On Burundi, Inner City Press Asks Lithuania of Attacks on Press, Is Told To Ask Penholder, France

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 27 -- Two weeks after the UN Security Council, the United States and the UN Peacebuilding Configuration on Burundi on May 15 issued statements urging calm in the country given the return of Pierre Nkurunziza to presumably run for a third term, on May 27 the UN Security Council got a closed-door briefing from envoy Said Djinnit.

  Later on May 27 Inner City Press asked the May presidency of the Security Council, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius and Permanent Representative Raimonda Murmokaité about the closed door briefing, and why attacks on journalists in Burundi wasn't mentioned in the Council's most recent Press Statement on Burundi. Video here and embedded below.

  Raimonda Murmokaité provided a second summary of the meeting, and told Inner City Press that it surely knew how Council press statements work. (A corresponent in the front row, already called on, appeared to giggle.)

  Inner City Press replied that yes, it does know how the process works or is supposed to work -- so, was language about press freedom proposed and rejected? Or never proposed?

 Raimonda Murmokaité replied, Ask the penholder. That is France, and Inner City Press did ask, see below.

 An hour before Djinnit's briefing, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here, video here:

Inner City Press: On Burundi, I'd wanted to ask you this.  The… in today's debate in the Council, a number of the Council members brought up the crackdown on media in Burundi alongside the, obviously, attacks on opposition and protesters, including the closing of three radio stations, the seeming shooting of a radio station reporter along with the opposition leader that was killed.  I wanted to know, is the UN doing… given all that's being said in the Security Council chamber today, is the UN and its existing missions in Burundi doing anything to actually try to protect journalists in Burundi?

Spokesman:  Obviously, the question of protection of journalists is one that's high on the agenda and you… as explained by the Deputy Secretary-General himself this morning.  It is critical for Burundi to move forward.  A critical part of Burundi moving forward in a peaceful way and political dialogue is a free press and that a free press be allowed to operate.  So, it's clearly part of the overall discussions that are going on.

Inner City Press: But in the Secretary-General's statement on the attack on the opposition leader, was he or DPA [Department of Political Affairs] or whoever wrote it unaware there was a journalist also gravely wounded at the same time?

Spokesman:  We may not have been aware of the full details, but obviously, attacks on journalists are condemned.

Inner City Press: And just one other question on Burundi.  There's a lot of discussion there, there's a picture, in fact, of a police individual shooting a submachine gun and also a picture of him in a peacekeeper uniform.  So, I wanted to know, is there… is DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] doing anything to see whether people previously deployed or prospectively deployed… there's another individual named Donat [a/k/a Rukonangwe] as possibly deploying… are involved in a picture of shooting in a crowd?

Spokesman:  I think… I haven't personally seen that picture.  If it turns out to be true, as we've seen in other cases, you know, troop contributors are not permitted to use UN insignia, symbols, emblems on uniforms or planes outside of UN peacekeeping operation, so, obviously, if this turned out to be true, it would… it would be in violation of those understandings.  Obviously, the vetting process of peacekeepers from all countries goes through… is cooperation between DPKO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).  I think there's a special focus if troops would be coming in recently from Burundi; at this point, Burundian soldiers are continuing to serve in UN peacekeeping troops, and obviously, we… the UN has no operational or any control over the troops that have returned to the country.  

  Note: the first asked about is Alfred Innocent Museremu...

  On the way into the UNSC for the 1:15 pm meeting, a Permanent member's deputy ambassador told Inner City Press there would probably be no outcome from the meeting. And so it was -- after an hour and a half, when the Ambassador of the Council's "penholder" on Burundi Francois Delattre emerged, he declined to speak on the UNTV camera.

  He did however to his credit answer questions on the stairs leaving the stakeout. Inner City Press asked him about the timing of the presidential election; he said the conditions are not met.

  But why not put that in a Security Council statement? To make it a Council position?

  Inner City Press asked Delattre about attacks on journalists, the Security Council's topic before and after the Burundi consultation. He genially said it might be a good idea for the Council to speak on that. We'll see -- cell phone video here, in the spirit of Freedom of the Press, by the Free UN Coalition for Access, along with this rough transcript:

Inner City Press: What about the timing of the presidential election?
A: There’s a wide unity around the table, conditions are not met. A wide unity, everybody says that conditions for election are not met. That’s what we should work on. Raising these conditions.

Inner City Press: what about attacks on journalists?

A: That’s a really good point, because you have these consultations on Burundi, and you have this debate on protection of journalists. That’s something that I stressed to my colleagues. Protection of journalists is everywhere and also in Burundi.

Inner City Press: Will there be a statement on it?

A: You had a statement already on Sunday, you cannot have a statement every day. These are real concerns.

   

On Ukraine Aid, UN Security Council's Syria Resolution Cited as Precedent, Voice of America on "Rebel Babies"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 22 -- After Russian trucks crossed the border into Ukraine after a week's delay at the border, on August 22 at the UN Ukraine's acting ambassador Oleksandr Pavlichenko called it a “blatant violation of international law" - but then took only two questions.

  Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin took many questions, below. At the stakeout,  Inner City Press asked Churkin to compare the Council's aid consultations on Ukraine and Syria (click here for Inner City Press story on Syria). Churkin replied that

“I don't want to make any direct connections [but] important legal ground was broken when we adopted assistance without the permission of the government. We were fortunate enough to work it out with the Syrian government, they acquiesced in some of the arrangements. But it was a legal point of departure.”

 Similarly, UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, President of the UN Security Council for August, and Lithuania's Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaité both took questions after the day's result-less Council meeting.
 
   Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant about the previous day's draft statement:

Inner City Press: The Press Statement that was proposed yesterday that called for a ceasefire for the aid to be delivered. As President of the Council, why do you think that it wasn’t adopted? What’s the UK’s position on the idea of just a limited ceasefire so that aid from whichever side can get in. What was the problem with the Press Statement from your point of view.

Amb Lyall Grant: We did not comment on the Press Statement as the United Kingdom, but a number of Members of the Council did suggest amendments to the Press Statement which the Russian Federation said were unacceptable and they therefore withdrew the Press Statement.

   At Churkin's press conference, Inner City Press asked about the draft.

 Churkin said that the “indefatigable” Lithuanian delegation “sent in amendments” that dropped references to Russia and included references to the European Union and dropped the reference to a ceasefire. Then, Churkin said, the US delegation send in amendments dropping the ceasefire and blaming the separatists.

 Inner City Press asked Lithuania's Ambassador Murmokaité about her amendments. She replied that not only Russia has been offering aid -- that would explain the proposed shift to EU -- and, asked again about the ceasefire, she said that the separatists had used Poroshenko's "unilateral" ceasefires to reground and down helicopters. First "we need proof it works," she said.

  There are, of course, gruesome photographs of the effects of Poroshenko's forces' shelling -- and Lithuania did agree to the resolution calling for a ceasefire around the MH17 site, despite the stated concerns. But the responses, and opportunity to ask the questions, were appreciated.

  Earlier on August 22, the Voice of America's UN bureau chief asked Churkin about accusations that the convoy was only to support the rebels.

  "With baby food?" Churkin asked.

   "Rebels have babies too," the Voice of America correspondent said. The implication seemed to be that starving children based on the positions taken by their parents would be okay. We'll have more on this - for now, click here.

On August 5, then the UN Security Council held a meeting on Ukraine and the humanitarian situation, the UN's John Ging rattled off UN estimates of deaths (1367, both civilians and combatants) and those fleeing into Russia (168, 677 this year, according to the UN).

 This comes after many at the UN have been dismissive that there is a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Now that it is acknowledged, at least by Ging's OCHA, there is another strategy.

  France's representative, for example, said all of this is caused by the separatists. As to civilians, this smacks of blaming at the victim, and stands in stark contrast to statements on Syria, for example. These comparisons will continue.

Earlier, in the morning of August 5 as reported by Inner City Press, Churkin said there was "some resistance" from the UK Presidency of the Council, but that 5 pm should be doable. 

  Inner City Press asked UK president of the Council for August Mark Lyall Grant about the "resistance." He said there had been no formal request but Ambasador Churkin had spoken to him; the question was whether there would be a UN briefer ready from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

  There was: John Ging, recently heard from on Yemen and Gaza.

   Back on July 30 when Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN Yuriy Sergeyev held a UN press conference on July 30, Inner City Press asked him about the Human Right Watch report his government is using Grad rockets, killing at least 16 civilians between July 12 and 21 near Donetsk.

  Sergeyev responded first about the UN's (or Ivan Simonovic's) report, then emphasized that Russian media is saying Ukraine is using ballistic missiles.

  Inner City Press repeated the question, emphasizing it concerns Human Rights Watch's report, not the UN's, and not Russian media.  Sergeyev provided essentially the same answer.

  Here is the HRW report, online.

  Inner City Press also asked about the status of the International Monetary Fund program, after the downing of MH17. Sergeyev said Ukraine has met with the IMF's Christine Lagarde and "will" get the next tranche of the program in late August.  But won't there be an Executive Board meeting?

After Russian foreign minister and US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone on July 27, the US State Department issued two read-outs, or a readout in two stages.

  The second, an "additional point" by a Senior State Department Official, was that Kerry "underlined our support for a mutual cease fire verified by the OSCE and reaffirmed our strong support for the international investigation to show the facts of MH17."

  Inner City Press on July 30 asked Sergeyev for Ukraine's position on this. Sergeyev cited as "pre-conditions" the closing of the border with Russia, and the release of all hostages.

  Back on July 28 Inner City Press asked Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin about this read-out: does the US support a ceasefire?

“I supposed he said they did,” Churkin replied. “What their message is in private to the Ukrainians is a different story... There was a phone converation between Vice President Biden and President Poroshenko [then] they went up another stage in escalating the conflict after that and immediately.”

  Procedurally, Ukraine set aside the first question at its press conference saying, "Pamela, traditionally you open our session." Using this UN Correspondents Association set-aside, Pam Falk of CBS asked about rebels mining the MH17 site. Her UNCA sidekick asked about "Russian propaganda." 

   And so it went until, fifth, the new Free UN Coalition for Access asked about HRW's report. This is how it's working, with the UN's Censorship Alliance. In this context, the Free UN Coalition for Access is against the automatic setting-aside of questions.