At UN France and Guterres Selling Out African Peacekeeping Funding DC Winds Sources Tell Inner City Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, CJR PFT

UNITED NATIONS GATE, December 19  – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, like France and certain other historical colonial countries in Europe, makes a claim to support Africa and the current proposal that UN dues pay for peacekeeping missions staffed by Africans. But on the current proposal, with US budget cutters asking for a delay to late 2019, France has rolled over and is trying to break off “its” Cote d'Ivoire from Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea and other sponsors outside the UN Security Council, sources exclusively tell banned Inner City Press. Guterres, typically, had sold out in advance - he is more of a colonialist than most realize, with for example a son doing undisclosed business in Angola, Namibia, Sao Tome and Cabo Verde.

   A draft resolution in blue - obtained by Inner City Press although banned from UN for 168 days and counting by Guterres and published in full on Scribd here, on Patreon for download here - was set for vote on December 19. But it got postponed to December 21. Sources tell Inner City Press the rub is Operative Paragraph 16: “16.    Decides in principle that United Nations-assessed contributions can be provided, with decisions to be taken on a case-by-case basis, to support African Union-led peace support operations authorized by the Security Council, in accordance with the existing financial rules of the United Nations to complement annual funding from the African Union and/or its Member States.”

  The US, with a cost cutting Administration, wants to delay it. Some thing they might back down if pushed. But France as noted is trying to break off Cote d'Ivoire and Guterres is... well, Guterres. Here are some of the other Operative Paragraphs in the draft: "21.    Requests the Secretary-General, in close consultation with the African Union to provide the Security Council with a detailed report within six months of the adoption of this resolution on its efforts and progress to strengthen financing, human rights protections, accountability, transparency, performance, and conduct and discipline standards, and compliance with applicable international law, including international human rights law and international humanitarian law, across its peace support operations, as well as on progress of the United Nations and African Union Cooperation in these areas;
    22.    Requests the Secretary-General to include in his regular reporting to the Security Council on each future African Union-led peace support operation, authorized by the Security Council and authorized pursuant to the Security Council’s role and prerogatives as set out in Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, and partially funded by United Nations assessed contribution, his assessment of the operation’s performance in the areas set out in paragraph 20 of this resolution."

 When the Security Council President for October, Cote d'Ivoire Ambassador Kacou Houadja Léon Adomu, held a Press-less press conference on December 3, he listed as Africa issues to be address during the month South Sudan, Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau and the Sahel. No one present asked about Burundi much less Cameroon, and Inner City Press was unable, being banned without hearing or appeal. Kacou Houadja Léon Adomu would not answer on North Korea human rights if his country will sign the draft letter for a Council meeting, nor how it would stand in any procedural vote. Many of the questions could have been addressed by just looking at the Program of Work. Inner City Press has more questions - watch this site.Troublingly, the UN allows in Morocco state media, which got a question from its perspective. Inner City Press still banned from the UN without any due process or appeal gets questions answered by the International Monetary Fund which it covers, on Yemen and Sri Lanka. At the IMF briefing, spokesman Gerry Rice was asked about US sanctions on Venezuela gold sales. In New York, Ambassador Ma reiterated that China is against all unilateral sanctions. So what will the Council be doing when the new US sanctions on Iran kick in? Watch this site - we continue the UN as actively as anyone. Last month Bolivia's Ambassador Llorenti talked up his upcoming field trip to DR Congo, like the Security Council visit he led to Haiti, which Inner City Press went on and reported from. But now that Guterres for his own reasons has had Inner City Press roughed up and banned since July 3, Llorenti's Mission has yet to respond to this, regarding (now) October 11: "find myself banned from even entering the UN, since 3 July 2018 when I was physically ousted while staking out the Fifth Committee meeting from the Vienna Cafe area, at the invitation of member states on the Committee. I would like to request that you / your Mission ensure that I can enter the UN to cover and hopefully ask a question at your Program of Work press conference tomorrow, and after that to cover / stakeout such meetings at the October 11 consultations on Western Sahara / MINURSO, which is almost impossible to cover without being in the building. As you may know, there are numerous Morocco state media given office space and resident correspondent status by DPI under USG Alison Smale, who has refused to answer a single one of my 10 e-mails. They will cover the Western Sahara meeting, from their perspective. I believe I have a similar right to continue this issue.
Responsible are Chef de Cabinet Viotti (who was called by the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press) and/or DSG Amina Mohammed. Or, pending that, please have the Mission bring me in to these meetings. The only written communication I have received from the UN is this letter from USG Smale, here." We'll have more on this, (well) before October 11.  Back on September 4 when US Ambassador Nikki Haley held a press conference about her Security Council residency, her second, of the 14 questions called on by the US Mission to the UN not one was about anything in Africa or even about UN reform. This happened as 60% of the UN's work is in Africa, the UN is caught up in sexual abuse and harassment scandals and while Inner City Press, which covers UN abuse and has uncovered Secretary General Antonio Guterres' inaction in Cameroon and the African business links of his son Pedro Guimarães e Melo De Oliveira Guterres has been bannedfrom the UN for 63 days by Guterres, prospectively to miss access to the General Assembly High Level week for the first time in 11 years.
   When Inner City Press was roughed up while it covered the UN Budget Committee and a plan by Guterres to move jobs including from New York to Mexico City, it was covered by Fox News which one assumes the US Mission reads. Inner City Press did not reach out for any assistance from the Mission, holding to the principle that the UN should treat journalists fairly without a state sponsor.
   Nothing improved. In fact, Guterres' British head of Global Communications Alison Smale issued a letter banning Inner City Press, dredging up old discredited complaints from Morocco and her bitter deputy. Still, nothing from Haley or the US Mission.
   Finally on August 24, after Inner City Press learned from a non-US source of President Trump's plan for a meeting about drugs on September 24, Inner City Press formally raised the matter to Haley's spokesman, a holdover from the Samantha Power days, John Degory. He indicated he heard what was said.

  But access was not arranged to Haley's September 4 press conference, at which after Haley to her credit at least raised South Sudan in her opening remarks Degory tried to give a question to among others a retired travel agent and a barely intelligible resident correspondent from Pakistan who beyond assisting in Inner City Press' eviction spent the past weekend tweeting that tennis star Serena Williams and her outfits are “pathetic.” That's today's UN.

   Now there is a deadline to cover the UN General Assembly and Inner City Press has applied and has writing an open letter to Haley, below, and cc-ed her and Degory on its polite letter to Smale. Watch this site. Sixty days after Inner City Press was physically ousted frm the UN and then subject to a ongoing ban from entry to cover the Security Council or UN noon briefing, Inner City Press sent a now open letter to US Ambassador Nikki Haley, here:
Dear Ambassador Haley:

   On this the first day of your UN Security Council Presidency, this concerns the censorship of Press the UN has engaged in since July 3.

   I was physically ousted that day by UN Security while I staked-out a meeting of the Fifth (Budget) Committee as I have for a decade. Right after I spoke to Cameroon Ambassador Tommo Monthe, chair of the Fifth Committee, I was grabbed by Lt Ronald E. Dobbins and another officer, shirt torn, laptop damaged, arm twisted. This was covered in Fox News, here, as well as The (UK) Independent.

  On July 5 when I came to cover the Security Council meetings on Syria and Yemen, I was banned from entering UN. After a no due process review by the Department of Public Information's Alison Smale, my accreditation was “withdrawn” on August 17, seemingly for life. The letter is online here, downloadable with some of my rebuttal (not heard by Smale or DPI) here.

  I have raised this verbally to some in your US Mission to the UN, including eight days ago to your spokesman John Degory, followed up in writing with a request to be admitted to your September 4 Program of World press conference. In your first such press conference on 3 April 2017, I asked you about peacekeepers' sexual abuse and the continuing need for the Freedom of Information Act at the UN. Video here. 

   As things stand, without any due process, I am banned from your press conference -- at which, for the record, I would like to ask you about the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon which I asked you about on 18 October 2017. Video here. I am also banned from covering the General Assembly High Level week, the deadline for accreditation for which is September 5. 

   I firmly believe I have a right to cover this member states' event, despite what I see as bias and lawlessness by DPI and the wider Secretariat. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric in an August 27 noon briefing I was banned from attending cut off a question about my ouster, video here,  insisting that to say this is about freedom of the press would be wrong. (Then why is it in the Press Freedom Tracker, here, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among others for example in the UK, Japan,Italy and Cameroon? Why this 5000+ signature petition?) They have gotten so petty as to get UNICEF to block me from a book event they had invited me to on September 5. They similarly got my blocked from a press conference held outside of the UN at the Pierre Hotel by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, whose work on North Korea's cyanide patents I have also asked you about.

  So I am writing to you, asking for your intervention at least on the limited issues of not being blocked from attending your September 4 press conference and relatedly DPI relenting and not blocking me from covering the GA High Level Week, and allowing me to apply and be accredited on Sept 5 like thousands of other correspondents, many state media of government with little respect for press freedom.

Bigger picture, why has the UN banned me for 60 days and counting? I think it is because, more than before, they cannot or feel they do not have to put up with critical questions and coverage.

  Not to be put too fine a point on it, but this is NOT a new day at the UN - or what is new about it is the willingness to rough up and journalist and ban its media for life, with no due process or appeal. This is not consistent with the First Amendment of the US Constitution (which it is now clear entirely stops east of First Avenue) - nor with Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  This is an outrage at the UN that must be addressed.

Matthew Russell Lee, InnerCityPress.com

At UN, Trudeau Offers "Bilingual Commanders," Any Tough Love for UN?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 16 -- When Justin Trudeau spoke at the UN, it was grandiose, held in the UN Lobby like when the Pope spoke last September. Trudeau announced that Canada will seek a UN Security Council seat for 2021-22, and intends to contribute more to UN peacekeeping. To many of his answers, people in the crowd -- McGill? -- applauded.

 Trudeau said one thing it will bring to UN Peacekeeping is “bilingual commanders.” There are already many of these; for example Senegal's Babacar Gaye was fired by Ban Ki-moon, as a scapegoat for Herve Ladsous, who on camera linked rapes to R&R, video here. What does Canada UN - and Mr Trudeau - think of that?

If you love the UN, you have to clean it up: tough love.

  Trudeau defended continued arms sales, after questions about those to Saudi Arabia were brought up even to Ban Ki-moon last month. He dodged a question about Donald Trump, from an UNCA questioner who previously threw a softball question to Hillary Clinton at the UN Security Council stakeout, claiming that the group UNCA “always” gets the first question.

   But on March 16, the first question when to the Globe and Mail. UNCA is embroiled in the current UN scandal, in which today former Dominican Republic deputy ambassador Frank Lorenzo is pleading guilty to bribery charges. UNCA took money from Lorenzo's and Ng Lap Seng's South South News, then awarded Ng a photo op with Ban Ki-moon. What do Canada and its incoming Ambassador think about that?

What do the think - and do - about  the UN's ouster of the Press for seeking to cover it?

For more than six months Inner City Press has asked the UN about its dealings with Frank Lorenzo, former Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic and head of South South News, who is now pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery at the UN.

 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had accepted a prize from Lorenzo, never commented; Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on February 9 told Inner City Press, “I'm done answering questions.” Vine here.

  On February 19 Inner City Press was ordered out of the UN, which it has covered for ten years as a Resident Correspondent with a shared office full of files, by a letter signed that day with two hours notice by Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach - who attended the September 2015 South South Awards with Lorenzo, photo here.

  On Gallach's order, and with the participation of Ban's spokesman Dujarric, Inner City Press was thrown out onto First Avenue along with its laptop, but without its passport still in its shared office, by eight UN Security guards.Audio here. On February 22, UN Security told Inner City Press it was Banned from all UN premises.

  After stories in BuzzFeed and Business Insider, Inner City Press re-entered the UN on a much reduced “non-resident correspondent” pass, Banned from covering such events as UN Security Council reform, Sri Lanka and terrorism, and the Office of the President of the General Assembly. (Inner City Press has continued, with sources, to report, for example here.)

  The harassment continued: hours after Inner City Press raised its case orally to Ban Ki-moon and his deputy, UN Security against physically ordered Inner City Press to leave the UN, at 8 pm.  Video here.

Dujarric said it is not his job to find Inner City Press a place to work. Q&A here. More and seemingly final threats were made on March 14 -- just before it emerged that Lorenzo is pleading guilty to bribery charges. Now what?

  The UN has proved itself unable to reform itself. Under Secretaries General Inner City Press contacted about Gallach's outrageous no due process order, and her failure to recuse herself, did nothing. One said, You can only speak with Gallach; another said, I don't get involved in individual cases.

On March 14, after the threats and asked about Inner City Press' detailed email about the violation of its rights as a journalist, a third USG said, Do you expect me to respond to that? Well, yes.

  The DC-based Government Accountability Project wrote to the US Mission to the UN urging them to work to get Inner City Press' resident correspondent accreditation and office restored. But US Ambassador for Management and Reform Isobel Coleman did not even respond to Inner City Press' detailed March 3 email; an oral question to Samantha Power at the UN Security Council stakeout on March 14 after the threats has gone unanswered. Vine here.

  Now what? Beyond Lorenzo's guilty plea, how will the UN be cleaned up? All retaliatory acts must be rescinded and appropriate impartial investigations launched.

The pretext Gallach used to oust Inner City Press was its attempt on January 29 to cover a meeting of the UN Correspondents Association, which took money from Lorenzo's South South News and then granted a photo op with Ban Ki-moon to the main funder, also indicted Ng Lap Seng.

The meeting was in the UN Press Briefing Room, apparently “lent” to UNCA by Ban's spokesman Dujarric, who at UNCA boss Giampaolo Pioli's request came in and told Inner City Press to leave so he could see his “f*cking kids.”

Inner City Press said it would leave the glassed in interpreter's booth from which it was live-streaming the meeting as soon as UN Security asked it to. One guard came in and said that Spokesman Dujarric wanted Inner City Press to leave, which it did, and published a story and video.

  Without once speaking to Inner City Press, Gallach used this “incident” as a pretext to throw Inner City Press out. Inner City Press has asked the UN the following questions:

Please explain the lending of the UN Press Briefing Room to Lorenzo, and that it was not listed in the days' UN Media Alert.

Please explain USG Gallach's appearance with Lorenzo at the South South Awards, which ICP reported, and that USG Gallach did not recuse herself from ordering Inner City Press' expulsion from its UN office on 2 hours' notice on February 19.

Please explain your [Dujarric's] role, on January 29 to February 19, in the expulsion of Inner City Press.

Please state who lend the UN Press Briefing Room to UNCA on Jan 29.

As a matter of UN ethics, shouldn't USG Gallach have offered me an opportunity to be heard, some due process?

As a matter of UN ethics, to whom an the UN Press Briefing Room be "lent," and by whom, on what basis, without disclosure?

Please provide your response: should staff of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General, and staff of DPI, accept free liquor and other gift from UNCA, while giving UNCA the UN Press Briefing Room and ousting other journalist whom UNCA's leadership doesn't like?

Please state, no or yes and explain: Do staff of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General provide advance copies of UN documents to favored journalists who are affiliated to UNCA?

And now: “This is a formal request for Ban Ki-moon's comment on the guilty plea for conspiracy to commit bribery etc by Frank Lorenzo.” Watch this site.

On UN Peacekeeping & Rapes, Inner City Press Asks Ladsous, He Denies 2-Tier, No Update on Central African Republic Rapes

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 2 -- After a screening of a film about UN Peacekeeping, “Last Station Before Hell,” which portrayed missions in Lebanon, DR Congo and Central African Republic, Inner City Press on December 2 asked UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous two questions.

 The first question was why French and other European troops serve alongside but not with UN peacekeepers, in Mali (including Germans and Slovakians now replacing French), Cote d'Ivoire and CAR. The second was for an update on the rape allegations against French and UN peacekeepers in CAR. Video here and embedded below.

  Ladsous, who has repeatedly outright refused to answer Inner City Press questions in the UN, did respond to the first question, denying there is a two-tier system and describing what some view as a vestige of colonialism: he listed the UK having a special interest in Sierra Leon, like France has in Mali, and a desire to serve under its own command.

Ladsous pointedly did NOT answer the request for any update on the sexual abuse allegations against Sangaris and MINUSCA, something pointed out afterward by a number of those in attendance at the International Peace Institute.

  One also noted this: while Ladsous trumpeted a number of female SRSGs in UN Peacekeeping, only that day one of them, Ellen Loj, was confined to speaking behind closed doors after Ladsous' public speech, and then followed his pattern of no comments to the media afterward, a come-down from her predecessor Hilde Johnson and even her own previous appearances. (Johnson, sources say, pursued the Somalia SRSG post that was given to Michael Keating.)

  One of Ladsous two fellow panelists at IPI, Lise Morjé Howard, an Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University, answered Inner City Press that the French troops are not really peacekeepers but more akin to counter-insurgency forces.

Ladsous called France “the country I know best.” He is listed in UN Dispute Tribunal documents as having tried to fire, then to retaliate against, the whistleblower who revealed the allegations of child rape by French soldiers in CAR.

There's talk, even about the P5, of Ladsous being a liability who shouldn't remain even during Ban Ki-moon's remaining time. His non-answer on sexual abuse on December 2 is particularly noteworthy given his Septembr 11 on-camera linking of the CAR rapes to “R&R,” video here. We'll continue on this.

Sri Lanka Sends War Crimes Denier Medawela to UN, Is Congratulated in Mexico

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- While Sri Lanka at the UN and elsewhere says it is putting the slaughter of 2008-09 behind it, the government is sending as its Military Adviser to the UN none other than Major General Ubaya Medawela, who in classic “Lies Agrees To” fashion not only denied the authenticity of footage of summary executions, but asserted that the killers spoke Tamil, see below. On October 28, the US put this out: 

"Readout of the Meeting between U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power and Sri Lankan Minister for Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, October 28, 2015

Ambassador Power met today with Sri Lankan Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe on the margins of the Open Government Partnership Summit in Mexico City. Ambassador Power welcomed Sri Lanka’s announcement that it would join the Open Government Partnership, which will? connect the Sri Lankan government to reformers across the globe and advance Sri Lanka’s goal of creating a more transparent, accountable, and responsive government. Ambassador Power also thanked the Government of Sri Lanka for its cooperation on the recent historic Human Rights Council resolution in Geneva, and she and the Minister discussed next steps in implementing the process for ensuring reconciliation and justice, in keeping with the resolution. Finally, Ambassador Power thanked the Government of Sri Lanka for its substantial new commitments to United Nations peacekeeping announced at the September Summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly. 

Really? Sri Lanka's new UN Military Adviser:

“Sri Lanka's military says it has original footage that exposed the 'malicious intentions' behind a British documentary on alleged war crimes committed by government troops...But Major General Ubaya Medawela says the 'unaltered' video suggests that what the documentary had presented as soldiers executing Tamil rebel prisoners actually showed rebels dressed in army fatigues. Major General Medawela says the video the military has analysed had a Tamil soundtrack, suggesting the killers were rebels. 'The unaltered video received by the defence ministry provides ample evidence to prove the malicious intentions behind the doctored documentary of Channel 4,' he said. The 'original' version Major General Medawela referred to was broadcast on Monday by a pro-government Sri Lankan television channel.”

  That was in June 2011; in September 2011, Palitha Kohona got his former landlord Giampaoli Pioli to agree to screen the government's “Lies Agreed To” inside the UN, under the banner of the UN Correspondents Association and accompanied by Shavendra Silva, while the Channel 4 documentary No Fire Zone it purported to rebut was never shown inside the UN in New York.

   Now after trying to censor reporting on that financial conflict of interest, Pioli and UNCA are embroiled in another: UNCA took money from South South News, funded by now-arrested David Ng, then gave South South News an award while Ng got a photo op with Ban Ki-moon. 

UNCA and Pioli have yet to disclose the full extend of their relationships with Ng, and fellow indictee Frank Lorenzo. But Sri Lanka was listed as part of Lorenzo's “International Organization for South South Cooperation,” along with John Ashe and Antigua and Barbuda...

When the Sri Lanka report of the UN human rights office was belatedly put online, one searched it in vain for any mention of the UN's own failure and worse, for example in the "White Flag" killings of surrenderees, for whom UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Good Offices envoy Vijay Nambiar, by his own account, acted as intermediary. 

  This is not covered, or is covered up, in the UN report. 

 On September 26, Ban's Office issued a glowing meeting read-out, here:

"The Secretary-General met with the President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Maithripala Sirisena, on 26 September 2015.

The Secretary-General discussed recent political developments, congratulated the President on the elections, and commended his message of national unity, reconciliation and good governance. He encouraged the President to advance the dialogue on a political settlement and seize this opportunity to lay the foundation for long-lasting peace and stability.

The Secretary-General welcomed the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ recently released report on Sri Lanka. He was pleased with the Government’s positive and constructive engagement with the UN on the report, and he hoped that the President would implement its recommendations.        
   
The Secretary-General reiterated his strong commitment to Sri Lanka and pledged the UN’s continued support. He looked forward to working closely with the President, the Government and domestic stakeholders during this critical time. The Secretary-General also encouraged the President to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals into the national development agenda."

 Did the "constructive engagement" on the UN report include the elimination or censorship of names? We'll have more on this.

 The day after Ban did not take a Press question about the Sri Lanka report, Ban's Office of the Spokesperson on September 17 issued a canned statement welcoming the report, not mentioning the UN's role. Here it is:

"The Secretary-General welcomes the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. He hopes that its important recommendations will help support the efforts of the people and the Government of Sri Lanka to carve a durable path toward long-lasting peace and stability and respect for human rights, through a genuine and credible process of accountability and reconciliation that meets international standards.  The victims of all communities, their families and the Sri Lankan nation itself demand no less than a full and proper reckoning. 

"The Secretary-General is also encouraged by the response of, and commitment expressed by, the Government of Sri Lanka and the opposition to consult widely with all stakeholders and take meaningful action to address these issues. 

 "Recognizing the courageous strides being made by the country, he urges the Government to continue building on this positive momentum and the international community to support Sri Lanka in this regard. In the process, the Secretary-General hopes that Sri Lanka’s efforts will ensure that it will fully secure a peaceful, prosperous future among the family of nations."

  In the report that Ban "welcomes," former UN Ambassador (and staff member) Palitha Kohona is mentioned in the section on Extrajudicial Executions; his deputy Shavendra Silva, who served on Ban's and Herve Ladsous' Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, is described shelling a hospital which the UN now says had civilians in it. These are war crimes.

 From the new report:

"Major General Shavendra Silva denied hitting Putumattalan hospital and asserted that the facility was only used to treat LTTE fighters, that there were no civilians there. However, this would in no way change the nature of the hospital as a protected objected since LTTE fighters placed hors de combat by sickness or injury could not be targeted under international humanitarian law.  However, testimony collected by OISL strongly contradicts this version of events.  Putumattalan hospital was used to treat civilians, and came under repeated attack."

 On "Allegations of extrajudicial executions in the final phase of armed conflict," the new report says

"Between 16 and 18 May, a number of foreign intermediaries were involved in facilitating communication with senior representatives of the Government, primarily Permanent Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs Palitha Kohona, Senior Adviser to the President Basil Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Communications at this stage also included others, such as senior UN officials and foreign journalists."

  One (UNnamed here) senior UN official was Mr. Nambiar. Were there others? Who were they? This is the UN, "reporting" on itself, as it sloppily did on Haiti cholera, and stands ready to try to do on rapes in the Central African Republic. We'll have more on this.

 The report states, "OISL further concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Government of Sri Lanka possessed the requisite knowledge about the intent to surrender to have been able to convey this to the ground forces in time for them to ensure protection. Intermediaries made multiple attempts and a sustained effort to convince key government figures to allow for independent witness to the surrender, which was rejected."

 On September 16, Prince Zeid came out not for a fully international accountability mechanism, but for a “special hybrid court.” 

  In response to generally softball questions, he lauded the new government's approach to the UN. The message, at least to some, is that if lip service is paid to the UN, the push for accountability goes away. 

  There is, of course, the shifting position of the US as well.

  Why after all this delay Zeid's office didn't make the report available before Zeid “took questions” is unclear. In fact, the room in Geneva ran out of questions: Zeid left 10 minutes before it was said he had to. But no arrangement was made to take questions online.

  Nor was Zeid asked about the UN's own failings, from leaving Kilinochchi to the White Flag Killings and beyond. The UN's Petrie Report was conveniently forgotten. Notably, the first round of questions included Voice of America, which at the UN tried to get Inner City Press thrown out after it reported on how Sri Lanka's Palitha Kohona, after renting one of the UN Correspondents Association's then and now president Giampaolo Pioli's apartments, was given a UN screening for his government's genocide denial film, "Lies Agreed To," without other (then) UNCA board members like Inner City Press getting to vote.Reuters did the same, and has tried to cover up.

   Overall, if the UN covers up its own acts, like bringing cholera to Haiti and now, under Herve Ladsous, covering up and excusing rapes in the Central African Republic, how can it offer accountability to places like northern Sri Lanka? Zeid said “we” didn't find genocide, and then left the press conference. Lies Agreed To, indeed. We'll have more on this.

 As an aside, OHCHR's role in covering up the first round of Sangaris rapes remains unclear; the report commissioned by Ban Ki-moon has been, what else, delayed. Zeid's deputy in New York picks and choose how and to whom to answer questions, excluding the investigative Press from his briefing on topics like South Sudan (where the UN is under-reporting ceasefire violations). And so it goes.

Back on August 13, 2015, Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about torture in the country - including in 2015. From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: on torture, there’s a report by a group called Freedom From Torture about Sri Lanka, and although some of the witness statements they get are from a previous couple of years ago, they’re actually documenting cases in 2015 even since the election of Mr. Sirisena of the unauthorized detention and torture of people perceived as having been a part of the LTTE in the past.  And I wonder, given the UN’s engagement, what you read out here about the million dollars, about rehabilitation, one of the testimonies is from someone who was, quote, rehabilitated, then released, picked up in a white van, tortured…

Spokesman Dujarric:  I haven’t seen those reports.  Obviously, we stand clearly against the use of torture.

 We'll see.

The UN delayed the war crime report on Sri Lanka until September 16. UN documents leaked to Channel 4 indicate that the UN is trying to undercut that report and support a merely national investigation, or cover-up. 

  Inner City Press asked the UN about it on July 30 and July 31, first two responses below, and on August 5 UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric returned with a third response. Third time's the charm? Here's what he said:

And I’ve asked to offer some more details and clarification to the UN’s support to the Government and people in Sri Lanka.

And so as I said last Friday, the UN supports the Government and the people of Sri Lanka in their efforts to advance reconciliation and accountability.  At the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, the UN is exploring the provision of a broad package of technical and financial assistance in consultation with all key stakeholders.  The framework of UN support for peacebuilding in Sri Lanka was presented in Sri Lanka last June by the Resident Coordinator.  And that presentation is available online on the UN’s country office in Sri Lanka and that’s un.lk.

What is being discussed for support by the Peacebuilding Fund are initiatives to advance the process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka through the resettlement of internally displaced persons, national reconciliation, and the development of credible transitional justice mechanisms in line with international standards.  UN support is always built on the basis of inclusive, transparent and participatory consultations with all key stakeholders.

$1 million has already been disbursed to support resettlement and integration initiatives for the remaining internally displaced persons in the north and east on seized land that has been returned by the Government.  For the rest, the UN continues to consult with the Government of Sri Lanka, and all key stakeholders, to finalize the details of UN support.

The same principle of inclusive, participatory and consultative processes will apply to UN support for the establishment of credible accountability and reconciliation mechanisms that meet international standards.

And lastly, the UN of course believes that there should be genuine and inclusive consultations on a national basis, including the Northern Province, to help arrive at the right model in the Sri Lankan context. Done.  Matthew.

Inner City Press:  Thanks for that.  I’m going to have to, I guess, go over that Sri Lanka statement. 

  Here is what Dujarric was responding to: on July 31, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: yesterday I’d asked you about Sri Lanka and this memo that’s emerged where the UN appears to be working for a purely national mechanism.  And the foreign ministry spokesman there has spoken today about Mr. Feltman’s trip and has mentioned the Peacebuilding Fund.  So I wanted to ask you more specifically, is Mr. Taranco and the Peacebuilding Fund considering funding a purely national accountability mechanism in Sri Lanka contrary to what’s been said here and to the Human Rights Council report that’s due in September?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think what I can tell you is that the UN supports the Government and the people of Sri Lanka and their efforts to advance reconciliation and accountability as evidenced by commitments made by the Secretary General and during the Under-Secretary-General’s recent visit — Feltman’s recent visit to Sri Lanka.  In this regard, we’re exploring provision of a broad package of technical and financial assistance at the request of the Chief Minister, also including the support of the Northern Province to bolster citizen confidence in the peace process.  What is currently under discussion for support by the Peacebuilding Fund are initiatives to advance the process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka by resettlement of internally displaced persons, national reconciliation, strengthening human rights mechanism, and ending impunity.  The UN support is always based on the basis of inclusive and participatory consultations with all key stakeholders.  And my understanding is that already $1 million have been already dispersed to support resettlement and integration initiatives for the remaining internally displaced people in the north and east on land that’s been… on seized land that have been returned by the Government.  For the rest, we continue to consult with the Government of Sri Lanka and the Northern Provincial Council and all key stakeholders to finalize the UN support.

Inner City Press:  Are you saying this Peacebuilding Fund support is not for an accountability mechanism that would be entirely national, which is the one denounced by the Tamil group that you mentioned?

Spokesman:  You know, I think the… whether there should be domestic or international process, the… I think what we are looking at is obviously implementing projects both with the support of the Government and the Northern Provincial Council.  If I have more, I will share it with you.

Inner City Press:  What about an international mechanism?

Spokesman:  I think, you know, whether it’s domestic or international, that will need to be determined.  We are obviously awaiting the High Commissioner’s report and recommendations to make that decision.

 We'll have more on this.

 Back on July 30, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: this has to do with the UN’s engagement on the issue of Sri Lanka.  There’s been a… Channel 4 has published what they say is a leaked UN document in which it appears that the UN is preparing to give its blessing to an entirely national accountability mechanism that would involve the National Provincial… according to the document, Northern Provincial Council, Tamil, which they deny that they ever saw it.  They say it’s an outrage and would be a… a… kind of selling out the Human Rights Council and any international mechanism.  I wanted to know, since I saw the pictures of Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman meeting with that group and that there was a lot of discussions of documents going back and forth, is the document referred to by Channel 4 a document that Mr. Feltman had?

Spokesman:  Let me see… I don’t have any language on that with me here. 

  Five hours later, no answer from Dujarric - who had, it emerged, provided notice of Ban Ki-moon's visit to the US White House only to the same UN Censorship Alliance president, Giampaoli Pioli, who unilaterally granted a UN screening of "Lies Agreed To" after renting one of his apartments to Sri Lanka's Palitha Kohona. This is today's UN.

Back on June 24, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric:

Inner City Press: Sri Lanka.  I wanted to get your comment on this, given the Secretary-General's historic involvement.  It's been now confirmed by the Foreign Minister there that the promised internal domestic human rights investigation into crimes in the final stages of the conflict is now not going to take place until September, and now this is being laid off on elections, due to the failure to dissolve parliament.  So, I guess, given that the Secretary-General, it seems, kind of supported the delay, what's the response?

Spokesman Dujararic:  I don't have any language on that, but I will harvest some for you.

  But the language "harvested" did not address the delay. Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq on June 25 returned with this answer to Inner City Press:

"We were also asked earlier about accountability in Sri Lanka.  I can say that the new Government in Sri Lanka has passed a constitutional amendment which, if implemented appropriately, brings renewed hope for democracy and the rule of law.  In this regard, it is important that the Government consults broadly with all political parties, civil society, and above all victims and their families, to ensure full national support and ownership of these processes.

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights remains engaged in discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities on the need for transparent and inclusive processes to develop credible mechanisms for accountability and reconciliation."

  So delaying or even dispensing with the promised domestic war crimes investigation is now OK with Ban's UN? We'll have more on this.

Back in May, with the UN's already long delayed report into war crimes in Sri Lanka postponed until at least September, now one of those most responsible for the crimes in 2009, Jagath Dias of the 57th Division, was named Chief of Staff of the Army. 

  One wondered if those recently praising the Sri Lankan government, from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to US Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit two weeks ago will say anything about this. 

  On May 18, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq if Ban had any comment on Dias, named in Ban's own report on Sri Lanka, getting this post.

  Haq said to wait and see what the Human Rights Council says -- the Human Rights Council which already delayed release of their report.Video here.

  Dias was ejected from Germany and Switzerland, as a Sri Lankan diplomat, for his past.  At the UN, equally problematic military figureShavendra Silva at a screening of the Rajapaksa government's war crimes denial film "Lies Agreed To" chided Inner City Press for attribution to him the acts of Dias' 57th Regiment. 

  Now Silva is in War College in India and Dias is Army chief of staff. Will anything be said by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid, now embroiled in a scandal about OHCHR's seeming cover up for child rapes by French troops in the Central African Republic, and letting French UN Peacekeepin chief Herve Ladsous try to fire the OHCHR whistleblower? What has changed?

 Inside the UN in September 2011 the government's "Lies Agreed To" -- but NOT "No Fire Zone" -- was screened.  When Inner City Press reported on the screening, then on the background fact that the person who agreed to the screening, Giampaolo Pioli, had previously been the landlord of Palitha Kohona, who as Sri Lanka's Ambassador requested the screen in the UN hosted by the United Nations Correspondents Association, then and now headed by Pioli, demands for censorship and expulsion began.

 Unhappy with Inner City Press reporting, Pioli demanded that the story come down.

  When Inner City Press instead of censorship offered amplifications and to publish a letter to the editor of any length, Pioli rejected it and pushed to get Inner City Press thrown out. After some of this was reported in the media in Sri Lanka, and Inner City Press informed Pioli of this and of death threats it had received, Pioli refused to suspend his campaign, instead trying to use the threats as leverage to get Inner City Press to publish a "box," that he would dictate, on the front of its website. 

  In this audio clip, after Inner City Press informed Pioli and other UNCA Executive Committee members that their kangaroo court proceeding had given rise to death threats, Pioli demands a "box of apology... as long as it is Inner City Press." 

  This is what UNCA became, the UN's Censorship Alliance, and what it is, and functions as. Inner City Press when its elected term on the UNCA Executive Committee ended quit the group and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access, now defending the rights of journalists from Somaliland to Bangladesh and beyond. We will have more on this.

Pioli & Ban Ki-moon, Sri Lanka war crimes denial not shown. UN Photo/Mark Garten

And it has been on HuffPost Live, here. Watch this site.

Inner City Press Asks UN of UN Correspondents Association Delivering Ban for Photo Op, Spox Asks It Was "Condoned" by ICP, No Answer on UN Peacekeeping Sponsorship

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 -- As the scandal unveiled in thecorruption charges against former UN General Assembly President John Ashe, Francis Lorenzo of South South News and others continues to expand, the compromised position of the UN Correspondents Association has come to the fore.

   While UNCA does not represent all journalists accredited to cover the UN -- Inner City Press for example quit the group in 2012 with another Executive Committee member and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access -- the UN gives it a privileged position, a large clubhouse on the third floor of the UN and, automatically, the first question at press conferences.

  But is that appropriate, given that UNCA received money from South South News, “NGO 1” in the filing against Ashe? Not only did UNCA receive money from South South News: it gave the group an “UNCA award” at a ceremony at the high-ceilinged Cipriani's restaurant on December 15, 2011.

  Inner City Press, which did not quit UNCA in fully ripened disgust in 2012, was present in December 2011 and witnessed, when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came into Cipriani's, him being shepherded into a side room for photographs with Asian men in business suits who Inner City Press did not then recognize -- but now does.

 UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when Inner City Press asked on October 13 about what it had seen, said perhaps Inner City Press had "condoned" it. Video here. But Inner City Press quit UNCA afterfinding conflicts of interest in it, and being "ordered" to not report on this.  From the October 13 transcript:

Inner City Press: I want to ask inevitably about the revelations about Mr. [John] Ashe and Frank Lorenzo and others.  And just as you… as the lead Spokesman, a person that travels around with the Secretary-General, how… what would you say to the photos that exist of the Secretary-General with David Ng, who was since indicted, and Frank Lorenzo and, particularly, in instances where it appears that groups that receive contributions from the two and then put them in a room to have photographs with the Secretary-General?  Is this something that… how does the Secretary-General view this in retrospect, and what's going to be done in the future?

Spokesman:  First of all, a photo of the Secretary-General with any individual should in no way be interpreted as a sponsorship or agreement.  It's just a photo.  The Secretary-General is very much a public figure, attends a lot of public events where there are a lot of people.  Sometimes people come up to him and ask to have their photo taken.  And it's done within the… within, obviously, the security constraints that need to be had.  I think whether it's the Secretary-General of the United Nations or anyone in leadership position, you will find when you travel with them that a lot of people want to have their photo taken with them.  Inasmuch as that is… we try to control that, sometimes it's difficult to do so.  I think the Secretary-General is as shocked as anyone in this building at the charges that were levelled at these two individuals.  And he's very disappointed at the accusations towards the United Nations.

Inner City Press:  obviously, to business interests having an actual kind of formal handshaking one, I guess I'll just say that that is worth something to them.  That's why they…

Spokesman:  I'm not… I'm not debating that point… [cross talk]  I'm just saying that having a picture of the Secretary-General with any individual should in no way be seen as a sponsorship, approval, making them BFF's or anything.

Inner City Press:  I guess I just want to be more specific.  If an event… and there's one that actually, as it turns out, I witnessed in Cipriani.  If the Secretary-General enters a large space and is then taken to a smaller space for such photographs, what's the basis for that, as opposed to people with selfies?  I mean, I understand what you're saying…

Spokesman:  I think, you know, if you were there, then maybe you condoned the event as well.  The issue is the Secretary-General attends a lot of events.  Sometimes there is a VIP reception.  None of it should be construed as anything as the Secretary-General having his picture taken with anyone.

Inner City Press: it's been a number of days now; I'm assuming that, if not you, OLA [Office of Legal Affairs], someone has read through this long FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] affidavit.  And I want to just ask you again, because in it, it says that, after the… the… the official UN document about the Macau centre was procured, there was a separate payment to Mr. Ashe, separate communications with a UN official number one, who reissued the document as a… amended… revised for technical reasons, with the name of the company in it.  And it seems to me, even before you waiting for an OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] investigation, the scope of which wouldn't touch that, who in the UN is actually… how does it work, first of all?  Who… which part of the UN amends documents after they're released?  Is it DGACM [Department for General Assembly and Conference Management]…?

Spokesman:  Listen, I'm not going to talk about the specifics of the case.  But it is clear that if the President of one of the legislative bodies in this Organization which controls the agenda, or a sponsoring country for resolution, asks the Secretary-General to amend a text, we serve as the Secretariat.  It's not… it's… it doesn't entail sponsoring of what's inside that text. 

  While Inner City Press' answer to the spokesman's "if you were there, then maybe you condoned the event as well," is that Inner City Press quit UNCA
 after finding conflicts of interest in it, and being "ordered" to not report on this, we'll have more on this.


On October 13, Inner City Press asked this follow up:

Inner City Press: I just want to directly ask you about the idea that it's sort of people struggling to get photos with the UN officials.  There was a… there was a peacekeeping day concert that was… for which solicitation of… you know, sponsorship was sought by a group called World Harmony Alliance, and it had nothing… the group has nothing to do with peacekeeping, but they paid for day.  They… they… in fact, the funder complained that he didn't get the promised photograph with Ban Ki-moon, but I wonder, what was… what's the UN's understanding when they take outside financial sponsorship for such a day?  I mean, former UN official [Ibrahim] Gambari was seen with the same group taking photographs on the fourth floor in the Millennium Hotel.  What's it all about?  What’s happening?

Spokesman:  What former officials do in hotels is really not of my purview.

Inner City Press:  Sure.  What about UN peacekeeping?

Spokesman:  I would take a look at that actual programme, but I would expect every part of the UN to do due diligence when it partners with an outside organization.  And just…  I'll leave it at that.

   On October 12, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: in light of these charges against John Ashe, Frank Lorenzo, and others, it's emerging that the Secretary-General, if not met, had staged photo opportunities with a number of the individuals charged.  And I wanted to know, in looking at this, do you have some kind of a comment on how these occurred, particularly in instances where they may have been arranged by a third party, been arranged by an organization that invited Ban Ki-moon and then received funds from South-South News or others and then put the two together on photograph?  Was that appropriate?  And what would be your response to… to OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] looking at that or otherwise?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, regarding that, as you're aware, the Office of Internal Oversight Services will do an audit.  They've been requested to do that, and so we'll be able to see whether there was any effect from either the relationship with these various groups, these two groups, the Sun Kian Ip Group and the Global Sustainability Foundation, and any of the monies received.  So, we'll await what they have to say about any of this.

Inner City Press:  But, given that Mr. Frank Lorenzo has been charged and he's now out on $2 million bail, he was head of South-South News, which spread $12 million, according to the documents, throughout the UN system.  So, what was, how, what was the criteria used to choose these two NGOs and not either South-South News or International Organization for South-South Cooperation or South South Steering Committee on Sustainable Development?  It seems like it's a very limited inquiry and…

Deputy Spokesman:  It's not really an inquiry.  It's an audit, and this is initial step.  If OIOS feels like there is something… there's a direction which they need to go as a result of these initial results, they're certainly free to do that, but we needed to get the ball rolling and have an initial step forward so that we can look into what exactly is the impact of the monies and the relationship with these groups.


John Ashe at UNCA with former president, after and before Pioli

  Back in December 2011, shepherding Ban for this (compensated) photo op with dubious businessmen was Giampaolo Pioli, then as now the president of UNCA. South South News interviewed Pioli that night, bragging of the UNCA award it got / paid for, screenshot from video here.

    (For context it must be noted too that Pioli rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona then granted Kohona's request as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to screen his government's war crimes denial film “Lies Agreed To” in the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium: this precipitated Inner City Press quitting UNCA, in full disclosure.)

   How can UNCA be given first questions to ask about a scandal involving South South News, from which UNCA took more then to which it gave an award? And what are the other implications?

  (In terms of Mr. Ng's desire for photo ops, Inner City Press is informed that he separately wanted a photo with US President Obama, and paid six figures to a middleman - who disappeared with the money. UNCA on the other hand, one wag noted, delivered Ban Ki-moon for photos at Cipriani's.)

  UNCA, it should be noted, has been and is open to business interested beyond Mr. Ng and South South News. Another UNCA awards ceremony was sponsored by a company called “Acoona;” the Italian oil company ENI pays the group money.

But UNCA's South South News connection, given what has been disclosed and charged this week, should at a minimum and as a first step disqualify UNCA from first questions from the UN, and from the continuation of its role.

 Consider: if it gave rise to criminal charges that South South News paid Ashe to get a GA document for Ng to show off in Macau, who about South South News paying UNCA, and UNCA delivering Ban for a photo op with Ng, that Ng could use for related purposes? We'll have more on this.

Wider, and going forward in this series, limiting UN investigation to OIOS - whose director of investigations Stefanovic has resigned, Inner City Press hereby exclusively reported on October 9 - looking at only two NGOs is laughable. The scandal is expanding: there is a pattern here, pattern and practice. Watch this site.
   

Inner City Press Asks French President Hollande of Sangaris Rapes, Ladsous Linking to R&R

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 -- On the day of the UN Peacekeeping summit at the UN, Inner City Press managed to ask French President Francois Hollande about alleged rapes by French troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) and about French head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous having linked rapes to “recreation” and R&R. Video here.

  Hollande replied that when French troops are charged -- as they have been, in CAR -- France pushes for prosecutions, but also due process. Does that explain the one-year delay in the Sangaris CAR case?  The question was not taken.

  Later on September 28, Inner City Press went to cover the High Level Meeting on Peacekeeping, and found Ladsous slouched in his hair, wanly applauding pledges then glaring up at the photographers booth where Inner City Press was. Something is very wrong at the top of UN Peacekeeping - until it is addressed, the various commitments ring hollow.

A year after French President Francois Hollande tried to privatize the UN Press Briefing Room by having non-French journalists removed, his team on September 27, 2015 adopted a different strategy for the same result. At 8:40 am the UN said there would be a press conference by Hollande in just five minutes, at 8:45 am. Call it innovation.

  Apparently in his press conference, Hollande had many of the seats in the front of the UN Press Briefing Room “reserved” - because Brazil cited this as a precedent for their 11:30 am press conference by Dilma Rousseff (that's another story).  France, returning with Hollande for a session scheduled for 2:15 pm, again tried to control spaces in the front rows, as did the old UN Correspondents Association, which ejected a visiting journalist from “its” seat.

 And the question for Hollande? For Inner City Press, it would be what actions have been taken on the French soldiers alleged to have raped children in the Central African Republic. Watch this site.

Update: After Hollande came in, two people who had sat next to Inner City Press through the entire Japanese briefing from 1:30 pm got up, to give their seat to Laurent Fabuis and Royale. Then a lady approached Inner City Press, in full view of UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, and told Inner City Press to move, she's a "minister." Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access said Non, je suis journaliste, je veux poser ma question.

Meanwhile Ban Ki-moon said Peru's President Humala regretted not being present. But he WAS present, next to Hollande. Inner City Press asked Humala about the Trans Pacific Partnership on September 27: watch this site.

Back on September 23, 2014 the entourage of French President Francois Hollande repeatedly ordered the UN accredited Press to leave the UN's Press Briefing Room.

  A briefing by Hollande had been scheduled for 11 am, then was canceled. But at 10:55 am as a previous briefing about climate change was ending, Inner City Press was told to leave the room.

  The question, On whose orders? was not answered. Instead a woman in the French delegation said the room was "reserved." 

   This is not a restaurant, Inner City Press replied, now on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which advocates for the rights of journalists and for a Freedom of Information Act covering the UN.

  Another member of the French delegation said loudly, "They'll take away his accreditation." It was not necessarily an idle threat: the UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric had looked into the room as this happened. 

   Inner City Press said, if UN Media Accreditation -- or UN Security -- tell me to leave, I will. But not before. Video here.

  Meanwhile the representative of the old UN Correspondents Alliance meekly left; previously, UNCA did nothing when previous French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud in this room told a Lebanese reporter, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent."

  After a time, the woman from Hollande's entourage said that the chief of UN Media Accreditation, whom she made a point of saying she knows well, was not answering the phone. A French security guard told Inner City Press to leave. But this is not their role, in the UN briefing room.

  Finally the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and the new Permanent Representative to the UN came and sat in the front room with Inner City Press and FUNCA.  Hollande appeared from the doorway Spokesman Dujarric had looked out of.

  Hollande said he had come mostly about climate change, but that a French citizen had been taken hostage in Algeria by a group linked with ISIL or "Da'ech," as he called the group. He said arms deliveries would continue; he noted the previous night's air strikes, by others, on Syria.

  Hollande said he would meet in the afternoon with the Syrian Opposition Coalition's Hadi al Bahra, who he called the only legitimate leader of Syria. Then he left without taking questions.

  The day before, UNCA hosted al Bahra (as they had his predecessor Ahmad Jarba) in the clubhouse the UN gives this group, publicized only to those which pay it dues. Given that UNCA did nothing when Araud told the Lebanese reporter "you are not a journalist, you are an agent," why didn't Hollande hold his press conference in the club of UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance?