On Rwanda Genocide UN Tries To UNremember Its Role Like SG Guterres In Cameroon This Year

By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR LetterPFT Q&A, NY Post

UNITED NATIONS GATE, April 7 – On the solemn 25th anniversary of the beginning of the Rwanda genocide against the Tutsis of 1994, the United Nations of Secretary General Antonio Guterres and his head of communications Alison Smale has hit a new low. Not only has Guterres in for example Cameroon demonstrated the unchanged nature of UN collusion with some mass killings - he and Smale have sought to blur and unremember the UN's role in Rwanda, and now in Cameroon. 

  In a 7 April 2019 piece by UN News Centre which Smale runs for Guterres, there is no mention of UN Peacekeepers standing up and pulling out amid the 1993 and 1994 killings, nor of some UN staff helping the genocidaires, with radios and white 4 by 4 vehicles. Instead the piece present the UN as a poster child of reconciliation and turns the intra-Rwanda genocide into a lesson about migration. Here is the piece, which is a new low for the UN.

  Blathering at yet another international conference, Guterres' fig leaf Deputy Amina J. Mohammed on April 6 praised Kofi Annan with no mention of his admitted role in not passing on information about the Rwanda Habyarinama regime stockpiling machetes for the killings. 

  The UN is trying to erase its culpability - and as one part of it, has had roughed up and banned now for 277 days and counting the Press that has asked Guterres about it.

Inner City Press on 5 July 2018 was banned from entering the UN, the day after it filed a criminal complaint against UN Security for physically removing it from covering the meeting about the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget, as witnessed and essentially cheered on by senior UN official Christian Saunders, tearing its reporter's shirt, painfully and intentionally twisting his arm and slamming shut and damaging his laptop. On August 17, Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale issued a letter banning Inner City Press from the UN - for life. With no due process. She and Guterres have put the UN in the US Press Freedom Tracker, here. 

Smale said, again, that the UN would answer Press questions to the Spokesman Stephane Dujarric and his Office; Dujarric said the same on camera. On April 4 more than two hours before the UN noonbriefing Inner City Press submitted 696 questions: "There are more than 400+ questions UNanswered. No answers on March 1 - 27 (!) And now April 1, 3-5. No answers at all during those four days of the US v Ho trial showing corruption in the UN says it all. This ban is just censorship - and Inner City Press must be allowed back into the noon briefing to ask its questions in person and follow up on them.  

April 3-5: On Cameroon and freedom of expression, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that "popular makossa icon Longkana Ango Simon aka Longue Longue was on Tuesday arrested in Douala by security forces, sources have said. Sources say Longue Longue was arrested at a hotel in Douala before he was ferried to the Judicial Police in Bonanjo for questioning.  Though no reeason has been advanced for his arrest, sources say it could be connected to a recent video the artist published on social media criticising the regime in place.  In the video released last week, the artist claimed the detained leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement Maurice Kamto had won the October 7 Presidential election but did not provide proofs to back his claims up.  He accused incumbent Paul Biya of stealing Kamto’s challenging the regime to organise elections city by city and Kamto will emerge winner.  He described Maurice Kamto’s arrest and detention as politically motivated"? What is each of yours - particularly the SG's - response to the letter written and sent by Burundi activist Manisha Lievin? AGAIN, immediately explain how it is legitimate to ban from enter into the UN the media that has been asking about these and other questions, with no hearing or appeal.

April 4-1: On Myanmar and the Rohingya, what is the SG's comment and action on that in a valley in Buthidaung township, near a village that was home to Rohingya Muslim families.  “A military airstrike killed five people, including one of our villagers, at around 4 pm yesterday,” Zaw Kir Ahmed, a community leader from Kin Taung village said?  

April 4-2: On UN bribery and censorship, what now is the SG's comment and response to the April 3article in Serbia about CEFC which Mr Guterres has refused to audit - and about his refusal to answer, and censorship of Press "Gutereš had and had his own financial link with the CEFC, through the Gulbenkian Foundation. On the orders of Guteres, on June 22 and July 3, 2018, the security came to me, and I was banned from reporting from the UN. In fact, Gutereš took advantage of his security from the UN to distance me from his speech at the Park East Synagogue, and recently physically stopped me while he entered the mosque in 96th Street"  and now this  - "Patrick Ho, a businessman who was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the world's corrupting affair, claims investigative journalist Matthew Russell Li in the documentary "Hong Kong Connection, Patrick Ho's List." Li, in a documentary broadcast on the Hong Kong Radio-Television portal, revealed Jeremic's role in this affair, a tens of millions of dollars, as well as his private dilutes, which he made while serving as the chairman of the United Nations General Assembly.  - Jeremic's testimony at the Ho trial was problematic because he turned out to be working for "CEFC Energy" (a Chinese conglomerate led by Ho, prim. Aut.) While serving as the chairman of the UN General Assembly. He took their money, exchanged e-mails with them ... He did many things. It is surprising to me that the focus of the prosecution was at Ho. The prosecutors used his testimony to show how Ho established a relationship, and in fact what Jeremic was doing might be worse for the public - Li said.  Investigative reporters also uncovered the flows of money flowing to Jeremic's accounts. Hoov CEFC paid Jeremic as a consultant a total of $ 5.3 million. It turns out that some companies that paid this money are completely phantom, because they do not exist at the registered addresses at all."  As always, what is the process of appealing or getting a hearing on the now 274 day ban amid this questions, or process to reapply which was denied summarily on 2 January 2019? How is this not censorship?)  and the translated 22 minute documentary about Patrick Ho and CEFC's bribes through the UN including Mr. Guterres' refusal to answer Inner City Press' question on it on 5 December 2018, and that Inner City Press for allegedly not complying with interview "rules" has been disqualified from reporting within the UN?  Again, the  sentencing memorandum includes quotes from his e-mails regarding aiming to violate sanctions and deal in arms not only to Chad but also South Sudan, Libya & Qatar. What is the SG's comment and action? Again, why has no audit even been begun of CEFC, at least like the one Mr. Guterres' predecessor did of Ng Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip Foundation? Why did Mr Guterres omit payments from Gulbenkian Foundation, which sought to sell its oil company Partex to CEFC China Energy, from his public financial disclosure covering 2016? Where are the more recent public financial disclosures - has Mr. Guterres ended that program? Why?  

April 4-3: Also on China, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer said he was blocked on vague national security grounds from leaving the country to participate in a U.S. State Department-sponsored studies program.  Chen Jiangang said he was pulled aside Monday at Beijing airport and told by a customs agent that he was forbidden to leave but he was given no detailed reasons or a written explanation.    

April 4-4: On Zimbabwe, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that 400 people have been jailed for the violence that rocked the country in January this year.  The violence was triggered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision to announce a 150% fuel price hike that had a domino effect on prices of basic goods and services.  Labour federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) reacted by calling for a stay-away that turned into an orgy of violence bringing business to a halt for close to a week.  Authorities announced 1 000 people including children had been arrested for the riots that forced Mnangagwa to deploy the army. Live ammunition was used with civil society and human rights groups claiming some 17 people had been killed while dozens were left with gunshot wounds amid claims of rape by the army. 

 

April 3-1: On Indonesia, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that "military operations conducted by the Indonesian Military (TNI) in Nduga regency, Papua, in the past few months have led to various human rights violations?

April 3-3: On UN sexual abuse and exploitation, please immediately provide all if-asked further information about the allegations put online on March 28 when there was no noon briefing, regarding Burundi and Republic of Congo peacekeepers and still the Cameroon troops' rape allegations you have not provide any further information on?

March 25-5: On your / Spokesperson Dujarric's recent podcast interview, please immediately explain what was meant by a relationship with journalists of "mutually assured destruction" - and why the podcast links are mostly 404/no longer online.  

March 25-8: On the SG's March 22 appearance on 96th Street, please immediately provide the name of the UN DSS officer who spoke to NYPD on 96th Street to get them to restraint in advance Inner City Press while UN Photo and others like AP walked freely, the basis for this censorship and any and all records regarding it.  

More here.

As Kofi Annan Passes Away Contrast of His Joking About Bloggers With Guterres Having Inner City Press Banned

By Matthew Russell Lee, 30/7 CJR, 19/6 Video, Filing

UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 18 – Kofi Annan has died, after continuing with global diplomatic work after two terms as UN Secretary General, on Syria and more recently Myanmar. Since Inner City Press covered the tail end of Annan's years as SG, 2005 and 2006, an impressionistic obituary seems called for. But it is impossible not to contrast, on the day current Secretary General Antonio Guterres imposed a lifetime ban on Inner City Press covering or even entering the UN, the dramatic fall-off in UN respect for press freedom under Guterres. Annan, who spoke more to Inner City Press when it was a novice at the UN than Guterres did in the past 19 months, once joked when he saw his Darfur envoy Jan Pronk chatting with Inner City Press on the UN's glassed-in escalators, "Oh, the two bloggers." Annan certainly got testy with the press, for example with James Bone about his son's Mercedes. But Guterres simply refuses to answer where he is or how much is being spent, and then had Inner City Press roughed up by UN Security on June 22 and July 3. What is happening to the UN? How long before the phrase "must be turning in his grave" comes up? 

 On 16 June 2006, when Kofi Annan took Inner City Press' question about repression in Uzbekistan, Annan mentioned UNHCR and Guterres, now ironic given the contrast and Guterres silence about and even collusion with such long time, violent leaders as Cameroon's Paul Biya. On July 2006 Inner City Press in order to ask about Congolese warlord Peter Karim staked-out Annan outside Conference Room 7 - in the same 1B area that Guterres had Inner City Press roughed up in, justified in a ghoulishAugust 17 letter from Guterres' "Global Communicator" Alison Smale as a place Inner City Press was prohibited from. So how was it permitted under Annan, and a offense under Guterres so severe or pretextual as to merit roughing up and a lifetime ban? What are Guterres and Smale doing to the UN? We'll have more on this. RIP.

 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 43 days and counting. They are censors, and hypocrites (see Smale's ex NYT myopic hand-wringing, here.)  On 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 on the 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 Moukoko Mbonjo 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.

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, from France 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 Syria, de Mistura's Team Has Nicolas Michel, Was in Damascus With Kofi Annan, of NYC Rent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 22 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressed the Security Council about Syria back on July 29, he was the opening act for his envoy Staffan de Mistura, and his new proposal. 

 Now on September 22, de Mistura has issued a Note to Correspondents with the names of the facilitators of the four Working Groups: "Mr. Jan Egeland as facilitator for the Safety and Protection thematic Working Group; Mr. Nicolas Michel as facilitator for the Political and Legal Issues thematic Working Group; Mr. Volker Perthes as facilitator for the Military, Security and Counterterrorism thematic Working Group; and Ms. Birgitta Holst Alani as facilitator for the Continuity of Public Services, Reconstruction and Development thematic Working Group."

  Nicolas Michel, as reported by Inner City Press, appeared in Damascus in 2012 with then-envoy Kofi Annan. 

  Before that, as exclusively reported by Inner City Press, he accepted rent money for a 12,000 a month apartment on Park Avenue in New York from the Swiss government, while ostensibly being a full time UN official. 

 Still, Michel then and says has answered more Press questions then, for example, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who while dodging questions linked UN rapes to "R&R", on video here.

  One wonders if these Working Group positions are full-time, how they are compensated and if outside employments remain. Watch this site.

 What de Mistura set out, however, was a mere "deepening" of the Geneva Consultations he's been engaged in since May 5. In what seemed like form over substance, de Mistura said:

   “What I am today proposing is deepening the Geneva Consultations format. I now intend to invited Syrians to parallel, or simultaneous, thematic discussions through intra-Syrian working groups addressing the key aspects of the Communique, as identified by them in the first phase of the Consultations.”

   These key aspects were bullet-pointed by de Mistura as “Safety and protection for all, including ending sieges, ensuring medical access and releasing detainees; 

"political and Constitutional issues including essential principles, transitional governing body and elections; 

"military and security issues including combating terrorism, cease-fires and integration of forces; and 

"public institutions, reconstruction and development, including institutions continuing to deliver public services under a top leadership acceptable to all and acting in accordance with principles of good government and human rights.”

  While de Mistura referred to a "Fear of the Black Flag" flying over Damascus, it wasn't clear who would be in these working groups. Nevertheless it was said that the Security Council was working on a Presidential Statement to support de Mistura.

  When Ban himself spoke, all the trappings of gravitas were given. The day's UN noon briefing was canceled, in deference to Ban's (scripted?) question and answer session set for 12:40 pm.

  Even before 10 am, Ban's personal rostrum or lectern was set up at the UNTV stakeout. Given that it was torn from the hands even of a member state's foreign minister - and later President of the General Assembly -- this meant the UN assumed no member state would want (or dare) to speak before Ban's 12:40 pm stakeout.

 This is today's UN.  More at InnerCityPro.com

   Likewise, de Mistura was reported on July 21-22 to have "sound[ed] alarm over battle at Syria border," the question arose, Where did de Mistura sound this alarm?

  When de Mistura had statements to make, back on July 10 and before that on June 10, the UN Spokesperson's office sent the statement to all media on its distribution list and put it online. But that was not done in this case. Why not?

 Some note that de Mistura is under fire, on issues ranging from his hiring (see Inner City Press exclusive reporting, below) to being too silent or ineffectual. So is this new way of "communicating," to a single Western wire service, an attempt to more effective control the message and the pass-through messager? We'll have more on this.

Back on April 24 when Mistura came to the UN Security Council stakeout, Inner City Press asked him about criticism of how he has run his office to date. De Mistura declined to respond. But see below.

 On May 30, the UN Spokesperson's Office issued a statement for de Mistura, condemning "the death of at least 70 civilians in Syria's northern Aleppo province by barrel bombs dropped from government helicopters."  The statement, full text here, said that "all evidence shows that the overwhelming majority of the civilian victims in the Syrian conflict have been caused by the use of such indiscriminate aerial weapons." Some were sure to wonder, what about ISIS?

  But as de Mistura holds a new round on consultations in Geneva, with all press coverage Banned, he is belatedly replacing his principal political affairs officer with one Stephanie Koury, Inner City Press is informed, who in Iraq headed the UN's Kirkuk office, as well as a stint in another of the UN's failed (or turned-over) mediation missions, in Yemen, see below.

 Previously, Inner City Press reported on how de Mistura ingratiated himself to Ban Ki-moon by hiring and promoting Ban's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee while serving as envoy in Iraq. (Some of that reported wascensored, but not on Inner City Press.) This led to push-back from the UN, which continues to the day - something that the new Free UN Coalition for Access opposes.

  Last week the UN said of de Mistura's upcoming five to six weeks of talks on Syria in Geneva that there will be no interviews or stakeouts, nor even any photo-sprays, during all that time. FUNCA opposes this closing-down of the UN as well.

  A picture has emerged of de Mistura's running of the UN's Syria office, in which "cronies" from his time in Iraq and after that Afghanistan have been favored in jobs, with very little to show for it.

  De Mistura's functional political affairs chief, for example, has been Elpida Rouka, who was de Mistura's "Special Assistant" in Iraq. Her i-Phone composed political memos have been exclusively mocked to Inner City Press by close associates of de Mistura, but de Mistura declared her the only authorized channel of "substantive" information to UN Headquarters in New York.

 At a key moment in de Mistura's doomed push for a "freeze" in Aleppo, Inner City Presss is exclusively informed that de Mistura went with, over ceasefire expert Julian Hottinger, one Matt Waldman, listed as an adviser not only of de Mistura on Syria but also of the European Institute for Peace, which as Inner City Press has reported de Mistura remains president of the Board of Governors.

 (Back in September 2014, Inner City Press asked the UN Office of the Spokesperson, "please confirm or deny that Mr. de Mistura will be (allowed to be) based in Brussels, and separate state his contract status: When Actually Employed? Paid at USG level? Is he being allowed to continue working with / for any non-UN organization, if so which, and what review of possible conflicts of interest was made, and by whom?")

  One might think that the UN's Syria envoy position is or should be a full time job, without outside second positions like continuing as president of the board of a group like the European Institute for Peace. But this is the UN, where the special representative on Cyprus Alexander Downer was allowed to work full time at an investment bank or consultancy Bespoke Approach, Tony Blair as Middle East Quartet representative and businessman, and now a similar UNdisclosed arrangement in Yemen.

(Inner City Press has four times asked simple public financial disclosure questions about Ban's new Yemen envoy Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, without answer.)

  All of the above said, de Mistura is a pleasant man; while in Afghanistan he pledged to get to the bottom of the murder of UN staffer Louis Maxwell there although he never did (nor did others in today's UN).  But Inner City Press - and FUNCA - are committed to a closely-covered and open UN, and the trend, from the top down, is in quite the opposite direction. Here was the UN's "Note to Correspondents" -

The Geneva Consultations on Syria will begin next week Monday, 4 May, at the Palais des Nations and last for an initial period of five to six weeks.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura has invited as many of the parties as possible, primarily the Syrian parties (government, opposition and civil society), as well as the regional and international stakeholders, to discuss with the Special Envoy, the dire situation in Syria today and to provide their candid views on where we stand vis-a-vis implementation of the Geneva Communiqué almost three years since it was adopted.

The Special Envoy and the Deputy Special Envoy, Ramzy Ezzeldine Ramzy, will conduct closed and separate consultations with each party.

There will be no photo opportunities, no stakeouts, and no interviews while the consultations are being conducted at the Palais. However, periodic photo and video feeds will be provided by UN Photo and UN Television.

The UNOG Spokesman and Director, a.i., of the UN Information Service in Geneva, and the Office of the Special Envoy's Public Information Officer, will provide periodic updates to the Geneva Press Corps and others, as and when appropriate and necessary.

No major public announcements are expected during, or at the conclusion of, these Consultations. The Special Envoy will assess the progress of his stock-taking at the end of the process and report to the Secretary-General with his findings and recommendations.

Thank you for understanding.  

  Thank you indeed.

 Back on April 24, Inner City Press asked de Mistura if the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen changed any of the dynamics on Syria. 

  In reply, de Mistura told Inner City Press that "everything in the region these days is connected." He added that he is focused on Syria.

 Inner City Press also asked de Mistura about criticism made by his former adviser Mouin Rabbani on Qatar's Al Jazeera TV, that Mistura is out of his depth and not up for the task.

 De Mistura replied, I will not respond, you would do the same, if one of your ex-colleagues...

  Inner City Press asked the question because it hadn't been asked, tellingly. 

 Dina Kawar said Mistura “mentioned what he will do next month in Geneva, holding separate meetings with the Syrian parties, representatives of the civil society and regional and international actors. He will provide his assessment to the Secretary General and keep the Security Council informed,” Kawar said, taking no questions.

  Staffan de Mistura emerged, saying he would take two or three questions. He said, “the only way is to test, a stress test,” a phrase like his previous “freeze.” He said, “by end of June we should be in the position to reassess whether any convergence on substance and report to the Secretary General.”

  De Mistura said, “This is not Geneva Three, this is a series of consultation, one to one. We can convene and ask everyone to come and not exclude anyone.. Iran is a member country of the UN, it is a major play in the region, it has influence in Syria. The UN has the right, and will be inviting everyone.”

  Unlike Montreux, it was observed by... one wag.

  Back on April 16, that the Syrian chemical weapons victim and doctor who briefed the UN Security Council did so behind closed doors, with no UN Television coverage, was a product of the Council's rules.

  It was an “Arria formula” meeting, which was not be listed in the UN Journal or even on the blue electronic signs outside it. (The sign said the meeting was about "nutrition.")

  Afterward chemical weapons victim Qusai Zakarya took some questions in the hall, before again going behind closed doors of the UN Censorship Alliance, see below.

  Inner City Press in this public space asked Qusai Zakarya what he thought of UN envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Qusai Zakarya said replied to Inner City Press, "I think Staffan de Mistura is a hypocrite. I think his very disgusting attempt to shine up the image of the regime is exposed to the Syrian people and to a nlot of members of the international community. His offer on freezes was a joke. If he really cared about saving lives he would have convinced the regime to stop using its fire power. We have a lot of outrage against his attempts, the deal he was trying to offer, it's just another false attempt to shine up the image of the regime."

   Inner City Press asked him if he would meet with any UN official. “I can't answer that questio right now,” he said. Then the convoy went to the clubhouse of the UN Censorship Alliance, which had sent notice only to those who pay it money: "They will have just presented their accounts in front of the UN Security Council at an Arria-formula meeting on Syria Chemical Weapons."

     But why would the doctors, in holding a supposed press conference afterward, not do so in the UN Press Briefing Room on UNTV, as can be done by any NGO or individual as long as sponsored by a member state? 

    Instead, the sequel  show was also behind closed door, in the UN Censorship Alliance (UNCA), not on UNTV. This is the same UNCA which hosted former Syrian Coalition head Ahmad al Jarba, allowing him to claim he had a “UN press briefing.”  It is a scam.

  And so on April 24 Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Dujarric if Jarba's successor, after Hadi al Bahra, Khaled Khoja will hold a Q&A session in the open UN Press Briefing Room. We'll see.

    UNCA and its board members have, for example, sought to get other journalists thrown out of the UN, for reporting on the financial relationship of UNCA's then and now president Giampaolo Pioli with an alleged war criminal, accepting rent money from him and later agree to screen his war crimes denial film inside the UN, under the UNCA banner.  If one has a case to make, this is not the place to make it.

  Even since its outright censorship bid, the way UNCA is run gives less and less confidence. On April 10, the UN Spokesperson's Office announced over its public address system that "in a few short moments in the UNCA room there will be a press conference by a State Department official."

   But as Inner City Press immediately reported, it wasn't any "press conference" -- it was off the record spin, typical of this UNCA now known as the UN's Censorship Alliance (the invitation they send to those who pay UNCA money is below.)

  Just before 5 pm, the UN Spokesperson's Office made a second public address system announcement: it was NOT a press conference, but rather an off the record presentation by the US State Department.

  All this in the big room the UN gives to UNCA, its Censorship Alliance. Why is the UN involved in this in any way at all?

  The announcement by UNCA president Giampaolo Pioli, sent only to those who pay UNCA money (then forwarded to Inner City Press along with messages of shock and disgust) said

"For correspondents interested in an informal off-the-record meeting with [the] Deputy Director, Media Hub of the Americas, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs, please join us in the UNCA Meeting Room, Friday, April 10th at 3:30pm.

"The meeting will be to explain the work of the State Department Public Affairs bureau that works with international media, to provide assistance in gaining better access to State Department officials and information, in addition to presenting the work done in the Media Hub of the Americas where the Director is the State Department spokesperson in Spanish and Portuguese for regional media and Spain and Portugal.

Thank you,

Giampaolo Pioli
UNCA President"
  
 Pioli's invite linked to a self-description of this US Bureau of Public Affairs, that “PA/IME works in close collaboration with State Department and interagency colleagues to create and manage tools to ensure accurate coverage of U.S. foreign policy by major international media.”

    UNCA represents only part of the UN press corps. This writer, for example, quit the group after 2012.  UNCA is said by UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric to receive the first question in the UN Press Briefing Room “by tradition,” even after UNCA's Executive Board tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for itsreporting about Sri Lanka, UN Peacekeeping and colonialism (Herve Ladsous) among other topics.

 UNCA did nothing when Ladsous adopted the policy of refusing to answer any questions from the investigative Press, and having his spokespeople physically grab the UNTV microphone to try to avoid the questions being heard.

  Now UNCA wants to facilitate “accurate coverage of U.S. foreign policy.” Does it perform this service for other countries?

    Inner City Press, like the new Free UN Coalition for Access which it co-founded after quitting UNCA, is not against "accurate coverage of US foreign policy." Last month, Inner City Press asked the US State Department about Yemen (including the decision not to evacuate Yemeni Americans from the country), Cuba (the US restrictions on its diplomats at the UN), the Maldives,Middle East and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In each case, Inner City Press reported the answers in full, where possible with video.

  But why provide this platform for one country and not others? Earlier on April 10 UNCA will have a presentation by a former US CIA employee who served in Saipan, Korea, Vietnam and "Burma," as the UNCA notice puts it.

  What has happened to this UNCA under Pioli and presumably current Executive Committee members fromReuters, the US Broadcast Board of Governors and ANSA? And how now can the UN continue to “partner” with UNCA, exclusively, using this partial group as a proxy for the wider press corps? 

 Earlier on April 9, when the UN with little notice canceled its question and answer noon briefing in deference to a"press encounter" with Ban Ki-moon at which Dujarric handpicked the questioners and Ban notably did not call for a halt or even pause in airstrikes on Yemen, UNCA said nothing. (They will, however, have a "Prosecco toast" with Ban later in the month.)

 The Free UN Coalition spoke up in criticism, as here. We'll have more on and of this.