When Ban Ki-moon Met Saudi-Sponsored Syria Rebel Jarba at His House, No Photo Unlike Sellstrom, UNCA & DPI Scam

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided to meet with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba, why was it not in his UN office but rather in his residence? Why was it not listed in the UN Media Alert? Why was no UN Photo taken?

These questions have been asked of Ban's top two spokespeople, without answer. By contrast, when Ban met with his Syria chemical weapons team leader, Ake Sellstrom, he not only had a photograph taken - he flashed the first page of the report, expressing concern about sarin in Syria.

So why sneak around? What is Ban Ki-moon's response to the "urgent' September 24th letter sent to him and his Under Secretaries General of GA and Conference Management and the Department of Public Information? Inner City Pressobtained and put that Syrian letter online, and also sent it to Ban's spokespeople seeking comment. There has been no response.

  And so we have to note: while Agence France Presse wrote a breathless story about the meeting, bragging that it is sure to make Syria's government angry, AFP did not disclose that its UN report Tim Witcher is on the Executive Committee ofUNCA, a group which used its DPI-given room to hold afaux "UN briefing" for Jarba in July. This should have been disclosed.

  Another UNCA Executive Committee member bragged, without disclosure, that "Secgen meeting with Pres of the National Coalition #Syria opposition forces Ahmad al-Jarba."

  Inner City Press and the new Free UN Coalition for Access@FUNCA_info have repeatedly asked why the UN through DPI gives UNCA a room for faux UN briefing, and why Ban and his spokesperson give the first question to UNCA's 2013 president Pamela Falk, who sent out three invites for Jarba. Ban's Office, and then DPI, said "ask UNCA." This is a scam. Watch this site.

   

France Chooses Scribes for its Genocide Joyride To DRCongo & Rwanda, UN Won't Disclose List

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 21 -- How can a country with a long history of colonialism like France be allowed to decide which correspondents accompany and transcribe a trip through Africa on a UN plane?

  This is what has happened for the upcoming Security Council trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia which Inner City Press first reported on ten days ago.

  Inner City Press has been told by multiple sources that France was allowed to choose which journalists would go; its request seventeen hours ago for disclosure of those journalists selected for free travel in the UN plane has not complied with. But isn't it public money?

  If the French government of Francois Hollande and Laurent Fabius wants to run a propaganda trip through Africa, they should use a French government plane, not the UN. 

 In fact, France used UN Peacekeeping, from Cote d'Ivoire through Mali through the Great Lakes, where it supported the Hutu government which led the killing of a million people in Rwanda.

  Call this the Genocide Joyride, then. But who has France chosen to ride in the UN plane?

  The fix was in from the beginning. Rather than tell all correspondents at once about the opportunity to accompany the trip -- Inner City Press accompanied just such a trip in 2010 -- this time the notice was sent out through the email of Pamela Falk the 2013 president of the UN Correspondents Association only to those which pay it money: less than ten percent of the journalists covering the UN General Assembly.

  The UNCA Executive Committee allowed its member fromAgence France Presse, Tim Witcher, to initiate a proceeding against Inner City Press for its reporting on Herve Ladsous,the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping.

  They then tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN, including UNCA first vice president Louis Charbonneau handing an internal UNCA document to the UN's chief of accreditation Stephane Dujarric.

(Charbonneau and Witcher were linked last week in MediaBistro to imposter Inner City Press social media accounts, the culmination of nine months of anonymous trolling link to UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance. Their anonymous comments complained Inner City Press is "pro-Rwanda" - explaining the trip decisions, and why Inner City Press will write rather than appeal.)

  After Inner City Press and the new Free UN Coalition for Access (@FUNCA_info) complained, the notice of the trip was sent out to a larger group by the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But the fix was in.

  After close of business on Friday, after twice confirming its desire to accompany the Security Council trip as it did in 2010, this following arrived:

From: Jerome Bernard [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: Security Council trip to Africa
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress [dot] com
Cc: Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info

Hi Matthew,

I am sorry but because of the very limited number of seats in the UN plane it won't be possible for you to travel with the Security Council for this trip to the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

I am sure there will be other opportunities for travel in the future.

Best regards,

Jerome Bernard
Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

  Inner City Press less than an hour later asked the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General for a list of those journalists who France has selected. The list has not been provided.

  Jerome Bernard, who will be accompanying the trip will supposedly tell reporters who France did not want on the trip what is happening. Right.

We will be reporting on this Genocide Joyride. Watch this site.

   

For Security Council Trip to DR Congo & Rwanda, UN Lets France Pick Its Scribes, Despite French Role in Genocide

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- When the UN Security Council goes on a trip with media to Rwanda and the Congo, who decides which reporters can go?

  In this case, France -- a country which sided with thegenocidaires in Rwanda, and which has installed one of its diplomats who argued for the genocidaires' escape, Herve Ladsous, as the head of UN Peacekeeping.

  How is this fair? But it is how the UN works. 

  This too: notice of the opportunity for some reporters to go on the trip was sent out at noon on September 18 by Pamela Falk of the UN Correspondents Association, whose Executive Committee member Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse filed a complaint with UN Security leading with how Inner City Press asked a question to Ladsous about the DRC.

  UNCA's first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters takes "leaks" from France and the UK (while leaking TO the UN), and on the DRC routinely parrots their line about Rwanda supporting the M23 rebels.

  (Charbonneau and Witcher were linked last week in MediaBistro to imposter Inner City Press social media accounts, the culmination of nine months of anonymous trolling link to UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance. Their anonymous comments complained Inner City Press is "pro-Rwanda" - explaining the trip decisions, and why Inner City Press will write rather than appeal.)

   Inner City Press has asked -- why was information about a UN Security Council trip distributed only to those who pay UNCA money? After this question was raised, six hours later, a notice to the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's full list was sent. But the question remained unanswered.

Inner City Press immediately notified Ban's spokesperson's office of its interest in going on the Security Council trip, as it went on in 2010.

But on Friday evening, the following arrived:

From: Jerome Bernard [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: Security Council trip to Africa
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress [dot] com
Cc: Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info

Hi Matthew,

I am sorry but because of the very limited number of seats in the UN plane it won't be possible for you to travel with the Security Council for this trip to the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

I am sure there will be other opportunities for travel in the future.

Best regards,

Jerome Bernard
Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

  So who made this decision? Inner City Press is informed: the French Mission, they are in charge of the trip. What a charade. A journalist should not have to appeal to another country to be treated fairly. 

  In charge of the French Mission to the UN is Gerard Araud; his new deputy at his first UNSC stakeout refused to answer Inner City Press' question whether the UN's Eastern Congo "Intervention Brigade" is a combatant, a party to the conflict. Click here.

  Inner City Press writes extensively about the DRC (in fact, it first reported that this trip would happen). In 2010, Inner City Press went on a Security Council trip to Africa. Has its reporting declined since then? For 2013, @InnerCityPress was named a "Twitterati 100" by Foreign Policy magazine, one of only two covering the UN. 

  Inner City Press has asked for a list of the scribes France hand-picked to cover "its" trip to the Great Lakes region. Going forward, the new Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info is seeking to reform both corrupt information flows and a UN which allows a country which supported a genocide to chose which media fly in the UN plane to cover it. Watch this site.

   

Ideological: UN Security Council's DR Congo Trip, First Reported by Inner City Press, Seeks Scribes Only Through UNCA, Scam

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 18 -- For the UN Security Council's October trip to Africa's Great Lakes region, on which Inner City Press exclusively reported one week ago, some have been asked if they would like to go along as scribes.

  How was the request made, and to whom? Unlike in the past, it was NOT sent to all UN accredited correspondents, or even just resident correspondents with desk space in the UN.

  No, the offer was made only through what's called the UN Correspondents Association. This entity's 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS in turn only sent the information to those who pay money.

Beyond the money, Inner City Press quit UNCA in December 2012 after documenting that several UNCA Executive Committee members tried to get Inner City Pressthrown out of the UN. 

  UNCA's first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuterseven spied for the UN, providing an anti-Press internal UNCA document to the UN's top accreditation official three minutes after he promised not to. Story here, audio here,document here.

  UNCA Executive Committee member Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse filed a complaint with the UN leading with the way in which Inner City Press posed a question to Herve Ladsous, who before heading UN Peacekeeping served as France's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN during the Rwanda genocide, arguing for the escape of the genocidaires into the Eastern Congo.

  In this context, how the information about press space to cover the Security Council's trip to the region be given out only through UNCA? Journalists are told they don't have to join UNCA, and in fact fewer than 10% of the journalists accredited to cover the UN General Assembly are UNCA members.

  This means of distribution of information is illegitimate, and after protest by the new Free UN Coalition for Access@FUNCA_info was eliminated with regard to twenty passes to cover the UN conference room area next week. 

  So why is trip information, to an area as ideologically charged as the Great Lakes, distributed this limited and illegitimate way? Apparently, BECAUSE it is ideologically charged. But FUNCA is protesting it. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Rights in Conflict as HRW & UNCA Trolls Let France Off Hook, Vienna +20 Clash

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 17 -- At the UN there's a lot of talk about human rights, but sometimes it's in conflict. Double standards we cover daily, but this is about double booking.

On September 18 not only UN official Ivan Simonovic but also Gerhard Doujak, Head of the Human Rights Department in the Austrian Ministry of European and International Affairs, are set to speak at 11:15 am in the UN Press Briefing Room on the topic of "Vienna +20 Human Rights achievements, shortcomings and the way forward."

But a mere 15 minutes prior, UN perennial Human Rights Watch is holding a press conference on a topic on which the Security Council took no action in August nor so far in September: the Central African Republic.

  Why didn't the Security Council pass the expected resolution in August? Because the pen holder France had its diplomats on vacations, as Inner City Press reported. But you won't hear that from HRW.

Nor did HRW say anything when Herve Ladsous of UN Peacekeeping met in July with Omar al Bashir, who is indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court. HRW's statements are, shall we say, highly selective.

  Who is hosting this HRW event? The UN Correspondents Association, which also in July hosted what it called a "UN briefing" by Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba. 

  On July 26, and again earlier today, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson if they was really a "UN briefing."

From the July 26 UN transcript:

Inner City Press: currently, there is a meeting in the North Lawn Building of the Syrian coalition with members of the Security Council. They may be doing a stakeout now. But I wanted to ask you this. I’ve seen, although it wasn’t sent to me, a notice of a press conference in the UN building by the Syrian Coalition in room 310 of the United Nations, and I wanted you to describe what this press conference is. Is it a UN press conference? Is it only open to individuals who have paid money in order to attend it? And I saw one of the speakers described as the Special Representative of the Syrian Coalition to the United Nations, and I wanted to know, is there such a thing? Is there official representation to the United Nations by the Syrian opposition and on what basis does the UN give a large room to the UN Correspondents Association for meetings of this type, which they only promote to members that pay them money?

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, I’ll have to check on that, Matthew. I don’t have the information with me, but we’ll check on that and get back to you.

  But no one ever did get back to Inner City Press with an answer to this question, including the Department of Public Information which partners with UNCA and gives it this special but unexplained status. 

  DPI has been informed of anonymous social media trolling linked with UNCA Executive Committee members (two of whom, Louis "The UN Spy" Charbonneau of Reuters and Tim Witcher of AFP, have been exposed in MediaBistro: these are HRW's partners.) 

  But even on September 17, the UNCA-linked trolling continued. And so, on Wednesday, the correct place is in neither. Watch this site.

  

After Syria Report, US, France and UK Call on Their and Jarba's Friends, Dodge on ICC, Which US Left Out in Geneva Deal

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- The Syria question and answer sessions at the UN after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon unveiled his already-flashed chemical weapons report were tellingly one-sided, and with a major question repeatedly avoided.

Do the US, France and the UK want to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court in the Security Council resolution they are proposing? And if so, why didn't the US negotiate for that in its Geneva deal with Russia?

Ban Ki-moon took only three questions: the first went to the host of Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba, Pam Falk of CBS, 2013 President of UNCA. 

  Next was UNCA board member Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse, who has complained to the UN about the way French UN Peacekeeping official Herve Ladsous was asked a question by Inner City Press.

  Samantha Power of the US took two of the same question questions as Ban, combined with a third who pre-spun Ban's report. The question arose: is ICC indicted Sudanese president Omar al Bashir coming to New York for the General Debate?

  Power, flexing her "Problem from Hell" muscles, said it would be better for Bashir to go present himself to the ICC in The Hague. But Power and the US Mission said nothing when UN official Ladsous met with Bashir in July. And Power did not answer the question, does the US want an ICC referral for Syria?

  UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant to his credit did take the ICC question, although he largely dodged it. He said negotiations will begin on the forthcoming resolution, and he hopes they remain confidential.

  France Deputy Permanent Representative took friendly questions, many in French, and did not on camera take Inner City Press' ICC question. But Inner City Press said the question, "yes or no," and afterward the Deputy's colleague approached Inner City Press to say that yes, France wants the ICC in the resolution.

  The spin wars continue, more and more open, in Ban Ki-moon's UN. Watch this site.

   

Angered at US Climb-Down on Syria, UN Trolls Linked to Reuters & AFP Start Again

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 14 -- Those disappointed that the US will not, at least for now, be bombing Syria include not only the Gulf-sponsored rebels but also some big media correspondents at the UN.

Just after Inner City Press published an analysis for the deal reached in Geneva between the US and Russia, the anonymous social media trolling which was linked this week in MediaBistro to Louis Charbonneau of Reuters and Tim Witcher of AFP began again.

 (One might say, just as the lack of relevance of France and the UK was exposed by this US - Russia deal, the servile nature of their associated media was also exposed.)

Both Charbonneau and Witcher are officers of the UN Correspondents Association, a group which sponsored Saudi-supported Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba for a faux "UN briefing" in late July, in a room give by the UN to UNCA with little transparency.

Questions by the Free UN Coalition for Access@FUNCA_info to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokespeople, if this really was a "UN briefing" and the basis on which a large room is given to a group which represents less then ten percent of the journalist who will cover the UN General Assembly have gone unanswered.

The UN Department of Public Information, which "partners" with UNCA, is entirely aware of the anonymous trolling, which has included counterfeit @InnerCityPress accounts. But counterfeiting continues, and trolling linked to the UNCA officers. 

  At least one DPI official has improperly received from Charbonneau internal UNCA anti-Press documents, three minutes after Charbonneau promised he would not do so -story here, audio here, document here. That is Reuters and UNCA spying for the UN, still not addressed. What goes the other way? We will have more on this.

   

Exposed as Trolls, UNCA Scribes of AFP, Reuters & CBS Just Keep On, Giving Tie to UK Deputy, Ban's Shabiha?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- On a night when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon blithely gave a speech in honor of UN Ambassador Samantha Power, while purporting to be an honest broker between parties on Syria, the group now known as Ban's shabiha resumed their anonymous social media trolling.

  Earlier today, Ban's insider journalists' campaign to impersonate the @InnerCityPress twitter feed, named one of two "Twitterati 100" covering the UN by Foreign Policy magazine, was exposed in MediaBistro's FishBowlNY. 

  The reporter there saw the documentary evidence of Reuter's Lou Charbonneau and AFP's Tim Witcher having tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN, joining Voice of America according to VOA documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. VOA here, Reuters here, AFP here.

  But beyond a bogus anonymous comment on the story calling Inner City Press is "pro Syria, pro Rwanda and anti French," later on Monday another of the UNCA-linked troll accounts started up again.

  It was strange: earlier on Monday UNCA's clearly outgunned 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS had sent all UNCA members a desparate e-mail presenting herself and unnamed Executive Committee members as the victim, when they have been responsible for the trolling since February 2013.

  Rather than try to reign in her those who actually run UNCA, or who seemingly work more directly with the UN, Falk send that e-mail and let them continue. This ill-serves her own members.

  So did the faux "UN briefing" she and some on the UNCA board sponsored by Saudi supported Syria rebel boss Jarba. It was publicized only to those who pay money to UNCA. There was no right to reply. But it was called a "UN briefing."

  UNCA through its Executive Committee is decidedly one-sided and, at least as some see it, unprofessional. They give gifts (and documents, in the case of Reuters) to those they are supposed to cover. Last week, UNCA bigwigs gave a tie to departing UK Deputy Permanent Representative Parham, he thanked them and some notable others.

  Parham is a fine guy: but is this appropriate?

  UNCA gave a tie to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesman on his way INTO the job. An UNCA past president made campaign contributions to candidates ostensibly being covered. The current president for 2013, Pamela Falk, openly tweets at Western ambassadors: look! Look at the positive coverage I am giving! 

  When Inner City Press asked, at a UN noon briefing, for a description of the UN's relationship with UNCA and details about the Jarba briefing, no answer was provided. It's that the UN uses UNCA or its Executive Committee. In 2012 this involved UNCA Executive Committee members from Voice of America, Reuters and AFP trying to get Inner City Pressthrown out of the UN.

  In that campaign, Reuters Lou Charbonneau gave the UN's Stephane Dujarric an anti-Press internal UNCA document,three minutes after promising not to. Story here, audio here,document here.

Reuters' & UNCA's Charbonneau hand to Ban

And now, this new campaign: the counterfeiting of Inner City Press' twitter feed, just after it was named one of two "Twitterati 100" covering the UN (no UNCA member was named) by Foreign Policy magazine, by so far two fake social media accounts, targeted for example at Parham's boss Mark Lyall Grant, as Australian Ambassador (and Security Council president for September) Gary Quinlan. 

Ban's UNCA Lunch of the Lost, Feb 7, 2013, credit Evan Schneider, UNPhoto. From left: OSSG's Del Buey; Denis Fitzgerald of Saudi Press Agency; OSSG's Nesirky; Melissa Kent of CBC; Sylviane Zehil of L'Orient le Jour; Tim Witcher of AFP; Ali Barada of An-Nahar; Ban Ki-moon, Kahraman Halicelik of Turkish Radio & TV; Pamela S. Falk of CBS; Lou Charbonneau of Reuters; Bouchra Benyoussef of Maghreb Arab Press; Yasuomi Sawa of Kyodo News; Masood Haider of Dawn; Unknown; Zhenqiu Gu of Xinhua; Stephane Dujarric of UN DPI

  It's nasty -- a Syria style tactic, you might say. Some, not without irony, see in UNCA's Executive Committee Ban Ki-moon's shabiha. Watch this site.