With Jordan As UN Security Council President, Inner City Press Asks Dina Kawar of Western Sahara, UN Police Shooting Protesters in Gao in Mali

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 -- When Ambassador Dina Kawar of Jordan assumed the presidency of the Security Council and held a press conference on April 2, Inner City Press asked her about the review of Western Sahara scheduled for the month, and about a report to be presented that afternoon behind closed doors about UN Peacekeepers in Mali killing three civilians by using excessive force. Video here and embedded below.

   Inner City Press asked if the Security Council under Ambassador Kawar will see that there is accountability for the UN Peacekeepers who killed the three civilians, beyond simply being repatriated to their home country (which UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq would not even identify.)

  Ambassador Kawar said that “of course it's not justifiable” but added that she had not yet seen the UN report into the killings in Gao. 

Inner City Press has asked the Council's president in March, Francois Delattre of France, about the Gao report; his spokesman said its release will be up to the Secretary General. 

 A single stakeout by UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous will foreseeably not be enough. Ladsous has refused to answer Press questions, from rapes in the DR Congo to Darfur, video here, Vine here.

   Ambassador Kawar said that peacekeeping is one of the topics in the Security Council's retreat with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon -- peacekeepers' “work, their relationship with the host country -- along with “sanctions in general.” One wonders if the Ramos Horta report, and Ladsous' resistance to accountability, will or should be among the topics.

  On Mali more generally, Ambassador Kawar said “we happy with the talks with the Algerians as mediators,” acknowledging that not all have agreed (for example the MNLA). She went philosophical, that intra-state conflicts are more complicated that those between states.

  On Western Sahara, as Inner City Press reiterated the question including on the inclusion of human rights monitoring in the mandate of MINURSO, Ambassador Kawar said that “the mandate will be extended” but that she couldn't say more for now, not yet having seen the report. We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press began its question by thanking Ambassador Kawar for the briefing on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, expressing a hope she will hold question and answer stakeouts at the UNTV stakeout after closed door consultations.

  We'll have more on this as well -- and on Jordan main thematic debate for the month, on April 23, on "the role of youth in countering violent extremism and promoting peace." There will also be a briefing by Staffan de Mistura on April 24, and an Arria formula meeting on cultural destruction on April 27. Watch this site.

   

On Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon Panel 5 Months Late, Threat to Inner City Press Copied to UN's Okabe Ignored?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 11 -- The UN under Ban Ki-moon does not follow through on Sri Lanka accountability, nor on Sri Lankan threatens against journalists which emanate from inside and are even copied to the UN.

  On June 11 Inner City Press asked Ban's lead spokesman Martin Nesirky two questions about Sri Lanka. First, what ever happened to the four-month panel named in September 2011, headed by Thoraya Obaid, to review the UN's own performance in the bloody final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka?

  And, Inner City Press asked, what is the UN's response to a sample threat sent to Inner City Press on June 9, copied to the UN's official in Washington Marie Okabe and two others in the UN, that this reporter should "swim like a brick" -- does the UN acknowledge any role in the creation of this climate, given that Ban advisers are known to have spread rumors Inner City Press is funded by the LTTE, just because Inner City Press questions make Ban look bad?

  Nesirky said he was not aware of the threat copied to Okabe, that it wasn't sent to him. On the panel, he said its work continues. But it has already been nine months and not the stated four, Inner City Press followed up. 

 

  Nesirky said that Charles Petrie, an official Inner City Press has written about in Myanmar and Burundi, is leading up the panel.

  When did Petrie replace Obaid? Inner City Press asked. One wondered: why didn't the UN every announce the change?

  Nesirky said that Obaid never took up the post. One wonders: why didn't the UN every announce that? And what WILL they do about the threats, and their role? 

 The UN Correspondents Association, whose President Giampaolo Pioli's insistence on trying to remove from the Internet Inner City Press' accurate reporting that he took rent money from Sri Lankan Ambasador Palitha Kohona, when Kohona was an official of the UN which Pioli purportedly covers triggered this round of threats, has seen them and done nothing. 

 In fact, UNCA Executive Committee members have fanned the flames, until their editors were contacted. And even then?

From the UN's June 11, 2012 noon briefing transcript:

Inner City Press: in September it was said that, that, that this panel will be reviewing the UN’s own performance in the final stage of the conflict, when up to 40,000 people were killed. Ms. [Thoraya] Obaid was named the head of the panel to look at three issues, it was said that it would be completed in four months and it’s now, I am counting, it seems like it’s nine, maybe it is eight; anyway I am wondering, what’s the status of that review? And also, I am compelled to ask you this: I’ve received a copy, I have received some of these, but this is a threat that I’ve received from it seems to be a Sinhalese or Sri Lankan extremist, saying I should "swim like a brick," and the reason I am asking you about it is because it was cc'd to Marie Okabe and two other UN personnel. And I am wondering, what is the UN’s response when you receive this type of a threat? What do they do with it, what happens, and I want to know what they are actually going to do in this case?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, I am not aware of that last one, Matthew. I don’t think I was copied on that one. On the first point, the review as recommended by the panel of experts is under way, and once -

Inner City Press: Is there some explanation for the four-month period being more than doubled now?

Spokesperson Nesirky: This is something that is quite complex and quite important. And the review is under way, as I say. It is being headed by Charles Petrie, and it is in full swing, and when we have something to say further, I will let you know; but we don’t at the moment.

Inner City Press: And on this, when did Ms. Obaid leave, leave the post?

Spokesperson: She did not take the post; there are a number of difficulties of a personal nature for her taking it and someone else has taken the post, Mr. Petrie, who is extremely well-qualified and is heading that review right now.