staff in New York (and others in Geneva), and move the jobs to Mexico City and Budapest, respectively? Guterres the way he and Dujarric and Alison Smale have set it up may get a question about Western Sahara - but it would be from the many Morocco state media to which they give office space and full access. There is a lot of that - watch this site, and @InnerCityPress on Twitter. The UN has banned Inner City Press from entering its campus since July 5, claiming that its LieutenantRonald Dobbins targeted ouster of Inner City Press from a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres on June 22 then from a meeting about his budget on July 3 were "altercations." Now this ban has been extended beyond the UN campus to the Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue, for a July 10 press conference by the UN affiliated but ostensibly independent World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which as Inner City Press has previously reported helped North Korea with its cyanide patents and retaliated against it staff and media. Inner City Press was e-mailed an invitation on July 2 and replied with an RSVP to cover it. Marshall Hoffman of WIPO's public relations firm Hoffman PR wrote back, "Thanks. We will see at the press conference." After that, Guterres spokesman Farhan Haq was asked why Inner City Press is banned and said it is pending a review of two "altercations" - both of which were improper and unilateral ousters of Inner City Press by UN Security's Dobbins and officers, four of whom refused to give their names. Soon, there was this follow up e-mail from WIPO's flak Marshall Hoffman: "Dear Matthew, It has come to my attention that your accreditation to the UN has been suspended pending an investigation into an incident. Given the suspension, I regret you will not be able to attend the WIPO press conference." This is more than a little strange - the press conference is not explicitly limited to UN accredited journalists, and Inner City Press has not been contacted once by the UN about the review or any suspension, it was only told at the 46th Street gate that its banned for some undefined time. But now also banned from a press conference at a hotel in Manhattan by an agency for which Guterres spokespeople have refused to answer, saying Francis Gurry (who will speak at the Pierre Hotel press conference along with Soumitra Dutta from Cornell University and Bruno Lanvin from INSEAD) has his own governing board? Something stinks here. We'll have more on this - and on this: how untransparent and inaccessible is Antonio Guterres, as UN Secretary General? The day he canceled his first UN Headquarters press conference in six months, he was ironically the guest of honor of the United Nations Correspondents Association. He was scheduled to make remarks at 6 pm - but it was not in the UN Media Alert. Inner City Press, whose RSVP to UNCA was never responded to, streamed the event from the tourists' balcony, edited here. Then Guterres' UN Security guards physically ousted Inner City Press from covering the UN Fifth Committee's July 3 meeting on his proposal to fire UN staff and move the jobs- then on July 5 banned Inner City Press from entering the UN. Fox News story here, GAP blogs I and II. While Guterres' UNCA fan club said nothing, others did. Guterres blathered on about how he supported the media in Portugal - dubious - and then cuts a cake for his UN Censorship Alliance. Earlier Inner City Press asked Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who previously lent the UN Press Briefing Room to UNCA, if the event was open press but he refused to answer and ran off. Inner City Press asked the spokesman from the President of the General Assembly, who is listed as attended but will not speak, why it is not in the UN Media Alert. The spokesman said to ask UNCA. But UNCA never responded to the RSVP of Inner City Press through the Free UN Coalition for Access. In the middle of the event the claim was that UN correspondents didn't have to RSVP - not what the notice said. The event was not even in the June 26 UN Media Alert. Last week, Dujarricspoonfed sound bytes to a prominent UNCA members and is working with them to try to further restrict Inner City Press, here - Inner City Press was in fact ousted on June 22, video here, story here). The Free UN Coalition for Access questions this and the propriety of this explicit focus by the UN Correspondents Association on the UN's "causes" rather than simply covering the UN as it is; it and corruption are among the reasons Inner City Press quit UNCA (and co-founded FUNCA).
Extensive analysis of the weapons, dialogue and uniforms that feature in the video, paired with digital verification techniques and testimonies taken from the ground, all strongly suggest that the perpetrators of the executions are Cameroonian soldiers....
The video shows the soldiers using Galil and Kalashnikov-style rifles. While AK-type weapons are common, the Galil, the weapon specifically used in the execution, is comparatively rare and distinctive. The Small Arms Survey lists the Galil as only “occasional” in sub-Saharan Africa among governments, and as unknown among non-state actors. The only force in the area carrying Galil’s are a small subset of the Cameroon Army.
Both the weapons and uniforms of the soldiers in the video are indicative of the Cameroon army, and display patterns consistent with a number of possible units, including regular infantry and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), the special forces of the Cameroonian army.
The person filming the video specifically identifies two members of the group as soldiers. The first is a second-rank soldier (soldat de deuxième grade) who he names as “Cobra”, the second a Master Corporal (caporal chef) who is named as “Tchotcho”. These names mean that the group can be identified.
The Master Corporal’s uniform is a tiger stripe pattern that is standard among Cameroon regular army. The other soldiers are wearing black shirts and green-and-black woodland pants. While the Ministry of Communication claims that the mixed and casual nature of the uniforms indicates a lack of authenticity, Amnesty investigators have found the opposite. Mixed and partial uniforms are common among army personnel, especially in remote areas where this incident took place. Soldiers in the Far North region wearing casual flip flops and T-shirts, as well as a mix of tiger stripe print and woodland print, can be clearly seen in videos previously verified by Amnesty International.
The soldiers are followed by about 10 people whom the sources consulted said are most likely members of the local vigilantes’ committee (because they carry light weapons such as clubs and machetes) from the nearby village. According to Amnesty International’s analysts, the video was likely filmed in the Mayo Tsanaga area in the Far North region of Cameroon. The vegetation is generally consistent and matches other footage from the area. Terrace cultivations, as visible in the video, are found in Mayo Tsanaga. The rocks, the mountains and the low-growing shrubs (locally known as “tchaski”) can also be found in Mayo Tsanaga. There is a military base located in Mozogo in this region." And from the UN, silence and censorship. Since Inner City Press alone has asked Guterres and his spokesman dozens of questions about the killings by Cameroon's government, it seems clear the goal of banning Inner City Press is to avoid those questions. What about the China Energy Fund Committee scandal of UN bribery of Presidents of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa - with whom Guterres still deals - and Vuk Jeremic? No one else asked. And what about Guterres' “Global Service Delivery Mechanism” plan, to fire American UN staff in New York (and others in Geneva), and move the jobs to Mexico City and Budapest, respectively? Guterres the way he and Dujarric and Alison Smale have set it up may get a question about Western Sahara - but it would be from the many Morocco state media to which they give office space and full access. There is a lot of that - watch this site, and @InnerCityPress on Twitter. The UN has banned Inner City Press from entering its campus since July 5, claiming that its LieutenantRonald Dobbins targeted ouster of Inner City Press from a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres on June 22 then from a meeting about his budget on July 3 were "altercations." Now this ban has been extended beyond the UN campus to the Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue, for a July 10 press conference by the UN affiliated but ostensibly independent World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which as Inner City Press has previously reported helped North Korea with its cyanide patents and retaliated against it staff and media. Inner City Press was e-mailed an invitation on July 2 and replied with an RSVP to cover it. Marshall Hoffman of WIPO's public relations firm Hoffman PR wrote back, "Thanks. We will see at the press conference." After that, Guterres spokesman Farhan Haq was asked why Inner City Press is banned and said it is pending a review of two "altercations" - both of which were improper and unilateral ousters of Inner City Press by UN Security's Dobbins and officers, four of whom refused to give their names. Soon, there was this follow up e-mail from WIPO's flak Marshall Hoffman: "Dear Matthew, It has come to my attention that your accreditation to the UN has been suspended pending an investigation into an incident. Given the suspension, I regret you will not be able to attend the WIPO press conference." This is more than a little strange - the press conference is not explicitly limited to UN accredited journalists, and Inner City Press has not been contacted once by the UN about the review or any suspension, it was only told at the 46th Street gate that its banned for some undefined time. But now also banned from a press conference at a hotel in Manhattan by an agency for which Guterres spokespeople have refused to answer, saying Francis Gurry (who will speak at the Pierre Hotel press conference along with Soumitra Dutta from Cornell University and Bruno Lanvin from INSEAD) has his own governing board? Something stinks here. We'll have more on this - and on this: how untransparent and inaccessible is Antonio Guterres, as UN Secretary General? The day he canceled his first UN Headquarters press conference in six months, he was ironically the guest of honor of the United Nations Correspondents Association. He was scheduled to make remarks at 6 pm - but it was not in the UN Media Alert. Inner City Press, whose RSVP to UNCA was never responded to, streamed the event from the tourists' balcony, edited here. Then Guterres' UN Security guards physically ousted Inner City Press from covering the UN Fifth Committee's July 3 meeting on his proposal to fire UN staff and move the jobs- then on July 5 banned Inner City Press from entering the UN. Fox News story here, GAP blogs I and II. While Guterres' UNCA fan club said nothing, others did. Guterres blathered on about how he supported the media in Portugal - dubious - and then cuts a cake for his UN Censorship Alliance. Earlier Inner City Press asked Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who previously lent the UN Press Briefing Room to UNCA, if the event was open press but he refused to answer and ran off. Inner City Press asked the spokesman from the President of the General Assembly, who is listed as attended but will not speak, why it is not in the UN Media Alert. The spokesman said to ask UNCA. But UNCA never responded to the RSVP of Inner City Press through the Free UN Coalition for Access. In the middle of the event the claim was that UN correspondents didn't have to RSVP - not what the notice said. The event was not even in the June 26 UN Media Alert. Last week, Dujarricspoonfed sound bytes to a prominent UNCA members and is working with them to try to further restrict Inner City Press, here - Inner City Press was in fact ousted on June 22, video here, story here). The Free UN Coalition for Access questions this and the propriety of this explicit focus by the UN Correspondents Association on the UN's "causes" rather than simply covering the UN as it is; it and corruption are among the reasons Inner City Press quit UNCA (and co-founded FUNCA).
On June 25 Inner City Press asked Guterres' Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq about it, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:
on Friday there was the Eid event in which António Guterres gave a speech, and I… I want… I guess I want to put this in a general way because I don't understand it. During the event, as the event went on, I was required to leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins and the emergency response unit. And it seemed strange, because there were many other non-resident correspondents at the event. So, I wanted to know… to know, one, what are the rules? Number two, is it acceptable for a… a… UN Security to… to single out and target a specific journalist? And I did… and I ask this because I've previously written a story about promotions in DSS [Department of Safety and Security], including Mr. Dobbins, and whatever that is, what are the provisions in the UN to make sure that security cannot abuse its powers? So those are… I… I… I'd like you to answer that, and also they didn't give their names. The other individuals refused to give their names. Is that UN policy?
Deputy Spokesman: UN Security has their policies. Your concerns with them need to be addressed to UN Security. I'm not going to comment on your own problems with UN Security. Brenden, come on up.
Inner City Press: I don't understand. This happened at a speech by the Secretary-General.
Deputy Spokesman: No, I'm sorry, your security issues are things you're going to have to deal with.
Inner City Press: It's not a security issue. It was done in the name of the Secretary-General. Is he speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m. somewhere? Can you say where the Secretary-General is speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m not going to argue with you on this." There was more - video here.
FUNCA timely sent this: "This is a timely response to your statement that 'The event is open to all UN correspondents, Please RSVP by FRIDAY, June 22nd to RSVPUNCAEvents@gmail.com... Opening Remarks byUN Secretary-General António Guterres, 6:00 pm (LOCATION TBC).' A UN correspondent, by choice not a member of UNCA, is hereby timely requesting to be informed where SG Antonio Guterres will be making remarks, and to cover it. Please confirm receipt and provide response. On deadline, thank you in advance." Five days later on Tuesday June 26, no answer at all. So it is not true, the claim that "the event is open to all correspondents"?
Five UN Security officers, led by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins, pushed Inner City Press' reporter out of the UN on June 22. Inner City Press was live-streaming Periscope and preparing to write about Secretary General Antonio Guterres' claims about his visit to Mali, where he didn't even inquire into a recent case child rape by a UN Peacekeeper. With the event still ongoing, Inner City Press was approached by Lieutenant Dobbins and told that since it was just past 7 pm it had to leave the building. Video here.
That is not the rule, nor the practice. But Inner City Press under Guterres and his head of Global Communications Alison Smale has inexplicable been at the "non-resident correspondent" level lowered from that of no-show state media like Akbhar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef, assigned Inner City Press' long time office despite rarely coming in and not asking a question in ten years.
While Guterres and Smale have created and encourage the atmosphere for targeting the Press, Dobbins had and has his own reasons. Inner City Press previously exclusively reported on fraudulent promotions in the UN Department of Safety and Security, beginning of serieshere with a leaked document with Dobbins own name on it, under the heading "Possible Promotions... if Dobbins does not want Canine / ERU." Document here. Since the publication, Dobbins and a number of UN Security officers have openly targeted Inner City Press. This has been raised in writing to Smale (for eight months), for almost 18 months to Guterres and his deputy Amina J. Mohammed, whose response has been to evade questions on Cameroon and now an ambiguous smile while surrounded by UN Security. On June 25 Inner City Press asked Guterres' Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq about it, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press:
on Friday there was the Eid event in which António Guterres gave a speech, and I… I want… I guess I want to put this in a general way because I don't understand it. During the event, as the event went on, I was required to leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins and the emergency response unit. And it seemed strange, because there were many other non-resident correspondents at the event. So, I wanted to know… to know, one, what are the rules? Number two, is it acceptable for a… a… UN Security to… to single out and target a specific journalist? And I did… and I ask this because I've previously written a story about promotions in DSS [Department of Safety and Security], including Mr. Dobbins, and whatever that is, what are the provisions in the UN to make sure that security cannot abuse its powers? So those are… I… I… I'd like you to answer that, and also they didn't give their names. The other individuals refused to give their names. Is that UN policy?
Deputy Spokesman: UN Security has their policies. Your concerns with them need to be addressed to UN Security. I'm not going to comment on your own problems with UN Security. Brenden, come on up.
Inner City Press: I don't understand. This happened at a speech by the Secretary-General.
Deputy Spokesman: No, I'm sorry, your security issues are things you're going to have to deal with.
Inner City Press: It's not a security issue. It was done in the name of the Secretary-General. Is he speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m. somewhere? Can you say where the Secretary-General is speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m not going to argue with you on this." There was more - video here.
on Friday there was the Eid event in which António Guterres gave a speech, and I… I want… I guess I want to put this in a general way because I don't understand it. During the event, as the event went on, I was required to leave by a Lieutenant Dobbins and the emergency response unit. And it seemed strange, because there were many other non-resident correspondents at the event. So, I wanted to know… to know, one, what are the rules? Number two, is it acceptable for a… a… UN Security to… to single out and target a specific journalist? And I did… and I ask this because I've previously written a story about promotions in DSS [Department of Safety and Security], including Mr. Dobbins, and whatever that is, what are the provisions in the UN to make sure that security cannot abuse its powers? So those are… I… I… I'd like you to answer that, and also they didn't give their names. The other individuals refused to give their names. Is that UN policy?
Deputy Spokesman: UN Security has their policies. Your concerns with them need to be addressed to UN Security. I'm not going to comment on your own problems with UN Security. Brenden, come on up.
Inner City Press: I don't understand. This happened at a speech by the Secretary-General.
Deputy Spokesman: No, I'm sorry, your security issues are things you're going to have to deal with.
Inner City Press: It's not a security issue. It was done in the name of the Secretary-General. Is he speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m. somewhere? Can you say where the Secretary-General is speaking tomorrow at 6 p.m.?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m not going to argue with you on this." There was more - video here.
Even if Lt Dobbins and his team and commanders wanted to interpret and twist the existing rules in a way they are not enforced against any other non-resident correspondent at the UN, the Guterres Eid al -Fitr event listed in the UN Department of Public Information was still ongoing, making it unquestionable that Inner City Press had a right to be in the UN and cover it.
But even as Inner City Press dialed DPI's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, getting only voice mail, Dobbins made a call and UN “Emergency Response Unit” officers arrived, with barely concealed automatic weapons. One of them repeatedly pushed Inner City Press' reporter in the back, forcing him through the General Assembly lobby toward the exit. Video here.
UN Under Secretary General Catherine Pollard was told the ouster and did nothing, as was a Moroccan diplomat. The heavily armed UN Security officers refused to give their names when asked. Lieutenant Dobbins, with no name plate on his uniform, refused to spell his name. He said, I have my orders. From who - Guterres? His Deputy SG or chief of staff, both of whom were at the event? DSS chief Drennan? DPI chief Alison Smale?
Inner City Press repeatedly asked to be able to get its laptop computer, which was upstairs - there was no way to have known it would be ousted during Guterres' event.
But Dobbins and the others refused, as did the UN Security officers at the gate. Inner City Press remained there, with dwindling cell phone battery, raising the issue online to Smale, under whose watch Inner City Press has remained in the non-resident correspondent status it was reduced to for pursuing the Ng Lp Seng UN bribery case into the UN press briefing room where Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric ordered it out, then had it evicted. A DPI representative, whom Inner City Press asked to call Smale, was unable or unwilling to even let Inner City Press go in escorted to get its laptop.
Just in the past week, when Inner City Press complained of Dujarric providing only to Al Jazeera the response of Antonio Guterres to the US leaving the UN Human Rights Council, Dujarric and the Al Jazeera trio claimedto MALU that the coverage was “too aggressive.” Journalism is not a crime? Next week, Antonio Guterres is set to give remarks, to which Inner City Press has requested the right to cover response, to the UN Correspondents Association, which not only has not acted on this censorship, but has fueled it.
Inside the UN the Eid event continued, alongside a liquor fueled barbeque thrown by UN Security. This DSS sold tickets to non resident correspondents, and allowed in people who had nothing to do with the UN, including some seeming underage. When Inner City Press audibly raised the issue to UN Safety and Security Service chief Mick Brown, he did nothing.
The Moroccan diplomat emerged and chided Inner City Press for even telling him of the ouster, claiming that “25% of what you write is about Morocco.” Some Periscope video here. Pakistan's Permanent Representative, who hosted the Eid event, said she would look into it. Sweden's spokesperson asked whom to call in DPI and when Inner City Press said, Alison Smale, responded, Who is Alison Smale? Indeed.
Smale has refused to respond in any way, in the eight months she has been Guterres' “Global Communications” chief, to a 5000 signature petition to restore Inner City Press to its unused office S-303 and to adopt content neutral media access rules going forward. That, and appropriate action on Lt. Dobbins and the others, must be among the next steps. Watch this site.
