By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video Podcast
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 4 – When the International Monetary Fund held its biweekly embargoed press briefing on November 4, Inner City Press asked about Ethiopia and Tigray, Chad and its Glencore debt, and the IMF's status with Zambia. Spokesperson Gerry Rice responded on each. Podcast here. Short video of Q&As on Twitter here. IMF video here, transcript forthcoming.
Answering on Inner City Press on Ethiopia, as the UN won't, Rice for the IMF said it is "difficult to move forward with program activities" at the moment. Can you say, Tigray?
Amnesty International can. From AI on November 9, published by Inner City Press at embargo time, this: "Sixteen women from the town of Nifas Mewcha in Ethiopia’s Amhara region told Amnesty International they were raped by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the group’s attack on the town in mid-August 2021.
"Survivors described being raped at gunpoint, robbed, and subjected to physical and verbal assaults by TPLF fighters, who also destroyed and looted medical facilities in the town. Fourteen of the 16 women Amnesty International interviewed said they were gang raped. The TPLF took control of Nifas Mewcha, in Amhara’s Gaint District, for nine days between August 12 and 21, 2021, as part of an ongoing offensive into parts of the Amhara and Afar regions. Regional government officials told Amnesty International that more than 70 women reported to authorities that they were raped in Nifas Mewcha during this period."
See also this additional release from Amnesty following escalations, including the Ethiopian government’s sweeping new emergency powers and declaration of a state of emergency.
Back on September 16 Inner City Press asked Rice about crypto-currency legislation in Ukraine and again El Salvador, about the coup in Guinea and the role of the Venezuela talks in Mexico on release of the SDRs. YouTube of IMF video here. Full transcript here.
Inner City Press asked, " what is the IMF's view of Ukraine's move to regulate crypto-currency? Also, the new legislation proposed in Panama, and the implementation of the El Salvador Bitcoin as legal tender bill?" When called on, Inner City Press added that Ukraine would use nuclear reactors' output for mining.
Rice cited an upcoming virtual mission to Ukraine later this month, and said that on El Salvador, the talks are under Article 4, not for a program, as least at this point.
On the Guinea coup, on which the UN of Antonio Guterres has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, to the IMF Inner City Press asked, " After the coup in Guinea, what has changed in the IMF's approach to the country? What have been the contacts of the IMF in Guinea recently? Same question on Myanmar, and Afghanistan." Rice said the IMF is "watching" Guinea, after citing previous support to the country for COVID response.
How can the UN get away with not answering, and actively blocking, these questions? The IMF will go to Guterres' UNGA week, which is thumbing its nose at NYC with no vaccination requirement. We'll have more on this.
Back on January 8 Inner City Press asked the IMF's Helge Berger, Mission Chief, about China's so-called Belt and Road Initiative: "Your Article IV report cites China's "overseas lending projects" amid "rising geopolitical tensions and economic and trade frictions." How does the IMF think that rising debt levels among African countries, and increased skepticism about the "Belt and Road" will impact or be addressed going forward? -Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press. Video here.
(An aside: Inner City Press has reported on the CEFC China Energy Fund Committee's activities in Chad and Uganda and in the UN, on which the UN is UNresponsive.)
Other questions included China's digital currency (Inner City Press also reports on crypto-currency cases in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and elsewhere). Berger said when used overseas an issue is that residents could start using another country's currency, if it is easier.
We'll have more on this.
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