Saturday, July 13, 2019

Presaging UN Censorship Guterres Dodged on Cameroon and Ho Bribery 6 Months Before Banning Inner City Press


By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NYP

UNITED NATIONS GATE, July 13 –How corrupt has Antonio Guterres made the UN? Before roughing up and banning Inner City Press in July 2018 and since as it asks about his failure to disclose his links to UN briber CEFC China Energy, back on 2 January 2018 Inner City Press asked Guterres Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq about his failure in Cameroon: January 2, Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: 

Inner City Press: I want to ask you about Cameroon... There's been quite a lot of military action, including near the border of Nigeria, more refugees.  Did Mr. [Francois Lounceny] Fall, during this 10-day period, have any contacts?  Because things seem to actually be getting more militarized and more people killed in the towns I emailed you the names of. 
Deputy Spokesman:  He's following the situation, and he'll continue to engage with the authorities in Cameroon as well as the contacts he's made on this." 
What contacts were those? 18 months later nearly everyone acknowledges things are worse in Cameroon. 

By the end of January 2018, long after Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy had been indicted and jailed for UN bribery of Uganda's Sam Kutesa and Yoweri Museveni,Guterres in Addis Ababa met Museveni, with Kutesa himself in Addis as well. Museveni tweeted a photo and read out -- "Met UN Secretary General @antonioguterres on the sidelines of the 30th AU Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa. We discussed regional peace, UN reforms and support for refugees." Meanwhile, consistent his declining transparency, Guterres did not issue any read out. Did the UN bribery scandal come up? Or get further covered up? Cover it, it seems clear. When will Guterres resign or be impeached or indicted?