At UN, Inner City Press Asks Akon About His Diamond Mine Purchase, He Replies on Reform, Yumkella Running, Sierra Leone

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- When the UN's “Sustainable Energy For All” endeavor held a public press conference during its nearly four day event on May 20, prominent on the podium was musician and business figure Akon, talking about African villages buying solar power systems from his enterprise, with a $1 billion line of credit, on the payment plan.

  Inner City Press asked Akon about having also bought a diamond mine -- was that also a social enterprise? Akon answered in that direction, saying he bought the mine in order to challenge or clean up the industry, citing blood diamonds. Video here and embedded below.

  The answer is an evolution from what Akon said about the mine, and blood diamonds, back in 2007:

 "I don't even believe in conflict diamonds. That's just a movie. Think about it. Ain't nobody thought about nothing about no conflict diamonds until the movie came out. Where was all that shit before the movie? That's the problem with people - they believe everything they read or see on TV. It's no different from The Blair Witch Project. Everybody thought that was real. That campaign and marketing was incredible. After that, they're getting Oscars. Unless you go to Sierra Leone and see what's going down, don't believe everything you're reading or see on TV. Trust me."

  There was a Sierra Leone connection at the press conference: SE4ALL chief Kandeh Yumkella, whom Inner City Press asked about the organization's involvement in the campaign to end gas flaring by 2030. Yumkella answered excitedly about Shell and Total and ENI and Statoil signing on. 

  To a question on Sierra Leone, IRENA's Adnan Amin said while the question was about President Koroma, there was another Sierra Leonean in the room, but he'd only talk about one president at a time. 

 On March 15 of this year, Yumkella wrote to UN staff:

“A few months ago I informed the Secretary-General that I would like to step down as his Special Representative and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All as of July 2015. He has now graciously accepted my request and the announcement will be made soon.

“It has not been an easy decision to end my 19-year career serving humanity under the auspices of the UN system, including as Director General of UNIDO. But I believe it is now time for me to go home to serve my people in Sierra Leone."

 We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Ban Ki-moon Names Bank of America & Shell On Sustainable Energy, Banning Questions on Blue-Washing?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- Sustainable Energy for All was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon topic's when he spoke to the press this morning along with World Bank president Jim Kim. Inner City Press tweeted photo here.

  A handout praised Bank of America, as predicted, despite its role in funding mountain top removal coal mining. Also named for praise was Shell, embroiled in environmental scandals in Nigeria and elsewhere.

  These contradictions should be answered by the UN.

  But Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky, who canceled the day's UN noon briefing for this, took only two questions. First was CBS -- will they report it? -- by coincidence the president of the UN Correspondents Association, about Iran.

  The second question was about nuclear power. Jim Kim said the World Bank does not fund such projects.

   Why did the "press encounter" - Ban's last one had no questions at all -- end then? Why was the UN system's noon briefing canceled for a two-question stakeout?

   We must note that a former UN correspondent who was thrown out, Pincas Jawetz, told the new Free UN Coalition for Access that he was banned from attending the press encounter, though he showed an invitation from the organizers. Mr. Jawetz actually knows about the environment, and SE4ALL, and reports on it. 

   The new Free UN Coalition for Access protests this. UNCA, on the other hand, played a role in Jawets' ouster. That's why UNCA is now referred to as the UN's Censorship Alliance.

   Back in Warsaw, Ban Ki-moon's response on including coal industry lobbyists, for example in the recent climate change talks was that "We must work together so that everyone can be part of the solution. Of course we recognize the importance of coal and fossil fuels in many economies at this time."

   But Bank of America's presence is part of a growing trends of commercialization at and of the United Nations. On November 26 for example, alongside singer Mohammed Assaf was his corporate promoter from Dubai-based MBC media group, permitted to use the UN press conference as an advertisement for MBC.

  Inner City Press wrote about it, and others have picked it up, saying for example that the "corporate storyteller" of MBC "was there to essentially use Assaf's appearance at the UN as an advertisement for MBC, which is wrong."

   But at the UN, the corporate infiltration continues.

   Earlier this same week, a fine play about violence against women was sponsored by the Italian oil company ENI, which also openly advertises with and sponsors the pseudo press advocacy group Ban partners with.

  One point is, these partnerships hurt the United Nations or what it is supposed to be.

   The UN decided to cancel, preempted by Ban's and Kim's press encounter on SE4ALL, its normal noon briefing, at which questions for example about the Haitian refugees drowned off the Bahamas and bombings in Sudan could be asked. So Inner City Press will cover the Sustainable Energy for All event. Watch this site.