For Burundi in 2016, UN Repeats Its "Genocide Joyride," FUNCA Challenges Lack of UN Reform

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 -- After UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's mere one-line mention of Burundi in his long Priorities for 2016 speech on January 14, when Ban took questions in front of the General Assembly Inner City Press five times began, "On Burundi." Inner City Press similarly requested to cover the UNSC's trip to Burundi. Both were rejected.

  This echoes what happened in 2013, when for the UN Security Council's trip to the Great Lakes regions France was allowed to pick which media could go - and chose only three, all of which are now on the Burundi trip, with Agence France Presse now restored to the Permanent (scribes) members, the UN in decay. From 2013:

After the UN informed journalists of the opportunity to accompany and cover the UN Security Council trip to the Great Lakes region of Africa, it allowed colonial powerhouse France to hand-pick which of those who applied would be able to go.

While Inner City Press in the past went on UNSC trips to the Eastern Congo and Uganda, this time the answer was "no." UN Spokesperson Martin Nesirky acknowledged on camera that it was France's decision.  Video here, embedded below.

But when Inner City Press asked which correspondents had been selected by France to cover what's now known as its Genocide Joyride, the information was never provided.

On the evening of September 30, Inner City Press was informed that French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud, responsible for the ideological selection of accompanying correspondents, will not himself be going. 

  And, Inner City Press was told as if it was an excuse, "only" three correspondents would be going, "and not AFP," allegedly due to the size of the UN plane.

Now, not in response to its on the record question but through other sources, Inner City Press is informed of three correspondents selected by France to go, "and many more to be added."

First among those going is Reuters, which has openlyparroted the line of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and its Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head DPKO. As noted, Reuters at the UN has seen fit to spy for the UN or at least its accreditation official, turning over an anti-Press internal UN Correspondents Association document three minutes after promising not to.Story here, audio here, document here.

  Surprising in terms of the lack of seriousness of its UN correspondent's Africa coverage, Voice of America has been selected by France to go. As documented under the UN Freedom of Information Act, Voice of America's Steve Redisch asked the UN accreditation official to "review"Inner City Press' accrediation; VOA's reporter said that Reuters supported this request, click here and here for that.

  But in Washington, VOA's reporter at the State Department Scott Stearns in July asked a planted anti-Rwanda question, the day before then the day of John Kerry's speech on DRC in the Security Council. Perhapsthat earned US state media one of the only three spots France gave out -- in the UN plane.

  Click here for a video of the VOA reporter, and Reuters, getting a hallway briefing from France's Ladsous after he refused to answer Press questions about rapes by the DRC Army in Minova.

  The third attendee we don't wish to quarrel with, but it will be seen that while intellectual, it is Western (now Gulf and Western funded and) aligned, and has on its advisory board the second of France's four DPKO chiefs in a row.

  So, this is balanced coverage? Inner City Press was told not to worry about being banned by the French, some "pool reporting" will be provided by the UN Spokesperson's Office staffer selected to go on the trip. And he... used to work for Agence France Presse for 12 years. So AFP is represented, in a way. But alternative views have been banned from the trip, France's Genocide Joyride. We will, however, report. Watch this site.

 On January 20, 2016, one of the four media handpicked to cover the Burundi trip reported that "although some members were interested in meeting with opposition representatives, it seems that due to strong resistance from the government and other members this is unlikely to be on the schedule."

 As this takes on the aura of an official or pass-through statement, via tag-along media, Inner City Press on January 20 asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, who also speaks for the UN Special Adviser on Burundi, to confirm the lack of meetings with the opposition and if so, why. Video here.

 Haq refused to answer, saying it is a question only "for the Security Council." But who speaks for the Council, particularly to those not allowed to accompany and cover the trip? We'll have more on this.

UN Peacekeeping in DR Congo, Kobler Under Ladsous, Won't Explain French Colonial Domination, FrancAfrique

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 6 -- If the UN Security Council had gone on a trip to Iraq to visit "its" UNAMI peacekeeping mission, would the United States have been allowed to alone hand-pick which media could go on the UN plane and cover the trip?

That is what was allowed to happen on the Security Council's current trip to Africa. The UN has admitted, on camera, that France was allowed to pick which media would fly in the UN plane, from Kinshasa to Goma to Kigali to Entebbe to Addis Ababa.

  Thus the UN (and its Security Council) have enshrined FranceAfrique, and colonialism. How can it be justified?

  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky cut off the question, telling Inner City Press that the other correspondents in the room didn't care to hear about Inner City Press' travel arrangements, or lack thereof. Video here. 

  So Inner City Press has put the question to Martin Kobler, the UN's top envoy in the Council trip's first stop, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As luck would have it, Kobler was previously the top envoy in Iraq. Would he have accepted a "Security Council" trip with media hand picked only by the US?

  But Kobler hasn't answered. Nor has his MONUSCO provided any transcript of what its Dee Brillenburg Wurth "told reporters," about M23 child soldiers coming from and being trained by Rwanda, and the DRC being blameless. (See hand-picked Reuters piece here.)

   Kobler tweeted that his head of office in Goma Ray Torres was updating the Council about negotiations involving Mai Mai Cheka, sanctioned for mass rape. No clarification, or transcript, has been provided. Will it now, that France's Genocide Joyride has moved to to Rwanda?

  A press conference was held at the Goma airport; Kobler tweeted a photograph but hasn't answered why France was allowed to pick the journalists to cover the trip. The UN's Radio Okapi, during the Goma press conference, was broadcasting... sports. Call it bread and circuses.

  So is the UN, or at least UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head DPKO, a vehicle for neo-colonialism? Is this, as some now say, just France's Genocide Joyride? It seems these questions should be answered. Watch this site.

   

UNSC in Africa I: DRC-Bound, SC Delegation Which Includes Russia Meets European Group Just Back from Georgia, Diplomat Updates through Brussels Rain, Leopold's Ghost

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 4 -- On its way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Security Council delegation stopped Friday in rainy Brussels and met with the Council of the EU's Political and Security Committee.

  While that body met in June with the Africa Union's better known PSC, the Peace and Security Council, its work on Africa since then has not been much reported on.

  Most recently, starting September 29 apparently through October 2, the EUPSC visited Georgia, including Gori, and discussed continued non-recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia's Petr Iliichev is accompanying the UNSC delegation.

  The EU, like the United States and the African Union, has its own envoy on the Great Lakes, on which we will be reporting more. But given the relative distribution for now of UN Peacekeeping resources between the DRC and collapsing Central African Republic, it seems the EUPSCcould or should be more relevant on CAR. But did the UNSC discuss CAR with them? We've asked.

  After two months of inaction, just as the UNSC trip left French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud told Inner City Press he would be distributing a draft resolution on CAR.

  After the October 2 "program of work" meeting, Inner City Press asked October's Council president Agshin Mehdiyev about the CAR draft -- as well as about DRC sanctions and why France was allowed to hand-pick the UN correspondents to accompany the Council's Great Lakes trip. UN Video here, from Minute 14:15.)

  Mehdiyev confirmed that Araud had said he WOULD distribute a draft resolution; he said that DRC Sanctions, a UNSC committee which he chairs, would not be the focus of the Great Lakes trip. 

  This might surprise the Congolese activists and supporters who met Thursday night at the NYC Bar Association discussing conflict mineral - click here for Inner City Press story on that including USUN / Dodd Frank Act question, here for UK question.

  But Mehdiyev did not answer on why France was allowed to pick (and ban) particular media to cover the trip. (This was confirmed by UN Spokesperson Martin Nesirky, see Inner City Press YouTube channel video here.)

  Off camera, other Council members have told Inner City Press they had not been informed that France would monopolize (and we'll say, abuse) the media selection process, which has become more outrageous with Araud dropping out from the trip. (Araud has been replaced at the last minute by his recently installed Deputy, Alexis Lamek, who one would think will be answering and updating on this, listed as a "co-head of mission.")

  The US leads the Rwanda leg of the trip; the UK leads on Uganda. Even as P5 / P3 members, they played no role? If not, this is dysfunction. While we will have more on this, for now we will appreciate and cover what updates are sent, like this one. So far from the media hand-picked by France, there is nothing. NOTHING. Watch this site.

   

DRC Conflict Minerals Asked About at NYC Bar Association by Inner City Press as French Led UNSC Trip Stops in Belgium, Samantha Power Q

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 3 -- The Democratic Republic of the Congo conflict mineral disclosure provisions of the US Dodd-Frank Act were debated Thursday night in New York. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council and scribes hand-picked by France headed to the DRC, by way of former colonial power Belgium.

  The law and 100-page SEC rule are being challenged by the US Chamber of Commerce in the DC Court of Appeal. Tom Quaadman of the Chamber, a former chief of staff for Rep Vito Fossella, mocked the law as having no "de minimus" exception; he said it would cost business from $6 to $8 billion. 

  He said gold is now being sold through Uganda; he referred off-handedly to "the M23 coming out of Rwanda."

  Julie Murray, representing Amnesty International, called the SEC's rule well reasoned. She regretted that Sasha Lezhnev of the Enough Project had not been able to make it up to New York from DC.

  Inner City Press asked the panel about UN Security Council sanctions, and the impact of the UN peacekeeping mission(s) there. Julie Murray said the case is only about administrative law and the First Amendment. Quaadman said the Chamber is pointing to a lack of clarity in cost / benefit analysis (something the UN rarely engaged in.) Video here and embedded below.

  A representative of Friends of the Congo pointed out that UN Peacekeepers in the Congo had, for example, sold guns for gold; he raised questions about the roles of the UK and the US (he specifically named Susan Rice.) We'll have more on this.

  Inner City Press, which applied through UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesman to go on and cover the Security Council trip, as it did in 2010 and 2008. But this time it was denied. Ban's Spokesperson Martin Nesirky told Inner City Press, on camera, that the decision was made "in consultation" with France, the lead mission on the entire trip.

  Why does the UN let a colonial powerhouse, alone, pick which media get to cover Central Africa and the DR Congo, where the UN has a billion dollar peacekeeping mission ultimately run by former French diplomat Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping?

  France, whose Permanent Representative Gerard Araud ended up not even going on the trip, chose Reuters, along with a procedural Council reporter and, ironically, Voice of America. John Kerry is on VOA's Broadcasting Board of Governors; a State Department official gushed about the VOA correspondent heading to Africa. For what?

  And while waiting for answer to those, and what information goes from the trip, we ask if for example US Ambassador Samantha Power will be checking on this issue while on the trip? Will the Security Council visit Minova, site of 135 rapes by the UN's partners in the Congolese Army in November 2012? Watch this site.

   

Syria Aid Access Statement May Not Reach Rebel Held al-Raqqa, UK Denies P5 Rule But France Has Picked Scribes for Its Genocide Joyride

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- A Syria humanitarian access Presidential Statement was adopted by the UN Security Council on Wednesday that establishes some positive precedents while having holes in implementation.

Inner City Press asked Ambassador Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg, which along with Australia drafted the statement, if she thought that armed groups like ISIS, threatening aid workers in Jarabulus and in al Raqqa, will listen to the statement. Video here, from Minute 7:55.

  Lucas said that Valerie Amos, the UN's top humanitarian who was standing next to the stakeout, could answer on with whom the UN is in contact. Lucas also said that, contrary to reports, no one had "broken silence" on the draft statement. (Several Western-side media reported Russia had broken silence.)

Inner City Press asked Valerie Amos about the ISIS threats in Jarabulus, which were confirmed to the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info by Amos' EU counterpart Kristalina Georgieva, and if the UN has any access to al Raqqa. Video here, from Minute 5:28.

  Amos said that UN humanitarians reach out as much as possible, where they have a presence.

  But does the UN yet have access, Inner City Press followed up, to al Raqqa?

  Amos conceded, we do not have a physical presence there.Video here from Minute 6:42. So what is this Presidential Statement's effect there?

Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant about this statement having been drafted by two non-Permanent members. Video here from Minute 3:50.

  Lyall Grant said this was a good thing, and that "contrary to popular opinion, the Permanent members" encourage the non Permanent members to take the lead.

  But this has NOT been true on the Security Council's Africa trip to the Great Lakes, starting tomorrow. For that, Inner City Press which went on such trips in 2008 and 2010 was rejected this time; UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky admitted on camera that the decision was made by (Permanent member) France, as the "mission in the lead on the whole trip." Inner City Press channel YouTube video here, from Minute 0:41.

So colonial powerhouse France was allowed to hand-pick the scribes for what is now called its Genocide Joyride:Reuters (whose bureau chief has spied for the UN) andVoice of America. But the work of Australia and Luxembourg as drafters must be praised -- as must Azerbaijan's, as amended.

  Inner City Press asked October's Council president Agshin Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan to confirm that the addition, from the September 28 draft to the October 2 adoption, of a line about the territorial integrity not only of Syria but all of "all other States affected by the Syrian conflict" was his country's doing, referring to Armenia not re-settling Armenians from Syria in Nagorno-Karabakh.

  Mehdiyev and his deputy said yes, it was, and that they got another change. And that... is a change. France's sleazy handpicking of scribes for its Genocide Joyride is a blast from the past, and the silence or acquiescence of other Council members bodes badly. We will have more on this.

Footnote: Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant why the provision for cross-border aid had not been applied, despite two years of requests, to Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan in Sudan. He replied that there are "blockages" and perhaps this Syria statement might change that. We'll see. Watch this site.

   

France Said to Pick Reuters and Voice of America for UN Security Council Trip to DR Congo and Rwanda, France's "Genocide Joyride"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- After the UN informed journalists of the opportunity to accompany and cover the UN Security Council trip to the Great Lakes region of Africa, it allowed colonial powerhouse France to hand-pick which of those who applied would be able to go.

While Inner City Press in the past went on UNSC trips to the Eastern Congo and Uganda, this time the answer was "no."UN Spokesperson Martin Nesirky acknowledged on camera that it was France's decision.

But when Inner City Press asked which correspondents had been selected by France to cover what's now known as its Genocide Joyride, the information was never provided.

On the evening of September 30, Inner City Press was informed that French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud, responsible for the ideological selection of accompanying correspondents, will not himself be going. 

  And, Inner City Press was told as if it was an excuse, "only" three correspondents would be going, "and not AFP," allegedly due to the size of the UN plane.

Now, not in response to its on the record question but through other sources, Inner City Press is informed of three correspondents selected by France to go, "and many more to be added."

First among those going is Reuters, which has openly parroted the line of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and its Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head DPKO. As noted, Reuters' Louis Charbonneau at the UN has seen fit to spy for the UN or at least its accreditation official, turning over an anti-Press internal UN Correspondents Association document three minutes after promising not to. Story here,audio here, document here.

  Surprising in terms of the lack of seriousness of its UN correspondent Margaret Besheer's Africa coverage, Voice of America has been selected by France to go. As documented under the UN Freedom of Information Act, Voice of America's Steve Redisch asked the UN accreditation official to "review" Inner City Press' accrediation; VOA's reporter said that Reuters supported this request, click here and here for that.

  But in Washington, VOA's reporter at the State Department Scott Stearns in July asked a planted anti-Rwanda question,the day before then the day of John Kerry's speech on DRC in the Security Council. Perhaps that earned US state media one of the only three spots France gave out -- in the UN plane.

  Click here for a video of the VOA reporter, and Reuters, getting a hallway briefing from France's Ladsous after he refused to answer Press questions about rapes by the DRC Army in Minova.

  The third attendee we don't wish to quarrel with, but it will be seen that while intellectual, it is Western (now Gulf and Western funded and) aligned, and has on its advisory board the second of France's four DPKO chiefs in a row.

  So, this is balanced coverage? Inner City Press was told not to worry about being banned by the French, some "pool reporting" will be provided by the UN Spokesperson's Office staffer selected to go on the trip. And he... used to work for Agence France Presse for 12 years. So AFP isrepresented, in a way. But alternative views have been banned from the trip, France's Genocide Joyride. We will, however, report. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Ban Ki-moon's Read-Out With Syria Rebel Jarba Trumps Presidents of Chile, Bolivia and Costa Rica; UNable to Update As for Oman Chairs?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba on September 28 at his (UN-provided) residence, it was not on the UN Media Alert. But afterward his spokesperson Martin Nesirky issued a 106 word read-out of the meeting.

  On September 30, Inner City Press asked Nesirky about al Jarba's meetings in and with the UN, and why Ban's meeting with this rebel (while not only rejecting but even targeting other rebels) was not in the UN Media Alert.

  After saying, "I don’t think you expect me to consider a copy of a letter that you send me to be my way of figuring out whether the Secretary-General received a letter or not," on this Nesirky replied "This was arranged at relatively short notice, and therefore, it did not figure in the Media Alert."

  But later on September 30 the UN sent out an update to that day's schedule, a Ban Ki-moon event opened at short notice: the donation by Oman of Four Chairs. So, it can be done.

  The pomp given to Jarba stands in contrast, for example, to the UN's approach to Tamils who came to the UN to deliver a letter to Ban Ki-moon about the killing of 40,000 of their people by Sri Lanka. In that case, a lower level Department of Political Affairs staffer was sent down to the lobby to take the letter. Inner City Press was told not to cover it, or the UN wouldn't even take the letter this way.

  Ban Ki-moon's read-out with Saudi-sponsored rebel Jarba was longer than those for a number of Presidents. Looking from September 24 forward with a focus on Latin America, consider:

For the President of Bolivia Evo Morales on September 24, Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson issues a read-out of 60 words -- compared to 106 words for the Saudi sponsored Syria rebel boss Jarba.

For the President of Chile Sebastian Piñera Echeñique on September 25, Ban's Office issued a read-out of 64 words.

On September 27 for the President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla Miranda, Ban's Office of the Spokesperson issued a read out of 61 words.

By contrast, for Ban's September 26 meeting with Yun Byung-se, the foreign minister not president of South Korea, Ban's read out is over 200 words.

As noted, for Ban's September 20 meeting with Amama Mbabazi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda, the read out was only 54 words, despite the upcoming UN Security Council trip to Uganda as well as the DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. 

 For that, Ban's Office solicited journalists' request to go -- but then allowed colonial powerhouse France to handpick which correspondents could go. (Nesirky diplomatically referred to France at the September 30 noon briefing as the mission on the lead for the whole trip -- now, French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud is not even going on the trip. Some leader.)

And so, some wonder, particularly after his Saturday night meeting with Jarba, for whom does Ban Ki-moon work? Watch this site.

   

From Australian Horns in UN to Chinese Cumin Chops, French Censorship on Congo and Rwanda Is Not Savory: Review

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 30 -- At two UN receptions Monday night, there were lamb chops and diplomats, talks of France's censorship on Africa, but they could not have been more different.

At Australia's end of Security Council presidency reception, there was tremendous indigenous wooden horn music and views south to Williamsburg. There was French Permanent Representative Araud in a rare appearance, and the the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, Herve Ladsous, regaling supine scribes with his, you know, bonne humeur.

  Araud's new deputy was to be found seven blocks south at a bigger reception at China's Mission to the UN. There, even arriving late, Inner City Press witnessed and greeted the Permanent Representatives of North Korea and Sweden leaving, along with UN Political Affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman and a slew of Permanent Representatives, from Bangladesh to Bolivia, Afghanistan to Turkey. Tweeted photo here.

  There it was learned that Araud, after his mission played trump to block coverage of the Security Council's trip to the Great Lakes, won't himself be going. Morocco was brought in at the end to save face. Reuters will be spewing propaganda on France's Genocide Joyride. And other Permanent Representative say they knew nothing about it. Is this any way to run an organization, other than one headed the way of the League of Nations?

  But there were excellent lamb chops -- at China's Mission, with cumin -- and shrimp and chicken and mushrooms, there was an open feeling, a country not so scared it had to limit coverage to those who already agree with it. The perception is that France is for free speech and press. But the reality is different. And lamb chops with cumin are better than without.

Footnote: in fairness to Australia, not only was Gary Quinlangracious and accessible in September, his staff explained not only the horn but also Aussie governance, and policing in South Sudan. Hats off. They will be back in November 2014 - watch this site.