In November, UK Held 11 UNSC Stakeouts, Less than Lyall Grant's 14 But Higher-Tech: FUNCA Review

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 30 -- When the UK and its UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft took over the presidency of the UN Security Council at the beginning of November, Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access asked that question and answer stakeouts be held after closed-door consultations meetings. Rycroft said he would, and lived up to it. 

  In November, Rycroft did eight question and answerstakeouts as well as two sit-down press conferences; his Deputy Peter Wilson did another three stakeouts for a total of 11. 

 If one adds in the stakeouts of Philip Hammond (ostensibly on Somalia but with Somalia Press questions not taken) and Justine Greening (mostly Syria and refugees and not development), it comes to 13 -- still less than predecessor Mark Lyall Grant's 14 stakeouts in June 2013, below.

  The UK mission has gotten higher or newer-tech since Lyall Grant, Periscoping the stakeouts alongside@InnerCityPress and using other social media platforms. Are they, though, more accessible, more even-handed? Rycroft himself seems to be. On November 30 Inner City Press asked him about both Burundi and Yemen. As fast-transcribed by InnerCityPro.com:

ICP: On Burundi, beyond the lack of dialogue, seems like since the resolution the government closed down 10 civil society organizations and there’s reports today of neighborhoods being blockaded and searches of homes. Did this come up? In that context, is a trip enough?

And on Yemen, since there were supposed to be talks in the middle of the months and they didn’t happen, it’s now the end of the month and you’re the pen holder. Where is that process going?

Rycroft: "On Burundi, no one is saying that a Security Council visit on its own would be enough to solve a problem as difficult and complex as Burundi. But those of us who support it – and actually all countries support it, the debate is about when, exactly – all of us think there should be a visit, and it should play a helpful role in shining an international spot light on Burundi and demonstrating the importance of all the parties doing everything we’ve been calling on them to do, including having dialogue about the future.

Now, the issue about the NGOs and civil society came up very quickly in consultations this afternoon. When you look at the picture of what is happening in Burundi, it is significant that there continues to be violence and oppression and civil society is by no means free. And these are worrying indicators for us, which require us to do as much preventative diplomacy as we can.

On Yemen, it’s not been a particularly prominent issue in the month of November but I think it will get more prominent in the month of December. The reason it hasn’t been prominent is that the UN’s special envoy has been preparing the ground carefully with the talks, with the backing of the SC. But the talks themselves haven’t happened yet. The latest indications is that he is hoping to begin those talks in the first week or so of December, and the Council will be keeping a very close oversight of those talks and will be having some discussion with him during the US presidency."

  Regarding a proposed trip to Burundi, Inner City Press understands that questions of timing were raised by Angola, and that Burundi stands poised to take over chairmanships in December at the African Union and the East African Community. Does that make a Council trip more or less likely? Watch this site.

  Back on June 27, 20133 when the UK's then UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant took media questions at the end of his month's presidency of the UN Security Council, predictably most of them dealt with Syria and relatedly the Golan Heights.

But at least three of the 14 press stakeouts he did in June were about Somalia, not least about the deadly attack on the UN compound in Mogadishu. So on Thursday Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant three questions about Somalia.

First, how did he view Kenya's role in the Kismayo / Jubaland fighting? Second, would he acknowledge that the way the Security Council drafted the new UNSOM mandate has resulted in Somaliland ordering UNSOM out?

Finally, Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant if he thought the UN and its Department of Peacekeeping Operations should offer a substantive response, and a confirmation or denial, of a Mogadishu whistleblower's allegation that David Bax of the UN Mine Action Service shares information with UN intelligence?

Inner City Press first reported on the allegation on June 22.Despite direct requests to DPKO, UNMAS and even via Twitter to UN envoy to Somalia Nicholas Kay (clearly busy after the bombing, but the question is related), all the UN has said is they won't discuss what the whistleblower sent to Herve Ladsous. But what about the charges, a simple yes or no?

  Lyall Grant did not answer this last, but did offer a lengthy answer on federalism -- like in the UK -- as the solution to Somalia's problems. We will add the transcript.See below.

  At the end of the press conference, Lyall Grant listed steps toward transparency, including the 14 stakeouts for which the new Free UN Coalition for Access had thanked him. Inner City Press asked about one of the demands in the past of the “Small Five,” and now of ACT -- that the Council not make final decisions in open debates until it hears from the non-Council members.

  In fact, on topics on which the Council deigns to hear from the non-members, why not give them some role in drafting and negotiating the thematic resolution? Lyall Grant replied that the UK is flexible, even to “radical” ideas like non-Council members at times speaking before Council members.

Reform is slow in the UN -- but a response should be given to the troubling allegations of the Mogadishu whistleblower. Updates should be given on accountability for the 135 rapes in Minova by the Congolese Army, and now on all steps Chad takes to get off the UN child soldier recruiters list, while it is getting paid for peacekeeping in Mali. Watch this site.

Here is the UK Mission to the UN's transcription:

Inner City Press: On behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, thanks, not only for this briefing, but that you did fourteen stakeouts so it may be a new record, so that was a good in terms of after consultations. I wanted to ask you about Somalia. Three of the fourteen having been about Somalia and also, not just the bombing, but it seems like, although there’s, I know Mr Feltman’s there and he is saying things are the most positive they’ve been in two decades, it seems like in Kismayo, first I wanted to ask you whether you think that Kenya has some role in the sense of supporting at least one of the parties that wants to make a Jubaland there and also, in Somalialand, whether the Council, in writing the new mandate, may have – obviously there’s been a lot of push back. And finally, I’ve learned that the UN Mine Action Service in Somalia, in Mogadishu, there seems to be allegations that somehow they shared information with US intelligence. And this is something that the UN has failed to deny, despite UN whistleblower there with pretty serious information so I wonder... I don’t know what to say to that. I know that you are a person that, you’re a Permanent Member and you look at the Secretariat a lot. Do you think that this is the type of thing that the Secretariat should either come out and confirm or deny and do you think that there is any way in which a UN agency should share information with the intelligence of a Permanent 5 Member. Thanks.

Amb Lyall Grant: Thank you. I can’t comment at all really on that last question, Matthew, because I am not aware of the facts of that... I wasn’t even aware of the allegation that you referred to. On the role of Kenya: I mean Kenya has been part of the AMISOM force for some time. It wasn’t there originally in Somalia as part of AMISOM of course. They went across the border into Somalia for their own reasons, but they have been integrated into AMISOM and therefore they take instructions from the AMISOM force commander. What is important, in our view, is that there should be a proper dialogue between the centre and the regions. We believe in the territorial integrity of Somalia but it needs to have a federal constitution. It needs to have a proper relationship between the centre and the regions. Many countries, including my own, do have such a system and I think that’s the sort of constitution Somalia will need if it is to hold together, so we want Jubaland, we want Somilaland, we want Puntland, we want all the different regions of Somalia to be constituent parts of the state of federal Somalia, so that is still to be worked out. The government is new. The transition has passed, but it is still a new government and those issues need to be worked through. Now we strongly support the President. He recognises what needs to be done. He is trying to work on the Kismayo issue, but it’s not easy. After twenty years of civil war and conflict in Somalia, where large parts of the country are still being occupied and run by Al-Shabaab, it is not easy for the President and the federal authorities to make progress on the sort of political dialogue and constitutional arrangements that we think is going to be necessary, but there is, as I mentioned before, strong Security Council unity on this issues and there is a lot of international support that is going into Mogadishu, so I think, I’m optimistic. The situation fragile, but I’m optimistic that Somalia has seen... the worst of the history is behind it.

As China Heads UNSC, Inner City Press Asks Liu Jieyi Asks of Boko Haram and Burundi, FUNCA Asks For Q&A Stakeouts

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 3 -- With China taking over the UN Security Council presidency for February, Chinese Permanent Representative Liu Jieyi on February 3 fielded questions from the media. Video here and embedded below.

  Inner City Press, after requesting that he hold question and answer stakeouts after Council consultations, asked Ambassador Liu about the regional fight against Boko Haram, and about Burundi being in the footnotes of the Program of Work for the month.

   Ambassador Liu said that China supports African countries' "rising up" against terrorism and Boko Haram and stands ready to support any such request, saying that other countries should "rally around" it. Inner City Press has previously reported on Chad's request for a resolution. How much longer?

  On Burundi, Ambassador Liu explained that items are put in the footnotes at the request of a Council member, and expressed a desire that Burundi progress with reconciliation, economic and social development (the elections are upcoming.) Other items in the footnotes for this month are Ukraine, Mali and the Central African Republic.

   Ambassador Liu said that no Council member has yet expressed an intention to table a resolution about Palestine in February. He was asked if the debate scheduled for February 23 is targeted at any country and said no. He answered a final question about poverty reduction by referring to the post-2015 development goals, noting however that these are beyond the mandate of the Security Council.

   Yemen will be considered on February 11 -- who will be in charge them? The son of Ali Saleh? The Houthis? Iraq will be considered on February 17; current UN envoy Mladenov is, as Inner City Press first reported on January 30, slated to move to replace Robert Serry as UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East. So who will replace Mladenov in Iraq? Watch this site.

Footnote: The request that Security Council presidents give a summary of closed-door consultations, and take questions on that topic, is one that the Free UN Coalition for Access had made and will continue to make to each incoming Security Council president. Countries' willingness to explain the Security Council's working so that the public, particularly the impacted public, can understanding is not always what knee-jerk coverage of the Council would have one believe. Watch this site.

   

Australia's SC Month Has 7 Stakeouts, Darfur to December With Afghanistan, Syria Aid

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- When Australian Ambassador Gary Quinlan began his second and last Presidency of the UN Security Council, he said he it was his plan to hold question and answer media stakeouts after Council closed-door consultation.

  November began with a flurry of such stakeouts: November 4, 12 minutes; two on November 5, of nine and 11 minutes; November 10, a full twenty minutes; andNovember 12, four minutes.

Then things fell off a bit, with nothing between a three minute “quickie” on November 18 and an appreciated 19 session, ranging from Syria to Darfur, on November 25, the evening of Australia's End of Presidency reception.

Quinlan's total of seven stakeouts, according to the UN Television website, equals that of Argentina, tops South Korea's three, but is dwarfed for example by fellow Commonwealth member United Kingdom's month of 17 stakeouts.

It has been pointed out to the Free UN Coalition for Access that the number of stakeouts it not entirely up to the Presidency, but rather depends on the news of the month. 

 While true, each Press Statement offers the chance to read the statement out on camera -- in which medium it is presumably more effective, unlike a Press Statement on Darfur rapes which the UN Spokesperson's office never emailed out -- to take questions.

In terms of substance, several issues seemed to slip past November into December -- the program of work of which, as Inner City Press reported with redactions to protect privacy, the Australian mission mistakenly emailed to other Council members with an ill-conceived comment about the Chadians, president for December, (not) understanding Christmas. 

  We all make mistakes, and the Australian mission and Quinlan himself quickly owned up to it, setting them apart from some other Council powers.

  Two Darfur issues, for example, bounced around but are ultimately slipping over into Chad's month: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's report into allegation of cover-up in the UNAMID mission, and UNAMID's related November 9 whitewash of rapes, and community-military relations, in Tabit. 

  Quinlan to his credit circulated to all other Council members a petition from Darfur groups on this topic (click here for that), and twice said that on the cover-up report, the question is finding the right briefer(s). We'll see.

  Quinlan presided, not without humor, over the head-banging exercise of repeated votes with the same results on candidates for judgeship at the International Court of Justice; he covered Ebola in public, and Burkina Faso behind closed doors.

  Australia is interested, along with Luxembourg which like Australia leaves the Council on December 31, and Jordan which does not, in getting a new resolution on humanitarian access in Syria. Australia as pen-holder on Afghanistan also wants a resolution on new security arrangements, which we hear might be more problematic than anticipated. But we'll leave such clashes for another day, or article.

  At Australia's End of Presidency reception on November 25, a classical guitarist played, UN officials, journalists and diplomats mingled, including a recently re-appeared correspondent and the diplomat he rented out of his apartments to. This is mentioned, like the Free UN Coalition for Access push for stakeouts, including byreclusive Under Secretaries General, as a matter of press access and against censorship. That too is a fight for another day, or hour. Watch this site.

   

With Australia Atop UN Security Council, Of Sanctions Experts & Trainers Iraq, Balance Questioned, Access Vowed: OzPrez Begins

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 4 -- When Australian Ambassador Gary Quinlan got the UN Security Council program of work agreed to for his month as Council president on November 4, an item was added to that afternoon's schedule at this request: Burkina Faso.

  Inner City Press, staking-out the Council meeting, heard that Burkina Faso and the ouster of Blaise Compaore would be addressed that afternoon, and reported it - but not who had requested it. Since France has “held the pen” on its other former colonies from Mali to Central African Republic, some assumed they'd made the request. But, in perhaps a good sign, it was Australia.

  After the day's UN noon briefing, Quinlan and at least three members of his team came to brief the press. Quinlan gave a more detailed than usual opening statement, far from uninteresting, and then the questions -- and to some, the problems -- began.

  The first question was set aside for the old UN Correspondents Association, a former Reuters reporter who asked about “The Ukraine.” Next came France 24, then Agence France Presse and a US state media. 

  At that point Inner City Press, on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, noted that the correspondent for Al Mayadeen, with a different perspective, stood up and walked out. Was it a message?

  Seems so: the next was Associated Press and then Newsweek / Israel Radio, with questions about the Golan Heights and North Korea. Inner City Press, called on next, thanked Quinlan for FUNCA and asked that he hold Q&A stakeouts after each closed consultation. (He said, to his credit, that's the plan.)

  Inner City Press asked the legal basis for airstrikes on Syria and if international law wouldn't be better served by seeking Security Council approval. Quinlan said no member of the Council has brought it up, and that his own country is acting in Iraq under a request from that country's government, and is sending a couple hundred trainers.

Quinlan has scheduled a briefing and, he hopes, adoption of a “technical” resolution on sanctions for November 25. Inner City Press asked him about the “regime change” letter by Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group expert Dinesh Mahtani, which it exclusively published and which led to Mahtani's resignation. Mahtani's letter, here, referred twice to Australia.

Quinlan said the training and qualification of experts will be discussed and addressed, and that impartiality “must be a given.” We'll have more on this.

  The briefing continued with Voice of America - a second US state media, both under the US Broadcasting Board of Governors; perhaps for that reason after the former ReutersUN reporter was called on, the current stood in the back with a member of the Australian mission delegation. 

  Then, described as the last question, came Al Jazeera, saying it “heard” that Burkina Faso would be addressed in the Council and asking when). The briefing was set to end -- when there was a (polite) rebellion.

A reporter from Armenian media said she had her hand raised the whole time, and asked about Ukraine. Quinlan to his credit decided to stay and answer. Here's hoping its a harbinger of the coming Security Council month, at least in terms of accessibility to the media. Watch this site.

   

South Korea's Presidency of UN Security Council in May Has Only 3 Stakeouts, Silence on South Sudan, Mali, Even Syria

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 -- While in the UN Security Council there are reviews, behind closed doors, of South Korea's month as Council president, this public review from the press is much simpler: there were only three question and answer stakeout.

  These occurred only on May 9 about Nigeria (and answering Inner City Press on why North Korea was not allowed to speak at an earlier meeting), May 19 on Guinea Bissau (and telling Inner City Press no answer on South Sudan since didn't chair the meeting) and finally May 28 on Mali, here. That's it.

  This contrasts to ten Q&As by Nigeria as president in April, and 14 by Luxembourg in March. South Korea's low matches one of the three Q&A months of outgoing French Ambassador Gerard Araud.

  At the beginning of these months, the Free UN Coalition for Access asks that Council presidents come out to speak to the press at least after closed door consultations. But South Korea did not do so, even on May 29 when humanitarian access into Syria was the topic. 

  Nor did South Korea give summaries after closed door presentations by UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, even knowing that Ladsous does not do stakeouts, even on a topic liek South Sudan, like his predecessors Alain Le Roy and Jean-Marie Guehenno. The trend is downward.

  When the month began, the South Korean mission's briefing about UNSC Resolution 1540 and the month was initially presented as controlled by the old UN Correspondents Association, which said to RSVP to its president Pamela Falk to go to the South Korean mission and hear Ambassador Oh Joon.

  After an inquiry by FUNCA this was wisely reversed, and reported. Inner City Press previewed the month with an open mind, here. But then there was little press access during the month, and even some states wishing to speak in the Council were not allowed. This was South Korea's second and for now last Council presidency.

 By constrast -- only last month -- when Nigeria's Ambassador to the UN Joy Ogwu came to the Security Council stakeout late on April 30 after a month as Council president, she paraphrased Shakespeare. All the world is a stage, or the Council is at the center of the play.

  She certainly did her best during the month, in terms of accessibility: she did nine question and answer stakeouts. Including one by foreign minister Aminu Wali on April 28, Nigeria did ten, on topics ranging from Western Sahara, toSyria and the Central African Republic, Darfur, South Sudanand genocide.

  On Western Sahara, to take that example, Ogwu to her credit came out and said that she had pushed the African Union position, that there should be a human rights monitoring mechanism in the MINURSO mission.

  But the MINURSO resolution is written by a "Group of Friends on Western Sahara" that does not include any African Union members, and no mechanism was included.

  On April 30 Inner City Press asked Ogwu about something France's Ambassador Gerard Araud, who once held a mere three question and answer stakeouts in a month as president,had said: that "The UN has never been a place for 'real' negotiation.  It legitimizes or implements agreements reached elsewhere."

   Ogwu said she disagreed, saying that the elected members of the Security Council have sought and obtained a global mandate. It is good, then, that it is Araud set to leave the Council, in July, and not Nigeria.

  In the run-up to Nigeria's end of presidency reception, multiple sources describe angry communications from the old UN Correspondents Association led by Pamela Falk of CBS demanding to know why they weren't at least initially invited. When it was mentioned that Inner City Press was actually at the stakeout during the month, from within the UNCA Executive Committee came an e-mail described as absurd, from a person whose first name begins with "M," on which we may have more. 

 The new Free UN Coalition for Access is not just about free food, and 4:30 pm cocktail receptions as UNCA held on April 30 as Iraq's Ambassador spoke at the stakeout - along with Nigeria's Joy Ogwu. Good month.

  And good end of presidency reception, complete with a short and heartfelt speech by Joy Ogwu, again citing Shakespeare. Talk turned to Burundi - off the record - and to the departure of the Under Secretary General for Public Information (DPI), widely known but on which FUNCA out of respect has sought comment.

  Meanwhile on the fourth floor bulletin board which DPI agreed to after FUNCA advocacy, the FUNCA flier aboutAraud telling a correspondent "you are not a journalist, you are an agent" had been torn down. This is the UN.

  Back on April 2 when Ogwu assumed the UN Security Council presidency Inner City Press asked her about Ukraine being a footnote in the month's Program of Work, and about the predicted fast approval of a new mandate for the MINURSO mission in Western Sahara. Video here, from Minute 21:21

  In the Program of Work the "consultations" on Western Sahara are set for April 17 and adoption of the resolution on April 23. Inner City Press asked if this means it is in the hands of the "Group of Friends," which does not include any African member.

Ogwu replied, "we expect to be fully involved." Given that the African Union position on Western Sahara, will that mean that a human rights monitoring mechanism for MINURSO, as exists in other peacekeeping missions, will be seriously considered? 

  Will the US, which proposed such a mechanism last year, push forward again? Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting both Morocco and Algeria early in April. We'll see.

  On Ukraine, Inner City Press asked if the expect report of UN human rights deputy Ivan Simonovic will trigger a meeting or consultation of the Security Council. Ogwu replied, with due regard for strategic planning, that bridge will be crossed when reached.

  As the second question -- why there is a claim of tradition of UNCA, often the UN's Censorship Alliance trying to get others thrown out of the UN and blocking access to documents on the Internet, automatically getting the first question is and will be addressed elsewhere -- the new Free UN Coalition for Access encouraged Ambassador Ogwu to hold question and answer stakeouts, even brief ones, after closed door consultations, as Luxembourg did (14) in March.

  Ogwu noted the invitation. With agenda items on the Middle East, Central African Republic, Darfur, South Sudan and it seems North Korea, in Arria formula style, such stakeout should be useful. Watch this site.

   

For South Korea in May as UN Security Council President, Ukraine, South Sudan & Burundi, Hope for Stakeouts, FUNCA

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- When South Korean ambassador Oh Joon briefed the media on the Program of Work for his May presidency of the UN Security Council, the Council was already meeting on Ukraine, at the request of Russia.

  Still Oh Joon took some questions. Inner City Press, after thanking him on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, asked about South Sudan and Burundi, on which Inner City Press first published a confidential April 3 UN cable detailing the ruling party arming its youth wing.

  On that, Oh Joon cited a May 14 briefing on Burundi, by video. On South Sudan, Inner City Press asked if the Presidency has received any communications from the Salva Kiir government not only about changing the UN Peacekeeping mission UNMISS' mandate, but also its Status of Force Agreement. He cited a briefing to be held later on May 2.

  Most questions directed to Oh Joon were about North Korea. He cited the March "elements to the press" read out by then-president Luxembourg, and the April human rights session in the "Arria formula." Inner City Press asked to ask if an Arria formula meeting on internally displaced persons will take place in May, but... soon enough.

  Oh Joon was understandably rushing back to the Security Council chamber to speak in his national capacity about Ukraine, so Inner City Press for FUNCA didn't say it but does here: in April, Nigeria as Council president held fully 10 question and answer stakeouts after consultations. South Korea should aim for that, to keep the trend to greater access going. Watch this site.